Every year I like to take a look at a few of the tournament grinders who have been quite successful over the past few years, but have yet to “breakout” as poker superstars — had a few cards fallen differently they would already be household names in the poker world and received plenty of gambling news headlines.

So here is Part 2 of my list of the 10 tournament poker players just waiting to breakout in 2012 (Read Part 1 HERE):

Scott Shelley – Shelley is the second Team PKR Pro on this list (the first being Vladimir Geshkenbein) and although he is the owner of World Series of Poker Europe bracelet from 2010, Shelley has yet to really breakthrough into the poker hierarchy. Even though Shelley doesn’t play very many tournaments he has a knack for making the money and I think 2012 could be a big year for him.

Career live tournament earnings $275,000

Melanie Weisner –Ok, Melanie was on my list in 2011 too, but with the amount of tournaments she plays, and the number of deep runs she has had, it really is only a matter of time before Weisner becomes part of the ‘Best Female Poker Player’ conversation.

Career live tournament earnings $388,000

Christian Harder – Charder as he is most commonly called is another one of the online legends in this group who has made the transition to live tournaments. In 2009, Christian finished 4th in the WPT Championship and won a Bellagio Cup tournament; in 2010 he bagged seven cashes during the WSOP, and with a 4th place finish in $3k PLO tournament at the 2011 WSOP and a runner-up finish in the 2011 WPT Foxwoods Main Event, Charder has been quite successful in his transition, all that is missing is that big win.

Career live tournament earnings $2.2 million

Matt Glantz – Glantz is the consummate professional at the poker tables, and if you follow the tournaments as closely as I do it’s almost shocking that he Glantz isn’t more widely known. His biggest win came in the 2009 EPT London High-Roller tournament (which he won) and overall Glantz has pocketed over $4 million for his career. Additionally, he seems to always be making final table after final table, so it wouldn’t shock me if he caught a good run and won two, maybe three major tournaments in 2012.

Career live tournament earnings $4 million

David Sands – Sands is one of the top online tournament players in the history of the game, and in just two full years on the live tournament trail he has already racked-up an impressive resume. He got a slight brush with poker fame after getting a lot of exposure during his 2011 WSOP run before bowing out of the Main Event in 30th place thanks to his girlfriend Erica Moutinho making it even farther in the tournament! Sands could very well be the Chris Moorman of 2012.

Career live tournament earnings $1.9 million

A special thanks to www.thehendonmob.com and their incredibly detailed tournament poker database.

Tags: Big Win, Cashes, Charder, Consummate Professional, EPT, Gambling News, High Roller, Household Names, matt glantz, Plo, Poker Hierarchy, Poker Player, poker players, Poker Superstars, Poker Tables, Poker World, Tournament Poker, World Series of Poker, WPT Championship, WSOP

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