Without a Win, Phil Ivey Leads WSOP Player of Year Race
There is still a long way to go, of course, as far as the WSOP POY race is concerned, with 25 more events to be played out in Las Vegas, plus the WSOP National Championship (also a bracelet event) and the WSOP Europe events this fall in Cannes, France which count as well.
The 2012 World Series of Poker crossed the midway point this week, with 36 of the 61 events having now completed. A number of interesting storylines have already emerged, including what is shaping up to be a competitive race for the WSOP Player of the Year. Phil Ivey currently leads the way with 539.70 POY points, followed closely by John Monnette with 524.25.
Interestingly enough, Phil Ivey leads the race while being the only player currently in the top 10 not to have secured a WSOP bracelet this summer, having accumulated those points on the strength of five final tables, including second- and third-place finishes at a couple of them.
Here's a look at that top 10 as of today:
1. Phil Ivey -- 539.70 points
2. John Monnette -- 524.25
3. Andrew Frankenberger -- 384.66
4. Phil Hellmuth -- 368.70
5. Michael Gathy -- 321.25
6. David "Bakes" Baker -- 317.94
7. Max Steinberg -- 309.44
8. Brian Hastings -- 303.00
9. Ashkan Razavi -- 274.06
10. Aubin Cazals -- 263.00
The formula utilized to determine the WSOP Player of the Year takes into account numerous factors, with the winning of bracelets only one of them.
Big buy-in events earn players "multipliers" when it comes to POY points. For example, a $10,000 buy-in event gets one 2.25 the usual points that a $1,500 buy-in event would. Competing in events with larger fields also earns a "multiplier" when it comes to POY points, and a few distinctions are made as well related to the types of tourneys (MTTs, heads-up, shooutouts, etc.).
Of course, going deep and/or winning events earns one the most points, with a victory being worth 100 points (prior to any applied multipliers).
As mentioned, Ivey has yet to win a WSOP bracelet while all nine of the players in positions #2 through #10 have won one WSOP event each.
John Monnette grabbed the bracelet in Event #10, the $5,000 Seven-Card Stud event. He has four other cashes thus far, including a third-place finish in Event #15 ($5K Stud/8) and a runner-up in Event #32 ($10K H.O.R.S.E.).
Andy Frankenberger has four cashes himself this summer, including a win in Event #17, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event. He also reached the quarterfinals of the $3,000 Heads-Up NLHE/PLO Event #3, which essentially counts as having made a final table in terms of POY points.
After finishing second in last year's WSOP POY race to Ben Lamb, Phil Hellmuth has returned with another strong showing at this year's Series, with a win in Event #18 ($1,500 Razz) and a fourth-place finish in Event #32 ($10K H.O.R.S.E.) among his five cashes thus far.
The Belgian Michael Gathy is in fifth in the POY race thanks in large part to his victory in Event #21, a $1,000 NLHE event. He also final tabled Event #35 ($2,500 mixed NLHE/LHE) where he finished fifth.
David Baker grabbed the gold in Event #32, the $10,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event, one of three cashes for "Bakes" thus far this summer. Max Steinberg has three cashes, including a victory in Event #33, another $1,000 NLHE event. And Brian Hastings has a couple of cashes, one of them his win in Event #12, the $10,000 Heads-Up NLHE event.
Rounding out the top ten are the only other non-Americans besides Gathy to appear at the top of the WSOP POY leaderboard, Ashkan Razavi and Aubin Cazals.
The Canadian Razavi has two cashes this year, including a win in Event #9, the $1,500 NLHE Re-entry event. And the 21-year-old Cazals who was born in France and lives in Malta earned the bracelet in Event #6, the NLHE "Mixed-Max" event, one of three cashes for him this summer.
There is still a long way to go, of course, as far as the WSOP POY race is concerned, with 25 more events to be played out in Las Vegas, plus the WSOP National Championship (also a bracelet event) and the WSOP Europe events this fall in Cannes, France which count as well.
Also worth noting are the extra points afforded by the Main Event, where a victory earns one a whopping 500 POY points.
You can follow the WSOP Player of the Year race by visiting the WSOP site. And to see all of the details of the formula used to calculate POY points, head over to Bluff Magazine.
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