With the festivities of the end of the year over and done with, its time to look ahead. While the calendar year may have ended, the race for the India Player of the Year (IPOY) leaderboard has only just begun. It was an exciting end to the December edition of the India Poker Championship, with Sameer Rattonsey from Mumbai taking home the title of the India Poker Champion for 2011-12.

With his win at the 30k Main Event which had 83 participants, it’s no surprise that India Poker Champion, Sameer Rattonsey is at the top of the heap post the December event with 840 points to his name. Similarly, the first and second runners-up in that event in Amit Jain and Pulkit Kalia respectively are right behind Rattonsey on that leaderboard. Along with Kalia, another Delhi player in Arindam Mukherjee also makes the list in 5th place.

Besides Rattonsey and Jain, Mumbai as a city dominates the IPOY Top 10 with 3 more names in Ankit Dohare, Anish Dedhia (both in 6th place) and Sumit Sapra (9th).  The two out-of-towners who had a good run in this past IPC were Amanth Nauhria (Auckland) in 4th and Harsh Jain from sunny California rounding off the Top 10.

Last and certainly not the least, is the big man from Kochi, Sangeeth Mohan, the sole representative from Southern India. He’s been in some tremendous form in the past 3-4 months and will be looking to make more scores as the rest of the season progresses.

The India Player of the Year (IPOY) is awarded to the most consistent player across all the featured events at the India Poker Championship. The best player among all the IPC events across the poker calendar will be determined by the IPOY leaderboard where players gain points by participating in the premiere poker tournament of India.

The IPOY for the 2011-12 season will receive a year-long sponsorship from the India Poker Championship worth Rs. 200,000.