By
Adam
JohnnyBax jumped up 6 spots to number 8 in the rankings this week, making his first return to the top 10 since the automated system was implemented. His week included 2nd place finishes in the Stars $100 rebuy and Full Tilt $150, as well as a 4th place in a Stars $50 rebuy. Most impressively, though, was that this return coincidentally occured the same week that he won a Presto Award---for his performance at live events. Winning $1M in live events in 2006 and also being a top 10 ranked internet player is truly mind boggling.
Also returning to the top 10 this week was kwob20, who inched back up to the 10th spot, and atimos moved up right behind him to number 11. Atimos has had an impressive January so far, which has him in the top 5 of the monthly PLB at this time. One other player with a noteable jump in the top 20 was PokerJoe9, who moved up 6 spots to number 20. His noteable cashes last week included a 4th place in the Stars $100 rebuy, though the biggest cause for his jump is still his win the previous week in the $200 rebuy.
A new addition to the top 25 is dlperrio, whose sliding PLB total has moved up into the top 10. Also continuing his quick ascent is Andy McLEOD, who won the Full Tilt $1,000. TheWacoKidd moved up 7 spots to number 29, and Rizen moved up 4 spots right behind those guys, having a very solid weekend. Waco, for the second consecutive week, finished in the top 3 of the UB $200k Guaranteed, and Rizen had his second straight runner up finish in the Stars $200 rebuy.
Two other big moves in the top 50 were both familiar names. Beatiful Man jumped up 7 spots to number 37, having had 3 final tables over the week including a win on Full Tilt. GB2005 reentered the top 50 after another big finish in the Stars $150, where he took 4th.
ComeOnPhish, who's quite possibly been the best tournament player of 2007 so far, had a huge rankings jump this week, moving up all the way from 79th to 53rd in the rankings. Among other things, he won a $100 rebuy early in the week. Wachovia had a nice move in the right direction not far below him, and is now seated at number 60 after a rise of 9 spots.
Another huge jump in the rankings was had by MavFish, who had more than $50k in cashes last week, despite only playing a few tourneys. The two big ones were on the same day--a win in the $100 rebuy and a 2nd in the Wednesday $300 on Stars.
Four players now ranked in the 70's had big jumps as well. AaronBeen, who picked up a win on UB, moved up 15 spots to number 71. Wlleiotl had a 2nd in a Stars $100 rebuy, a 2nd in the $50 rebuy, and a win in the Full Tilt $150, and he was one of the biggest movers this week, moving up 26 spots to number 73. KUSH had a $14.5k score on Full Tilt when he came in 5th in the $1000 tourney on Monday, and he moved up 22 spots to number 74. YoungSupremacy was the last of that bunch, picking up a 2nd in a Stars $100 rebuy and a near final table in the Sunday $200k Guaranteed on PartyPoker. He moved out of unranked status and all the way up to number 78.
Another new arrival to the rankings who jumped up quite a bit was busto_soon, who had 3 wins last week--two in Stars $100's and one in a $30 rebuy on PartyPoker.
Re-entering the rankings this week were long time top online players brsavage and BigRiskky. As many reading this know, brsavage is no longer playing poker full time and hasn't been for some time, but he's still racking up bigtime results. In the past 6 weeks, he has four different 5-figure cashes, and the big one was this past Sunday, when he took 3rd place in the Sunday Million for nearly $70k! BigRiskky, meanwhile, had two wins on Full Tilt, taking down a $24 buy in and a $69 buy in. He also took 5th in one of the $150's there on Sunday.
The last players to enter the rankings have both been there before. Hixx had a nice week, including a 5-figure cash on Stars when he took 3rd in the $100 rebuy. His new ranking is at number 98. Long time successful player MarvinGarden reentered the rankings at number 100.
Check back next week for all the latest on the PocketFives.com Online Tournament Player Rankings.