Dan Smith continued his incredible year on the tournament circuit in 2012 by winning a €5,000 no-limit hold’em six-max turbo side event at the European Poker Tour Prague festival, topping a small but tough field of 42 players to earn $89,039 and 240 Card Player Player of the Year points and climb to within 60 POY points of current race leader Greg Merson.
This was the young pro’s sixth live tournament win of the year, the most of any player in 2012. Also noteworthy is the fact that this was Smith’s fourth win for the year in events with a €5,000 buy-in, three of which were won in just over a week at the EPT Grand Final this spring. Smith has cashed for $3,673,806 in live tournaments, making nine final tables throughout the year.
In addition to all of his POY qualified success, Smith also has had a number of impressive results online, including winning more than first-place money in the PokerStars Sunday Million in October.
With the year coming to a close, time is running out for Smith to overtake the lead in the Player of the Year race. There are still a number of POY qualified tournaments left to play, but he’ll have to hurry if he wants to catch Merson, who won two WSOP bracelets, including the main event.
Smith, Merson and Phil Hellmuth are the only three players this year to have recorded multiple seven-figure cashes. The 2012 POY top 10 has cashed for over $47 million this year.
Here is a look at payouts and POY points awarded in this €5,000 no-limit hold’em six-max turbo event:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Dan Smith | $89,039 | 240 |
| 2 | Marc-Andre Ladouceur | $73,301 | 200 |
| 3 | Daniel Kelly | $37,252 | 160 |
| 4 | Paul Berende | $26,665 | 120 |
| 5 | Bryn Kenney | $21,306 | 100 |
| 6 | Bertrand Grospellier | $18,691 | 80 |
Winner photo courtesy of PokerStars and Neil Stoddart.
