At the beginning of every year, ESPN releases its poker player rankings called ‘The Nuts’. The player ranking is an effort by ESPN to determine the current best player in the poker circuit. The rankings consider the achievements made by players in the recent past. To determine players’ ranks, all forms of poker games are considered such as online and live tournaments, and cash games. As the results of live tournaments are the most easily accessible, they are considered in the rankings more than other game formats.
10 Member Panel Determined Player Rankings
The poker player rankings are determined by a ten member panel of ESPN which has Andrew Feldman, Bernard Lee and Gary Wise – the three top poker experts at ESPN. The other panel members are the poker editor of ESPNdeportes.com, Nahuel Ponce; the editor in chief of Bluff magazine, Lance Bradley; the managing editor of Bluff Magazine, Jessica Welman; the editor-in-chief of PokerNews, Elaine Chaivarlis; and the reporter of live tournaments, Don Peters. Dan Cypra from Pocketfives and Court Harrington from Poker Road are also on the panel.
Vanessa Selbst – The New Entry in ESPN Player Rankings
In this month’s top 10 rankings, 9 players are the same as those in the last month. Vanessa Selbst, who replaced Jake Code, is the new entry in this month’s rankings in 9th place. Selbst’s big tournament cashes this year fetched her the position in ‘The Nuts’. The player’s performance in the L.A. Poker Classic of the World Poker Tour (WPT) was memorable.
The player earned $5,100 in the preliminary No-Limit Hold’em where she knocked out her closest competitor Jonathan Duhamel. Selbst made a 2nd place finish in a No Limit Hold’em heads-up battle. Combing both wins, the player took home $171,335.
Duhamel Made a Big Jump in the Rankings
The biggest jump in player rankings was from Duhamel, who moved up three places – from the 8th to the 5th rank. He finished as the runner-up in a $5,100 tournament of the Los Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC). Duhamel also made it to the final table in a No Limit Hold’em event in the Deauville stop of the European Poker Tour.
Top Two Spots in the Rankings
The top 2 spots in the rankings have been held by Erik Seidel and Jason Mercier continuously for 2 months. Lance Bradley commented that Seidel made quite a few cashes in the initial 10 months of 2011 and still is getting credit for it in poker rankings. However, the player has not been able to make large cashes this year.
The Top 10 Players in the Rankings
Jason Mercier is at the top of the poker player rankings by ESPN, followed by Erik Seidel. Phil Ivey is in the 3rd position, followed by Eugene Katchalov, Jonathan Duhamel and Shawn Buchanan in the 4th, 5th and 6th positions respectively. The 7th position is held by Chris Moorman who beat Sam Trickett, who is in the 8th position. The 9th and the 10th ranks are held by Vanessa Selbst and Bertrand Grospellier respectively. This player is known for its great strategies in playing agen judi slot and other poker games.
