GPI PoY February Recap: Shak and Watson Take Turns at PoY#1

Dan Shak and Michael Watson were in control of the GPI Player of the Year lead throughout February and Shak sits at PoY#1 as March begins. At the end of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January Shak had just 64 points, nowhere near enough to even appear in the PoY Top One Hundred much less be atop the leaderboard. Things changed dramatically for Shak at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship however. Shak placed 4^th in both the A$100,000 NLHE Challenge and the A$10,600 NLHE Main Event. He earned a combined 217 points for those finishes and shot straight to PoY#1 at the beginning of February.

But his lead did not last long. The following week Michael ‘SirWatts’ Watson surpassed him and held the lead for three straight weeks. Watson did well at the PCA, earning a combined 212 points for a 3rd place finish in the $25,000 NLHE High Roller and a 14^th place finish in the $5,000 NLHE event. That put him in 7^th place at the beginning of the PoY race. He was able to overtake Shak thanks to also gaining two scores at the Aussie Millions, including a win in the A$2,500 PLO event. For his victory he earned 72 points and added an additional 60 points in the A$5,000 NLHE 6-Max Turbo for a 3^rd place finish.

The LA Poker Classic gave Shak the opportunity to regain the lead and he took it. Shak finished 49^th out of 517 runners in the $10,000 NLHE Championship, adding 68 points to his score and returning him to PoY#1.

Micah Raskin added himself to the mix this week by also surpassing Watson dropping him to PoY#3. Raskin entered the Top Ten three weeks ago and has held steady at PoY#9 and PoY#10 for the past two weeks. This week he shoots up to PoY#2 after earning 79 points for finishing 3^rd in the LA Poker Classic $25,000 NLHE High Roller. He adds that to 181 points earned at the PCA, 114 points for an 8^th place finish in the $25,000 NLHE High Roller and 67 points for finishing 9^th in the $10,000 NLHE 6-Max, and 84 points at the Aussie Millions for his victory in the A$5,000 NLHE 6-Max Turbo event.

The remainder of the GPI PoY frontrunners include Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Bryn Kenney, Ole Schemion, Ravi Ravaghan, Tim Reilly, Igor Kurganov, and Christian Harder.

Coming Up

The Bay 101 Shooting Stars $7,500 NLHE Main Event is underway in San Jose and promises to impact the Standings. Many of the best players in the world are in attendance, including our current PoY leader Dan Shak. A deep run for any player could move them up significantly in the Standings or for Shak help separate him from the pack.