This Week in Poker -- Nov. 14-20

Check out CardPlayer.com every Friday for a weekly wrap-up of the news from the live poker tournament trail.

Card Player Player of the Year Update

1: Eric Baldwin — 6,058 (pictured right)
2: Cornel Cimpan — 5,670
3: Yevgeniy Timoshenko — 5,463
4: Vitaly Lunkin — 4,473
5: Soheil Shamseddin — 4,085
6: Brock Parker — 3,772
7: Jason Mercier — 3,764
8: Joseph Cada — 3,600
9: Mike Leah — 3,497
10: Angel Guillen — 3,492

This Week in Poker

Baldwin Passes 6,000 Points While Four Contenders Nip at his Heels

Eric Baldwin became the only player to hold at least 6,000 points in the 2009 Card Player Player of the Year race when he finished in third place in a $1,000 no-limit hold’em event at the World Poker Finals on Nov. 7 and won 160 POY points. His 15th final-table appearance of the year (the most for a poker player in 2009) gave him 6,058 points total. Cornel Cimpan is close behind with 5,670 points, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko is in striking distance with 5,463. With just 595 points separating the top three players in the race, there is still enough time for anything to happen between them, and nothing is decided just yet.

Two other players who are still a threat, although they will need a major tournament victory to jump into first, are Vitaly Lunkin in fourth place (4,337) and Soheil Shamseddin in fifth place (4,085). December could be a busy month for all of these top contenders, considering their proximity in the standings. Baldwin is still the player to beat, but he will probably sleep a little easier if he can book another cash or two and grow his point total closer to the 6,704 points that John Phan accumulated last year to win the 2008 POY race.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t notice when any of those guys go out of these big tournaments,” said Baldwin. “There are so many amazing players that a couple big scores could put them in front of me. I’m trying to fade that.”

Headlines:

EPT Vilamoura – Day 2 Recap
WSOP Circuit – Matt Keikoan Wins Lake Tahoe Main Event
APPT – Dong-bin Han Wins the Philippines Main Event

Looking Ahead

PokerStars EPT Vilamoura

Event Schedule

Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza IV

Event Schedule

U.S. Poker Championship

Event Schedule

GUKPT London Grand Final

Event Schedule

Turkey Shoot / Ho-Ho Hold’em

Event Schedule

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