2015 Card Player Player of the Year Update -- Michael Wang and Bryn Kenney Into Top Ten

The World Series of Poker began a week ago, and already it has shaken up the standings in the 2015 Card Player Player of the Year race. Here’s a look at the biggest tournament results from the first seven days at the Rio:

2015 WSOP $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em

The first open event of the 2015 World Series of Poker was a $5,000 no-limit hold’em tournament. A total of 422 players turned out, building a prize pool of $1,983,400.

In the end the lion’s share of that money went Michael Wang, who emerged victorious with his first WSOP gold bracelet, the $466,120 first-place prize and a whopping 1,440 Player of the Year points. This was Wang’s fifth final table appearance of the year, bringing his year-to-date earnings to $678,079 and moving him into seventh place in the overall POY rankings.

En route to the win Wang had to overcome a tough final table that featured former bracelet winners Bryn Kenney, Amir Lehavot and Greg Merson and a number of other top pros like Jason Wheeler, Byron Kaverman and Joe Ebanks. In the end it came down to a final showdown between Wang and Kenney. Kenney began with a sizable chip lead, but in the end Wang was able to fight his way back in the match before finding himself on the favorable side of a few coolers.

Kenney earned $287,870 and 1,200 POY points as the runner up. This was his fifth final table as well, including a third-place finish in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 super high roller event for $873,880. With this score Kenney moved into ninth place in the standings with 2,223 points and $1,236,504 in to-date earnings.

Byron Kaverman, who finished ninth for $37,030 and 120 points, climbed to 23rd in the POY standings. This was his sixth final table, with two titles to his name in 2015.

2015 WSOP $3,000 Shootout

Nick Petrangelo came out on top in event no. 4 of the 2015 WSOP, the $3,000 no-limit hold’em shootout event. For the win the 28-year-old from Feeding Hills, MA was awarded his first WSOP gold bracelet, the $201,812 first-place prize and 720 POY points. This was Petrangelo’s fourth final table of the year, and as a result he has climbed into 13th place in the overall standings with $879,524 in earning and 1,960 points.

Along the way Petrangelo overcame a final table that featured three former bracelet winners in Loni Harwood, Brian Lemke and Leo Wolpert, a heads-up no-limit hold’em specialist who recently did battle with a supercomputer in Jason Les, an EPT main event champion in Andreas Hoivold and a two-time Academy Award nominee in James Woods.

Joining him in the top 20 is the third-place finisher in this event, David Peters. This was Peters’ third final table of 2015, including a win in a European Poker Tour €10,300 high roller event. The American poker pro now sits in 20th place in the overall POY rankings as a result, with $756,180 and 1,812 points.

Here is a look at the current top 20 in the POY standings:

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2015 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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