The Best of the Rest in 2016

With the year’s end not far off, I decided to have a look at who had won what throughout the year in tournaments and spotted some big - even life-changing - wins from those you might never have heard of and who deserve their 15 minutes of fame!

We all know that Fedor Holz destroyed almost every field he entered in 2016, that Erik Seidel was almost as consistently brilliant in his own quiet way and that Qui Nguyen walked off with the biggest prize in poker with his Main Event victory and $8million. I even covered some of these big winners here recently.

But there were others – most of whom I had to actually Google to find out who they were – who walked off with massive prize money, so let’s see how many of the top 3 YOU recognize!

1. Dorian Alejandro Rios Pavon

Venezuela isn’t exactly a hotbed of poker, even by South American standards, the only player of note I recognize being Ivan Freitez their leading money-winner.

But now we can add Dorian’s name to the list of capital city Caracas finest, a $1million year catapulting the 28-year old man into the limelight having been pretty much inactive for several years.

He told Codigopoker.com recently:

"My retirement was for work reasons, but I never disconnected from poker - I kept watching videos and studying everything possible because I knew that when I came back it would be ready for big results."

What has changed for Mr Pavon? His old online form has found success in the big tournaments is what!

Four cashes in Barcelona worth over $130,000 was the excellent follow up to his four cashes in this summer’s WSOP – including a phenomenal run in the $1500 Monster Stack event, losing out heads-up but walking off with $692,029 and perhaps finally the bankroll to allow his talent to shine through.

As he says of his native country, in which most poker is outlawed:

"We Venezuelans are very passionate, so when we are banned something, we want to do more. But I think when it is discovered that it is a game like chess and not something totally random like blackjack or machines, everything will change."

Judging by his 2016 results I’d be very surprised if we don’t hear more about this young man in 2017. As he stated recently himself:

"I would like to play all the big tournaments in the world, dedicate myself to PLO and improve my results in Europe."

(Photo: Poker10la.com)

2. James Bord

An Englishman with over $4million in tournament cashes to his name shouldn’t really have escaped my radar for so long, but the 35-year old from Stanhope in northwest London is primarily now a high-stakes cash game player, splitting his time between Vegas and the UK.

My memory isn’t the greatest, but even his 2010 WSOP Europe £10K Championship Event win – for a whopping $1,281, 048 – only rang a bell when I read about the final hand, and recalled the big burly and bearded Englishman’s rail celebration when his red 10’s closed the deal in this grainy old footage!

So why is he on my list if he’s a big winner already?

Because his first tournament cash in three years came just six weeks ago, when his 4th spot in the Monte Carlo €1million One drop Invitationaldoubled his buy-in – and his career tournament winnings – in an event which saw Elton Tsang take down the prettiest-looking payday of all time, a ridiculous €11,111,111.

If Bord decided to spend more of his time at the tournament tables rather than the $300–600/$400–800 games he enjoys with his high-rolling colleagues, he’d likely land a few more massive cashes and trouble the world’s very best. Unlikely to happen, but if you see his name on a start list somewhere, get your money on the Londoner!

(Photo: Cardplayer.com)

3. Koray Aldemir

Fedor Holz, Rainer Kempe, Ole Schemion and Fabian Quoss may well be the big four from Germany in 2016, but it was the fifth element which attracted my eye – the young man currently studying in Vienna and who sprang to prominence at this year’s WSOP in Las Vegas.

Aldemir had a relatively undistinguished live tournament record when he sat down in the $1500 Summer Solstice event, but three days later he was $252,805 richer after outlasting all but one of the 1840 entrants – only Spain’s Adrian Mateos depriving him of the title heads-up.

Undaunted by his relative inexperience at such levels, Aldemir decided to invest some of his winnings in the $111,111 high-roller for One Drop event just two weeks later – a decision which proved extremely fortuitous as he scooped $2,154, 265 for his 3rd spot behind Dan Smith and the unstoppable force of fellow-countryman Fedor Holz.

One huge hand showed his fearless style of play even against the biggest names in the game…

Aldemir opened for 40,000 with K♠K♦ and Doug WCGRider Polk decided his J♦J♣ was worth a re-raise, upon which Liv Boeree shoved her 129,000 short-stack in with A♥J♠.

Aldemir, according to Cardschat.com, ‘then re-raised to 330,000 which didn’t scare away Polk. He put it all-in for 1,219,000 and received an instant call. The board ran out 7♦ 5♥ 3♣ 7♥ Q♥. Game over for Boeree, and Polk was left crippled with just 140,000 chips. He later busted. This was the hand that sparked Aldemir to the top of the leaderboard.’

And exactly the type of play which has taken the German to almost $3million in tournament earnings in little over three years – definitely one to watch over the coming months and years!

(Photo: Flickr.com)

So, three names either new or long-forgotten (by me anyhow!) which shows that there is much more going on out there in the poker world than the same big names taking home the same