Online Poker: Isaac Baron Takes Over OPOY Race

On Sunday, Dec. 23, when many people around the world were gearing up for Christmas, Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron was gearing up to take over the coveted top spot of the 2007 Card Player Online Player of the Year (OPOY) leader board. His win in the $200 rebuy tournament on PokerStars that night earned him $58,000 and 360 OPOY points, shooting him past Matt "ch0ppy" Kay and into first place – for now.

Baron's lead is, indeed, rather tenuous, as he has 8,304 points compared to Kay's 8,278 points. That's a difference of just 26 points with only four more days of tournaments left to earn points for the 2007 title. Almost any OPOY-qualified finish would vault Kay back into the lead. Baron missed solidifying his lead by just $400 on Wednesday when he won a $100 rebuy tournament on PokerStars with a prize pool of $99,600. If that prize pool had reached $100,000, the tounament would have qualified for OPOY points and he would have earned 240 points, making it much less likely that Kay could easily catch up before the year's end.

Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi, currently in third place with 6,676, would need to earn more than 1,628 points to take over the lead. That amount is approximately equivalent to a win in the PokerStars Sunday Million (normally 1,440 points) plus some additional deep finishes, an unlikely set of accomplishments to make with so few days remaining in the race. This being the case, it is most likely a two-man race to the finish, and it is certainly too close to call, as of yet.

Kay had held the top spot on and off for the majority of the year, but players like Baron and Mizzi had been taking turns usurping the No. 1 position or laying in wait in one of the top five spots. Other Internet poker superstars like "Andy McLEOD," and Chad "lilholdem954" Batista also spent their fair share of time in the top five of the leader board.

Both Kay and Baron began their treks up the OPOY leader board with wins in the PokerStars Sunday Million in January. Kay won the event on Jan. 7, earning $201,000, and Baron won on Jan. 28, for $255,000. Below are both Kay and Baron's stats, to date. (Note: All results below are for OPOY-qualified finishes only.)