WSOP Player of the Year 2026: Live Leaderboard & Race

The WSOP Player of the Year race just changed for good. For 2026, the title is no longer decided by a single summer in Las Vegas. It now spans three festivals, a full calendar year, and a $1,000,000 prize pool.

This is the live WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard, with the current standings, the points formula, the prizes, and – crucially – everything still left to play for.

And make no mistake: it is early. As of now, only the opening stretch of the Las Vegas series is complete. The Main Event, the Poker Players Championship, and a stack of high rollers are all still to come, with WSOP Paradise closing the season in December. The names at the top today are not the names that will be there in July.

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WSOP Player of the Year 2026 – Current Leaderboard

Here is where the race stands right now. Reigning two-time champion Shaun Deeb has moved into the lead, overtaking Marius Kudzmanas on the back of steady scoring across both Prague and the opening events in Las Vegas. These standings combine results from WSOP Europe and the early summer series.

Standings reflect the official WSOP leaderboard at the time of writing. Points shift as new bracelet events finish – bookmark this page and check back through the series for the latest race.

Why It Is Still Wide Open – What Is Left to Play For

Do not read too much into the current top 10. The single most important rule of this format is that only a player’s top 15 scores count. Most leaders have posted just a handful of results so far. There are still a mountain of points on the table.

More importantly, the biggest point-bearing events have not happened yet. Winner points scale with field size and buy-in, so the marquee tournaments below can rewrite the leaderboard overnight.

The Events That Will Decide the Race

The Main Event alone can vault a player from outside the top 50 into contention. A deep run in a 10,000-strong field is worth more than almost anything else on the calendar.

Until that plays out in July – and until Paradise wraps in December – this race is anyone’s. You can see every event on our WSOP 2026 Las Vegas schedule .

How the New 2026 WSOP Player of the Year Race Works

This is the biggest shake-up to the POY format in years. For the first time, the race spans all three live WSOP festivals in a single calendar year. Online bracelet events no longer count. Here is what changed and why it matters.

Three Festivals, One Title

Points now count across three stops, not one:

• WSOP Europe – Prague, March 31 to April 12 (complete)
• WSOP Las Vegas – the 57th annual series, May 26 to July 15 (underway)
• WSOP Paradise – the Bahamas, December 1 to December 18 (still to come)

That makes the 2026 title a true global marathon. A player can build a lead in Prague, defend it through the Vegas grind, and have it challenged again in the Bahamas in December. The race does not end until Paradise does. For the full series picture, see our World Series of Poker hub .

Only Your Top 15 Scores Count

You do not get rewarded for sheer volume. Only a player’s best 15 results across the three festivals count toward the leaderboard.

Fire into 40 events, and the weakest finishes are dropped. This rewards deep runs over wide entry, and it is exactly why the current standings can shift so much – most leaders are nowhere near 15 counting scores yet.

What Does Not Count

Several event types are excluded from POY scoring:

• All online bracelet events
• Non-open events – Seniors, Super Seniors, Ladies, Tag Team, Industry Employees

The list is not exhaustive, and the WSOP can exclude additional events. The core principle is simple: open live bracelet events only.

The Points Formula

Points scale with the size of the field, the buy-in, and how deep you finish. The core multiplier rewards finishing position:

The buy-in and your rank ratio (final rank divided by total entries) contribute to the final total. In plain terms: win a big-field, high buy-in event and you bank a huge score. Naseem Salem’s 1,102 points from a single GGMillion$ High Roller win shows how one deep run can vault you into the top 10 – and why the high rollers still to come matter so much.

The $1 Million Prize Pool – What the Leaders Are Playing For

The 2026 POY race added real money for the first time. The top 100 players split a $1,000,000 prize pool in WSOP packages and tickets. Here is how it breaks down.

There are random-draw upgrades too: one player in the 16th to 50th band gets a $30K bump, and six players in the 51st to 100th band move up to a $5K package. On top of the package, the champion also gets a Main Event seat for the following year, a trophy, and a personalized banner hung in the Las Vegas halls all season.

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The Contenders – Who Can Win 2026 Player of the Year

Rather than a frozen ranking, here is how the field shapes up by tier. Expect this to move as the big events play out.

The Frontrunners

Shaun Deeb has taken over the top spot, and he is the one to fear. The reigning back-to-back champion did it the hard way – scoring across multiple events in Prague and Vegas rather than relying on one big result.

That spread is exactly what the top 15 format rewards, and it is why he overhauled a leader who banked €2,000,000 in a single tournament. He is also an eight-time bracelet winner openly chasing Phil Hellmuth’s all-time record, and he is age-eligible for the Poker Hall of Fame for the first time this year. Few players have more reasons to grind every event to the felt.

Marius Kudzmanas still sits second on the strength of one massive result: first in the €5,300 WSOP Europe Main Event for €2,000,000, worth 1,386 points.

Almost all of his total comes from that single win. It is a huge score – but with the top 15 format and the whole Vegas and Paradise schedule still ahead, a one-event lead was always going to be hard to hold, and Deeb has already proved it.

The One-Hit Climbers

Philip Chun sits fifth off a single result – winning the $550 Mini Mystery Millions for $400,000 and 1,207 points. Naseem Salem made the top 10 on one score too, the GGMillion$ High Roller. Both prove that a single big win can match a high-roller score, but both need far more counting results to stay in the hunt.

The Breakouts

Stephen Hubbard won his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw and backed it with a fifth-place finish in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. Two deep runs, 1,134 points, and a real platform to build on. The PLO specialist called it his redemption.

The Dark Horses

Watch the mixed-game grinders and the high roller regulars who have barely posted a score yet. With the $250K Super High Roller, two $100K events, and the Poker Players Championship still to come, a quiet pro can surge into the top 10 in a single week. The leaderboard you see today is a starting grid, not a finish line.

The Bracelet Chase Inside the POY Race

The Player of the Year race overlaps with another storyline: the hunt for career bracelets.

Shaun Deeb sits on eight, tied for seventh on the all-time list, and has openly said he wants Phil Hellmuth ‘s record of 17. A monster 2026 across three festivals would not just win him a third POY title – it would push him up the all-time bracelet table, closer to Hellmuth.

For the full picture of who leads poker’s most prestigious count, see our guide to the players with the most WSOP bracelets.

Previous WSOP Player of the Year Winners

The POY title has crowned some of the most consistent grinders in the game. Here is the recent roll of honor.

The pattern is clear: you rarely need a pile of bracelets to win POY. Consistency – final tables and cashes stacked across a series – usually beats a single hot streak.

Notice how every recent winner posted high cash and final-table counts, not just one big score. That is the warning sign for today’s one-hit leaders, and the reason a grinder like Deeb is so dangerous over a full season.

How to Qualify for the WSOP Online

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Responsible Gambling

Poker should stay fun. Only play with money you can afford to lose, set limits before you sit down, and take breaks. If gambling stops feeling like a game, step away. Free and confidential help is available through the National Council on Problem Gambling (1-800-522-4700) in the US, GamCare in the UK, and support services in your own country.

Somuchpoker covers the WSOP independently. We may earn a commission from partner links, but this never influences our coverage or the standings reported here. 18+ only. Play responsibly.