As the tournament poker world moves into the fourth quarter of the calendar year, Germany’s Fedor Holz is still in command of the major Player of the Year races. Holz has been able to extend his lead on one of the tables, but has seen his lead shrink on another.
Holz has not been resting on his laurels or his big leads. In August, he won the €50,000 Super High Roller event at the opening stop for the European Poker Tour in Barcelona, picking up nearly $1.5 million in prize money for the effort. That payday pushed his yearly winnings over the $15 million mark (and nearly cracked the $16 million plateau) and has helped him out tremendously on the Player of the Year leaderboards.
On the CardPlayer Magazine rankings, Holz has actually been able to extend his lead, but now it is over a different cast of characters. While Holz’s lead over Justin Bonomo at the close of the World Series of Poker was only 1288 points, Holz now leads David Peters by almost 2000 points (Peters has 4891 points to Holz’s 6758). Connor Drinan has also tossed his hat into the ring of contention, taking the third place slot with 4512 points. Bonomo has slipped down the rankings to the fourth place slot (4470) and Chance Kornuth has pushed his way into the Top Five with his 4374 points.
The player who held the lead at the start of the year, Ari Engel, has been working his way back up the list. His fifth place finish at the EPT Barcelona Main Event brought him up to sixth place (4369 points), only five points in back of Kornuth. Joining him in moving up a few notches on the ladder is Tony Dunst, who can claim the seventh place position with 3740 points. Rounding out the Top Ten are Joe McKeehen (3738), Nick Petrangelo (3711) and Paul Volpe (3671) in eighth through tenth places, respectively.
Holz is also in control of the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race, but the lead is a bit more tenuous. At the close of the WSOP, Holz held almost a 400 point lead over Jason Mercier. Now the lead is just over 300 points and, as with the CardPlayer ranking, a new contender has emerged to challenge Holz (3637.69 points). Kornuth has been able to move up the ladder significantly and his 3336.54 points puts him firmly in the second place slot.
Peters isn’t doing badly on the GPI table, either. His 3097.44 points gives him a two point edge over Volpe (3095.05) to take the third place spot. The biggest mover of the last couple of months has been Adrian Mateos, who has rocketed into contention on the GPI POY with his 3045.89 points that is good enough to put him in fifth place.
Petrangelo pairs his CardPlayer ranking by making a mark on the Top Ten of the GPI, using his 3008.21 points to hold the sixth place spot on the countdown. The surprise of both lists is Argentina’s Ivan Luca, who used four points-earning finishes during the EPT Barcelona to take the seventh place slot on the list (2992.47) . Finishing off the Top Ten for the GPI are Mercier (2931.51 points), Drinan (2926.7 points) and Dominik Nitsche (2875.65) in eighth through tenth places.
Over the next six weeks, the battle will only increase in intensity as tournament schedules pick up. The World Poker Tour has a major tour stop at the Borgata in Atlantic City later this month and in Maryland at the start of October which should have an effect on the rankings, while the European Poker Tour comes back from a two month hiatus by returning to Malta on October 18. October alone will feature 59 tournaments that CardPlayer is giving POY points out for, meaning that Holz’s lead – even as large as it is there – may not be enough on either Player of the Year ranking,
