February is now in the books in the 2016 Card Player Player of the Year race. Here is a look at the events that most impacted the rankings as the POY moves into March:

2016 L.A. Poker Classic $250,000 Guaranteed $5,250 NLH

The World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 buy-in main event is currently ongoing and is sure to have a huge effect on the POY standings, but just because it has yet to be decided doesn’t mean that the LAPC hasn’t shaken things up.

For example, the huge tournament series played host to a $250,000 guaranteed $5,250 buy-in no-limit hold’em event that helped bring about a shift in the top five of the Player of the Year rankings.

The tournament drew a total of 52 entries, with Kevin Song successfully defending his title in this very event from 2015. For the win he earned $88,400 and 240 points.

2016 EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event runner-up Anthony Gregg also made this final table, finishing sixth to earn $18,200 and 80 POY points. This was his third final table finish of the year, having also placed third in a $25,000 high roller event at Aria Las Vegas earlier this month. As a result of his most recent score he climbed into fourth place in the overall standings with 1,880 total points and $758,055 in year-to-date earnings.

2016 Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza I $750,000 Guaranteed Main Event

A total of 509 entries were made in the 2016 Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza I $750,000 guaranteed no-limit hold’em main event, but in the end a stacked final table remained to battle it out for the title and the $132,480 first-place prize.

Cylus Watson, Ryan Welch and 2009 Card Player Player of the Year winner Eric Baldwin were all among the final nine, but in the end Jordan Cristos emerged victorious. In addition to the hardware and the money the 2013 WPT Legends of Poker main event champ was also awarded 840 POY points.

This was his second title of the year, having won a $600 buy-in prelim event earlier during this series at the Venetian Las Vegas. As a result of his two wins he has moved into 31st place in the rankings with 1,032 total points.

Other Impactful Tournaments

A number of big events from low buy-in tours came to a conclusion this week.

The WPTDeepStacks Parx $1,600 no-limit hold’em main event saw 696 entries made to build a prize pool to spilled over the seven-figure mark. Brent Roberts locked up a $205,944 payday for coming out on top in that tournament, defeating Michael Hollenberg heads-up and earning 840 POY points as a result. That was enough to move him into a multi-way tie for 49th place for the time being.

While that tournament took place in the Northeast another big event was going down in the Midwest. The MSPT Baraboo $1,100 no-limit hold’em event in Wisconsin drew 489 entries. Andrew Rubinberg earned $120,808 and 720 points for the win in that event, enough to move him into a tie for 64th place.

The final big event that wrapped as February came to an end was the HPT Colorado $1,650 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event at the Golden Gates Casino in Blackhawk, CO. The tournament drew a massive field of 781 entries, creating a $1,148,530 prize pool. Aaron Thomas received $246,833 and 912 points after he emerged victorious with the title. He joined Toby Lewis in a tie for the 41st-place spot on the POY leaderboard as a result.

Here is a look at the current top 20 in the POY standings:

Rank	Player	POY Points	Earnings
1	Ari Engel	2,614	$1,148,102
2	Steve O’Dwyer	2,454	$2,856,705
3	Tony Dunst	1,900	$700,000
4	Anthony Gregg	1,880	$758,055
5	Samantha Abernathy	1,840	$448,532
6	Michael Watson	1,824	$728,325
7	Dzmitry Urbanovich	1,752	$640,093
8	Chance Kornuth	1,750	$1,150,224
9	Nick Maimone	1,444	$1,007,060
10	Christopher Leong	1,440	$816,246
11	David Ormsby	1,440	$278,537
12	Connor Drinan	1,428	$1,907,147
13	Joseph Mckeehen	1,420	$1,531,847
14	Gilles Bernies	1,400	$393,613
15	David Peters	1,378	$3,415,682
16	Sean Winter	1,295	$966,180
17	Phillip McAllister	1,252	$362,060
18	Bryn Kenney	1,210	$2,041,592
19	Ivan Luca	1,206	$737,464
20	Rafael Yaraliyev	1,200	$487,288
20	Robert Forbes	1,200	$195,267

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