Tight races ongoing at the first WPT Asia Pacific POY and India POY

As 2017 nears its close with tournaments winding down to the last few events, one thing many will be keeping a close watch on are the Player of the Year races. In Asia, most people are well aware of the Asia Player of the Year by PokerStars and the APT Player of the Year by the Asian Poker Tour, however, there are two more POY races also running simultaneously.

Early this year the World Poker Tour introduced the WPT Asia-Pacific Player of the Year and the India Player of the Year. Both races are quite intense with players neck and neck as they enter the last remaining events.

Here’s a look at both of them in-depth.

WPT Asia Pacific Player of the Year

 In a push to further solidify their presence in the Asian region, for the first time in history, the WPT’s newest season kicked off in Beijing, China. This was also the starting point of the WPT Asia-Pacific POY race. After his huge victory at the Main Event, Pete Yen Han Chen earned the top spot in the leaderboard. Down the line was Singaporean pro Bryan Diwei Huang in 6^th position.

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More: First major victory for Pete Chen at the inaugural WPT Beijing

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Following that event, the next stop to earn points was at the WPT Korea in Jeju Island. This saw Chen win the NLH Freezeout and finish 5^th at the High Roller event. This earned him a sizable amount of points, while Huang won the High Roller event and accumulated enough points to move to 2nd place overall. Here are the top ten standings in the race:

1 – Pete Yen Han Chen – Chinese Taipei – 2080 points
2 – Bryan Diwei Huang – Singapore – 1550 points
3 – Ke Chen – China – 1350 points
4 – Yingqi Lu – China – 1200 points
5 – Wenbing Zhang – China – 1050 points
6 – Yancheng Tan – China – 900 points
7 – Benjamin Wu – China – 720 points
8 – Wang Zhong – China – 640 points
9 – Bian Hongyang – Canada – 600 points
10- Xin Xu – China – 600 points

Although the WPT Beijing and the WPT Korea have completed, the race is far from over. There are still three more events to catch up to the leaders, namely:

• WPT India – November 7-13
• WPT Sanya – November 15-21
• WPT Japan – November 18-26

At the end of the season, the top three players in the leaderboard will be guaranteed the following prizes:

• 1^st place: US$15,000 package to be used for any WPT Main Tour, WPTDeepStacks, or WPT500 events in the Asia-Pacific region. Complimentary accommodation and ground transportation will be provided by the WPT for the chosen events.
• 2^nd place: US$3,500 buy-in to the Season XVII WPT Beijing Main Event.
• 3^rd place: One WPTDeepStacks Main Event buy-in and one WPT500 buy-in for WPT events in the Asia-Pacific region.

India Player of the Year

Alike the above race, the India Player of the Year race is also very tight one with many players vying for the glory.  Interestingly, the top four players on the leaderboard are all at par with 600 points with three of them having won one of the big events on offer. Among the leaders is Amit Jain, one of Adda52.com’s sponsored pros, ranked 13^th in India. Another is Vikram Kumar who didn’t win a big one but did claim a smaller event plus three deep runs other events.

Here are the top 8 players in the race:

1 – Amit Jain – 600 points
2 – Nitin Gupta – 600 points
3 – Rajnish Kumar – 600 points
4 – Vikram Kimar – 600 points
5 – Jaydeep Dawer – 580 points
6 – Akshay Nasa – 540 points
7 – Kiran Kumar – 540 points
8 – Sahil Agarwal – 540 points

*Keep in mind that the rest of the top 15 players fall within the 400-point range, which means they are also within contention for the title.

The India POY race is a sponsored program by Adda52.com and the WPT. The eventual winner will receive US$5,000 worth of buy-ins to WPT and/or Deltin Poker Tournaments in India aboard the Deltin Royale Ship stationed in Goa.

The race officially began at the Deltin Poker Tour Goa in July and was followed by another of its kind in September. Here is the list of point-generating events towards the India POY race:

• Deltin Poker Tour Goa – July 20-24
• Deltin Poker Tour Goa – September 6-11
• WPTDeepStacks India – November 7-1

With the WPT POYs shaping up to be nail biter endings, players attending the remaining events will be treated to the presence two WPT Champions Club members, Sam Panzica and Daniel Weinmann. Both players have confirmed their attendance for the 3 WPT Asian events.

While all these POY awards, WPT Asia- Pacific POY, India POY, APOY and APT POY, do determine the best players within a given circuit, overall, it shows who among the vast number of players are the most dedicated and successful for that circuit during a particular season. With poker growing exponentially in the region, POY programs give players not just a meter by which to gauge their accomplishments but as well something to strive for each year.

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we provide you more updates on the ongoing races.

Article by Triccia David