Anyone can win!

The regular season 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series events are over, the postseason begins, and here are the Angler of the Year standings.

After eight "regular season" Bassmaster Elite Series events, we're now down to the postseason — two events that will determine the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year and all of the prize money that goes with it.

And if you've gotten used to the regular season scoring system, you've got some adjusting to do. As we move to the final two tournaments during Toyota Trucks Championship Week, there will be a new system in place that guarantees some drama.

Here's how it works.

First of all, the postseason tournaments are abbreviated events that run just two days each. There will be no "cuts;" all 12 anglers will fish both days of both tournaments.

Second, the Angler of the Year points that the Toyota 12 have accumulated over the course of the regular season have been adjusted going into the postseason. In short, everyone's regular season points total has been divided by 10 (we've moved the decimal one place to the left).

That means, for example, that 12th place angler Gerald Swindle's score has been changed from 1,740 points to 174 points. Everyone's score is rounded to the nearest whole number, so Michael Iaconelli's 1,754 points is cut to 175.4 points and then rounded to an even 175.

Next, for every angler in the Toyota 12 who won a regular season Elite event this year we're adding two points. For example, take Mark Menendez's 1,775 regular season points, divide by 10 to get 177.5, round to the nearest whole number to get 178 and then add 2 because he won the Lake Dardanelle event. Menendez enters the postseason with 180 points.

This chart tells the story of each of the Toyota 12: 

Angler Reg. Season Adjust 2 Points/Win Total
Skeet Reese 2,043 204.3 0 204
Kevin VanDam 2,033 203.3 2 205
Alton Jones 1,979 197.9 0 198
Kelly Jordon 1,819 181.9 0 182
Todd Faircloth 1,799 179.9 0 180
Randy Howell 1,796 179.6 0 180
Gary Klein 1,789 178.9 0 179
Tommy Biffle 1,778 177.8 2 180
Mark Menendez 1,775 177.5 2 180
Cliff Pace 1,765 176.5 0 177
Michael Iaconelli 1,754 175.4 0 175
Gerald Swindle 1,740 174.0 0 174

As you can see, the adjustments do two things: (1) They reconfigure the AOY leaderboard going into the postseason, and (2) they tighten the race very dramatically.

Here are the Toyota 12 in order of their adjusted points:

1. Kevin VanDam 205
2. Skeet Reese 204
3. Alton Jones 198
4. Kelly Jordon 182
5. Todd Faircloth 180
  Randy Howell 180
  Tommy Biffle 180
  Mark Menendez 180
9. Gary Klein 179
10. Cliff Pace 177
11. Michael Iaconelli 175
12. Gerald Swindle 174

There's now a four-way tie for fifth place and a really tight grouping of anglers between fourth and 12th place. Kevin VanDam leapfrogs Skeet Reese in the race by virtue of having won the Smith Mountain Lake tournament. Similarly, Mark Menendez and Tommy Biffle pass Gary Klein and move into that knot of anglers in fifth place by virtue of their wins at lakes Dardanelle and Wheeler.

For the two postseason tournaments, scoring will be different, too. Points will be awarded as follows: 

1st place 50 points
2nd place 45
3rd place 40
4th place 36
5th place 32
6th place 28
7th place 25
8th place 22
9th place 19
10th place 16
11th place 13
12th place 10

An angler must weigh in a legal fish in order to earn any points at all. Ties in the final standings — after both postseason events — will be broken by tallying the postseason catches of the tied anglers. The angler with more weight wins.

In the end, each of the Toyota 12 is fighting for his share of the Angler of the Year prize pool. The 12 spots will be paid a s follows:

Angler of the Year $200,000
2nd place $75,000
3rd place $40,000
4th place $35,000
5th place $25,000
6th place $22,500
7th place $20,000
8th place $19,000
9th place $18,000
10th place $16,000
11th place $15,000
12th place $14,000
Total $499,500