Veteran Vegas-based pro Shaun Deeb takes narrow lead on 2018 WSOP POY leaderboard as summer race moves past halfway point
Las Vegas, NV (27 June 2018) -- New York State native Shaun Deeb has edged into the top spot in the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year chase as the summer's slate of events at the Rio Convention Center has moved past the halfway point.
Deeb, a veteran pro now living in Las Vegas, claimed the largest payday of his poker career in taking down Event #42, $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed High Roller. The $1.4 million cash came along with 1,236.44 POY points, which along with a cash in Event #40: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet, gives Deeb 2,662.25 POY points for the Series to date, enough for this week's top spot.
That 2,662.25 total is narrowly ahead of last week's leader, John Hennigan. West Chester, PA's Hennigan also cashed in Event #40, moving his official total in this week's update to 2,566.43, just under a hundred points behind Deeb. However, Hennigan's 16th-place effort in Event #48, $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship, will bring enough points Hennigan's way to move him back into first with Thursday's overnight update.
Deeb and Hennigan are well clear of the rest of the top ten. New York's Elio Fox, Week #1's leader, is the other player already over the 2,000-point mark, holding steady at 2,010.14.
Spots four through ten saw plenty of change in this week's update, with only Paul Volpe (7th, 1,733.12) and Joe Cada (8th, 1,692.71) returning from last week's top ten. Cada had a dry week at the WSOP, while Volpe added a cash in Event #42: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed High Roller to hang tight in this week's top ten.
Up to fourth this week is Chicago's Scott Bohlman, at 1,779.24. Bohlman surged with two final tables, including winning his first-ever bracelet in Event #40, the mixed big-bet tourney. Not far behind Bohlman, at 1,751.25, is the Czech Republic's Mario Prats Garcia, the winner of Event #45: Big Blind Antes $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30 minute levels). An just a handful of points behind Prats Garcia in sixth is Wisconsin native and current Vega pro Eric Baldwin. Baldwin posted a win in Event #37: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em to climb to 1,738.42 points, good for sixth this week. After Volpe and Cada, two non-winners who have accumulated plenty of points in multiple points, Mike Leah and Ben Yu, round out the top ten.
The 2018 WSOP Player of the Year chase runs through the WSOP and WSOP Europe slates this summer and fall. This includes 72 "open" bracelet events in Las Vegas, plus bracelet events at WSOP Europe at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, which will be held October 9 through November 2, 2018. A half-dozen special events on the Las Vegas WSOP schedule are not eligible for POY points consideration. Those events are the Casino Employees, Seniors, Super Seniors, Ladies, Tag Team, Big One for One Drop, and the Global Casino Championship.
The WSOP also provides an interactive calculator to display estimated points for any particular event. (Official points earned will be listed on the results page for each event, and may differ slightly.) Click here for more information on the 2018 POY formula.
The top ten players in the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year race to date:
1 -- Shaun Deeb 2,662.25
2 -- John Hennigan 2,566.43
3 -- Elio Fox 2,010.14
4 -- Scott Bohlman 1,779.24
5 -- Mario Prats Garcia 1,751.25
6 -- Eric Baldwin 1,738.42
7 -- Paul Volpe 1,733.12
8 -- Joe Cada 1,692.71
9 -- Mike Leah 1,634.16
10 -- Ben Yu 1,587.71