Player of the Year Race - The Final Countdown

It's been a long year of tournament poker. The holiday season is here, and although many players probably haven't even had a chance to digest their Thanksgiving dinner yet, they are all back in Las Vegas for the Fourth Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio.

Undoubtedly, millions of dollars will be won at this high profile event, but there is far more at stake at Bellagio's end-of-the-year tournament than what has become the seemingly omnipresent prospect of winning an instant fortune. With under a month to go in Card Player's Player of the Year race - it's the final countdown to the crowning of poker's MVP - the best players in the world will be on hand to try to secure their place in poker history.

After the Five Diamond, there are no more excuses… only resolutions.

The Five Diamond is the climactic battle. It's Waterloo, the Battle of Little Big Horn, and Daniel-san vs. the Kobra Kai - all rolled into one.

Well, it was last year. The 2004 event saw front-runner Daniel Negreanu fall behind David "The Dragon" Pham with just two events remaining. Negreanu needed a ninth-place finish or better in the $15,000-buy-in main event to lock down the Player of the Year award. Not only did he make it to the final nine of 376 - he won the thing, topping off a powerhouse year with a nearly $2 million payday, and taking home the distinction of Player of the Year in heroic fashion.

So will it be John Phan's last stand? Or another climactic crane kick from the leader at crunch time?

Phan is still the favorite heading into the Five Diamond, but not by much. He has seen his lead shrink considerably over the past month, and now there are plenty of players who, with a few final tables in the preliminary events or a top finish in the big one, could overtake the top spot.

Most notable among them is Men "The Master" Nguyen. Nguyen had a monster November that saw him make three final tables, pick up 1,012 P.O.Y. points, and catapult to within 400 points of Phan. Nguyen also picked up 156 points on Dec. 1 with a seventh-place finish in a Five Diamond preliminary event. Nguyen is most likely the biggest threat to Phan at this point, and not simply due to the proximity of their point totals. Nguyen is one of poker's most accomplished veterans, with three Card Player Player of the Year awards already to his credit. He last took home the honor in 2002.

There will likely be plenty of shuffling in the top five as each preliminary event carries with it serious Player of the Year points. (Lars Bonding won the opening event of the Five Diamond and took home 888 Player of the Year points along with approximately $200,000 in first-place money.) And although who's in what place may become harder to follow as the Five Diamond heats up, rest assured that the players at the top of the leaderboard will be world class, and it will be a fight to the finish.

Stay up to date with the Player of the Year race with CardPlayer.com's extensive coverage of the Fourth Annual Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

By Scott Huff

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