Not just for the high rollers anymore
The World Poker Tour announced on Friday that it has revamped its Player of the Year points system and prizes. All changes are in effect right now, starting with the current WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida.
The big change is that all WPT-sponsored events will now count toward the Player of the Year race. This means events on, say, the WPTDeepStacks tour will now be part of the POY calculus, not just the “big name” events on the Main Tour.
“From Florida to Amsterdam, and Australia to Las Vegas, every time a player sits down to play a World Poker Tour branded event, they’re going to be competing to become Player of the Year,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska in a press release. “This is yet another pillar in the 20th anniversary celebration for the WPT and the players.”
The POY points calculations are not complicated for the World Poker Tour like they are in some other player rankings. The WPT simply awards points based on a player’s finish in a tournament (in the money only) and the size of the prize pool. The points breakdowns can be found on the World Poker Tour’s website.
For example, a player who wins a smaller WPT Event with a prize pool of less than $500,000 will receive 600 points. For comparison, a player can win that same number of points for fifth place finish in a tournament with a prize pool of $8 million or more (though those are rare).
The fewest points a player can earn is 50.
Points slightly less top-heavy
The point values have also been adjusted to take into consideration the wider array of tournaments that count toward the standings. Quickly skimming the points table, it looks like the primary adjustment is flattening the points scale just a bit.
Jake Ferro won the WPT Player of the Year race last season. He earned 1,550 points in total from three tournaments: WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic (14th place – 300 points), WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (2nd place – 1,200 points), and WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa (39th place – 50 points).
In the new formula, he would have received 200, 1,050, and 100 points in those tournaments, respectively, for a total of 1,350 points. This, of course, does not count other WPT-sponsored events that he may have cashed in. As you can see, he would have received fewer points for his better finishes in what were two of the larger prize pool events ($6.9 million and $5 million) and more from his lower in-the-money finish in a slightly smaller prize pool tournament ($3.7 million, which is by no means “small”). But then, of course, he would have received points for other WPT tournaments, not just the Main Tour events.
“We wanted to make sure that our new system gives everybody a chance to put in the work and chase down the POY title,” said WPT executive tour director Matt Savage. “On top of the honor that comes from winning Player of the Year, we wanted to have a worthy prize attached to it.”
The Player of the Year winner traditionally received a WPT Passport as a prize. Now, the top three finishers will earn prizes. The POY gets a $15,000 WPT Passport, second place gets as $10,000 Passport, and third place wins a $5,000 Passport.
