Mercier has won over $200,000 in the past month

While our Player of the Year honors are designed to pay tribute to the player who sustained the top level of success over the course of a calendar year, our Power Rankings try to keep an eye on who are the hottest players of the moment. For those who need a quick reminder, the Bluff/ESPN Power Rankings cull results from the past 365 days to determine who’s not, who’s not and recognizes some of the top pros of the moment.

Reigning BLUFF Player of the Year Jason Mercier still holds the top spot on the Power Rankings with a 600 point lead over Michael Binger, who sits in the #2 spot. Though Mercier’s scores from last year’s Wynn Poker Classic are about to fall off his points total, Mercier has two LA Poker Classic scores to more than compensate for any points lost. Mercier posted a 3rd place finish in the LAPC High Roller event worth $141,780 and had a near-final table appearance in the 8 Game Mixed Event. One thing that won’t be counting in Mercier’s favor is his Elite Eight appearance at this past weekend’s NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship. Yes, Mercier made the money, but invitationals do not count towards POY and Power Rankings totals, so the 23 year-old will just have to be content with the TV time and $75,000 he won in that event.

Binger climbed his way up to #2 after travelling back and forth between Las Vegas and Los Angeles for as much NAPT and LAPC action as he can handle. There has been no Binger sighting in San Jose at the Bay 101 Shooting Star event so far, but it is certainly possible the Stanford alum will make an appearance in the Bay Area at Day 1B, which gets underway Tuesday afternoon.

Eric Baldwin, who is #3 in our standings, already came and went from Bay 101, busting out on Day 1A, but he is headed back to Las Vegas right now, so maybe he will turn up at some Wynn Classic events over the next few days.

Rounding out the top five are perennial final tablists Scott Clements and Soheil Shamseddin. Clements finished 2nd in a Wynn Classic event last week and, though he didn’t earn any points for the score, it does mark his seventh final table so far this year. That’s right, Clements has made seven final table in just over two months. If he keeps up with those results, not only will he have a chance to move even higher in our power rankings, he will also have a shot at the title of 2010 Player of the Year.

Until then, check out the top ten players in our latest update to the BLUFF/ESPN Power Rankings:

1. Jason Mercier – 1,983.13
2. Michael Binger – 1,383.32
3. Eric Baldwin – 1,368.48
4. Scott Clements – 1,186.61
5. Soheil Shamseddin – 1,137.17
6. Daniel Alaei – 1,096.13
7. Bertrand Grospellier – 1,071.54
8. David Paul Steicke – 1,019.10
9. Vitaly Lunkin – 985.25
10. Jeff Madsen – 963.45

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