Doug Polk has surged to the top of the 2017 WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard after his triumph on Monday in the $111,111 One Drop High Roller event.
Polk's triumph in the One Drop final earned him 222.6 POY points, and added to a small cash in the ongoing $1,000 tag-team event, has earned him a total of 245.45 POY points to date.
Polk holds a narrow lead over the current second- and third-place players, Benjamin Zamani and Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. Zamani captured the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event on Saturday for 183.2 POY points, and has added a cash in the ongoing Colossus III tourney to bring his running total to 220.08. Grospellier was the runner-up to Polk in the One Drop High Roller; the 189.67 points Grospellier earned there currently place him in third.
By the time tomorrow's WSOP action concludes, however, the POY chase likely will have a new leader in Mark Scacewater.
Scacewater, a resident of Lake St. Louis, Missouri, stands tenth in our first weekly POY update with 159.0 points, which come entirely from his second-place finish in the WSOP's first of three online events this summer, the $333 no-limit hold'em tourney. However, Scacewater has added a 19th-place showing today in the Colossus III event, worth another 108.7 points, for a total of 267.7.
Since the Colossus III event won't conclude until Wednesday, Scacewater will hold tonight's overnight POY lead and the eventual Colossus III winner will likely jump to the top of the POY board after Wednesday night's results are complete..
Scacewater expressed disappointment at how his first run at a bracelet ended, but he's quickly making up for in a way that will affect the early POY chase.
Also moving up on the leaderboard in another day will be Daniel Negreanu, courtesy of what will be at least a third-place finish in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo event.
Under the POY chase's revised and proprietary formula, the Colossus winner will receive 347.6 points, the largest single-event POY points award among events from the first week of this year's WSOP.
This year's POY competition, proudly sponsored by King's Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, will offer over $20,000 worth of prizes. The player leading the POY chase after July's WSOP Main Event will receive a free buy-in into the €10,000 Main Event at WSOP Europe, to be held at King's Casino this fall.
The official 207 World Series of Poker Player of the Year will be crowned in early November, after WSOP Europe's 11 bracelet-event point totals are combined with those amassed at this summer's WSOP. The overall POY winner then receives a $10,000 seat into the 2018 WSOP Main Event.
All “open” WSOP events are included as part of the POY chase. Not part of the POY battle are this summer's Ladies, Casino Employees, Seniors, Super Seniors and Global Casino Championship events.
All POY point totals remain unofficial and are subject to change. Listed totals may not reflect the entirety of POY points awarded in any ongoing event.
Current POY Top 10:
1. Doug Polk 245.45
2. Benjamin Zamani 220.08
3. Bertrand Grospellier 189.67
4. Joe Mitchell 188.31
9. Mark Scacewater 158.94