Player of the Year

The 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) dominated poker headlines during the first two weeks of the year, and with good reason. Thousands of players descended upon the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, and the $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event attracted a record field once again, 1,560 players, creating a huge prize pool $15,132,000. This field size topped the previous record set last year at 1,529 players.
The eventual champion was Galen Hall, who overcame a 5-1 chip disadvantage against runner-up Chris Oliver. Hall emerged victorious after three hours of heads-up play, and earned the top prize of $2.3 million along with 3,000 Card Player 2011 Player of the Year (POY) points. This puts him firmly in control of the leader board for the foreseeable future.
Oliver went to the final table with 42 percent of the chips in play, but was unable to pull out the victory. However, he did win $1.8 million for second place, along with 2,500 points. Oliver plays online as “Gettin Daize,” and he finished fourth in the 2010 Card Player Online Player of the Year race. 2011 could be the year that he crosses over and challenges in the POY race.
Two familiar faces captured four-digit POY point totals at the final table of the PCA main event; they were Sam Stein (fourth place, 1,500 points) and Mike Sowers (fifth place, 1,250 points). Stein finished in 27th place in last year’s POY race with 2,907 points, and he is already halfway to that total in 2011. Sowers made a strong showing in the 2009 POY race, when he finished 34th.
Get used to seeing the names on the list below, as they will occupy the top spots in the POY race for the near future. Players will be looking to make up ground at upcoming big tournaments like the Aussie Millions and L.A. Poker Classic.
2011 PCA Final-Table
Results and POY Points
1 Galen Hall $2,300,000 (3,000 points)
2 Chris Oliver $1,800,000 (2,500 points)
3 Anton Ionel $1,350,000 (2,000 points)
4 Sam Stein $1,000,000 (1,500 points)
5 Mike Sowers $700,000 (1,250 points)
6 Bolivar Palacios $450,000 (1,000 points)
7 Max Weinberg $300,000 (750 points)
8 Philippe Plouffle $202,000 (500 points)