2018 Card Player Poker Player of the Year Update: Alex Foxen and David Peters Join The Top FiveA Look At The Players Who Made Major Moves In The POY Race This Month |
![]() |
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
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
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
David Peters
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
Mikita Badziakouski
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
11th – Dominik Nitsche: 4,492 points
Dominik Nitsche
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
Michael Addamo
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
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:
Rank | Player | POY Points | Earnings |
1 | Jake Schindler | 8,407 | $6,847,019 |
2 | Stephen Chidwick | 7,593 | $7,926,842 |
3 | Justin Bonomo | 7,179 | $25,010,441 |
4 | Alex Foxen | 6,739 | $3,974,387 |
5 | David Peters | 6,313 | $7,566,733 |
6 | Adrian Mateos | 6,137 | $3,807,609 |
7 | Jason Koon | 5,427 | $11,516,918 |
8 | Rainer Kempe | 5,037 | $4,979,929 |
9 | Mikita Badziakouski | 4,686 | $13,894,839 |
10 | Shaun Deeb | 4,610 | $2,936,292 |
11 | Dominik Nitsche | 4,492 | $5,001,902 |
12 | Ben Yu | 4,461 | $3,331,459 |
13 | Nick Petrangelo | 4,174 | $6,340,074 |
14 | Cary Katz | 4,131 | $4,819,239 |
15 | Isaac Haxton | 4,120 | $4,045,148 |
16 | Michael Addamo | 4,070 | $2,224,790 |
17 | Joseph McKeehen | 3,909 | $1,457,672 |
18 | Anthony Zinno | 3,905 | $1,205,571 |
19 | Toby Lewis | 3,780 | $1,756,835 |
20 | Tony Ruberto | 3,768 | $1,331,110 |