PokerTableRatings Hands Out 2010 Online Poker Awards

The votes have been cast, the ballots have been counted, and the winners have been announced.  The 2010 Player of the Year Awards presented by PokerTableRatings.com are out and an impressive cast of online poker pros and a few amateurs have been credited with titles in Hold’em and Omaha over five different levels of play.

An award was given for both Hold’em and Omaha to the Nosebleeds, High-Stakes, Mid-Stakes, Low-Stakes, and Micro-Stakes.  The winners of each category will receive a custom PokerTableRatings.com profile with a special tHEMe, picture, and badge signifying the award.  Each winner also receives a 50-word bio in an upcoming Bluff Magazine edition and an opportunity to create training videos for Drag The Bar.  The range of payment for each of the videos depends on the stakes, with the Micro-Stakes starting at around $150 per video and working all the way up to $2,000 per video.

Additionally, each winner receives a one-year subscription to PokerTableRatings.com Gold valued at nearly $400 and a Player of the Year jacket.  And now, for the winners:

Nosebleeds:
Hold’em: IHateJuice
Omaha: OMGClayAiken

High-Stakes:
Hold’em: MuckeDBoy
Omaha: gamblegambel

Mid-Stakes:
Hold’em: DeluxeSamy
Omaha: DonkPredator

Low-Stakes:
Hold’em: bigacsiga
Omaha: kazor

Micro-Stakes:
Hold’em: Nevereverits
Omaha: Apple Is A

At the Nosebleed stakes, it was “IHateJuice” who claimed the top prize in Hold’em, while Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond claimed the title for Omaha.  In what has to be considered an upset, “IHateJuice” claimed the top prize and 121 more votes than Dan “jungleman12” Cates despite the incredible amount of attention received by the newcomer and Durrrr Challenge superstar.

While Cates turned in the largest profit of any online player in 2010 with more than $4.2 million earnings, it was “IHateJuice” who claimed the top prize from the voters and booked the win.  While the identity of “IHateJuice” has yet to be revealed, his year included wins against the top names on Full Tilt Poker, including Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Patrik Antonius.  In one session against Ivey, the eight-time bracelet winner told “IHateJuice” that he was better at Limit Hold’em.

Galfond remained relatively active at the Nosebleed stakes despite taking a lot of time away from the tables to focus on his projects at PokerStatic.com and Bluefire Poker. Galfond also turned in a deep run in this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event.  

At the High-Stakes level, it was Spanish poker player Javier “MuckeDBoy” Tazon that booked the top prize.  Tazon received the most votes, as he amassed $372,000 in profit on the year on PokerStars to earn him 86 more votes than Russian poker player “scout326,” who many people claim is billionaire Roman Abramovich.  In Omaha, it was “gamblegambel” who took the top prize with more than $944,000 in earnings, besting Andreas “Skjervoy” Torbergsen and Russian player “LuckyGump,” who both received 19 fewer votes.

Another upset at the Mid-Stakes Hold’em tables saw “DeluxeSamy” take the top honors over Team PokerStars Pro Randy “nanonoko” Lew.  The latter booked more $1.8 million in online winnings in 2010 at the Mid-Stakes level compared to just $24,000 from “DeluxeSamy;” however, he received 62 fewer votes.  At Omaha, it was “DonkPredator” who received the most votes with more than $282,000 in earnings on the year.

The final Hold’em awards handed out were to Poland’s Andrs “bigacsiga” Fekete at the Low-Stakes and “Nevereverits” at the Micro-Stakes.  In Omaha, “kazor” took the Low-Stakes top honors, while “Apple Is A” booked the win at the Micro-Stakes.

According to PokerTableRatings, the first place winners in each category play an average of 6,817 hands per week and have an average win rate of 1.9 BB/100.