2016 Card Player Player of the Year Race Update — Hawkins, Lauson and Dykshteyn Win Big

Although the top twenty remain the same, there was still plenty of action this week in the 2016 Card Player Player of the Year race. Here is a look at the events that most impacted the rankings over the past seven days:

2016 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs $1,675 Main Event

A total of 321 entries were made in the 2016 _World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs $1,675 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, creating a prize pool worth $481,500.

Maurice Hawkins came out on top in the end, capturing his sixth WSOPC gold ring and the $113,152 first-place prize in the process. Hawkins has won his fifth ring just days earlier when he took down the $365 buy-in no-limit hold’em preliminary event for $19,477. Hawkins is now just the seventh player in history to win six WSOP Circuit gold rings.

In addition to the hardware and the money Hawkins also scored 480 Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified final table of the year, as his win earlier at this festival failed to meet the $400 minimum buy-in requirement. Hawkins’ 480 points moved him into 242nd place in the overall standings.

Runner-up Ryan Phan earned $69,962 and 400 points at his second final table of the year. He had previously finished second in the 2016 Mid-States Poker Tour $1,100 main event in Tama, IA. With 1,000 total points and $128,258 in year-to-date earnings he has now climbed to 55th in the POY rankings.

2016 MSPT Potawatomi $1,100 Main Event

The 2016 Mid-States Poker Tour Potawatomi $1,100 no-limit hold’em main event attracted 556 entries to the Milwaukee, WI area to build a prize pool in excess of a half-million dollars. 38-year-old Travis Lauson had finished runner-up in this event when it was held just seven months earlier, and incredibly he survived down to heads-up play again.

This time around the bar owner from Manitowoc, Wisconsin emerged victorious, taking home the title, the first-place prize of $129,077 and a whopping 840 Player of the Year points.

“I needed redemption from that second place,” Lauson told MSPT reporters after the win. “It’s simply amazing. If I would have lost heads-up back-to-back I would have gone crazy.”

This was Lauson’s first final table score of 2016, but it was enough to see him jump to 84th place on the POY leader board on it’s own merits. This was just Lauson’s fifth live tournament score, with four coming from MSPT events. With this latest win he now has $219,734 in lifetime live tournament earnings.

2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $1 Million Guaranteed $570 NLH

The 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown is a huge festival that will hose a number of major events over the coming weeks that will undoubtedly make an impact on the standings at the top of the POY race. This week the largest event hosted at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood was the $1 million guaranteed $570 buy-in no-limit hold’em event.

The tournament drew an incredible 2,923 total entries over it’s six starting flights, blowing away the guarantee to build a final prize pool of $1,461,500.

In the end the final four players made a deal that saw Darren Rabinowitz take fourth place for $124,700, Casey Kaplan take third place for $134,700, Robert Mizrachi finish as the runner-up for $174,700 and Ruslan Dykshteyn emerge with the title and the top prize of $184,705.

For the win Dykshteyn also locked up 600 Player of the Year points. This was his first final table of 2016 and he moved into a tie for 175th place in the standings as a result.

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