Throughout 2011 there were scores of headlines containing the name of the British pro Sam Trickett thanks to his amazing performances at the felt. Now we are not even out of the first month of 2012 and he is back in the limelight once again after being crowned the European Player of the Year at the European Poker Awards ceremony in Paris.
Trickett bested a group of players who were all vying for the coveted title and any one of them would have been worthy of becoming the European Player of the Year. When the nominations were announced a couple of months ago a large section of the poker community thought Andrey Pateychuk had the award sewn up after his 15th place finish in the World Series of Poker Main Event, winning the San Remo leg of the European Poker Tour and the Prague stop of the World Poker Tour but the judges thought, and rightly so this humble scribbler thinks, that Trickett’s achievements in 2011 outshone those of his fellow nominees.
The former professional footballer kicked off the year in great style by winning the $100,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions for a cool A$1,525,000. The following week he entered the $250,000 Super High Roller, again at the Aussie Millions and almost took it down before falling just short in second place to Erik Seidel. This result added a further A$1,400,000 to his already bulging bankroll.
From there Trickett made the final table of the €5,000 EFOP Diamond Championship, had deep runs in two $1,500 events at the WSOP, another deep finish in the inaugural Epic Poker League Main Event, final table appearances in the £20,000 EPT London High Roller and €5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event at the WSOPE before ending the year by taking down the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event for €1,000,000, his third seven-figure score of the year!
This award is going to be one of many that he picks up in his career and it is surely only a matter of time before Trickett adds an EPT, WPT or even a WSOP bracelet to his name, something we would bet on happening during 2012.
