We think he was one of the Big Winners of the last two weeks of October 2009, too:

Luca Pagano
EPT Warsaw (Casinos Poland)
Poland

Italian pro Luca Pagano suffered a bad beat to finish 4th. And though Pagano has found full-on wins elusive on the EPT, his $128k run in Warsaw was enough to push him past Bertrand Grospellier (“Elky”) as the top player (in terms of Tournament Leaderboard Points) on the EPT in history, with 12 cashes and five final tables.

See the real EPT’s all-time Tournament Leaderboard

We’ll see if this holds up and says anything about the level of skill worldwide … it may just be reflecting the growth of international tournaments. Still … it’s different, and noted.

Jackson is one of four cosponsor’s to Rep. Pete Sessions’ (R-TX) HR 6663. That bill, of course, is the most straightforward fix to the UIGEA — simply limiting its reach to online sports gambling — yet one of the more controversial because of, um, politics.

Perhaps shockingly, he didn’t mention anything about the critical importance of being able to easily compete in online WSOP satellites in his five minutes he had to address the world … but hey, that’s where we stand: We have a young, pre-introductory Day 1 speaker to the Democratic party (his debut performance on such a stage) aware of our issues and philosophically on our side, though not exactly the way the PPA would like him to be.

Speech transcript / Video

Players on the verge of pure exhaustion who entered the most events:

Thomas McCormick (23)
Sirous Jamshidi (22)
Amnon Filippi (21)
Justin Bonomo (21)
Phil Ivey (21)

Players who might my new best friends with the most cashes:

Nikolay Evdakov (6)
Rolf Slotboom (5)
Tom Schneider (5)
Kathy Liebert (5)
Alex Jacob (5)
Roland Isra (5)

Players who have lives outside of the WSOP with the highest cash percentages:

Kathy Liebert (5 out of 8 events)
Sarah Bilney (4 out of 8 events)
Tom Lee (3 out of 6 events)
Peter Debest (3 out of 6 events)
Calen McNeil (3 out of 6 events)

Players who won’t give me their phone numbers earning the most money:

Grant Hinkle – $831,462 (1 cash)
Phil Galfond – $817,781 (1 cash)
Nenad Medic – $810,608 (2 cashes)
Scott Seiver – $781,866 (3 cashes)
Duncan Bell – $666,697 (1 cash)

Finally, 12 players are tied for reaching the most final tables (2) this year:

David Singer, Chris Bjorin, Andy Bloch, Alex Bolotin, Scott Clements, Jacobo Fernandez, Fu Wong, Minh Ly, Daniel Negreanu, J.C. Tran, Theo Tran, Erick Lindgren (WSOP claims 11, but I found 12 – revision may be in the works)

UPDATE: David Benyamine and Barry Greenstein should also be listed as reaching 2 final tables this year. (Thanks to the peanut gallery commenters!) If there are any more missing from the list, I give up!

Tom Schneider starts today third in chips … I do know that much. And yeah, looking again, it’s gotta be event #3, because that’s one that counts toward Player of the Year. He really wants to win it, and thinks he can. Personally, I don’t think he stands a chance — though I suppose technically it’s possible and the Arizona Cardinals could win the next Super Bowl, as neither have been mathematically eliminated from contention.

In the meantime, keep up the good work, Tom (6)! We’re rooting for you against David Pham, Jonathan Little, Scott Clements, Bill Edler, JC Tran, David Fox, James Van Alstyne, Jared Hamby, and Danny Wong! Actually, I’m kinda rooting for Danny Wong, too … because he’s on my fantasy team. And Travis Rice, who is Dallas Poker’s highest ranked player in the CardPlayer standings at #11 — 5 spots, and 680 points behind Tom.

UPDATE (from Tom):

Belagio 2500 started yesterday 247 players

Hmm, OK, so I guess it was not one of the Venetian tourneys … it was a 5-Diamonder. Oops! But can we say sic.?

CORRECTION: Despite his own reports to the contrary, Schneider starts the day second in chips, not third. Click below to see who’s at the final table …

Player – Chip Count

Jack Duncan – 309,500
Tom Schneider – 233,500
Dutch Boyd – 228,500
Michael Pesek – 131,000
Toto Leinidas – 88,500
Vivek Rajkumar – 77,000
Wade Woelfel – 70,500
Osmin Dardon – 58,000
Christopher Bush – 39,000

Tom Schneider ($416,829):
Event 5: 1st/327 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better
Event 16: 4th/382 H.O.R.S.E.
Event 46: 1st/668 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better

Jeff Lisandro ($457,309):
Event 7: 13/145 Pot Limit Omaha W/Rebuys
Event 13: 2nd/398 World Championship Pot Limit Hold’em
Event 32: 1st/213 Seven Card Stud
Event 40: 18/620 Mixed Hold’em limit/no-limit
Event 46: 62/668 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better

Robert Mizrachi ($861,138)
Event 5: 26/327 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better
Event 9: 40/690 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
Event 16: 6th/382 H.O.R.S.E.
Event 26: 5th/192 H.O.R.S.E.
Event 50: 1st/314 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha

Phil Hellmuth ($738,724)
Event 10: 104/1,531 No-Limit Hold’em
Event 15: 1st/2,628 No-Limit Hold’em
Event 28: 6th/827 No-Limit Hold’em
Event 34: 25th/296 Limit Hold’em
Event 45: 31st/728 No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed
Event 52: 95/1,048 No Limit Holdem w/ rebuys

Freddy Deeb ($2,291,489)
Event 4: 45/481 Pot Limit Hold’em
Event 30: 27/847 No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed
Event 39: 1st/148 World Championship H.O.R.S.E.

The current method of determining the POY is to give the same amount of points to each tournament excluding the Main Event, the $50,000 Horse Event and all other events that are restricted, i.e. Seniors, Ladies, Casino Employees and Media. A player receives 100 points for a win no matter what event he wins, 75 points for a second all the way down the line to 5 points for cashing.

Before providing your assignment, here are some of the comments that I have heard regarding the criterion to determine the POY. I’m not saying that I agree or disagree with any of them. Number of players in the field, dollar amount won, dollar amount of buy-in, versatility in tournaments won, the $50K HORSE should count, the Main Event should count, perceived skill of field, and I’m sure there are more. Come up with your own too.

Here’s what I would like you to think about. First look at the performances of the five players above and any other player you would like to include. Based upon your own beliefs about what the criterion should be, pick your winner of the POY. Now that you have your POY, design a system that would end up selecting your player. I think you’ll find that its not easy, however, I may have a little say in this process next year, so I would love the feedback of the smart readers of Pokerati.