Chad Eveslage Wins 2022 World Poker Tour Player of the Year

Chad Eveslage was one of the top live tournament performers on the circuit this year. His run to sixth place in our POY standings was due, in large part, to his standout success on the World Poker Tour.

Eveslage made the money in four of the nine WPT main tour events held in 2022, advancing to the final table twice while coming away with one title. He cashed for $1,450,825, securing the 2022 WPT Player of the Year honors in the process. The Indiana native became the 20th player to earn the award, as there has never been a repeat winner.

“I’m honored to add my name to the list of players who have won WPT Player of the Year,” Eveslage told WPT reporters after securing the award. “2022 was an amazing run for me and to add POY to my WPT title just made the year even more special. I can’t wait to get back in action and try to defend this title.”

Eveslage’s big win came back in October at the Bellagio. He topped a field of 569 entries in the $10,400 buy-in WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic no-limit hold’em main event to secure his second WPT title and the top prize of $1,042,300. Eveslage’s first WPT win came when he took down the WPT Venetian main event in 2021.

Eveslage’s heads-up opponent in that tournament, Steve ‘Cuz’ Buckner, made Eveslage sweat the POY honors down the final stretch. In the last WPT main tour event of the season, the record-breaking WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, Eveslage was knocked out before the bubble burst.

At that point, he held just a 175-point lead over Buckner, who cashed in five main tour events this year and made two final tables. Buckner made the money, but ultimately finished in 319th place for $18,450 and 125 points, leaving him just 50 points shy of pulling even with Eveslage. Buckner, who also finished as the runner-up in the WPT Choctaw main event, cashed for $1,056,950 this season.

Eveslage’s other final-table finish this season came in the penultimate event on the tour’s schedule, the WPT Seminole Rock’N’Roll Poker Open. He finished third from a field of 1,541 entries in that tournament to earn $390,000.

“Chad put on an impressive performance throughout the course of Season XX. His Player of the Year title is well deserved,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “It was a momentous 20th anniversary season for WPT, and Chad’s accomplishment will live on as a part of that legacy, as will the effort of all players throughout 2022.”

His two other cashes this season were a 79th-place showing in the 2022 WPT Venetian main event and a 239th-place finish in the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open. Eveslage now has nearly $7.4 million in career tournament earnings, with more than $2.6 million coming from WPT events.

WPT POY Winners

Season POY Winner
1 Howard Lederer
2 Erick Lindgren
3 Daniel Negreanu
4 Gavin Smith
5 J. C. Tran
6 Jonathan Little
7 Bertrand Grospellier
8 Faraz Jaka
9 Andy Frankenberger
10 Joe Serock
11 Matt Salsberg
12 Mukul Pahuja
13 Anthony Zinno
14 Mike Shariati
15 Benjamin Zamani
16 Art Papazyan
17 Erkut Yilmaz
18 Brian Altman
19 Jake Ferro
20 Chad Eveslage