We are three months into 2006, and no one seems to be able to touch Michael Mizrachi in the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year race. Mizrachi leads the pack with 3,957 points, followed by Kenna James in second place with 2,692.

So far this year, Mizrachi has placed within the top nine players in six events:

• No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2006 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, placing 9th
• Limit Hold'em event at the 2006 Winnin' O' the Green, placing 1st
• No-Limit Hold'em Championship Day Final Day at the 2006 Borgata Winter Poker Open, placing 1st
  
• No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2006 L.A. Poker Classic, placing 2nd
  
• No-Limit Hold'em Championship Day Final Day at the 2006 Gold Strike World Poker Open, placing 2nd

The top 25 players in the Player of the Year standings are currently as follows:
            
1  Michael Mizrachi 3,957   
2  Kenna James 2,692   
3  Mike Schneider 1,920   
3  Alan Goehring 1,920   
3  Nam Le 1,920   
6  Scotty Nguyen 1,746   
7  An Tran 1,700   
8  Michael Woo 1,604   
9  Daniel Quach 1,600   
9  Ravi Udayakumar 1,600   
11 David Daneshgar 1,590   
12 William Edler 1,534   
13 John D'Agostino 1,520   
14 Norm Ketchum Jr. 1,510   
15 Denis Ethier 1,506   
16 Steve Paul-Ambrose 1,440   
16 Jeff Williams 1,440   
16 David Plastik 1,440   
16 Lee Nelson 1,440   
20 Thomas Sipes 1,332   
21 Danny Smith 1,280   
21 Raul Paez 1,280   
21 Scott Buller 1,280   
24 David Nguyen 1,240   
25 Daniel Negreanu 1,236   

(Source: CardPlayer.com, image: MichaelMizrachi.com)