One of the biggest tournament series of the year wrapped up this weekend, and as we reported earlier this week, the final few tournaments will have a lasting effect on the Player of the Year races throughout poker, something that was unthinkable just a few months ago.
The races really heated-up in late-October, considering that when the WSOP final table got underway it seemed Dan Smith had a virtual lock on all three POY races (Bluff Magazine, Cardplayer Magazine, and the Global Poker Index), but with Greg Merson’s win in the WSOP Main Event he vaulted over Dan Smith in the Cardplayer rankings, but Smith still seemed to have a stranglehold on the other two leader-boards.
But at the EPT Prague series it was Marvin Rettenmaier’s chance to pass Smith on another leader-board, supplanting Smith atop the Bluff rankings after winning the tournament series’ High-Roller event. Even though Smith went out that very day (perhaps out of spite) and won his fifth EPT side event of the year, Rettenamier’s huge win kept him atop the Bluff rankings.
So here we are; after it seemed as though Smith would have a clean sweep of the awards just a few months ago, he may possibly lose all three if Rettenamier makes up a similar amount of ground on the GPI rankings (which haven’t been updated yet)! Fortunately his win in the side event pushed him to within striking distance of Greg Merson on the Cardplayer leader-board, and should make for a very interesting final two weeks of the tournament season!
Bluff Magazine Player of the Year leader-board (accurate as of December 18, 2012):
1. Marvin Rettenmaier – 1,348.52 points
2. Dan Smith – 1,261.01 points
3. Greg Merson – 1,157.55 points
4. Joseph Cheong – 961.42 points
5. Phil Hellmuth—915.64 points
6. Phil Ivey – 904.17 points
7. Mike Mizrachi – 855.07 points
8. Ole Schemion – 848.05 points
9. Antonio Esfandiari – 833.54 points
10. Jonathan Duhamel — 800.50 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 December 18, 2012):
1. Greg Merson – 5,100 points
2. Dan Smith – 5,040 points
3. Marvin Rettenmaier – 4,130 points
4. Kyle Julius — 3,842 points
5. Joseph Cheong – 3,590 points
6. Antonio Esfandiari – 3,330 points
7. Phil Hellmuth — 3,210 points
8. John Dibella – 3,064 points
9. Oliver Speidel — 3,046 points
10. Anthony Gregg — 2,984 points
Cardplayer Magazine’s formula only looks at results from 2012.
Global Poker Index Player of the Year leader-board (accurate as of December 18, 2012):
1. Dan Smith – 1,098.80 points
2. Marvin Guido Rettenmaier – 966.33 points
3. Kyle Julius — 906.02 points
4. Phil Hellmuth — 846.83 points
5. Andrew Lichtenberger — 819.75 points
6. Justin Bonomo – 798.34 points
7. David Baker — 790.71 points
8. Daniel Negreanu – 768.40 points
9. Jason Mercier — 766.72 points
10. 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).
