APT POY 2015 Leader Board: Sam Razavi protects his lead

In April, we published a story on Asian Poker Tour Player of the Year triple crown champion Sam Razavi wherein we speculated that we'd hear a lot more about this impressive Englishman. That moment has certainly arrived. Razavi's astounding achievements at the recently concluded APT Asian Series Cebu 2015 have stirred up the circuit after winning a slew of events that extended his lead in the APT POY 2015 leader board. For the past three years, Razavi had clinched the APT POY title, and in the way he was running by the end of June, he was well on his way into retaking command of the leader board.

Few month ago, he was lagging behind in points to top-ranked Filipino player Lester Edoc. He reclaimed his lead in Manila during the APT Weekend Series, then in an outstanding display of domination, Razavi seized APT Cebu by storm after cashing in one event and winning not one, not two, but three point-generating side events.

Sam RAzavi won 4 side events in Cebu

It began with a 19th place finish at the APT Asian Series Cebu 2015 No Limit Hold'em Opening Event where he earned a tickle of points. The next day, he followed it up with a first place finish at the Ante-Up for Charity, but it was not a point-generating event. Despite that, this win was important because it seemed to have been the boost that helped him crack his knuckles for his further takedowns. From a field of 60 players at the Pot Limit Omaha Hi event, Razavi commandeered many pots to eventually make his way to the heads-up round where he successfully wrestled the trophy from his toughest adversary, his fiancee Maria Carmen Esdaile.

Next on the chopping block was the WeLoveSport.com Deep Stack Turbo event with 73 entries working the felt. At the end of the night, it was a hat trick! Razavi claimed his third trophy of the series, and still, the charming Englishman was not done. Razavi went on to claim a fourth trophy after defeating a field of 67 players at the 6-Handed Turbo event.

By the end of the poker festival, Razavi had extended his lead the leader board with a big gap separating him from the next player. Razavi's consistent leader board presence at the APT 2015 events thus far have totalled to 7 titles plus 19 more in-the-money. With three more upcoming APT 2015 poker festivals on the schedule for the year, we will surely be seeing Razavi at the APT felt to further widen his lead in the quest for a fourth APT POY crown.

 

APT Player of the Year 2015 Standings
RANK	NAME	COUNTRY	TITLES	ITM	POY
1	SAMAD RAZAVI	ENGLAND	7	19	2,369.50
2	Iori Yogo	Japan	4	14	1,664.80
3	Lester Edoc	Philippines	3	11	1,514.50
4	John Tech	Philippines	1	6	1,298.40
5	Norbert Koh	Singapore	3	11	1,292.80
6	Kai Danilo Paulsen	Norway	1	15	1,256.80
7	Adrian Brion	Philippines	2	8	1,172.80
8	Jae Kyung Sim	Korea	1	10	1,089.88
9	Azusa Maeda	Japan	1	8	819.4
10	Gerard Mark Bringley	Japan	1	6	662.5