This Week in Poker -- August 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

The Card Player Player of the Year Race is brought to you by Bodog

1: Thomas Marchese — 4,442
2: Sorel Mizzi — 3,862
3: Jeffrey Papola — 3,420
4: Dwyte Pilgrim — 3,376
5: Mike Beasley — 3,320
6: Valdemar Kwaysser — 3,280 (pictured right)
7: Frank Kassela — 3,264
8: Miguel Proulx — 3,190
9: Tomer Berda — 3,072
10: Allan Baekke — 3,000
10: Harrison Gimbel — 3,000

This Week in Poker

Valdemar Kwaysser Moves into Sixth Place

There was a small amount of movement among the top 10 on the Card Player Player of the Year leader board during the last few weeks. Valdemar Kwaysser made the final table at a $1,246 no-limit hold’em tournament at the PokerStars Italian Poker Tour Venice event. Kwaysser cashed in sixth place and he took home $7,453 and 90 points. This was enough for him to leap frog Frank Kassela for sixth place in the standings.

EPT Tallinn Awards Thousands of Points

Major competition on the tournament trail for the 2010-11 season kicked off on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the medieval town of Tallinn, Estonia on August 11. The brand new €4,250 no-limit hold’em tournament started the PokerStars European Poker Tour season seven schedule and attracted 420 players to create a total prize pool worth €1,596,000.

The tournament crowned a champion on August 16, and the winner was Kevin Stani, who took home €400,000 and 1,920 points. This was his first POY cash for the year and the score places him in the top 50. “It feels awesome to win. I’ve been through some tough times which have made it hard to focus, made it hard to play, but I stayed with poker and told myself things are going to get better. I’m glad I did,” said Stani.

Stani was a PokerStars qualifier in the event, but not only that, he was one of the last players to qualify for EPT Tallinn, winning his seat in a $530 qualifier on PokerStars only four days before the event began. “I was playing cash games online and just randomly saw the satellite advertised in the PokerStars lobby. I wanted to come here anyway so I thought I’d play it,” said Stani.

Stani is a 27-year-old business management graduate who has been playing poker for seven years. Most of his success has come online, where he plays under the name “KevBoyStar”. He came sixth in the $10,000 high roller World Championship of Online Poker last year for $134,000 and beat 1,204 players to win the PokerStars Sunday 500 in February 2009 for $108,000. His best live result was a 127th-place finish at the 2010 World Series of Poker worth $57,000.

The player that Stani bested in the heads-up final was Konstantin Bilyauer from Moscow, who was awarded €250,000 and 1,600 points. This places him in the top 100 and the only other player to take home more than 1,000 points in Estonia was Team PokerStars Pro Arnaud Mattern. He took home €160,000 and 1,200 points for finishing in third place, and he now holds 1,655 points for the year, which puts him in 76th place overall.

Here is the break down of the prize money and POY points awarded at the EPT Tallinn final table:

1: Kevin Stani — €400,000 (1,920 points)
2: Konstantin Bilyauer — €250,000 (1,600 points)
3: Arnaud Mattern — €160,000 (1,200 points)
4: Dmitry Vitkind — €120,000 (960 points)
5: Mikko Jaatinen — €80,000 (800 points)
6: Steven van Zadelhoff — €63,000 (640 points)
7: Nicolo Calia — €47,000 (480 points)
8: Bassam Elnajjar — €32,000 (320 points)

Headlines:

EPT — Kevin Stani Wins Tallinn Main Event
World Poker Tour Legends of Poker Begins
WSOP Circuit – New Season Kicks off at Horseshoe Council Bluffs
ANZPT – Nauv Kashyap Wins Gold Coast Main Event

Looking Ahead

WPT Legends of Poker

Event Schedule

WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs

Event Schedule

APT Philippines

Event Schedule

Full Tilt Cyprus Classic

Event Schedule

PokerStars UKIPT Dublin

Event Schedule

PokerStars IPT San Remo

Event Schedule

The River $3 Million Guaranteed Poker Series – Oklahoma

Event Schedule

Indiana State Poker Championship

Event Schedule

Bay 101 Open

Event Schedule

Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVII

Event Schedule

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