We're in the home stretch for the end of year awards...ONE GAME TO GO!
Player of the Year
The PoY has been a battle all season between three main contenders, Clark, Nick, and Joe. However, John, Abi, and Christine have been in the thick of things and have made the race very interesting going into the final game of the season. Currently, this is a trophy Clark is going to have to lose. Leading by 10 points over Nick, Clark just needs a top 5 finish and he will lock this one up. Nick on the other hand needs to gain at least 10 points. He will need to place above a minimum of 10 players to do that so in a 16 player game, he'll have to place in the top 6 while making sure Clark finishes in the bottom 9 (Clark will begin earning points if 9 players bust out before him).
Clinging to a 2 point lead in 3rd place, John has an outside shot at this trophy as does Joe, 2 points behind him. Each of them need a minimum of 30 points to take this one which means they will need to place above 15 players (1st place in a 16 player game) and knock both Clark and Nick out early.
Mathematically, Abi and Christine have a shot but need a big game to take the PoY award. Abi needs 38 points while Christine needs 44 and have all of the other contenders bust out early. Possible, but highly unlikely
This one isn't over...but it looks to be a two horse race...
Bounty Hunter of the Year
This is the most volatile of the awards and Clark continues to hold a precarious lead. With 23 bounties and 1300 points, there is only a 125 point difference between first and fourth place (John). In a 16 player game, bounties are worth 80 points (more for bigger games), so this one is far from over. It will only take one or two bounties from any of the top 4 players to win the Bounty Hunter Cup and a big showing by players further down the list (like Andre's 6 bounties in the last game) would give them the victory. This could be a crazy shoot-out that comes down to the last bust out of the year as it did in 2007!
- Clark holds a precarious lead on the top of the stack with 1300 points (15 points over Joe).
- Joe has the best shot at taking and extending a lead with a single bounty but the more he earns the better his chance of taking the trophy.
- Nick is only 80 points off the lead (one bounty) and needs to grab at least 2 bounties more than any of the other contenders to take it away.
- John has steadily grown his bounty numbers this season and is only two more away from taking the trophy. Like Nick, he'll need to grab two bounties and hold off the competition.
- Peter is a scant 400 points off the lead in 5th place. Seems like a lot, but a big bounty night could see him jump up into the fight. He'll need to knock out at lease 5 players to make a run at this one.
- Outside long shots include Darin, Jordan, Rich M., and Abi. They would need big 6+ bounty nights, but it isn't unheard of, and would make things very interesting...
Most Improved Player of the Year
Contenders have remained the same through most of the season but Susan G. continues to hold the lead, with Nick, Peter, Diep, and Joe with good improvement numbers over last season. It will be interesting to see how things shake out in the end, but Susan has really shown a huge amount of improvement this season with a 6.60 rating (Darin won last year with a 3.94), as has all of the others on the list. If Diep has a great showing in the final game of the season, I think she will have a legitamate shot in the voting at the championship game.
Mathematically, the top 5 most improved players are:
- Susan G. (6.60 rating)
- Nick (6.24 rating)
- Peter (3.20 rating)
- Diep (2.66 rating)
- Joe (2.36 rating)
Good luck to everyone in the final game, I look forward to awarding the trophies to the winners at the championship!