COTY (Champion of theYear) – 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, and 2003
Sometimes I forget that Kenneth Popkin (the maintainer of the award) and I have the "COTY" award up and running!! Here are the winners the last five years including some great players. The award was designed to measure who performed the best in the top poker tournaments in the world, the ones that the Champions attended, the ones that really count. It does not measure who won the preliminary events at tournaments. This award includes every WSOP event (55), all of the WPT events in the USA, and a few other events that really count like the main event in Australia. You cannot win this award, or even make the top 100 if you win 8 small tournaments. Although 8 wins would be amazing, and you would probably win Card Player Magazines ''Player of the Year,'' you didn't compete against the best players in the world to win those events. The COTY gives points only for final table finishes. What Champion really cares if he finished in tenth place? The COTY is heavily weighted towards first place, again because Champions value the top three place finishes the most.
