Bodog Beat

Smith "nevertilt22″ Collins finished 2007 at the top of the Yearly Leader Board over a long list of Bodog regulars. (Bodog Beat Image)

The Yearly Tournament Leader Board competition has wrapped up at Bodog Poker, and Smith "nevertilt22″ Collins has come out on top of a very competitive pack. The top ten consists of regular Bodog online poker players who have been trading places with each other at the top over the last few months, making for a compelling end-of-the-year run for the title.

However, with seven top five finishes in varying tournaments over the last week of the year, Collins found himself propelled into the top spot. For achieving this distinction, he receives T$5,559, enough T$ to buy himself into every Sunday $100k Guaranteed online poker tournament in 2008. That means he has the potential to earn $1.3 million if he takes down every $100k for the next 52 weeks.

The Beat talked briefly with Collins this morning about winning a year's worth of free entries into one of the biggest weekly tournaments in the online poker world.

"Man, it feels awesome," said Collins. "It will definitely be nice to focus more on playing than on the results. It's not good to be so results-oriented and this will give me the freedom to work on my game."

Just behind him in the standings was Jose "head2782″ Severino, who along with Collins is one of the crew of five players who met in Gainesville, Fla., and now all play at Bodog. In fact, two more of that crew are also sitting in the top ten: Johnathan "UFPokerStar" Westra and Jason "FPpoker4″ Becher finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

Along with their successes online, Collins and Westra both won qualifiers on Bodog last spring (which helped contribute to their TLB finishes) and parlayed those funds into top five finishes at the Bellagio Cup III over the summer. Westra won an event and placed second in another, while Collins put in a fourth place finish.

Rounding out the top ten is another Bodog regular who made an appearance at a live poker tournament courtesy of Bodog, Matt "thatsNice" Larsh. Larsh was featured in our WSOP Europe coverage as one of the six players who qualified to play in the inaugural event with a Bodog Poker WSOP Europe VIP Package. He ended 2007 in tenth place on the Yearly TLB.

Here are the full top ten standings and prizes:

1. nevertilt22 – T$5559
2. head2782 – T$3500
3. daisyxoxo – T$2500
4. Killa_Tyven – T$2000
5. The Maven – T$1580
6. UFPokerStar – T$985
7. FPpoker4 – T$985
8. fullpackage1 – T$985
9. 011jp – T$985
10. thatsNice – T$985

The Bodog Tournament Leader Boards keep track of the action on the online poker tables on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. The weekly winner gets to play heads-up against David Williams, Josh Arieh or Evelyn Ng for a grand prize of $1,000. If the pro wins the match, the $1,000 rolls to the next week's jackpot, giving the next weekly winner a shot at a larger prize.

Those points accumulate on the Monthly TLB and then the Yearly TLB. So, head over to BodogLife.com, start collecting poker tournament points to get your shot at $1,000 and work your way up to having the potential to win $1.3 million.