In the race for the 2024 Poker Player of the Year, the two major ranking systems have seen a complete changeover. A few weeks ago, the PokerGO Tour’s events – and their champions – dominated the standings. As we get ready to complete the first quarter of 2024, another tournament schedule on the international circuit has put its champions in the mix with one, Punnat Punsri, surging to the top.
Punnat Punsri Dominating Triton Jeju
The Triton Super High Roller Series is going on in Jeju, South Korea, and one player has been making it a private playground. Bangkok’s Punnat Punsri, who primarily plays on the international circuit, has cashed in three tournaments during that schedule at Landing Casino, including one monster win in a $50,000 Seven-Max NLHE event. That tournament alone brought a massive cash for Punsri, banking him $2,010,000.
Punsri hasn’t been exclusively beating up on the players in South Korea, however. He has also cashed in tournaments in Malaysia, Cambodia, and Taiwan, in total racking up thirteen cashes so far in 2024. Those cashes have drawn him a massive amount of points on the CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year race, putting him in first place with 3409 points.
David Coleman, who has been having a similar run on the PokerGO Tour, is right behind Punsri on the CardPlayer ladder. Coleman has also been in the action in Jeju, earning a couple of cashes for his efforts, but it isn’t enough to hold off Punsri’s run. At this time, Coleman will have to be satisfied with being in the #2 position with his 3006 points.
Taking the third slot at this mark of the season is one of the BIG winners on the Triton Super High Roller calendar. Roman Hrabec was able to win the $100,000 No Limit Hold’em event on March 16, earning a $4.33 million payday for his efforts. That wasn’t the only good news for Hrabec during the run in Jeju – he cashed six times during the festival, picking up nearly $5 million in prize money and 2955 points towards the POY.
Here are the current standings on the CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year race as of March 16:
1. Punnat Punsri, 3409 points
2. David Coleman, 3006
3. Roman Hrabec, 2995
4. Jesse Lonis, 2799
5. Adrian Mateos, 2790
6. Michael Watson, 2616
7. Sergio Aido, 2590
8. Elton Tsang, 2400
9. David Peters, 2304
10. Dimitar Danchev, 2280
An interesting sidelight to the CardPlayer POY…seven of the Top Ten players are from outside the States, something that used to be unheard of on the POY boards.
Punsri’s Dominance Extends to First GPI POY
The Global Poker Index, after adjusting its calculating system for its POY, has come out with its first rankings, but the song remains the same. It is Punsri who is atop the leaderboard there, already with thirteen ranked tournaments to his credit (the GPI only counts a player’s top thirteen finishes, by their POY calculations). Punsri’s on the top of the GPI POY with 2639.33 points, but he has tremendous potential for growth with his thirteen finishes.
A surprise in the #2 slot is a player who seems to always be in contention for the POY. The United Kingdom’s Stephen Chidwick captures the #2 slot on the GPI rankings, earning 2495.27 points, but he also has a sizeable advantage. So far in 2024 (and on the GPI board), Chidwick has only earned nine qualifying events for his points total – that means his potential growth is massive as those other four events fill out.
Another player in a similar situation is Lonis. He has only made ten qualifying cashes for the GPI POY, but it is enough to put him in the #3 position over Coleman. Lonis’ 2410.09 points has a bit more than 100 points of an advantage over Coleman (2302.8), who also has room for growth with only eleven qualifying tournaments.
Finally, we cannot bypass noting that, a quarter of the way into the tournament poker season, Kristen Foxen is hanging in the Top Ten. Her ten qualifying tournaments have earned her 1955.89 points, with three more tournaments that can be counted against her ledger. Foxen, the reigning Women’s Player of the Year, is joined by only one other woman, former Women’s POY Cherish Andrews, as the only ladies in the Top 100 (Victoria Livschitz is just off the count in 115th place).
Here are the current standings for the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race as of March 16:
1. Punnat Punsri, 2639.33 points
2. Stephen Chidwick, 2495.27
3. Jesse Lonis, 2410.09
4. David Coleman, 2302.8
5. Dimitar Danchev, 2023.63
6. Steve ‘Joonhee’ Yea, 1958.8
7. Kristen Foxen, 1955.89
8. Daniel Dvoress, 1913.76
9. Michael Watson, 1858.18
10. Edward Chun Ho Yam, 1853.19
The international/U. S. breakdown is similar on the GPI board – eight of the Top Ten players are from outside the States.
Of course, there will be more changes to these rankings as we creep closer to the 2024 World Series of Poker in late May. The European Poker Tour has a major tournament in Monte Carlo in late April, while the World Poker Tour has stops in Hollywood, FL, Montreal (Playground Poker Club), and Choctaw, OK, through May. Toss in the PokerGO Tour’s plethora of tournaments and we could see another massive shift in the Player of the Year races come the end of May.