ChipotleAddict in Position to Capture Second Straight RotoGrinders TPOY Award
In January, RotoGrinders will name its 6th Annual Tournament Player of the Year (TPOY), recognizing the most successful daily fantasy tournament player for 2018. While ChipotleAddict has built an almost insurmountable lead after his Dec. 16 first place finish in the DraftKings $10 Million Fantasy Football World Championship Final — it’s not a done deal.
Real name Tom Crowley, ChipotleAddict was ranked third until he decisively captured the top spot in the 180-player field in the DK Fantasy Football World Championship Final, with one of his six tickets to that show. The win netted him 15,848.93 points to catapult him past Awesemo into first. Awesemo, who finished in third place last year, will now need a string of big victories to close the gap with one week remaining in 2018.
If ChipotleAddict holds on, he will win a second straight TPOY award after recording a record 118,123 points in 2017. As of Dec. 26, the (Americanized) Mexican fast food junkie is in first place with 115,763 points, followed by Awesemo (112,028) and youdacao in third.
The TPOY rankings currently tracks 44,579 players and does not consider results/winnings in cash games or H2H match-ups — only tournament competition across FanDuel, DraftKings, FantasyDraft, Yahoo! DFS and DRAFT contests.
This year’s honoree will join previous winners alsmizzle (2013), McJester (2014), ehafner (2015), saahilsud (2016) and ChipotleAddict (2017).
ChipotleAddict’s top performances this year also include a second-place in DraftKings’ MLB $4M Fantasy Baseball World Championship Final (6,034.18 points) in August and a top finish in DraftKings’ NFL $1.5M Fourth Down Conversion tournament (5,077.56 points) in November.
But ChipotleAddict’s big win in the $10M Fantasy Football World Championship Final represents the kill shot. Awesemo had been in first place and primed to win the 2018 TPOY until ChipotleAddict racked up 15,849.93 points to move ahead of him.
“This is the first time we could have a repeat winner in the TPOY,” said Cal Spears, Co-Founder and CEO of RotoGrinders. “This year it looked like Awesemo had it wrapped up, but ChipotleAddict’s massive 15,848 points score from the DK live final completely shook things up. Congrats to Tom Crowley and everyone near the top of the TPOY leaderboard for incredible years!”
Awesemo has been consistent all season winning 35 tournaments to put him in position to take the title with one major event left to play. DraftKings’ NFL $2.5M Roman Fantasy Football Millionaire Championship is this weekend. Awesemo will need to take down the last big tournament of the year to have any chance of overtaking ChipotleAddict and claiming his first TPOY title.
Youdacao is in third place with a week remaining. He’s produced at least 3,000 points in eight different tournaments, highlighted by a fifth-place finish in the $10M Fantasy Football World Championship that earned him a season-high 6034.18 points.
ChipotleAddict’s brother, Papagates, sits in sixth place with 93,388 after finishing second in 2017.
The two have been mired in someo controversy within the DFS community. Some have accused them of interlaying their lineups, allegedly to enter a combined 300 entries into large contests instead of the limit of 150 per person. The question is whether they interlay their 150 lineups each – or simply work off the same or similar set of projections, which is allowed by DraftKings and leads to similar lineups.
DK has investigated the two multiple times and says they have not violated any guidelines. While ChipotleAddict is a controversial figure, he remains one of the most profitable DFS players in the world.
On Dec. 13, prior to winning the $2M prize at te DraftKings, he pledged to donate half his winnings from that tournament to charity , likewise from the FanDuel $2M WFFC Finals. The victory at DK and other finishes drove Crowley’s gift up to $1,127,000 for certain charitable organizations participating in the DoubleUpDrive, plus any funds that get matched.
“A lot of people are selfish and to be honest, I’m quite selfish as well,” Crowley told RotoGrinders. “But one thing people don’t realize is that giving money is one of the most effective ways to promote your own happiness, self-worth and fulfillment. So that’s a big part of it. I’ve realized I could spend this money on a boat, or spend it saving lives. And it will literally make me happier to give it away.”
The TPOY Leaderboard is a rankings system that tracks the 50-best large-field tournament finishes for each player across DFS sites. The rankings system assigns a point value for each of these finishes and totals them to create the TPOY leaderboard. The goal is to validate the expert skill required to consistently win large-field tournaments.
In addition to bragging rights in the DFS community, the winner of the Tournament Player of the Year will receive a custom-made trophy commemorating their accomplishment, along with a free first-class plane ride and hotel suite for the 2019 RotoGrinders NFL Kickoff party in Las Vegas, baby.