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Three Ways to Improve the WSOP Player of the Year Format

With the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year race almost over, it appears that Daniel Negreanu will win his third POY title. However, there has been some discussion regarding the current structure of Player of the Year and whether it is an honest representation of the best players in the series.

There are tweaks that can always be made to the WSOP Player of the Year format and today we present three changes that the WSOP should make to the POY format.

You Only Get Points For Your First Bullet in Re-Entry Events

There has been a lot said against re-entry poker tournaments in recent weeks. Many feel that the re-entry structure locks out all but pro players and those with big bankrolls from competing. Also, in events that allow you to re-enter on multiple days, there are instances where someone can cash multiple times in a tournament.

While someone min-cashing multiple times isn’t going to get them a ton of POY points, what about the player that re-enters five times and makes the final table? How is that fair to the player that plays on one bullet?

One way to balance this out would be to only allow players to earn POY points on their first bullet. This would stop the multi-cash madness you see in events like the Colossus. I also recommend that this be the case for any future events that have a “best stack moves forward” format. Once someone re-enters an event, they are no longer eligible for POY points.

After this WSOPE I’m strongly considering playing only one bullet in any re-entry tournament.

By going in with a mindset that you only get one shot, I think it can have a positive affect on your play.

Too often me, and others make -EV decisions in re-entry

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) October 27, 2019

Eliminate Points for High Roller Events

Daniel Negreanu stands to be the first player to win WSOP Player of the Year without winning a WSOP bracelet. The reason he was able to ascend to the top of the Player of the Year rankings? High Roller poker tournaments.

Three of Negreanu’s six WSOP-E cashes were in High Roller events and his sixth-place finish in the Mixed Games Championship is the reason he is in first place. His second-place finish in the $100k High Roller at the end of the Summer also gave him a ton of Player of the Year points.

The problem with awarding points for High Roller tournaments is that it locks out a significant chunk of poker players. Only a select few are able to find a way to play in every High Roller event at the World Series of Poker. It makes the playing field uneven for some pros.

If the WSOP wants to give an award for the top high roller similar to what Poker Central does, that’s fine. However, they should exclude events with a buy-in over $10,000 from awarding Player of the Year points.

Provide a Tangible Incentive for Winning Player of the Year

It is frankly quite amazing that this year’s WSOP Player of the Year race was so close considering that there’s no incentive to win the title. In the past, there were incentives for leading in the Player of the Year race after Las Vegas.

For example, Chris Ferguson received a free entry into the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2017. However, there’s no incentive for players winning the Player of the Year title other than bragging rights. If we want player of the year to mean something, give the players something to shoot for.

WSOP player of the year seems like one of the biggest joke awards – if you aren't ready to fly to Czech Republic & rebuy as many times as possible it doesn't seem like you have any chance. Then when you do that – there is no actual prize from the WSOP 😂😂 (the wall banner tho)

— Joey Ingram 🤙🏻🤙🏻 (@Joeingram1) October 28, 2019

One idea would be to give the Player of the Year a cash prize, such as a $100,000 prize for winning POY. Don’t take the easy way out and just give them an entry into next year’s Main Event. Give them something that gives them a financial incentive to win Player of the Year. For players like Robert Campbell, the $100k would be a significant incentive. Players like Daniel Negreanu and Shaun Deeb could use the prize to freeroll most of the next year’s series.

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