WSOP Paradise will decide the most intense battle for Player of the Year in history.

The top three players for the 2026 WSOP Player of the Year are separated by only 29 points, with Shaun Deeb leading Naoya Kihara (3,388) and Alex Foxen (3,381) with 3,410 points. WSOP Paradise will determine the champion, with a total prize pool of $1 million.

In the battle for the 2026 World Series of Poker Player of the Year (POY), the top three are separated by only 29 points. Shaun Deeb is leading Naoya Kihara and Alex Foxen by a very narrow margin, advancing to the WSOP Paradise (WSOPP) in December.

The WSOP confirmed on Thursday that the Bahamas event will determine this year's Player of the Year, with Deeb poised to become only the second player to win the award three times. The defending champion currently leads the leaderboard with 3,410 points, just 22 points behind Kihara and 7 points behind Foxen.

This is more than just about honor. A total of $1 million in leaderboard prize money will be distributed among the top 100 players, with the ultimate champion also receiving the newly established Binion Cup.

This marks the first time the POY competition has incorporated results from the WSOP Europe, the Las Vegas Summer WSOP, and the WSOPP. This means the three leaders have one last chance to widen the gap before the end of the 2026 season.

Deeb chases his third POY trophy after winning his ninth gold bracelet.

Deeb enters the summer as the defending champion and a favorite for Player of the Year, having already secured three runner-up finishes at the WSOP Europe and the early stages of the Las Vegas Series.

The American player eventually won his ninth gold bracelet in Las Vegas, adding another title to his collection, which already placed him among the most successful players in WSOP history.

Unlike previous summers, Deeb didn't accumulate dozens of small winnings. He only cashed six times in Las Vegas, but his deeper performance was enough to keep him at the top of the leaderboard.

In addition to his gold bracelet victory, he also finished as runner-up in one event, reached the final table twice, and advanced further in the main event.

His total earnings for the summer were $956,086 (including prize money), but this did not translate into the profits some might have expected. Deeb netted $89,286 from the series, a pre-tax return on investment of 10.3%.

Deeb won the POY Award in 2018 and 2025, and now he has the opportunity to become the only three-time winner.

The Kihara craze brought him within reach.

Of the three leaders, Kihara is perhaps the biggest surprise. The Japanese pro had an outstanding summer, winning two consecutive $10,000 Championship bracelet events and cashing 16 times throughout the series.

His victories, including the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship and the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship, bring his career total to three gold bracelets. These wins come 14 years after he became the first Japanese player to win a WSOP gold bracelet in 2012.

Kihara's summer wasn't just about those two titles. He also finished third twice and seventh twice, including a deep run in the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw tournament won by compatriot Koji Fujimoto.

As PokerNews reported earlier this summer, Kihara has been at the forefront of the growth of the Japanese poker scene, especially in hybrid games. He even celebrated Fujimoto's gold bracelet victory on the sidelines before stepping forward to translate for his compatriot's award interview.

"When I won my first gold bracelet, nobody had ever won it before. Then it took me two years to win my second one. Now, there are two Japanese gold bracelet winners every year... Winning a gold bracelet is becoming more and more common, and it's no longer special," Kihara told PokerNews.

There are good reasons to believe that Kihara is an outstanding performer in Las Vegas, and with the two now only 22 points apart, Kihara has a real chance to become Japan's first WSOP Player of the Year in December.

Foxen's stability keeps him competitive.

Foxen is no stranger to making the deep playoffs in major poker tournaments, and his summer results perfectly illustrate why he is considered one of the most consistent players in the game.

This American player cashed 14 times at the 2026 WSOP, including winning a gold bracelet in the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty event, for a total of $594,246.

Another big prize came from the $100,000 High Roller event, where he finished sixth and won $522,347. He also finished third in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship ($300,000) and seventh in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller event ($267,993).

Foxen also made several deep cuts, including a fifth-place finish in the $10,000 Eight Mixed and $600 NLH/PLO Deepstacks events, and a tenth-place finish in the $25,000 HORSE.

Top 15 Players of the Year at the 2026 WSOP

Despite Deeb, Kihara, and Foxen having already established a considerable lead, several familiar names remain in the competition as WSOPP approaches.

Daniel Negreanu won his eighth gold bracelet in July and believes he still has a chance to close the gap and win his third POY trophy.

"WSOP Paradise is the perfect stage for a dramatic finale to the year," said the GGPoker ambassador. "I'm a few hundred points behind, but there are plenty of points to fight for in the Bahamas, and winning my third Player of the Year title is definitely within reach. It all comes down to how I perform in the season finale."

Current WSOP Main Event champion Lucas Jumalon is also in the top 15 and will seek to climb further when the tournament resumes in December.

“I’ve had an incredible year, and it’s not over yet,” Jumalon said. “Knowing that the Player of the Year race will be decided in the Bahamas adds to the excitement. I’m excited to go to WSOP Paradise, play my best poker, and hopefully climb even higher in the rankings.”

The WSOP Paradise $1 million prize pool is up for grabs.

The WSOP has allocated $1 million in prize money to the top 100 players, with prize packages designed to encourage them to return to the event in the future.

The top three finishers will each receive a $100,000 WSOP Paradise package, while fourth through fifteenth place finishers will each receive a $30,000 Super Main Event package. Other packages and tournament tickets will be awarded up to the 100th place finisher.

An additional $1 million is available through a separate WSOP Parlay promotion, which rewards players who reach the final table of a gold bracelet event (live or online) and participate in the WSOPP during 2026.

The $50 million guaranteed Super Main Event will be one of the biggest highlights of the event, with online satellite tournaments already running via GGPoker's WSOP Express.

How does the 2026 WSOP Player of the Year operate?

The WSOP has introduced several changes to the Player of the Year competition for 2026, most notably merging the results of the three separate bracelet festivals into a single leaderboard.

There are a few important rules to remember:

• Only publicly held, live bracelet events are included in the rankings. Online bracelet events and tournaments with restricted entry (such as senior and women's events) are excluded.

• Only the athlete's best 15 scores are counted towards the final score.

• Players can only earn POY points once per event, even if they cash multiple times.

• In some tournament formats, players eliminated in the same round will receive the same points based on the average of their rankings.

• For POY, the final table is defined as the top nine.

Due to the implementation of the best 15 scores rule, players who have already accumulated a large number of points may need exceptionally strong scores to improve their total score.

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