Heading into the last quarter of 2018, the United Kingdom’s Stephen Chidwick still has his leads in the major Player of the Year races. In one of them, however, his lead has been reduced to a single point and, in the other, the heat is on from a player who has said he will not chase the award.
Chidwick Holds Slimmest of Leads on CardPlayer Magazine Race
On the CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year, Chidwick has been riding high since the close of the 2018 World Series of Poker. Chidwick tacked some points onto his overall total with a couple of final table finishes, one in Jeju, South Korea and the other at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Hollywood, FL. Those two finishes tacked on 317 points to his overall leading total of 7303 points.
That’s important because, without those finishes, we’re talking about a new leader in the CardPlayer race. Jake Schindler has two huge scored since the WSOP, finishing as the runner-up at the World Poker Tour’s Gardens Poker Festival Main Event in California before winning the $25,000 High Roller event at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. Those two finishes rocketed Schindler up the table, giving him 2324 points since the WSOP and putting him in second by only one point (7302).
Sitting back since the close of the WSOP, Justin Bonomo hasn’t moved off his 6883 points. The 2018 “Big One for One Drop” champion has admitted, however, that he will not be chasing any POY races. Instead, Bonomo is taking some time away from the game, saying that he won’t be returning until the 2018 Poker Masters next month. If he is able to rack up some more POY points there, could Bonomo change his mind?
Rounding out the Top Ten are players who are going to be very active over the remainder of the year. The problem is, however, that they are quite some distance behind the Top Three players. In a normal year Jason Koon (4922 points, fourth place), Adrian Mateos (4731, fifth), Rainer Kempe (4357, sixth), Shaun Deeb (4270, seventh), Nick Petrangelo (4174, eighth), Cary Katz (4086, ninth) and Alex Foxen (3986, tenth) would all be battling for the POY honors…but not in 2018 with the blitz from the top three players.
Chidwick a Bit More Comfortable on the GPI POY
Over on the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race, Chidwick is a bit more comfortable. With his 3860.84 points, he has a slim lead over Bonomo (3666.36) in second place. Schindler’s outstanding play over the last couple of months has allowed him to creep up on the leaders with 3569.71 points for third place, but he might not be able to go any higher (and the leaders not move up either) because of how the GPI computes their points system.
Because the GPI only considers the top 13 finishes from a player and gives points according to those finishes, players like Chidwick, Bonomo and Schindler have already maxed out their points possibilities – in other words, it would take a major tournament and some serious points to replace one of their previous finishes on the board. If there is a challenge to come to these men at the top of the mountain, it will have to come from a player who has room for improvement on their 2018 poker resume.
Two players rounding out the Top Five are within shooting distance of the Top Three. David Peters (3144.12 points, fourth place) has a bit of wiggle room, joined by Deeb (3122.5, fifth). Once you get under these five men, it becomes a bit more difficult for a player to mount a charge. Rounding out the Top Ten are Anthony Zinno (3116.13 points, sixth place), Adrian Mateos (3096.99, seventh), Joseph McKeehen (3086.82, eighth), Benjamin Yu (3004.06, ninth) and Koon (2948, tenth) and they all have some work to do if they have ambitions for the GPI POY in 2018.
Where are the Points?
Although there are some prestigious events left on the 2018 tournament poker schedule (including the WSOP-Europe in October), the real POY points will come from the High Roller ranks. Whether you like it or not, these tournaments – usually with 50-150 players in the mix who are all playing against each other on a regular basis – have been the ones that hand out the big points because of their buy-ins and their prize pools (two components in the calculation of the POY points system). It is arguable that it is easier to get points in these tournaments rather than Main Events on the major tournament circuits because you don’t have to go through as many people to earn the same reward.
Following the WSOP-Europe, a much clearer picture of the 2018 Player of the Year races will emerge. But the battle will continue to be entertaining throughout the remainder of the year.
