Ben Lamb Wins 2011 Card Player Of The Year

US pro Ben Lamb has officially been honoured with the 2011 Card Player Player of the Year award, in a year in which all his 6,036 POY points came from a remarkable performance at the WSOP in Las Vegas.
Despite being a cash specialist, Ben Lamb also enjoys playing in WSOP tournaments hosted in his hometown of Las Vegas. In 2010, Lamb cashed three times for $84,185, but his WSOP 2011 turned out to be a different story altogether with the 26 year-old eventually cashing in an impressive five times for a combined payout of $5,351,467.
In one of the most impressive runs at any WSOP, Ben Lamb kicked-off by placing 2nd at the $3k PLO event for $259,918, before winning a bracelet at the $10k PLO Championship for $814,436, coming 12th at the $10k NL Six Handed for $56,140 and then finishing 8th at the $50k Poker Players Championship for $201,338.
Ben Lamb then made it all the way through to the final table of the $10k Main Event, where he finished in 3rd place for a massive $4,021,138 prize, capping off an astounding 2011 WSOP which accounts for all but $1,223,549 of his $6,575,016 in live tournament earnings. 
In a departure from previous winners of the Card Player Of The Year award, Ben Lamb is unusual for having shot up from zero points half way through 2011 to near the top within the space of just one month.
Ben Lamb now joins a pantheoen of other winners of the prestigious award, which includes the title’s first winner Men Nguyen (1997, 2001, 2003, 2005), T.J. Cloutier (1998, 2002), David Pham (2000, 2007), Daniel Negreanu (2004), Michael Mizrachi (2006) and Tom Marchese in 2010.
Interestingly enough, in spite of Ben Lamb winning the 2011 Card Player Of The Year award, the industry’s other prestigious award, the 2011 Bluff Player Of The Year, was won by the Ukrainian born Eugene Katchalov. Both races use different point systems to assess their champions, with Katchalov cashing a total of 13 times throughout the year for $2,572,726, including winning a WSOP bracelet at the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event.