2021 Card Player Player of the Year Race Update -- Liu, Hyun, McKeehen, and Imsirovic Join Top FiveA Look At The Players Who Made The Biggest Moves Atop The POY Leaderboard In The Past Month |
![]() |
The first quarter of the year is now in the books, and the early list of top contenders is starting to take shape in the 2021 Card Player Player of the Year race. This article will take a closer look at the players who made the biggest moves over the past month in the POY standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.
1st Place – Qing Liu (3,271 points)
Qing Liu
Liu had already made four final tables and won a title through the first two months of the year. In March alone he added four more POY-qualified final-table showings, including winning the 2021 World Poker Tour Venetian $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. He outlasted a record-setting field of 937 entries (the most in WPT history for that price point) to earn $752,880 and 1,824 POY points.
Incredibly, Liu’s wild ride was not yet done, as he was among the final six players at the WPT Gardens Poker Championship $10,000 buy-in main event final table that was set in January of 2020 but could not play out during the COVID-19 shutdown of live poker. The event finally resumed 422 days after the final table was set, with Liu as one of the short stacks when play got back underway just one day after he had won the title at Venetian. Liu went on to finish sixth for $111,795 and 340 points. With a pair of fifth-place showing in $1,100 buy-in events at the Venetian bookending his two massive scores in March, Liu has cemented his hold on the top spot in the rankings. He now has two titles, eight final tables, $1,038,007 in year-to-date earnings, and 3,271 points to his name heading into the second quarter of the year.
2nd Place – Sung Joo Hyun (2,172 points)
Sung Joo Hyun
Hyun had won his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet during the 2020 WSOP Online series last summer, overcoming a field of 2,307 entries to win the $500 buy-in event for $161,898.
Hyun earned 1,260 POY points for his latest victory. When combined with the 912 points he was awarded at Venetian in February, Hyun he now sits in second place in the 2021 POY race standings with 2,172 total points and $531,744 in year-to-date earnings.
3rd Place – Joe McKeehen (2,000 points)
Joseph McKeehen
The three-time WSOP bracelet winner and 2015 world champion navigated his way through a field of 83 entries to win the Wynn Spring Classic $10,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller event, beating Shawn Daniels heads-up to secure the title, the $224,100 top prize and 480 POY points.
McKeehen now has 2,000 total points and $716,060 in POY earnings, which locks him into third place on the 2021 leaderboard.
4th Place – Ali Imsirovic (1,654 points)
Ali Imsirovic
Imsirovic won two of the three heads-up showdowns, cashing for $721,300 along the way. The Bosnian-born American accumulated 922 POY points across his three cashes during this series. He has now made seven POY-qualified final tables so far in 2021. With 1,654 total points and $1,380,610 in total cashes up to this point, he has surged into fourth place on the POY leaderboard for the time being.
Imsirovic kicked off his spree with a runner-up finish to Perry in the second of two $10,000 buy-in high rollers on the schedule, earning $111,300. The following day he came out on top in the first of two $25,000 buy-in events to secure the title and the $310,000 top prize. He closed out the series by winning the final $25,000 buy-in for another $300,000.
6th Place – Tuan Mai (1,536 points)
Tuan Mai
Mai had made six final tables through the first two months of the year, and then added two more big scores in March. First, he finished as the runner-up in a $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘DoubleStack’ event at the Venetian DeepStack Showdown. He navigated his way through a field of 336 entries in that event to earn $55,066 and 400 POY points. This was the largest score of his 2021 campaign.
Just ten days later he came out on top of a 507-entry field in the $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the same series to add another $37,315 and 336 points to his totals. It was his first title of the year. Mai now sits in sixth place in the standings, with 1,536 points and $184,213 in cashes so far.
9th Place – Artur Martirosyan (1,396 points)
Artur Martirosyan
In addition to the title and the money, Martirosyan was also awarded 912 POY points for his second title of the year. Both of his wins took place at the same venue: Casino Sochi. Just over a month prior to his EPT victory, Martirosyan won a 57,750 RUB ($762 USD) buy-in no-limit hold’em event during the WPT Russia festival to earn $41,417 USD and 228 POY points. With these two titles and another final-table finish under his belt, Martirosyan now sits in seventh place in the rankings with $416,550 USD in POY-qualified earnings and 1,396 points.
11th Place – Sean Perry (1,370 points)
Sean Perry
Perry, the son of WSOP bracelet winner Ralph Perry, also cashed in three of four of the ARIA’s high roller series held in early March for another $160,798 and 368 points. Perry’s small-field, high-buy-in success in 2021 has catapulted him into 11th place on the POY leaderboard.
Perry now has over $1.6 million in career live tournament earnings, with $731,700 of that being earned in just the past two months.
Here is a look at the current top 20 in the POY race standings:
Rank | Player | POY Points | 2021 Titles | 2021 Final Tables | Year-to-Date POY Earnings |
1 | Qing Liu | 3,271 | 2 | 8 | $1,038,007 |
2 | Sung Joo Hyun | 2,172 | 2 | 2 | $531,744 |
3 | Joseph McKeehen | 2,000 | 1 | 2 | $716,060 |
4 | Ali Imsirovic | 1,654 | 4 | 7 | $1,380,610 |
5 | Ilyas Muradi | 1,620 | 1 | 1 | $620,000 |
6 | Tuan Mai | 1,536 | 1 | 8 | $184,213 |
7 | Fernando Rodriguez-Vazquez | 1,488 | 3 | 5 | $283,293 |
8 | Ankush Mandavia | 1,420 | 1 | 2 | $309,800 |
9 | Artur Martirosyan | 1,396 | 2 | 3 | $416,550 |
10 | Timothy Gilliam | 1,392 | 2 | 2 | $233,105 |
11 | Sean Perry | 1,370 | 1 | 7 | $731,700 |
12 | Robel Andemichael | 1,350 | 0 | 1 | $545,500 |
13 | Roland Rokita | 1,216 | 0 | 1 | $363,235 |
14 | Nicholas Pupillo | 1,215 | 1 | 5 | $122,252 |
15 | Will Failla | 1,180 | 0 | 2 | $209,668 |
16 | Scott Stewart | 1,120 | 1 | 2 | $199,167 |
17 | Anselmo Villarreal | 1,087 | 1 | 2 | $255,941 |
18 | Adam Walton | 1,083 | 1 | 4 | $120,983 |
19 | Ronnie Bardah | 1,080 | 0 | 1 | $566,135 |
19 | Hal Rotholz | 1,080 | 1 | 1 | $180,986 |