Player of the Year

No other player in the Card Player Player of the Year race has done more to help his campaign at the 2011 World Series of Poker than Sam Stein. He has cashed four times, made two final tables, and won his first gold bracelet. Just two weeks after he made a run for third place in the $10,000 pot-limit hold’em championship (1,000 points) he made another final table. This time, he took home the gold in the $3,000 pot-limit Omaha event, which was good for his first bracelet, $420,802 in prize money, and 1,440 points. Stein now holds 4,280 points for the year in second place overall, and he is just four points behind the current leader, Galen Hall.

Anton Ionel has not had as much success as Stein at the World Series this summer, but he did make his single cash count. Almost six months to the day since he finished in third place at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (2,000 points), Ionel scored his second POY cash of the year at the Rio Hotel and Casino. Ionel was the runner-up in the $2,500 six-handed no-limit hold’em event, and he took home $428,140 and 1,500 points. He now holds 3,500 points overall, which is good for fourth place on the leader board.

WSOP Bracelet Winner POY Breakdown

The WSOP no-limit hold’em events continue to be the most lucrative tournaments in the POY race. The most points awarded to a player for a gold-bracelet victory this summer is 1,920 points. Three players have claimed that large prize for a bracelet-win, and they are Allen Bari, Jason Mercier, and Matt Jarvis. There have been 12 players who have taken home 1,440 points for a gold-bracelet win (from the 39 open buy-in events that have awarded bracelets as of press time), by far the most common POY award accompanying a victory at the WSOP. That amount of points would be good enough to put a player in a tie for 87th place on a POY leader board that is becoming harder and harder to crack as the year advances past the halfway mark.

WSOP Bracelet Winners from June 14-27

Event Winner POY Points
$1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Aaron Steury 960
$1,500 no-limit hold’em Foster Hays 1,440
$2,500 six-handed no-limit hold’em Darren Woods 1,260
$1,000 no-limit hold’em Jason Somerville 1,440
$10,000 seven-card stud championship Bertrand Grospellier 780
$1,500 pot-limit Omaha Elie Payan 1,200
$2,500 eight-game mixed John Monnette 1,440
$5,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em shootout Mark Radoja 1,872
$1,500 seven-card stud eight-or-better Chris Viox 960
$2,500 six-handed no-limit hold’em Oleksii Kovalchuk 1,800
$10,000 limit hold’em championship Daniel Idema 900
$1,500 no-limit hold’em Andy Frankenberger 1,440
$2,500 six-handed 10-game mixed Chris Lee 1,440
$3,000 pot-limit Omaha Sam Stein 1,440
$1,500 no-limit hold’em Kirk Caldwell 1,440
$10,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better championship Eric Rodawig 1,020
$1,000 no-limit hold’em Mark Schmid 1,440
$5,000 six-handed pot-limit Omaha Jason Mercier 1,920
$2,500 no-limit hold’em Mikhail Lakhitov 1,800
$10,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship Fabrice Soulier 1,440
$1,500 no-limit hold’em Arkadiy Tsinis 1,440
$2,500 pot-limit hold’em/Omaha Mitch Schock 1,440
$5,000 six-handed no-limit hold’em Matt Jarvis 1,920
$1,500 limit hold’em shootout Justin Pechie 960