Waxman is still in the hunt for the 2011 BLUFF POY title as well

Eugene Katchalov may be the player to beat in the BLUFF Player of the Year race, but when it comes to the BLUFF/ESPN Power Rankings, he is the one that has catching up to do.

The ranking system, which evaluates how players perform over an 18 month time span currently says that Matt Waxman is the best player around. While Waxman has about 100 less Player of the Year points in the 2011 race than Katchalov does, Waxman does have more points from 2010, including his win in last December’s WSOPC Main Event in Atlantic City.

Waxman might need a cash in the $100,000 buy-in Bellagio event though if he wants to hold on to the top spot. Katchalov’s small cash in the WPT Prague Main Event has not been added to his points total yet, so Waxman’s lead could be gone in a matter of days.

Lurking a ways behind the top two runners is Bertrand Grospellier, whose strong performance in Marrakech at the WPT stop there helps to make up for his relative dry spell during the late stages of 2010. Just 25 points behind Grospellier is a player familiar with being on top of the Power Rankings, Jason Mercier. Marvin Rettenmaier rounds out the top five, but could make progress up the ranks with a strong performance in the EPT Prague side events.

Sam Trickett is a relatively new addition to the Power Rankings, but he is currently sitting in sixth position. He might need to post another cash in the next couple of months though, as soon his big scores from the 2011 Aussie Millions will be over a year old and only worth half the points.  Look for Scott Clements, a perennial Power Rankings performer to possibly move up the ranks too. He is running hot after winning the Venetian Deep Stack Main Event.  He cashed in two Bellagio prelims and has a big stack nearing the money in the Five Diamond Main Event.

Here are the current top twenty in the BLUFF/ESPN Power Rankings:

1. Matt Waxman – 1,362.65
2. Eugene Katchalov – 1,344.77
3. Bertrand Grospellier – 1,264.22
4. Jason Mercier – 1,249.81
5. Marvin Rettenmaier – 1,243.78
6. Sam Trickett – 1,194.16
7. Sam Stein – 1,189.12
8. Sorel Mizzi – 1,153.37
9. Shawn Buchanan – 1,139.74
10. Ben Lamb – 1,108.93
11. Will Failla – 1,099.00
12. Max Lykov – 1,097.19
13. Erik Seidel – 1,040.39
14. Steve O’Dwyer – 1,025.32
15. Tom Marchese – 1,013.19
16. Scott Clements – 1,012.80
17. Dwyte Pilgrim – 979.66
18. Vanessa Selbst – 946.90
19. Elio Fox – 940.70
20. Roberto Romanello – 940.14

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