There are stories each week on PokerStars telling of grand achievements, and life changing wins. But none capture the essence of what it means to be a successful poker player more than the Yearly Tournament Leader Board.

Put simply the TLB is a barometer for the talent and consistency that in our view demonstrates the degree of skill required to be a winning poker player. This is not a game determined by one hand or even one session. The measure of a truly great player is shown over longer periods, maybe even a lifetime.

None prove this fact more than this year's TLB winner ismo.

It's not just that ismo

For his remarkable efforts ismo

Here's a look at the top five finishers for 2015:

Looking closer at the table above and ismo

British player Marcin "MARCIN123" Milde won the Sunday Million on April 3, the same event in which Allan "Sifosis" Baekke - a former EPT winner who ranks second on the TLB - finished third. It proved a pivotal TLB story, and one you can read about on the PokerStars Blog.

But it's that figure of 109 tournament wins out of 567 top 10 finishes for ismo

Previous winners of the yearly TLB:

2004 - teecoy
2005 - JohnnyBax
2006 - tnetter
2007 - shaundeeb
2008 - shaundeeb
2009 - aprilsfool
2010 - AltyAA
2011 - wizowizo
2012 - dhilton12
2013 - ismo 2014 - ismo 2015 - ismo

Now the focus of the annual Tournament Leader Board is on what will be a star-studded freeroll on Sunday, January 24 at 13:30 ET, with $75,000 in prizes available. The top 100 players from the 2015 Yearly Leader Board will compete in a contest that promises something more than most tournaments, pitching the best tournament poker players on PokerStars together, in one heck of a grudge match.

It's a fitting way to sign-off on 2015. For now, the hat tips, the congrats and the ggs go to ismo

For now it's on to 2016.