This year three poker players added their names to the growing list of poker Player of the Year winners, as Greg Merson, Dan Smith, and Marvin Rettenmaier joined the fairly exclusive club. The first Player of the Year was crowned in 1997 by Cardplayer Magazine (the only entity to crown a POY until Bluff created their own POY formula in 2005) when Men Nguyen won the first of his four Player of the Year titles.

Since 2005, the first year where multiple POY awards were handed out, only one player has managed to pull of Daily Double and win both awards, John Phan accomplished the feat in 2008, and now with three separate awards it would be an unbelievable achievement for someone to pull off the trifecta –which Dan Smith almost did this year, finishing 1st, 2nd, and 2nd.

Below you will find a historical look at the Player of the Year awards handed out in poker.

Cardplayer magazine Player of the Year winners through the years

The Cardplayer Magazine Player of the Year award tends to go to the most prolific player, as virtually every tournament played is worth some amount of POY points. However, a flaw in the structure has been seen in recent as players whose only cashes were at the WSOP have won in consecutive years, including this year’s winner Greg Merson. Merson cashed in just four tournaments all year, but his two big WSOP wins propelled him to the title.

* 1997 — Men Nguyen

* 1998 — T. J. Cloutier

* 1999 — Tony Ma

* 2000 — David Pham

* 2001 — Men Nguyen (2)

* 2002 — T. J. Cloutier (2)

* 2003 — Men Nguyen (3)

* 2004 — Daniel Negreanu

* 2005 — Men Nguyen (4)

* 2006 — Michael Mizrachi

* 2007 — David Pham (2)

* 2008 — John Phan

* 2009 — Eric Baldwin

* 2010 — Tom Marchese

* 2011 – Ben Lamb

* 2012 – Greg Merson

Bluff Magazine Player of the Year winners through the years

Bluff Magazine gives players partial credit for last year’s results (which is good in that a player needs to be consistent, but bad in that a rookie has little chance of ever winning the Bluff POY award like Tom Marchese in 2010) making it slightly better than the Cardplayer model in my opinion.

* 2005 – Phil Ivey

* 2006 – Chad Brown

* 2007 – Bill Edler

* 2008 – John Phan

* 2009 – Jason Mercier

* 2010 – Sorel Mizzi

* 2011 – Eugene Katchalov

* 2012 – Marvin Rettenmaier

Global Poker Index Player of the Year winners through the years

The Global Poker Index uses a player’s best results in separate quarters to crown their champion, which means a player who has a hot three month streak is not going to win the GPI POY award. Instead a player needs consistency throughout the year, like this year’s winner Dan Smith, who took home the inaugural GPI Player of the Year award.

* 2012 – Dan Smith

 

Tags: Bluff Magazine, Cardplayer Magazine, Cashes, Eric Baldwin, Greg Smith, Lamb, marchese, Marvin, Michael Mizrachi, Nguyen, Poker Player, poker players, Rettenmaier, T J Cloutier, Trifecta, WSOP

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