As the two major tournament circuits in the world prepare for their season finales ahead of the start of the World Series of Poker at the end of May, Aussie Millions champion Ari Engel is continuing to hold the lead over the field in the CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year race. While he has held that lead since the beginning of the year, Engel is now facing some new challengers coming up the leaderboard to take him on.
Engel hasn’t been one to sit back on his laurels since winning the Aussie Millions back in January when he had 2614 points to lead the pack. Engel has been out on the tournament circuit, winning a WSOP Circuit ring at Harrah’s Atlantic City and making a total of five final tables since the championship “Down Under.” Add in another three cashes to his total (making for a total of 12 for the year to this point) and Engel has racked up a total of 3070 points but, more importantly, over $1.2 million in earnings for 2016.
Anthony Gregg has moved up well over the past few months on the table, looking to improve on his runner-up finish at the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Following his first cash of 2016, Gregg has been able to tack on six cashes (with four of them final table finishes) but hasn’t been able to find the Winner’s Circle as of yet. If he keeps playing like this, it’s only a matter of time before he adds onto his 2546 points and puts Engel’s lead in jeopardy.
Just as fast as Gregg has risen up the Top Ten, another player jumped in from outside to take over the third place slot. Germany’s Dietrich Fast wasn’t anywhere near the upper echelons of the leaderboard the last time we looked, but a couple of outstanding finishes will correct that situation. Fast’s victory at the World Poker Tour’s L. A. Poker Classic in early March was nice, but Fast wasn’t satisfied as he went on to final table the WPT Vienna later in the month. With a grand total of seven cashes, three final tables and that WPT win, Fast quickly entered the charts on the CardPlayer POY with 2498 points.
A point of controversy may be in the man who holds the fourth place slot on the leaderboard. Bryn Kenney, the manager of the Global Poker League’s New York Rounders, was able to win one of the biggest events so far of 2016, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure’s $100,000 Super High Roller event for a $1.6 million-plus payday, and he was also able to make the final table of the PCA’s $50,000 High Roller tournament. Where Kenney has been making his points, however, has been at the $25,000 Aria High Roller Series that has been playing for some time now.
So far in 2016, Kenney has been able to rack up two wins and two other final tables in those tournaments, earning a total of 1190 points (the tournaments normally play at least twice a month). Without those finishes, Kenney isn’t even in the Top Ten with his 2474 points; by the criteria, however, they are supposed to count, so Kenney is just playing within the rules as they are written.
Steve O’Dwyer, who doesn’t frequent the tournament circuit in the United States, is holding his own right now as he’s playing anywhere else in the world. In second place just a couple of months ago, O’Dwyer has dropped down the leaderboard a bit to fifth place with his 2454 points. This is something that works against O’Dwyer in the different POY leaderboards is his refusal to play in events in the U. S. There just aren’t enough “big” tournaments outside of the U. S. that can generate the prize pools (and, as a result, the POY points) that O’Dwyer needs to exclusively play the international circuit.
The remainder of the Top Ten features some familiar names and what can rightfully be called a “playing” World Champion. David Peters, Ivan Luca, Aussie Millions runner-up Tony Dunst, defending WSOP Championship Event winner Joe McKeehen and Connor Drinan sit in places sixth through tenth, respectively. This could be a very fluid situation, however, as these five men are separated by less than 300 points and, looking down to 20th place (Igor Kurganov), by slightly more than 500 points.
The fluidity of that situation could come as soon as this month. April is a big month for the WPT, with three huge tournaments in Florida at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL. The WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale and the Monster WPT Tournament of Champions are offering a boatload of cash and a lot of POY points for their participants. Add in the fact that the European Poker Tour is keeping pace with the WPT with a Grand Final festival for the ages in Monte Carlo (along with other minor tournament circuits) and it promises to be an interesting month on the tournament trail.
