After holding the lead for much of the last half of 2013, poker professional Daniel Negreanu had to withstand some challenges to his position in the three major Player of the Year races during the month of December. After the smoke cleared, Negreanu captured two of those three POY races but was caught in the third.
On the Bluff Magazine POY leaderboard, Negreanu (1274.66 points) didn’t add any points over the final two months of the calendar, letting two men take a shot at knocking him off the top perch. First it was Philipp Gruissem, whose second World Poker Tour Alpha8 championship pushed him up the leaderboard. In the end, however, it would only push him to second place behind Negreanu with 1063.65 points. David Peters also took a run at Negreanu but he couldn’t get past Gruissem as he finished in third with 1052.31 points. Scott Seiver (878.86) and Mike Watson (861.32) rounded out the Top Five on the Bluff board.
The second five saw quite a bit of movement over the final two months. By sealing his victory in the World Series of Poker $10,000 Championship Event in November, Ryan Riess (856.58) leapt up the standings to eventually land in sixth place. By far making the most impressive showing among females in the poker world, Vanessa Selbst capped off an excellent year by finishing in seventh (849.58) and Martin Finger (840.80) ended the year in eighth. Noah Schwartz (804.78) and Paul Volpe (787.07), who was the leader on many POY charts prior to the WSOP, finished off the Bluff POY Top Ten.
Over on the CardPlayer Magazine POY, Negreanu’s huge edge at the start of November allowed him to pretty much cruise into the POY award. His 5140 in points did face a couple of challenges, though, when Volpe (4298 points, second) and Selbst (3921, third) made some late-season noise to close the gap. In the end, however, it was a bit too much for Volpe and Selbst to overcome, although they did top Peters (3802, fourth) and Steve O’Dwyer (3488, fifth) in the Top Five.
On down the Top Ten, Blair Hinkle wrapped up a good year by finishing in sixth on the CardPlayer POY with 3448 points. In a nod to consistency, Justin Bonomo (3395, seventh) was the only player in the CardPlayer countdown to not win any tournaments this year, but the $1.5 million or so that Bonomo took down is a nice consolation prize. Riess (3313, eighth), Ole Schemion (3256, ninth) and Scott Seiver (3244, tenth) make up the rest of the CardPlayer Top Ten.
Here’s where it gets interesting. The only leaderboard that Negreanu was caught on was the Global Poker Index POY race. In making the final table at the European Poker Tour Prague event, Schemion was able to earn enough points with his fifth place finish to barely edge out Negreanu. How close was it? Schemion accumulated 1163.14 points for the year, while Negreanu picked up 1130.87 points to fall short in second place.
Volpe also made a charge late in the year to push his name back up the GPI POY. He finished in third place (1042.38 points), with Bryn Kenney (986.26) and Peters (983.67) falling into place in fourth and fifth, respectively. The GPI POY Top Ten was rounded out by Watson (964.80), Gruissem (962.57), Steven Silverman (940.41) Jonathan Duhamel (938.76) and Shannon Shorr (929.10).
If you’re counting, between the three major Player of the Year leaderboards 19 different players can claim to be in the “Top Ten” of poker players in the world for 2013.
As everyone eases back for a little relaxation over the holidays, the tournament poker world will beckon just after the start of the New Year. The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, beginning on January 5, will be the first place for players to start earning points for the 2014 Player of the Year races but, for now, Negreanu and Schemion can bask in the glow of their respective POY victories.