Fernando Brito has done it again. Cashing at every EPT he’s attended this season, the Portuguese businessman notched up another 120 points at the 2011 PCA by making the money in the $2k NLHE event. Irishman John O’Shea is still behind in second place but a great run in the Bahamas – he finished 2nd in the $1k PLO event – means he’s narrowed the gap to just 700 points. “EPT Player of the Year” is not O’Shea’s only goal however – he’s also dead keen on winning the Omaha Player of the Year title. His main rival there is Italian Dario Alioto who came fifth in the same PCA PLO event and is still leading that race while lying third in the overal POY table.
EPT Vilamoura Main Event winner Toby Lewis is also still a contender for Player of the Year after cashing in the PCA Main Event to climb up one spot. He’s now sixth behind EPT Barcelona finalist Konstantin Puchkov.
New players in the POY top 10 are Canadian Will Molson and Norwegian pro Vegard Nygaard. After two years as runner-up in the PCA $25k High Roller event, Molson finally triumphed this year and his epic victory, coupled with a 12th place finish in the $2k NLHE tourney, catapulted him into eighth place with a total of 1,255 points. Nygaard, who now lies in fourth place with 1,580 points, had a great run at the 2011 PCA, final-tabling two side events $1k 6-Max events. This gave him the extra push he needed to make it into the top 10. What’s even more interesting about Nygaard that he’s freerolling his way through Season 7 after beating three Team PokerStars Pros and 14 other qualifiers in a special Nordic Promotion in Monte Carlo at the end of Season 6. As well as his PCA cashes, Nygaard – considered one of Norway’s best all-round competitors – won a $1k PLO side event at EPT Vienna and min-cashed EPT Vilamoura.
Other notables high up the POY table include American PCA Main Event winner Galen Hall, whose 1,200 points for winning the biggest tourney outside of Vegas, catapulted him into 12th place. Team PokerStars Pro Marcel Luske is also thriving… he came fifth in the $1k NLHE event which bump him up from 40th place to 13th while fellow team-mate Daniel Negreanu, who was lying 32nd before the PCA, is now joint 18th thanks to his sensational second place finish in the $100k Super High Roller event.
EPT Season 6 Player of the Year Max Lykov came third in the PCA 2011 High Rollers and min-cashed the $1k 6-max side event to jump to 23rd place in this year’s POY Awards.
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