2016 Card Player Player of the Year Race Update — Sam Soverel Climbs To 14th Place

It’s been an actionweek for the 2016 Card Player Player of the Year race, with several massive tournaments wrapping up at the season-ending World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown tournament series. Here is a look at the events that most impacted the POY standings over the past seven days:

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event

The 2016 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event drew a total of 1,222 total entries to build a total prize pool of $3,910,400.

In the end Justin Young came out on top, defeating Garret Greer heads-up to capture his very first WPT main event title, the top prize of $669,161 and a whopping 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points.

This was Young’s first final table finish of 2016, but it was a large enough score on it’s own to move him into 27th place in the POY rankings.

Young was not the only player to make a big move in the standings as a result of this final table, though. Seventh-place finisher Sam Soverel was awarded $110,357 and 360 POY points at his third final table of the year. Soverel kicked off 2016 with a win in one of the $25,000 high roller events at Aria and then went on to finish fourth in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic main event. With $736,197 in year-to-date earnings and 1,830 points accumulated so far Soverel has climbed into 14th place on the POY leader board.

SHR Poker Showdown $25,000 High Roller

The $1 million guaranteed $25,000 buy-in Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown no-limit high roller attracted a total field of 94 entries, easily surpassing the guarantee to build a prize pool of $2,350,000.

David Malka emerged victorious with the title, the first-place prize of $658,000 and 756 POY points.

This was his second title of the year, having won the $3,250 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the WSOP Circuit series at the Bicycle Casino for another $70,355 and 216 points. With these two wins Malka has jumped to 62nd place in the rankings with 972 points.

Malka topped a tough final table on the way to victory, including the likes of 2013 WSOP main event fourth-place finisher Sylvain Loosli (2nd – $481,750), Tim West (3rd – $298,450), 2015 Player of the Year race third-place finisher Nick Petrangelo (4th- $206,800) and 2009 WPT Championship main event winner Yevgeniy Timoshenko (6th – $101,050).

Here is a look at the current top 20 in the POY standings: