Many in poker work hard to attain various Player of the Year awards from several publications and associations, ranging from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to PocketFives.com. Although there are a myriad awards set aside for the year’s best tournament poker players, none have existed for those who play in cash games. This year, PokerTableRatings is giving the opportunity to all poker enthusiasts to vote for the 2009 Player of the Year for both Hold’em and Omaha cash games.
The intention of the Player of the Year race at PokerTableRatings was to finally reward grinders making money at the cash tables with some much-deserved recognition. Instead of simply awarding titles to those who just made the most money or put the vote to an elitist group of individuals, the site has decided that the public will determine the vote.
There are ten awards that will be given out for both Hold’em and Omaha games. The stake levels are:
Nosebleeds: $100-$200 and up
High Stakes: $10-$20 through $50-$100
Mid Stakes: $2-$4 through $5-$10
Low Stakes: $0.5-$1 through $1-$2
Micro Stakes: $0.25-$0.50 and below
Players who have played a minimum of 10,000 hands at each level qualify to receive votes. If a player has played more than the minimum required across several stakes, they are eligible to receive votes at all qualified levels.
Each registered user of PokerTableRatings will receive ten Player of the Year votes. Registration to the site is completely free and without obligation. To vote for someone, users visit the profile page of a given player and select the radio boxes for the award they want to vote for and hit the “Submit” button. Each checked box counts for one vote and players can vote multiple times for any given player. Once a vote is cast, however, it cannot be changed and the site has gone on record saying it will not grant additional votes. The voting is currently underway and will conclude on December 31st.
Once the votes are counted, the players with the most in each category will be declared the PokerTableRatings Player of the Year for that level. Each player winning an award will receive a special badge for his or her profile page.
The current results page is updated every 20 minutes and displays the current vote totals for all categories. Since voting is open to all registered voters, some have voted for their favorites, friends, themselves, and those who they feel best exemplify the title of Player of the Year.
Currently, “Isildur1” leads the vote totals for both the Hold’em and Omaha categories despite losing $2.65 million this year in Nosebleed stakes games. He holds a slight edge over Tom “durrrr” Dwan in both categories, with the winner still yet to be determined.
In the High Stakes and Mid Stakes Hold’em categories, one player holds the leading votes for both categories in “nanonoko.” In both stakes, the margin is extremely wide and, with over $1 million in profits this year, he looks like a lock to take the award down. The same phenomenon is happening for the High Stakes and Mid Stakes Omaha awards, as “Skjervøy” leads both categories in voting. Although his margin is not as great as the one that “nanonoko” enjoys, “Skjervøy” remains the odds-on favorite to win both categories.
In the Low Stakes Hold’em category, “water boat” holds a huge margin over the rest of the competition thanks to some apparent self-promotion. One of the odds-on favorites to win the award before voting began was “jrockhaf” from PokerStars, who currently sits in seventh place with 160 votes after taking own more than $90,000 in just low-stakes action. On the Omaha side, “TheOrangeman” leads by a nice margin over players such as “kazor” and “GaussPoker” from Full Tilt Poker.
The Micro Stakes has losing players currently in the lead for both Hold’em and Omaha categories. Current leader “MartinK1979” from PokerStars leads despite his -$875 showing for the year over second place “GalloFX” from Full Tilt Poker, who has lost $3,560 in 2009. Obviously, these votes might be more sentimental in nature more than anything, but it will be interesting to see who wins out in this category. Finally, in the Micro Stakes Omaha category, “MRobot” from PokerStars leads despite his -$534 result in 2009.
All online poker players are highly encouraged to visit PokerTableRatings and cast their ten free votes to have a voice in the Player of the Year race. Winners will be announced shortly after voting concludes on New Year’s Eve.
