Barry Carter counts down the players who really made their mark on poker in 2012, as well as some of the guys who made PokerStrategy.com more exciting to be around.
10. Dan Smith
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| Dan Smith, 2012's Jason Mercier |
Every year there is one player who just seems to run hotter than everyone else, and this year it was Dan Smith.
The American had an amazing 2012 which saw him cash 18 times; making 10 final tables and winning 6 of them.
He also had two seven-figure scores and five six-figure scores.
In total he cashed for $4,368,736 and really put his name on the map this year.
9. Ole "olekonjole" Schemion
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| Ole Ole Ole! |
2012 was really the year of the Germans and one player who enjoyed a dominate twelve months was Ole '{communitylink=olekonjole+level}' Schemion.
He had already picked up a few notable results including an EPT side event win and taking down the PCA Battleship tournament.
But the final third of the year was when he really made his mark. He took down the final ever Partouche Poker Tour Grand Final in September for €1,172,850 and quickly followed that up in November by winning the Amsterdam Masters Classics of Poker for €286,200.
8. Dominik Nitsche
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| Barely legal, 21 year old Nitsche |
Dominik '{communitylink=Ace0nTheRiver+level}' Nitsche already had a very impressive poker resume despite the fact that this was the first year he could legally play in the WSOP.
He made his mark on Las Vegas in style, beating 4,619 other players and capturing the bracelet in event #59 for $654,797.
He followed this up in style in October when he won the first ever World Poker Tour to be held in South Africa for $206,153.
Nitsche has nearly $1 million in winnings this year, but perhaps more impressively has put himself in contention of winning the poker triple crown (Needing just an EPT) almost as soon as he turned 21.
7. imfromsweden
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| imfromsweden's avatar |
Not everyone on this list has taken down seven-figure scores in 2012, for some there is a an equally sought after prize in poker - bragging rights.
This month from our very own poker school in Gibraltar '
imfromsweden007' took down the inaugural PokerStrategy.com Heads-Up Championship.
He defeated 'pleno1', 'KTU' and finally 'lnternet' on his way to the title, in 90-minute contests of $1/$2 No Limit over three tables. All the sessions were filmed by each participant and training videos are being produced for everyone to learn from.
'imfromsweden007' now holds onto the official Championship Belt and will defend his title early next year against a challenger soon to be announced.
6. maratik
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| maratik is an inspiration |
In 2003 Chris Moneymaker shocked the world by turning a $33 satellite win into a World Championship.
This year possibly the greatest ever Cinderella story in poker unveiled as micro stakes player "maratik" took down the PokerStars WCOOP Main Event for $1,000,907.26.
The amazing thing about this story is maratik won his seat in the $5,200 event starting with a 40 FPP satellite, worth about $0.64.
The fact he won the main event buy-in in itself was already a fantastic achievement in ROI, but then to navigate through one of the toughest online fields of the year to take down the online equivalent of the WSOP main event is the stuff dreams are made of.
Turning $0.64 into $1,000,907.26 really makes maratik one of the most inspiring players of 2012.
Join us later on this week for part 2.
By Barry Carter
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