Top Rookie Players of 2016

In the game of poker, defining a rookie can be quite tedious. Is an amateur a rookie? Many say yes but what about those amateurs and part-timers who have played poker for a long time? Can they still fit in the rookie category? And what about an online player who transitioned from the virtual to the live felt? Can he be regarded as a rookie in the live poker tournament world? Or a small-stakes player who takes a shot for the big stage where the lights shine brightest...is he a rookie?

If we ask every single poker enthusiast, we will come up with very different sets of answers. So to make things easier and create our very own Top Rookies of 2016 list, we’ve come up with a few simple conditions that hopefully will satisfy you all. Not embracing the poker career full-time is indeed one of our conditions; not having notable top finishes prior to 2016 is another, while starting playing poker recently - as in the last one or two years - could count as number three. Keeping all those rules in mind, here is PokerTube’s exclusive Top Rookie Players of 2016, live poker tournament edition. Enjoy!

5. Lisa Meredith

More than four months ago, a kindergarten teacher from Portland stroke gold at the 2016 World Series of Poker. Lisa Meredith took a year off to have her second child and started taking poker a little more seriously. She already attended some local $20 pub poker tournaments near her home and in April, confident in her abilities, Lisa registered for a $100 Spring Poker Round-Up event in Pendleton. Later she realized that was her best investment of her life thus far. Not only did she win the event for a little over $10,000 (and as a result, she officially entered the GPI rankings) but she also convinced her husband to take a short trip to Vegas and try to get in some juicy games.

The husband agreed but only if she kept the buy-ins small. Next thing, Lisa was in the Millionaire Maker event. $1,500 is rather small right? Five days later, that $1,500 - or basically the initial $100 from April - turned into a half million dollars. She competed with the best of the best at the final table and finished third behind only Garrett Greer and Jason DeWitt.

The $500,000 won’t be used to move up stakes. Meredith said she will use the money to pay off the mortgage. And the bronze-medalist kindergarten teacher will probably remain an amateur. That’s too bad but still an impressive run and a worthy mentioning in the Top Rookie Players of 2016.

(Photo: WSOP.com)

4. Safiya Umerova

Russian native Safiya Umerova who now resides in Los Angeles isn’t an amateur anymore. What’s interesting though is that she picked up the game recently, learned on the go and less than a year ago, she decided to make the next step and embrace the poker career full-time.

Safiya started playing cash but soon realized that tournaments were actually her favorite format. And what a ride did she have in 2016 so far: according to GPI, she has 14 cashes this year starting off with two solid wins in two small WPT L.A. Poker Classic events.

The result however that made her stand out from the crowd happened in Las Vegas, at the WSOP. Umerova won Event #50: $1,500 No Limit Holdem Shootout and her first-ever six-figure prize (over $264,000). Plus a gold bracelet. She said after the win that she was underestimated many times because of her looks and because of her gender and that no matter what the men say, she dreams to become the best poker player in the world one day.

Well, that’s quite a dream but if we look at her hot start, we are pretty sure she has the potential to reach the top. Just think about it: winning a gold bracelet with less than a year real poker experience under her belt. That’s really impressive.

Keep cashing in, Safiya!

3. Farid Yachou

Here’s the odd thing about Farid Yachou: he plays poker regularly in the small city of Leeuwarden, Netherlands but mostly with his friends and far away from the bright lights. Luckily for him, one of his good friends is 2009 European Poker Tour Grand Final champion Pieter de Korver. Pieter remembers playing with Farid cash games and low-limit tournaments dating back to 2006. Yet Yachou never attended poker tournaments worth mentioning until… well last year, when he registered for the WPT Amsterdam. Pieter told him about the tourney and since Farid believed his poker skills are not that far behind, he decided to buy-in too. And guess what happened: he surpassed just about everybody participating at the WPT Amsterdam - not just his poker friend - and won a ticket for the 2016 WPT Tournament of Champions.

Yet he didn’t want to participate: he was afraid of flying so he wanted to give the ticket to Pieter. De Korver refused and Farid had no choice but to get past his phobia and fly to Hollywood. He did just that and atop of it all, he surpassed all the WPT champions for number one. Can you believe that?

Yachou didn’t as he only wanted an honorable exit. Yet days went by and he became the ultimate executioner. He won $381,600, a 2016 Corvette plus a stunning Hublot. Well, we don’t know if we can call Farid amateur now but we do know he still won’t take the game of poker that serious.

He said after the win:

"I’m a businessman. Everywhere where money is, I’m there.”

So why not poker then?

2. Sebastian Malec

Remember EPT Barcelona? The final table was quite a show, that five-hour heads-up… priceless and the winner, one of a kind in Polish Sebastian Malec.

Malec isn’t a complete rookie, he had several cashes in 2015, but the Math student and artist wannabe had quite a run in 2016, one that he will never forget. He started the year with a few cashes in Dublin and London - he studies in the UK - and since the poker life is somehow similar to an artist life, the 21-year-old decided to start travelling around Europe. And the moment of truth came: he qualified to the EPT Barcelona Main Event with just €27 and started dreaming.

The last hours before the win were unbelievable for all of us: visibly nervous and emotional, Sebastian started ordering drink after drink to relax himself. And in one crucial moment, he succeeded in deceiving his foe, experienced poker pro Uri Reichenstein. With a flush in his hands, he begged Uri to fold and let him go to the bathroom.

The German didn’t believe him and called. An emotional outburst and a lot of tears of joy followed. His dream was complete: win the EPT trophy plus over €1.1 million. That’s what poker is all about, baby!

Rookie of the Year? Could be! Most emotional poker win EVER? Definitely!

1. Fernando Pons Garcia

Indeed, the title Rookie of the Year could go either way: to Malec or to this year’s WSOP November Niner, Fernando Pons Garcia.

Fernando is not a poker pro by any means. Before the 2016 WSOP Main Event, he participated in several minor events in his home country without any notable results (some $14,000 in cashes according to GPI). In fact, he didn’t believe he would actually go to Las Vegas and play the $10,000 Main Event. He just wanted to try his luck in one 888.es WSOP satellite with €30. Those 30 euros turned to a step two €250 which turned into one amazing $10,000 WSOP ticket.

When he arrived in Vegas, he didn’t have many expectations but as the tourney went deep, he started believing he could actually make the money and have even a bigger ROI. What he didn’t dare to dream though was making the final table and having at least $1 million guaranteed.

Before the final table kicks off in a couple of days, he is the shortstack at the table but why isn’t the Spaniard entitled to dream bigger? Few double-ups and he might be in the chase for the grand prize of $8 million plus the unique opportunity to become the next Chris Moneymaker.

In the meantime though, he still has to ask his boss for a few days off. Why?

I am going back to Las Vegas to see if miracles really do happen.

If he wins it all, Fernando Pons Garcia is without question the Top Rookie Poker Player of 2016. Good luck Fernando!

Do you have other names in mind? If you do, please share with the rest of us in the comment section below.