Since roughly 2018, poker professional Shaun Deeb has etched his name in the hunt for the prestigious World Series of Poker Player of the Year award. 2018 would see Deeb take down the title and, in 2019, he barely missed out on repeating as the POY when Robert Campbell passed him. Last year, Deeb came up in fourth place overall, which seems to have only inspired him to try to become only the second man to take down the WSOP POY twice.
Deeb Holds Slim Lead over Ian Matakis, Chance Kornuth
With approximately two-thirds of the 2023 WSOP in the rearview mirror, Deeb has been able to rocket out to the lead in the POY with 3306.89 points. On fourteen occasions Deeb has taken home cash from a 2023 WSOP tournament, with one of those being his sixth bracelet win in Event #27, the $1500 Six-Handed Eight Game Mixed tournament. Deeb’s success doesn’t end there, however; he also has three other final table finishes, with one of those a runner-up finish in one of the online events on the schedule.
Quietly making his impact on the 2023 WSOP is Ian Matakis. The man from Faribault, Minnesota, has been on a rampage through the early schedule, taking down Online Event #2, the $500 No Limit Hold’em Bankroll Builder, that was offered on WSOP.com. It isn’t like he’s been holed up in his hotel room, however – he also has fourteen cashes at the 2023 WSOP, with nine of them coming in live events.
Without winning a bracelet, Chance Kornuth has put his name in for consideration for the 2023 WSOP POY race. It isn’t like Kornuth hasn’t been close, though. Kornuth has a runner-up finish in Event #2, the $25,000 Six-Handed High Roller No Limit Hold’em tournament, a fourth-place run in the $100,000 High Roller (Event #29), and a fifth-place finish in Event #40, the $250,000 Super High Roller No Limit Hold’em tournament. Between those three finishes alone, Kornuth has scored over $2.8 million in earnings.
With 62 events in the books, here are the Top Ten in the race for the 2023 World Series of Poker Player of the Year.
1. Shaun Deeb, 3306.89
2. Ian Matakis, 3286.60
3. Chance Kornuth, 2648.40
4. Chris Brewer, 2492.72
5. Chad Eveslage, 2486.42
6. Michael Rodrigues Pires Santos, 2476.23
7. Nick Pupillo, 2471.65
8. Jeremy Ausmus, 2423.60
9. Josh Arieh, 2307.95
10. Mike Gorodinsky, 2197.22
Deeb Looks to Join Exclusive Company
If Deeb can climb the mountain again and win the 2023 WSOP POY, then he would become only the second man to pull off the feat.
In 2004, the WSOP brought the Player of the Year to life and, in that inaugural year, Daniel Negreanu would defeat Ted Forrest to take the award. Negreanu would earn his second WSOP POY award in 2013 when he won two bracelets to defeat Matthew Ashton for the honor. Since that time, no other player has earned more than one title, including Deeb (2018), Allen Cunningham (2005), Jeff Madsen (2006), and a host of others.
With the number of events on the WSOP calendar, it becomes more difficult for players to make an impact on the overall Series. Deeb, however, has been doing this since his 2018 victory, repeatedly making forays into the endgame for the POY race again. Is 2023 to be the year when he will earn his second WSOP POY trophy and another banner in the halls of the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas?