New Poker Names Make it to “Player of the Year” Top 20

A number of poker events last month made the most impact on Card Player’s “Player of the Year” players’ standings.

Card Player is one of the founding online poker guides and magazines, which is highly respected among players and fans of this amazing card game. Card Player started in 1988 and ever since it provides poker lovers with the latest information about the game, poker strategies and tournament results. Poker rules, players’ profiles and exclusive bonus deals can also be found on its site.

When it comes to the best poker players in the world, Card Player organizes “Player of the Year” (POY) contest. It takes into consideration the performance of players during different tournaments and then declares the poker master of the year.

January 2014 tournaments’ results introduced some changes to the general standing and the following two tournaments had the major impact:

European Poker Tour Deauville introduced new player to the Top Ten

The European Poker Tour Deauville’s started with EUR 1,100 Main event, which was part of the France Poker Series, EPT’s branch tour. This no-limit hold’em tournament followed all French gambling laws and had a record turnout of 1,095 entrants. This allowed for the formation of an extremely large prize pool of EUR 654,480 ($1,437,223).

The 24-year-old player Niels van Leeuwen was the final winner, who managed to succeed at a very harsh final table, featuring Jean-Paul Vasseur and Andrew Teng. The Dutchman added EUR 175,000 ($239,225) to his name, as well as 960 Player of the Year (POY) points for his great win. Another good news for the young player is that he managed to enter the Top Ten after the win and is currently on the 9th place in the overall POY rating.

An interesting fact about this tournament is that out of the 1,095 players, which entered the event, 712 were from the host country – France. Moreover, the winner at the eight-handed final table was the only non-French player.

2014 UKIPT Edinburgh’s winner in Top 20

January poker tournaments introduced some changes in the 2014 POY standings:

• The Poker player of the year is determined by the respected magazine Card Player’s annual contest
• Niels van Leeuwen made it into Top Ten after winning the EPT Deauville’s Main event
• Dean Hutchison made it into Top 20 after winning the UKIPT Edinburgh’s Main event

The 2014 UK and Ireland Poker Tour Edinburgh GBP 1,100 no-limit hold’em Main event attracted 427 entrants. From all players who were practicing their skills in UK online poker rooms, Liv Boeree was the one who was dominating the game for quite some time and almost grab the title.

However, the final table game took a turn and Dean Hutchison triumphed with GBP 93,900 ($154,935) and 720 POY points. He also managed to reach the 17th place in the current overall rankings, sharing the place with Kamel Tir.

The second Boeree earned GBP 59,180 ($97,647) and 600 POY points, which placed her at the 28th place in the rankings. Fabian Quoss, Pascal LeFrancois and Simon Deadman are sharing her current position.

Liv Boeree, who won the 2010 EPT San Remo, when through a second disappointment in Edinburgh, after she finished 50th out of 1,031 players at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure’s main event earlier in January.

Current Top 20 in the 2014 POY standings

Here is the table of the current players who are in the Top 20 along with their earnings:

Rank	Player	POY Points	Earnings
1	Dominik Panka	2,400	$1,423,096
2	Mike McDonald	2,100	$1,282,185
3	Isaac Baron	1,600	$1,207,599
4	Jake Schindler	1,428	$1,192,624
5	Vanessa Selbst	1,352	$1,368,220
6	Madis Muur	1,200	$581,040
7	Gregory Merson	1,190	$948,996
8	Daniel Gamez	1,000	$447,040
9	Niels van Leeuwen	960	$239,225
10	Tyler Morris	960	$369,503
11	Buyanjargal Bold	912	$192,516
12	Joe Kuether	816	$136,250
13	Shyam Srinivasan	800	$328,020
14	Jean Vasseur	800	$157,205
15	Shelby Penka	800	$229,194
16	Percy Yung	760	$149,548
17	Dean Hutchison	720	$154,935
18	Kamel Tir	720	$179,077
19	Mustapha Kanit	714	$492,600
20	Christopher Hunichen	680	$134,800

The exciting future

Even though some changes were introduces in the 2014 POY standings, after the January tournaments, nothing is settled yet. Only one month has passed and surely the future holds numerous exciting tours and surprising winners. Poker fans and players will have immense opportunities to enjoy big events and great prizes in the months to follow, which will determine the poker player of 2014.