2018 Card Player Poker Player of the Year Update: Alex Foxen and David Peters Join The Top Five

There are now just two months remaining in the 2018 Card Player Player of the Year race, sponsored by Global Poker. As we reach the business end of the year, here is a look back at the players who made the biggest moves inside the top twenty of the POY race standings in the month of October:

1st – Jake Schindler: 8,407 points

Jake Schindler is pushing the limits of what seems possible when it comes to consistency on the live tournament circuit. The American poker pro made his 27th and 28th final tables of the year in early October, extending his record when it comes to live final tables made in a single year. He is averaging just over three final table finishes a month so far this year. Most recently he finished second in an Aria High Roller $10,500 no-limit hold’em event and third in a $25,000 buy-in at the same casino a few days later, cashing for a total of $182,450 and 318 points. As a result of these latest scores, he has furthered his lead in the 2018 POY race. He now sits more than 800 points ahead of his nearest competition.

Schindler has made twenty cashes this year for six figures or more, accumulating $6,847,019 in POY-qualified earnings so far in 2018. His largest score came in the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona €100,000 super high roller, which he won for $2,170,000 USD. Incredibly, he defeated none other than current POY race second-place occupant Stephen Chidwick heads-up for that title.

4th – Alex Foxen: 6,739 points

Alex Foxen finished second in the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK £5,000 buy-in, £5,00,000 guaranteed main event. The tournament drew a huge field of 1,015 entries, and Foxen took home £720,000 ($936,000 USD) and 1,600 points for his deep run.

Just a few weeks after that massive score, Foxen notched his 14th final table of the year by finishing fifth in a €2,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the World Series of Poker Europe. The American poker pro earned $52,917 USD and 375 points for his latest deep run, bringing his year-to-date earnings to $3,974,387.

With four titles won this year and 6,739 POY points earned, Foxen has moved into fourth place in the overall POY race standings.

5th – David Peters: 6,313 points

In 2016 David Peters won the Card Player Player of the Year award. In 2017 he finished sixth. Coming into the final stretch of 2018, he currently occupies the fifth-place spot, proving that he truly is one of the game’s most consistent tournament performers year after year.

Peters made two final tables at the WSOP Europe, finishing fifth in a €10,500 no-limit hold’em preliminary event for $42,304 and 125 points and then following that up with a second-place showing in the €100,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em super high roller bracelet event.

Peters fell just short of his second gold bracelet, but he did earn $1,865,254 USD and 900 POY points for his 20th final table of the year. With 6,313 and $7,566,733 in earnings so far this year, he is still within striking distance of his second Card Player Player of the Year award.

9th – Mikita Badziakouski: 4,686 points

Belarus’ Mikita Badziakouski had a massive October at the WSOP Europe, putting up three massive final table finishes in the three of the highest buy-in events of that series.

Badziakouski started out by winning the €25,500 short deck no-limit hold’em event for $245,813 USD and 168 points. Just two days later he placed fourth in the €25,500 no-limit hold’em bracelet event, which drew a sizable field of 133 entries. Badziakouski earned $306,782 USD and 462 points for that strong showing.

He closed out the festival with another fourth-place effort, this time in the €100,000 no-limit hold’em super high roller bracelet event. That tournament drew 95 total entries to create a gigantic prize pool equivalent to nearly $10.4 million. Badziakouski was awarded $908,054 and 540 points in the event, enough to move him into ninth place on the POY leaderboard. He has $13,894,839 in POY earnings this year, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of his total lifetime live tournament earnings of $20,173,402.

10th – Shaun Deeb: 4,610 points

Shaun Deeb made his seventh final table of the year recently, finishing as the runner-up in the 2018 WSOP Europe €1,650 mixed pot-limit Omaha and no-limit hold’em event for $73,291 and 340 POY points. Deeb has won two titles this year, taking down the WSOP $25,000 pot-limit Omaha championship and the $10,000 six-max no-limit hold’em with big-blind antes to win his third and fourth gold bracelets. Those two wins alone earned him 2,270 POY points and over $1.3 million. With more than $2.9 million in year-to-date earnings and 4,610 total points, Deeb currently occupies the tenth-place spot in the overall standings.

11th – Dominik Nitsche: 4,492 points

Germany’s Dominik Nitsche had himself quite the Oktoberfest, making four POY-qualified final tables this past month to add $1,283,457 and 1,335 POY points to his yearly totals. Nitsche did all of his damage in Europe, starting with a fourth-place showing in a £10,300 high roller event at the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS UK for $124,450 and 300 points.

Nitsche then went on to make three final tables at the WSOP Europe, finishing fifth each of the €25,500 high roller bracelet event, the €100,000 super high roller bracelet event and the €100,000 Leon’s high roller side event. With 12 final tables made in 2018, Nitsche now sits in 11th place in the POY rankings.

16th – Michael Addamo: 4,070 points

Australian Michael Addamo took down the 2018 WSOP Europe €25,500 high roller bracelet event, earning $976,007 USD and 924 points for the biggest win of his career.

Just a few days later he placed eighth in the €100,000 super high roller bracelet event to add another $303,727 USD and 180 points. Addamo also won the 2018 WSOP $2,620 no-limit hold’em ‘Marathon’ event this summer, topping a field of 1,637 entrants. With six final tables and two titles won, Addamo has climbed to 16th place on the leaderboard.

20th – Tony Ruberto: 3,768 points

Tony Ruberto emerged victorious in the 2018 World Poker Tour Maryland at Live! Casino $3,500 no-limit hold’em main event. He topped a field of 554 entries to win his second WPT title, the $344,755 top prize and 1,260 POY points.

This was his fifth final-table finish of the year, having also placed third in the partypoker LIVEMILLIONS North America main event for $780,000 and 1,440 points, as well as fourth in the WPT Choctaw main event for another $166,605 and 684 points. With 3,768 POY points earned so far this year, Ruberto has climbed into 20th place in the rankings.

Here is a look at the current top 20 in the POY standings:

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