The 2019 World Series of Poker is well past the halfway point and, as such, it’s time to look at the race for the Player of the Year award. The WSOP POY has been awarded since 2004 to the player who amassed the most points over the run of the summer (and, since 2011, the WSOP Europe tournaments) and usually it has a plethora of names readily recognizable by the poker world, the “usual suspects” if you will. In 2019, however, the WSOP POY has been the domain of the lesser-known pros who are doing some outstanding work so far this summer.
Upsheka De Silva Edges Daniel Zack for Top Slot in POY
After his big win in Event #38, the $600 WSOP.com Online No Limit Hold’em Knockout Bounty tournament, Upsheka De Silva was able to leapfrog the field to take down the top slot on the WSOP POY. His sixth cash of the 2019 WSOP, De Silva was also proud to pick up that online win as it was his third bracelet victory in his career. With his 2162.02 points (yes, the WSOP computations for the POY are complicated!), De Silva can’t sit back on his laurels, however.
The man that De Silva passed for the lead is Daniel Zack, who earned his first bracelet in Event #6, the $2500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw tournament. That wasn’t the end of Zack’s success so far this summer, though, as he has been able to rack up nine cashes through the first half of the WSOP schedule. With 2146.2 points, he’s right behind De Silva and would surge past with another deep run in another event.
A player who has been making his hay in the non-Hold’em events is veteran Scott Clements. ‘BigRiskky’ (as he used to be known online) has only four cashes this year, but three of them have been in tenth place or better and one was a bracelet victory in the $1500 Dealer’s Choice tournament (Event #10). He’s looking up at a significant deficit to De Silva (1837.33 points), so Clements could use another deep run in a larger event to make an impact.
Perhaps the most interesting story of the 2019 will be that of Ismael Bojang. Bojang has ten cashes at the WSOP this year, with his last tournament being the biggest in winning his first WSOP bracelet in the $1500 Pot Limit Omaha event. Immediately following that tournament, however, Bojang stated that he was headed back home to Europe for personal reasons and wouldn’t return for the remainder of the WSOP. If he holds to his word, that would mean that Bojang has maxed out his point total at 1816.91 and may not even make the Top Ten this year.
Don’t Have to Play Just Texas Hold’em
Finishing out the Top Five is one of the true poker “players” in the game, California veteran Frankie O’Dell. O’Dell has never been one for the Texas Hold’em realm, content to play the arguably more difficult mixed games and Stud to make his mark. O’Dell has done that to the tune of three WSOP bracelets and that route has him in the mix for the POY.
With more than half the schedule down, O’Dell has only four cashes but all of them have been deep runs of 19th place or better. He earned his third WSOP bracelet in Event #18, the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo Eight or Better tournament, and will have plenty of other non-Hold’em options through the closing weeks of the WSOP to climb the leaderboard with his 1716.45 points (whether he would chase the POY to Europe this fall is unknown).
The remainder of the Top Ten are other examples of players who are racking up big finishes and picking up the hardware. Both Daniel Strelitz (1694,44 points, sixth place) and Robert Campbell (1605.08, seventh) have earned WSOP bracelets, but Benjamin Yu (1591.28, eighth) and defending POY champion Shaun Deeb (1590.86, ninth) haven’t earned the hardware yet but have been amassing several strong finishes. Bracelet winner Loren Klein (1558.98, tenth) rounds out the Top Ten with more than half the schedule in the books.
Over the next few weeks, there could be some significant changes to this list. As already seen with Bojang’s departure from Las Vegas, other players may decide to sit out events and/or their ‘hot streaks’ come to an end and the players down the POY rankings will climb. Then there’s the WSOP Europe this fall, which could have the final word on the issue. There’s plenty of changes yet to come for the Player of the Year race and it may be that none of the men mentioned here will be there at the end.