The Global Poker Index updated its weekly Player of the Year leaderboard on Wednesday. Polish poker pro Dzmitry Urbanovich tops it for a second consecutive week. He has a total of 2,483.10 points and is followed by American player Connor Drinan. The latter has accrued 2,165.00 points since the beginning of 2015. And it seems that he is striving for the first spot.
In fact, Drinan deserves to be paid a bit more attention, since only four weeks ago, he was 81st in GPI’s ranking.
The American player had quite a busy month as he took part in six EPT Season 11 Malta events and cashed in four of them, winning almost $500,000. Drinan finished second in the €25,000 + 500 #5 No Limit Hold’em – EPT High Roller and was paid a consolation prize of €397,800 ($421,175). He also took €20,500 ($22,442) for his 33rd place in the €10,000 + 300 #53 No Limit Holdem – High Roller and €8,825 ($9,595) for his 10th place in the €5,000 + 200 #66 No Limit Hold’em – Six Max Turbo.
Although the American did not perform that well in the EPT Season 11 Main Event where he finished 127th, he managed to cash €9,120 ($9,865) from it.
So far Drinan has collected $2,887,555 in live earnings with his biggest cash from the APPT 2014 Asia Championship of Poker HK$500,000 Super High Roller, where he finished 4th and was paid HK$5,100,000 ($657,605).
Last year, the American poker pro was among the 46 participants in the so-called Big One for One Drop tournament. It takes place every other year and is organized by the World Series of Poker. Players are required to pay a $1 million buy-in fee in order to enter it. In 2014, participants competed for a prize of $15,306,688.
Back then, Drinan finished 18th after a tough hand against Cary Katz. At its beginning, both players drew pocket aces or in other words, the best possible starting hand in Texas Hold’em. Katz and Drinan went all-in, but only the latter was in danger of being eliminated. The board ran out four hearts and this was the end for Drinan as his opponent was holding the ace of hearts. Broadcasters called his elimination “the worst beat” in the history of poker.
