By
Adam
Online poker legends JohnnyBax and Ari are both making strides towards regaining top ten status in the PocketFives.com Online Tournament Player Rankings. Both players don't play the volume as many of the top ranked players, but the quality of their results is so strong that they've been able to maintain top status, and this week, they're two of the fastest climbers in the top 20.
Both of these online tournament experts put up some results worth talking about in the past week. Ari had a noteable win in the PokerStars $100 freezeout, which was worth over $10k and more than 200 PLB points, and Bax had a similar win in another Stars $100 freezeout, as well as a 3rd in a Stars $20 rebuy and a 4th in the Full Tilt $150.
Scarface_79 is one other player to have a sizeable jump in the top 20, moving up 4 spots to number 19, and not far behind him were two other fast climbers, both of whom have been putting up bigtime results for a while. PokerJoe9 moved up 11 spots to number 26, and ocrowe moved up 16 spots to number 27. Each of those three has primarily benefitted from the changes in the rankings that increase the ratio of values between quality and quantity of results by allowing older results to count (though for a decreased percentage of their original value). PokerJoe9, however, also picked up a huge win in the Stars 2nd chance $200 on Sunday, which was worth approximately 400 PLB points.
Five other very well-known names in the top 50 moved up at least 5 spots this week. TheWacoKidd and Rizen moved up to numbers 36 and 37 respectively, and Beatiful Man, muchaka, and M8kingmoves (lilholdem954) each moved back up into the top 50.
GB2005 and B_O_K_E were two of the big movers just below the top 50. GB2005 moved up 12 spots to number 52 after a week that included a second place finish in the UB $35k Guaranteed. B_O_K_E had several cashes during the week and moved up 6 spots to number 55.
Several other players have been moving back up quickly. Badpab2 moved up 11 spots to 64 this week, and rcrane082985, Wachovia, dont77, and timex all had similar moves of 9-13 spots each and are ranked in order from 68-71.
ComeOnPhish, who had a monstrous week including multiple big final tables on Sunday, moved back into the rankings at number 79 this week. He's been crushing pretty much everything in sight lately, so look for him to keep moving up.
Traumatize had a nice score over the weekend, taking 4th in the UB $200k Guaranteed. He also won a Full Tilt $150 and a Stars $100 in the past week, and now he's a newly ranked player at number 90. Like7 and KUSH also both moved back into the rankings this week and number 94 and 96 respectively, and the last new player in the rankings is two8off, who's been putting up a number of nice results in the last couple months, including a win in the Stars $150 and a 3rd in the UB $200k Guaranteed.
As always, stay posted for the latest updates in the PocketFives.com Online Tournament Player Rankings.