Online Poker — OPOY Update Jan. 23, 2009

It’s been almost a month now since Card Player’s 2009 Online Player of the Year race has begun. The notables had trouble establishing a pace due to the monstrosity that was the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, but now that the live tournaments have taken a back seat to the grind that is online poker, players have had no trouble jockeying for position and making their presence known early.

Just missing the top 10 this week is Shannon "BLUFFforRENT" Shorr, who won back-to-back tournaments on Full Tilt in the second week of January with victories in the Sunday Mulligan and the $1K Monday. Those scores were good for $150,000 combined and 1,200 points. Joining him in a tie for 11th place is Shane "Anbessa" Pacheco, who won all of his points with a runner-up finish in the UltimateBet Online Championship Series main event. Pacheco, who was playing as thebubble1, earned nearly $145,000 for his finish.

Sitting in ninth place is last year’s runner-up finisher, Steve "gboro780" Gross (pictured above left). The most consistent online grinder finally put a six-figure score on his résumé when he finished second in the Full Tilt $1 million guarantee for $126,500. Gross also added points with three more qualifying cashes.

Jumping into eighth place is Thayer "THAY3R" Rasmussen. The Orlando, Florida, resident has had a great start to the year, but also a disappointing one, failing to close out two major events. Rasmussen finished third in the aforementioned UBOC main event and then second in the PokerStars Super Tuesday.

Though he has been focusing on live play, for the most part, Mohsin "chicagocards1" Charania (pictured above right) has made sure to keep his volume up online. Charania is sitting in seventh place thanks to five cashes and four final tables, including a third-place finish in the Sunday Brawl.

The four players occupying third and fourth place are all relatively equal with wins in either the PokerStars Sunday Million or the big Sunday tournament on Full Tilt. Those players in fourth are livelikunger, stoledog, and BigDennys. LosChief, who sits in third, added another qualifying cash to his win to put him over the hump.

The biggest winner thus far this year with $250,000 is Hafiz "hafizzle" Khan (pictured left). Khan was the big winner in the UBOC main event, playing as yungmoney209. Khan also bubbled the Sunday 500 final table to earn some more points.

The leader spot belongs to Matt "cwp394" Ross, who already has four final tables this year. Ross won the Sunday 500 this past weekend and then picked up more crucial points with a runner-up finish in Absolute Poker’s $100,000 guarantee.

Here’s a look at the full leaderboard: