{"id":18728,"date":"2026-06-18T15:33:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/?p=18728"},"modified":"2026-06-18T15:33:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:33:47","slug":"wsop-player-of-the-year-race-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wsop-player-of-the-year-race-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"These players are dominating the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard."},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"18728\" class=\"elementor elementor-18728\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c77cee7 e-flex e-con-boxed wpr-particle-no wpr-jarallax-no wpr-parallax-no wpr-sticky-section-no wpr-column-slider-no wpr-equal-height-no e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"c77cee7\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b2b5bb9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b2b5bb9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18729\" src=\"https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-31-300x199.webp\" alt=\"These players are dominating the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard.\" width=\"450\" height=\"299\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-31-300x199.webp 300w, https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-31-18x12.webp 18w, https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-31.webp 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/> <span style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><em>The competition for the 2026 WSOP Player of the Year is fierce, with Nick Schulman, Alex Foxen, and Naoya Kihara occupying the top three spots. Schulman leads with 2,002 points, while defending champion Shaun Deeb remains in the top ten.<\/em><\/span><\/p><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Three players, four gold bracelets, and countless final table appearances. The 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) isn&#039;t even halfway through, but the competition for WSOP Player of the Year (POY) is already fierce. Nick Schulman, Alex Foxen, and Naoya Kihara have all delivered outstanding performances this summer, kicking off this competition.<\/span><\/p><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">These three players occupy the top three spots on the POY leaderboard, while other players in the top ten include seven-time POY bracelet winner Josh Arieh, high-stakes top player Chris Hunichen, and Midwestern veteran Richard Alsup. Two-time POY winner Shaun Deeb is also in the top ten, despite having only one winning ticket this summer.<\/span><\/p><h3 class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong><span class=\"\">WSOP Player of the Year Top 10 Rankings<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3><div class=\"ds-scroll-area ds-scroll-area--show-on-focus-within ds-scroll-area--enabled _1210dd7 c03cafe9\"><table><thead><tr><th><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Ranking<\/span><\/th><th><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">player<\/span><\/th><th><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">integral<\/span><\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Nick Schulman<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">2,002<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">2<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Alex Foxen<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1,902<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">3<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Naoya Kihara<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1,686<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">4<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Dennis Weiss<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1,686<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">5<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Justin Liberto<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1,646<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">6<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Chris Hunichen<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1,609<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">7<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Shaun Deeb<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1,602<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">8<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Stephen Hubbard<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1,579<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">9<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Joshua Arieh<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1,541<\/span><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">10<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Richard Alsup<\/span><\/td><td><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">1,408<\/span><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><h3 class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong><span class=\"\">These three&#039;s career-level summer<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Poker Hall of Famer Schulman currently leads the POY leaderboard with 2,002 points, most of which came from his eighth gold bracelet win at the $1,500 HORSE event. Prior to that, he had just finished as runner-up at the $1,500 Limit Badogee event. Schulman has also made two other final table appearances, most recently finishing fifth at the $10,000 Big O tournament.<\/span><\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-18730\" src=\"https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-26-300x200.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-26-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-26-18x12.webp 18w, https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-26.webp 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">PokerNews reported earlier this week on Schulman&#039;s hot summer start; you can read the report here.<\/span><\/p><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Before Kristen Foxen&#039;s celebrations for her sixth WSOP bracelet ended, Alex Foxen had already returned to the WSOP championship ranks, winning her fourth bracelet in the $10,000 Super Bounty event. The high-stakes champion has had an impressive summer, including a third-place finish in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship ($300,000), a fifth-place finish in the $600 NLH\/PLO ($55,305), and a sixth-place finish in the $100,000 High Roller ($522,347).<\/span><\/p><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">The Foxen family has already won two gold bracelets this summer, but Japan&#039;s Kihara also has two to go \u2013 he won the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Low Stud Draw Championship and the $10,000 Limit Seven-Card Stud Championship. This is undoubtedly a remarkable achievement for a player who has only won one gold bracelet before, in 2012.<\/span><\/p><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Kihara is tied for third place on the POY leaderboard with 1,686 points, the same as Dennis Weiss from Germany. Weiss won the $1,500 Limit Texas Hold&#039;em Championship ($133,704), finished second in the $1,500 Limit Razz ($90,354), and finished fifth in the $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo ($56,738).<\/span><\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-18731\" src=\"https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3-20-300x200.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3-20-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3-20-18x12.webp 18w, https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3-20.webp 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p><h3 class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong><span class=\"\">The title defense for POY is still heating up.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">After winning his second POY title in 2025 and finishing as runner-up twice at the WSOP Europe earlier this year, all eyes are on Shaun Deeb&#039;s POY campaign. But this tireless player only had one winning record this summer \u2013 albeit a final table finish at the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Low Stud Draw Championship, for a prize of $99,557.<\/span><\/p><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-18732\" src=\"https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-14-300x200.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-14-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-14-18x12.webp 18w, https:\/\/pub-dc2de6f8f0454e48ae0895383ea4705c.r2.dev\/hunter.poker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-14.webp 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span class=\"\" style=\"color: #000000;\">But never rule out Deeb \u2013 he remains seventh in the POY rankings with 1,602 points. He is consistently a top contender for POY and was selected in the $25k Dream Draft with $133, making him the highest-valued player.<\/span><\/p><p class=\"ds-markdown-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span class=\"\">The WSOP POY competition was the topic of discussion on the latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast, which premiered this Thursday morning. Tune in to hear from Chad Holloway, Ben Ludlow, and two-time WSOP POY winners.\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/wsop.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"\">WSOP.com<\/span><\/a><span class=\"\">\u00a0POY champion Mike Holtz&#039;s thoughts on this year&#039;s POY competition.<\/span><\/span><\/p><h3>Want to change Texas Holdem from \"can understand\" to \"can win\"?<\/h3><p><span style=\"color: #333300;\">If you want to learn more about Texas Hold'em, you can continue reading\uff1a<\/span><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/texas-holdem-history\/\">The Origins of Texas Hold'em: Why is it the World's Most Popular Poker Variant?<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/texas-holdem-hand-rankings\/\">Texas Hold'em Hand Rankings and Showdown Rules (Beginner\u2019s Essentials)<\/a><br data-start=\"2628\" data-end=\"2631\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/texas-holdem-betting-actions\/\">Texas Hold'em Betting teaching: Check \/ Bet \/ Call \/Raise and Betting Strategy Analysis<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/texas-holdem-position-strategy\/\">The importance of Texas Hold'em position? Why is the back position more advantageous?<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/hunter-poker-texas-holdem-how-to-play\/\">How to play Texas Hold'em? Novices learn Texas Hold'em rules, processes and betting teaching in 10 minutes<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/texas-holdem-starting-hands\/\">Texas Hold&#039;em Starting Hands Strategy Guide: Which Hands to Play?<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/texas-holdem-starting-hands-chart\/\">Texas Holdem Starting Hands Chart Tutorial: Complete Starting Hand Chart and Position Strategy<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/texas-holdem-rules-and-game-flow\/\">How to play Texas Hold&#039;em? Complete rules and a hand&#039;s flow (Preflop \/ Flop \/ Turn \/ River)<\/a><\/p><p class=\"translation-block\"><em>Hunter Poker offers comprehensive tutorials, hand analysis, and strategy sharing to help players upgrade from simply &quot;reading the cards&quot; to <strong data-start=\"2099\" data-end=\"2113\">understanding the range<\/strong> . This allows you to make better decisions in every hand.<\/em><\/p><p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"emoji\" role=\"img\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/svg\/25b6.svg\" alt=\"\u25b6\ufe0f\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hunterpokergame\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In\u00a0<strong>Facebook<\/strong> Follow Hunter Poker.<\/a><\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"emoji\" role=\"img\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/svg\/1f4d8.svg\" alt=\"\ud83d\udcd8\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@GameHunterPoker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In\u00a0<strong>Youtube<\/strong> Follow Hunter Poker.<\/a><\/span><\/p><h3 class=\"p1\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><span style=\"color: #133985;\"><b>Want to learn more about Texas Hold&#039;em gameplay and strategies?<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h3><p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><\/b><span style=\"color: #333300;\"><span style=\"color: #00ffff;\">Online Texas Hold&#039;em free tournaments typically have no entry fee, making them ideal for beginners to familiarize themselves with the rules and for advanced players to test strategies and gain experience. View full brand profiles to learn about each platform&#039;s free tournament schedule, features, and target audience.<\/span><br \/><\/span><\/p><p><!-- CTA --><\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a style=\"display: inline-block; background: #4CAF50; color: #fff; padding: 14px 28px; font-size: 18px; border-radius: 8px; text-decoration: none; font-weight: 600;\" href=\"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/poker-data\/?sort=freeroll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Headed to<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andrew Robl&#039;s stunning fold in the latest episode of High Stakes Poker has reignited the poker community&#039;s debate about the &quot;best high-stakes fold of all time.&quot; This article compares two classic second-best folds by Robl and Doug Polk, analyzing which one is more impressive.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[325],"tags":[1022,991,3522,1371,777,1412,413,1482,2411,2542,710,769,2263,3588,1057],"class_list":["post-18728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-325","tag-2026-wsop","tag-alex-foxen","tag-naoya-kihara","tag-nick-schulman","tag-poy","tag-shaun-deeb","tag-wsop","tag-1482","tag-2411","tag-2542","tag-710","tag-769","tag-2263","tag-3588","tag-1057"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18728"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18739,"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18728\/revisions\/18739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunter.poker\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}