The 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) action is heating up and so is race for the WSOP Player of the Year (POY). The battle for the top spot is on as poker pros Elio Fox and John Hennigan go toe-to-toe to see if they can outdo the other and finish on top.
One of the attractive awards at the WSOP is the POY race. This is where the top pros compete to show the world how consistent they have been at the WSOP. In past years, the prestigious title has been won by some of the biggest poker names in the sport, including two-time POY winner Daniel Negreanu, five-time bracelet holder Jason Mercier and incumbent POY champ Chris Ferguson.
But winning the WSOP POY race isn’t that easy, because it gets pretty tiring playing all those games in a short amount of time. After the recent revamp of the POY points computation, the new formula will reward those who run deeper in bigger buy-in tournaments like the $10,000 Main Event more generously than min-cashes as was the case before.
Currently, POY points can only be earned in 72 of the 78 events at the 2018 WSOP in Las Vegas (Events #1, #32, #35, #36, #57, and #78 excluded) and at the 2018 WSOP Europe in Rozvadov, Czech Republic on October 11 to November 2.
POY Race Frontrunners
While it’s still too early to call the eventual POY winner, since the bigger events like the $10,000 Main Event is yet to take place, two names are at the top of the leaderboard.
US pros John Hennigan and Elio Fox have fought hard to stay at the top of the POY leaderboard, swapping first and second places in the last few days. Before Hennigan’s deep run at the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet, Fox had been at the top of the leaderboard at 2,010.14 points.
Fox’s rise to the top has been due to his great start at the 2018 WSOP, bagging first place at the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty and then second at the $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller. These high buy-in tournaments rewarded Fox greatly because of the new formula.
Hennigan knocked Fox back to second place after he placed 12th at the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet on June 19. Hennigan has cashed in six events so far, including a WSOP bracelet win at the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E., a second placer at the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, two final table finishes at the $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed and $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship, and a 28th place finish at the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball.
As of writing, Hennigan continues to hold the top place at the POY leaderboard at 2,566.43, just a small advantage from Fox’s 2,010.14. With a couple more events still to be won at the 2018 WSOP and at the upcoming WSOP Europe, there’s still room for other players to find their way to the top.
