The #1-ranked player in the world, ‘C Darwin2’, added another accolade to his resume by ending the year by winning the 2017 PocketFives Leaderboard. The yearly PLB differs from the Sliding PLB, which helps determine the weekly rankings, in that it takes the top 100 PLB point scores of the calendar year for any player into consideration and the accumulation of those points determines the top performers.

The powerhouse country of Sweden is home to the top four players (and six of ten) in the 2017 PLB rankings. First and foremost is ‘C Darwin2’. Having spent more time as the #1-ranked player in the world than any other player in 2017, ‘C Darwin2’ posted consistent results on volume that reflects his seemingly non-stop work ethic. His signature point total came when he racked up 819.05 PLB points by taking seventh place in the Event #55 of PokerStars’ SCOOP, the $10,500 Main Event. He also earned $178,883 for his efforts. That was one of two six-figure scores for ‘C Darwin2’ who wrapped up 2017 with over 60 five-figures scores and 24,397.83 PLB points.

The only other player to finish with over 20,000 PLB points in 2017 was ‘lena900’. Also a 2017 mainstay in the Top 5 Worldwide rankings, ‘lena900’ had multiple 500+ PLB scores including his first-place finish in a September $5,200 No Limit Hold’em Side Event for $94,350. Surprisingly, that score is not the Swede’s top PLB score. It came early in the year when he took down the $1,050 Sunday Grand on PokerStars for $58,319 and 556.78 base points. In addition to racking up 22,094 PLB points, ‘lena900’ eclipsed $8 million in lifetime earnings in 2017 and at his current pace, he’ll easily see $9 million in 2018.

Another Swedish former #1 ranked player, Andreas ‘r4andomr4gs’ Berggren, takes the #3 spot. Berggren, a voluminous grinder, consistently posted big-time results in 2017 including his runner-up finish in the PokerStars $1,050 Super Tuesday on May 30 for nearly $50,000 and a win in the Winamax W Series Event 6 for $39,436 and a year-high 450.29 PLB points. He also ended the year on a heater, finishing in fourth place in Event #8 of the PokerStars High Roller for over $44,000 and 312.07 PLB points and another runner-up in the PokerStars $530 Bounty Builder on December 3 for $32,500. In total, thanks to large scores like these, Berggren racked up 19,322 qualifying PLB points for the year.

2017 saw yet another Swedish superstar climb the ranks of the Worldwide rankings while collecting valuable PLB points. ‘inhoo’, who checks in at #4 in the 2017 PLB Yearly rankings, reached as high as #2 in the Worldwide last year while collecting 19,097.50 PLB points. He made his mark early when he took first place in Event #14 of PokerStars’ TCOOP ($320 No Limit Hold’em Zoom) for over $86,000 and a PLB score of 757.76, his best for the year. He followed that up in May with a pair of final table appearances. The first came during Event #6 during PokerStars SCOOP ($1,050 No Limit Hold’em 6-Max) where he finished in fourth for $62,505. Then, days later, ‘inhoo’ finished in fifth during Event #12 of the same series ($1,050 NLHE Super Tuesday) that brought him another $69,992. He slowed down his schedule a bit at the end of the year which saw him slip down the Worldwide Rankings just a bit. He currently sits at #33 Worldwide, but he did enough to stay top 5 for the year in PLB points.

The top 5 is capped off the man who holds the single largest PLB point score of the year. Steven ’SvZff’ van Zadelhoff earned that honor when he won what is arguably the most prestigious online tournament of the year, the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Main Event. The $5,200 Main Event awarded van Zadelhoff a career-high cash of $1,624,502 and a massive 3,303.79 PLB boost. The points helped keep the Malta pro in the top 5 Worldwide. Then, after a red-hot first week in December, where he recorded a runner-up finish in Event #18 of the PokerStars High Rollers Series for over $89,000, he took possession of the #1 Worldwide spot for the very first time in his career. Soon thereafter, van Zadelhoff took a short break from the online grind and has since slipped back to the #2 spot, where he finished the year with 18,576.64

Sweden’s ‘Sheater’ comes in sixth for the year with 17,899.45 points in 2017. His largest PLB score came right at the beginning of the year when he scored a victory in the January 12 edition of PokerStars $1,050 Thursday Thrill for over $46,000 and 511.86 points. ‘Sheater’ just recently surpassed $9 million in lifetime earnings and will be accumulating PLB points in 2018 to try and get back to his all-time high ranking of #1 in the world.

The UK’s current top online player Conor ‘1_conor_b_1’ Beresford checks in at #7. His runner-up finish in PokerStars SCOOP Event #34-M ($215 No Limit Hold’em 4-Max) for $40,852 also brought him 434.64 of his 17,799.69 total PLB points. He finishes less than 100 points behind ‘Sheater’, one of the closes gaps between players in the top 10.

Fabrizio ‘SixthSenSe19’ Gonzalez earned the #8 spot. His victory in the partypoker Heavyweight: Uppercut Warm Up on November 13 brought him a PLB year-high score of 707.11 and over $80,000.

The final two in the top 10 for 2017 both have 1000+ PLB scores on their resumes. At #9, Russian online legend ‘veeea’ earned 17,338.14 PLB points with a large potportion that belonging to his victory in the PokerStars Sunday Million in July for 1,053.94 PLB points, earning him $166,530. Wrapping up the countdown in #10 is yet another Swede in ‘Ariados’. The two-time PocketFives Triple Crown winner took down the partypoker Powerfest Super High Roller for 1,027.13 PLB points and a massive $226,825 score.

Joao ‘joaosimaobh’ Simao and Johannes ‘Greenstone25’ Korsar just missed out on being included in the top 10 for 2017, both having still accumulated over 17,000 PLB points.

2017 Yearly PLB Rankings Top 10