Last week, we began our PocketFives Rankings Update by saying there was a very good chance we’d have a new #1 player worldwide this week. And, sure enough, our statement came true, as Patrick pleno1Leonard (pictured) is your new top dog in the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings this week, our first new #1 since July 2.

—

PocketFives’ news coverage is brought to you by Betsafe, one of the leading suppliers of online gaming products worldwide and a major sponsor of Gumball 3000. Sign up now for great bonuses, €3,000,000 guaranteed monthly, and plenty of live events!

—

Leonard has 7,740 PLB Points, 34 more than p0cket00, who was ranked #1 last week, so we have a pretty tight race at the top of the leaderboard. Leonard won his first PocketFives Triple Crownearlier this month, a feat that included a win in the PokerStars Big $162 for $44,000 and 527 PLB Points. He just passed $1 million in career online poker scores.

We had three newcomers to the top 10 this week, the most we’ve had in quite some time, and expect even more turnover as we distance ourselves from the summer poker lull. The first top 10 newcomer is Vienna, Austria’s huiiiiiiiiii (pictured), who moved from #11 to #4 on the strength of a win in the PokerStars Sunday 500 over the weekend for $72,000 officially and 636 PLB Points. Four days prior, he won the PokerStars $30,000 Guarantee for almost $9,000.

Nicolas PokerKaiser Fierro jumped from #19 to #7, or 12 spots, on the wave of a half-dozen online MTT wins so far in August, boosting his career total to 199. Fierro is the top-ranked PocketFiver in Chile and was ranked as high as #3 on our site as recently as 2011.

The final new entrant into the top 10 worldwide is a familiar name: Mark dipthrong Herm. The longtime PocketFiver moved up from #12 to #8 and has 83 in the money finishes this month for a total of $78,000. Herm has $4.5 million in career tracked scores and was ranked as high as #5 on PocketFives four years ago.

Outside the top 10, Peru’s Diego Ventura Die Ventura Chunga (pictured) moved up from #80 to #55 after winning the PokerStars Big $162 on Monday for $19,000. He has 89 first place finishes in online tournaments and is Peru’s top-ranked poker talent.

Finally, turning in the highest debut in the top 100 is Cyprus poker player daskalos, who entered at #67. On August 3, daskalos final tabled the WCOOP Challenge Main Event and brought home $146,000. He is on the cusp of passing $2 million in career online tournament winnings and is the #1 player in his home country.

Here are the top 10 players in the PocketFives Rankings this week along with the PLB score for each:

1. pleno1 – 7,740 points
2. p0cket00 – 7,706 points
3. r4ndomr4gs – 7,583 points
4. huiiiiiiiiii – 7,277 points
5. TheClaimeer – 6,910 points
6. Romeopro – 6,860 points
7. PokerKaiser – 6,795 points
8. dipthrong – 6,746 points
9. lukethafluke – 6,735 points
10. jbrown8777 – 6,734 points

Congrats to all of our ranked players!

Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.