Duhamel is up over $1.2 million this year

Eugene Katchalov has made his 2011 BLUFF Player of the Year victory lap.  Now the 2012 race is underway and, thanks to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, we have a new crop of frontrunners.

While the winner of the PCA Main Event is usually the first player to ascend to the top spot, Jonathan Duhamel has bucked that trend thanks to a trio of scores each worth over 100 points.  Between a win in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em side event worth nearly $240,000, a runner-up finish in the High Roller Event, and a final table appearance at the Super High Roller, Duhamel already has 519.60 points to his credit–roughly half of what Katchalov ended 2011 with.

The PCA Main Event winner John Dibella is second in the ranks with 427.50 points, while the Main Event runner-up Kyle Julius rounds out the top three with 299.25 points.  Meanwhile, last year’s PCA Main Event winner and early frontrunner in the 2011 POY contest, Galen Hall, debuts at number 15 thanks to a final table appearance in the Super High Roller event and a run in the Main Event as well.

Other notables in the top twenty include PCAA $10,000 Turbo Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em winner Shawn Buchanan (5th), Viktor Blom (7th), Faraz Jaka (8th) Joe Cada (12th), Dan Shak (13th), and Isaac Haxton (20th).

These points reflect results from the PCA, but the Aussie Millions scores have yet to be tabulated. Unfortunately for Dan Smith, the $100,000 Aussie Millions High Roller event didn’t generate enough entries to count for BLUFF POY points, but it is safe to say his seven figure payday should help to turn his mood around.  Meanwhile, Duhamel, Dibella, and Julius all skipped the Aussie Millions, but Buchanan, Jaka, and Shak are just a few of the early contenders who are down in Melbourne and looking to add more points to their POY total.

Results from the Aussie Millions as well as the Million Dollar Heater at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi should be available next week, and will likely impact these rankings.  Until then, here are the current top twenty in the 2012 BLUFF Player of the Year race:

1. Jonathan Duhamel – 519.60
2. John Dibella – 427.5
3. Kyle Julius – 299.25
4. Leonid Bilokur – 288.00
5. Shawn Buchanan – 268.88
6. Andrew Chen – 254.17
7. Viktor Blom – 250.00
8. Faraz Jaka – 213.75
9. Michael Telker – 206.64
10. Joseph Mckeehen – 193.68
11. Xuan Liu – 188.10
12. Joe Cada – 180.00
13. Dan Shak – 175.00
14. Mark Weisser – 168.00
15. Galen Hall – 167.8
16. Mark Drover – 162.45
17. Georgios Kapalas – 150.00
18. Scott Schwalich – 148.25
19. Edward Kim – 145.60
20. Isaac Haxton – 144.00

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