As the cards, chips, dealers, floor staff and, yes, even the players are preparing for the start of the 2013 World Series of Poker $10,000 Championship Event today, the WSOP Player of the Year race has taken a startling turn after this week’s action.
After making three final tables over the schedule of this year’s WSOP, the United Kingdom’s Matthew Ashton was on the bottom end of the Top Ten and looking to make a move up. He would do that in taking down the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship, which catapulted him into the first place slot on the WSOP POY. With the win (already nice with its $1.8 million payday, WSOP bracelet and spot on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy), Ashton now has a pretty good lead over the pack with his 649.75 points.
The leader since his victory at the WSOP Asia/Pacific in April, Daniel Negreanu is now looking up at someone for the first time this year. Negreanu came close to earning his sixth bracelet with his runner up finish to Eli Elezra in the $2500 2-7 Limit Triple Draw event, but it was the points in the POY that he really needed. Although he has lost the lead, Negreanu is sitting in good shape with 598.34 points and, with another strong finish in the Championship Event (or at the WSOP Europe later this year), could knock Ashton off the top perch.
Another player who has had an outstanding WSOP is David “Bakes” Baker. With eight cashes at the WSOP this year, including four final tables, Baker is another player who might have a say in who takes down the POY. With 475.35 points, Baker is another player to watch over the remainder of the WSOP events.
Rounding out the Top Five are two players who are quite close to Baker in the standings. Don Nguyen, fresh off his runner-up finish to Ashton in the PPC, sits with 466.13 points in the fourth place slot. With seven cashes, three final tables and a bracelet victory, Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson is also a contender, his 439.38 points good for fifth place on the list.
One of the players who may be a wild card in the POY race is the only double bracelet winner of the 2013 WSOP, Tom Schneider. The 2007 POY winner, Schneider’s dual wins in H.O.R.S.E. events at this year’s WSOP have earned him 438.51 points towards the POY race. There is some question, however, as to whether Schneider will take part in the WSOP Europe events that are still on the schedule. The WSOP Europe schedule is predominantly Texas and Omaha Hold’em, not particularly Schneider’s forte, so he may have maxed out his point total for this year’s race.
Two of the players from the One Drop High Rollers make their appearance on the WSOP POY behind Schneider. Chris Klodnicki, who was the second place finisher in the tournament, earned enough points to land in seventh place on the POY roster with 400.80 points. Anthony Gregg, who bested Klodnicki for the High Rollers championship, slides into the ninth place spot with his 390.00 points. They are separated by 2013 WSOP bracelet winner Jared Hamby (in eighth place with 395.73 points), while another 2013 champion, Steve Sung, finishes off the Top Ten with 369.50 points.
With the Top Ten only separated by around 280 points, the upcoming Championship Event and the WSOP Europe will be the tournaments that determine the eventual POY. In the Championship Event, the winner will seize 500 points, which means that anyone in the Top 160 players (Joe Kuether, in 161st, would fall just short of Ashton) has a shot at moving up if they win the Championship Event. Add in the further points that will be available when the WSOP Europe begins this fall and it is easy to see that the World Series of Poker’s Player of the Year race is far from concluded.
