Despite efforts, the tournament poker world has been impacted by the “high roller” events on the various 2025 Player of the Year races. Since the creation of the PokerGO Tour in 2021 and the addition of other events like the Triton Super High Roller Series, players don’t have to wait for major tournaments on the World Poker Tour or the European Poker Tour to make significant moves. A look at the current CardPlayer and Global Poker Index Player of the Year races displays the impact that these “high roller” events are having at the quarter pole on the overall tournament poker season.
Jeremy Ausmus Maintains CardPlayer POY
The rest of the lineup has changed, but one thing has not on the CardPlayer Player of the Year race: Jeremy Ausmus is still atop the standings. Ausmus decided to head for Jeju, South Korea, in March, and he simply dominated the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series. Over ten days, Ausmus picked up POY points in three events, winning the $25,000 Eight Max tournament for a $1.892 million payday. Add in a final table finish at the PGT Pot Limit Omaha Series that started on Monday, and Ausmus has picked up 2984 points and rides in the #1 slot on the CardPlayer standings.
After Ausmus, there has been a complete shift in the names. Brandon Wilson also made some moves in Jeju, making three final tables for over one million dollars and 1250 points to move into the #2 slot. Between the PGT Mixed Games Series and the 2025 Wynn Millions, Nick Schulman has been able to garner 1020 points to capture #3. The winner of the $100,000 Triton Super High Roller Jeju, Wenjie Huang, thrust his name into the mix for POY by earning nearly $6 million and 2550 points in the last month. It all leaves Joey Weissman, who was at #2 last month, wondering what is going on!
Here’s a look at how the CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year race shakes out after the first quarter of the season:
1. Jeremy Ausmus (Las Vegas, NV), 3754 points (No movement (NM) on POY)
2. Brandon Wilson (Chicago, IL), 3000 (+2)
3. Nick Schulman (Manhattan, NY), 2816 (NM)
4. Wenjie Huang (China), 2550 (Not ranked (NR) on last POY)
5. Joey Weissman (Boca Raton, FL), 2477 (-3)
6. Igor Yaroshevskyy (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine), 2360 (NR)
7. Cody Stanford (Tupelo, MS), 2307 (-2)
8. Bryn Kenney (Long Beach, NY), 2193 (NR)
9. Sam Greenwood (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2126 (NR)
10. Joao Simao (Brazil), 2110 (NR)
No longer ranked in Top Ten: Zhen Chen, Zhao Hongjun, Quan Zhou, Spencer Champlin, Ryan Hogan
Schulman Surges to GPI POY Lead
There has also been a reshuffling of the leaderboard when it comes to the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race. While the previous leader, Joey Weissman, is still in the mix, a host of players have surged past him. One of those who has surpassed Weissman is Nick Schulman, who has been adding to his 13-tournament roster with some excellent finishes in March.
With the GPI POY, a player has thirteen tournaments that count towards their POY total. When a player earns a better finish in the GPI calculations, that finish replaces a previous finish to increase the overall total. A player can make some big surges, for a bit; once they get their 13-tournament roster filled, then it becomes more difficult to add points.
Schulman has been adding points-earning events to his roster as, before March, he only had nine point-counting finishes. The underrated New York pro made three final tables, one at the PokerGO Mixed Game Series and two during the 2025 Wynn Millions, to scoop up more than 600 points and replace previous efforts. This surge has allowed him to pull out to the lead in the GPI POY race.
Holding steady in the #2 slot is Shannon Shorr, who also used the Wynn Millions as a personal playground. Shorr racked up five points-paying scores during the run of that schedule, topped off with a runner-up finish to Jesse Lonis in the $10,000 Eight Max event. Those finishes kept him in the second-place slot and in position to do some damage this year in the GPI POY.
Here’s how the lineup runs for the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race at the end of March:
1. Nick Schulman (Manhattan, NY), 2627.37 points (Up four positions on POY)
2. Shannon Shorr (Tuscaloosa, AL), 2345.38 (No movement (NM) on POY)
3. Jeremy Becker (Tampa, FL), 2231.38 (+4)
4. Kristen Foxen (Las Vegas, NV), 2230.56 (+1)
5. Michael Berk (Chesterton, IN), 2222.23 (-1)
6. Joey Weissman (Boca Raton, FL), 2219.54 (-5)
7. Biao Ding (China), 2104.87 (Not ranked (NR) in last POY)
8. Brandon Wilson (Chicago, IL), 2047.38 (NR)
9. Jeremy Ausmus (Las Vegas, NV), 2004.49 (NR)
10. Nick Seward (Washington, DC), 1908.85 (-1)
No longer ranked in Top Ten: Samuel Laskowitz, Matthew McEwen, Stephen Song
As April rolls up on us, the pace of tournament action will only increase. The WPT will be back in action with two events, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown and the WPT Choctaw, while the EPT gets back into the fray at the end of the month with the EPT Monte Carlo. The PGT PLO Series is ongoing and, in mid-April, will journey to Champions Club in Houston, TX, for the PGT Texas Poker Open. PokerStars is pitching its hat in the ring with the PokerStars Open Philadelphia beginning on April 21, and there is a wealth of other tournament action around the world. We have completed the first quarter, but there is a long way to go in the marathon that is the tournament poker races for 2025 Player of the Year.
(Photo courtesy of PokerGO.com)
