Worldwide chase
Players who grind to try to finish atop the World Series of Poker Player of the Year leaderboard may have to log some frequent flier miles this year. In its 2026 schedule release, the WSOP announced changes to the POY race, namely that it will now expand beyond Las Vegas.
The announcement wasn’t exactly hidden, but it was only briefly mentioned at the end of this week’s 2026 WSOP schedule reveal. Certainly, most of the focus of the POY race will be on the 100 bracelet events at this summer’s traditional World Series of Poker at Paris Las Vegas and Harrah’s Las Vegas, but for the first time, players will earn POY points at both WSOP Europe and WSOP Paradise.
Thus, the start of the chase for Player of the Year begins in Prague at WSOP Europe from March 31 through April 12. After the Las Vegas WSOP ends this summer, players in contention for POY will have some time to decide how hard they want to go for it, as WSOP Paradise is not until December.
Only open events count toward the Player of the Year standings – non-open events (Seniors and Ladies events, for example) and online tournaments do not count.
Additionally, only a player’s top 15 scores are included in their leaderboard tally. Every score was counted for years, which led to some players buying into as many tournaments as they could, even events they had no interest in, just to try to eek out a few more points. That changed a couple of years ago, when a new rule only counted a player’s best ten scores.
Prizes to be had
A million dollars in prizes are up for grabs on the Player of the Year leaderboard, as well. The winner, in addition to the POY title, will receive a $100,000 WSOP Paradise prize package. The second and third place finishers will receive the same, minus the POY crown. Fourth through 15th will get a $30,000 Super Main Event package.
Sixteenth through 50th places will win a $5,000 Circuit Championship package, with one random player in that group getting a $30,000 upgrade. The rest of the top 100 finishers will win a $2,500 Circuit Championship ticket and six of them will upgrade to a $5,000 package.
Last year’s WSOP Player of the Year was Shaun Deeb, who is known for gunning for the title every year. He also won it in 2018. Daniel Negreanu has also won POY twice, in 2004 and 2013.
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