For the first time in the history of the award, it is time to start talking about the World Series of Poker Player of the Year race before May! In a major change to the competition, the recently completed WSOP Europe is now part of the POY mix. Naturally, the winner of the WSOP-E Main Event, Marius Kudzmanas, has the lead in the POY race now, but he is going to have to come to the States if he wants to keep that edge.
All Three Locations Figure Into POY
In the past, the WSOP only considered the Las Vegas festival for the Player of the Year race. In the past couple of years, the European schedule was included in the mix, usually having a negligible effect on the outcome. For 2026, however, all three WSOP presentations will be used for the POY race.
This means that the WSOP-E, which wrapped up last week, was actually the opening salvo of the race for the POY award. The summertime festivities in Las Vegas, at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, will still be the biggest of the triumvirate of tournament festivals, and it should be the one that people watch. If there is any question after the conclusion of the Las Vegas schedule, then the WSOP Paradise, this year moving to Baha Mar in the Bahamas in December, will serve to offer the final chances for players to score POY points.
There is also a nice chunk of change on the table for those pursuing the POY race. The 2026 WSOP POY race will offer a million-dollar prize pool, with the eventual Player of the Year earning a $100,000 prize package for the WSOP Paradise along with the POY trophy. The runner-up and the third-place player will have to settle for a $100K Paradise package each, while the remainder of the Top Ten will get a $30,000 entry into the Super Main Event.
Details on the 100 awards that will go to the finishers in the WSOP POY race can be found here.
Deeb, Leah Serious Contenders as Kudzmanas Leads
He may be sitting on top of the race for the WSOP POY, but Lithuania’s Marius Kudzmanas, the champion of the WSOP-E Main Event, is going to have to figure out what he wants to do. Will he pursue the WSOP POY award? Or will he stay in Europe and let the usual Las Vegas contestants decide who will win?
Sitting in second place right now is the defending WSOP POY, Shaun Deeb, who cashed in six events during the run of the 2026 WSOP-E. Deeb had a top finish of second in two different events on the WSOP-E schedule, the €3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Mixed tournament and the €500 Colossus, but this in and of itself is a double-edged sword. Deeb’s six points-paying events only leave him seven more over the run of the entirety of the WSOP schedule this summer and the Paradise roster in December.
Leah has a similar issue in that he has five cashes on his slate after the 2026 WSOP-E, but he also has the satisfaction of one of those cashes being a bracelet win in the Rounder Cup. He has earned enough points that he currently sits in third place and, because he (and Deeb, for that matter) usually books a high volume of tournaments at the WSOP, Leah also has a serious chance at taking the 2026 WSOP POY.
At the conclusion of the 2026 WSOP-E, here is how the Top Ten line up in the race for the WSOP Player of the Year:
1. Marius Kudzmanas (Lithuania), 1386.84 points
2. Shaun Deeb (USA), 1340.25
3. Mike Leah (Canada), 1075.95
4. Pedro Faustino (Portugal), 1072.3
5. Nikolai Ogoltsov (Czech Republic), 1048.65
6. Christopher Nam Nguyen (Austria), 1018.54
7. Corel Theuma (Canada), 994.88
8. Fahredin Mustafov (Bulgaria), 994.54
9. Christian Frimodt (Norway), 980.18
10. Gilles Jean Silbernagel (France), 942.76
If you do bookmark this page, understand that by the end of the 2026 WSOP in Las Vegas, the entire slate may be erased and changed. It is nice to get out of the gate well, but many of these players will not bother with the trip to the States for “Summer Camp” even if it means they might have a chance at a nice reward. So, it is highly likely that, other than maybe Deeb and Leah, we will see a whole other cast of characters emerge in Las Vegas this summer.
