Just a week ago it appeared that Dan Smith was going to waltz to multiple Player of the Year awards –not to mention that Phil Hellmuth seemed like a lock for the WSOP Player of the Year award—but with Greg Merson’s WSOP Main Event win the POY race is now up for grabs, not to mention Hellmuth finishing #2 on the WSOP Player of the Year leader-board for the second straight year.
The one advantage that Smith will have is that Merson is not a tournament player, nor does he want to be, so he may have scored his last POY point for 2012. Because of this, Smith may still coast to the finish line as the Player of the Year in all three races, Cardplayer Magazine, Bluff Magazine, and the Global Poker Index, provided he can overtake Merson on the Cardplayer leader-board, where the 2012 WSOP Champion vaulted into 1st place –similar to Ben Lamb’s Cardplayer Magazine Player of the Year win in 2011 based solely on a fantastic WSOP.
Here is a look at the three leader-boards from the major Player of the Year outlets along with a brief explanation of the formula they use:
Bluff Magazine Player of the Year leader-board (accurate as of November 4, 2012):
Dan Smith – 1,288.51 points
Greg Merson – 1,157.55 points
Marvin Rettenmaier – 1,090.52 points
Phil Hellmuth—915.64 points
Phil Ivey – 904.17 points
Mike Mizrachi – 850.82 points
Jonathan Duhamel — 800.50 points
Joseph Cheong – 758.32 points
Kyle Julius — 738 points
John Juanda – 724.11 points
Bluff Magazine’s formula uses a player’s 2012 results along with 2011 results, with a higher emphasis placed on the 2012 results.
Cardplayer Magazine Player of the Year leader-board (accurate as of November 4, 2012):
Greg Merson – 5,100 points
Dan Smith — 4,625 points
Kyle Julius — 3,752 points
Marvin Rettenmaier — 3,530 points
Phil Hellmuth — 3,210 points
Oliver Speidel — 3,046 points
Anthony Gregg — 2,984 points
Ole Schemion — 2,956 points
Mike Mizrachi – 2,942 points
Vadzim Kursevich — 2,829 points
Cardplayer Magazine’s formula only looks at results from 2012.
Global Poker Index Player of the Year leader-board (accurate as of November 4, 2012):
Dan Smith – 1,098.80 points
Marvin Guido Rettenmaier – 966.33 points
Kyle Julius — 906.02 points
Phil Hellmuth — 846.83 points
Andrew Lichtenberger — 819.75 points
Justin Bonomo – 798.34 points
David Baker — 790.71 points
Daniel Negreanu – 768.40 points
Jason Mercier — 766.72 points
Bertrand Grospellier — 752.53 points
The GPI has the most unique formula, breaking the year into quarters and using a player’s best results from each period only (basically rewarding quality over quantity).
