Deeb closes in on Hennigan's point total with Main Event cash
Las Vegas, NV (4 July 2018) -- John Hennigan's lead in the 2018 World Series of Poker Player of the Year points race remains intact with six weeks now in the books for the WSOP's summer slate, but a late duel for the series-long honor has seen second-place Shaun Deeb close to within a single cash of moving into the lead.
Deeb picked up 342.5 POY points for his 195th-place finish in the still-ongoing Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship. That effort boosted Deeb's running total to 3,111.64. That's barely behind Hennigan, whose summer total held steady at 3,130.76. Hennigan endured a cashless week at the WSOP but held on to the top spot for the second straight week and third in the last four.
The narrowed gap, though, means that any cash by Deeb in the last week could push him by Hennigan when the summer's final POY points are tallied next week. And, barring another bracelet win by any of the other top-ten contenders, it's boiled down to a two-player race.
Third this week continues to be held down by Vegas pro Eric Baldwin. Baldwin added his 10th and 11th cashes of the summer to bump his points total to 2416.88.
Just three points behind Baldwin through Week 6, at 2,413.61, is Chicago's Scott Bohlman. Bohlman made the largest positional jump this week in the top ten, moving from tenth to fourth. Bohlman finished as the runner-up in Event #64: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, then followed it up with a third-place effort in Event #69: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed. A win in either event would have pushed Bohlman into the midst of the Hennigan-Deeb duel.
Bohlman's big week pushed him just past Toronto, Canada's Mike Leah. Leah slid one spot this week while holding steady with 2,294.28 points.
Spots six through ten in this week's update are held by Paul Volpe, Julien Martini, Ben Yu (who cashed in the Main Event), Elio Fox, and Mario Prats Garcia.
The 2018 WSOP Player of the Year chase runs through the WSOP and WSOP Europe slates this summer and fall. This includes 72 "open" bracelet events in Las Vegas, plus bracelet events at WSOP Europe at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, which will be held October 9 through November 2, 2018. A half-dozen special events on the Las Vegas WSOP schedule are not eligible for POY points consideration. Those events are the Casino Employees, Seniors, Super Seniors, Ladies, Tag Team, Big One for One Drop, and the Global Casino Championship.
The WSOP also provides an interactive calculator to display estimated points for any particular event. (Official points earned will be listed on the results page for each event, and may differ slightly.) Click here for more information on the 2018 POY formula.
The top ten players in the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year race to date:
1 -- John Hennigan 3,130.76
2 -- Shaun Deeb 3,111.64
3 -- Eric Baldwin 2,416.88
4 -- Scott Bohlman 2,413.61
5 -- Mike Leah 2,294.28
6 -- Paul Volpe 2,278.47
7 -- Julien Martini 2,096.31
8 -- Ben Yu 2,036.83
9 -- Elio Fox 2,010.14
10 -- Mario Prats Garcia 2,005.73