Third WSOP POY award
Daniel Negreanu has won the 2019 World Series of Poker Player of the Year title. The Poker Hall of Famer clinched the crown on Monday when Shaun Deeb was eliminated from the Colossus No-Limit Hold’em event at WSOP Europe in 11th place.
the third time Negreanu has been crowned WSOP Player of the Year
This marks the third time Negreanu has been crowned WSOP Player of the Year. He previously claimed the honor in 2004 and 2013. Deeb fell just short of nabbing back-to-back titles, having won POY in 2018.
POY points earned for most WSOP events
The World Series of Poker Player of the Year race uses all open bracelet events in the WSOP in Las Vegas and WSOP Europe.
The two open events that did not count in the standings were the $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em tournament this summer and the WSOP Europe €250,000 ($278,500) Super High Roller. In total, 97 events were used toward Player of the Year calculations.
Shaun Deeb nearly caught Negreanu
The WSOP Player of the Year title was still up for grabs heading into the Colossus, the final event of the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe.
There were four players who had a chance to come out on top. Negreanu was in first place with 3,971.54 points. Robert Campbell was next with 3,857.97, followed by Shaun Deeb with 3,710.64 and former World Poker Tour POY Anthony Zinno with 3,270.33.
Zinno finished in 256th place, earning 51.7 points, which was not enough to catch Negreanu, even if Negreanu did not earn any points at all. Campbell finished in 149th place, good for 103.3 points, but again, not enough to surpass Daniel Negreanu.
Deeb needed about 365 points to pass Negreanu and win WSOP Player of the Year
Negreanu himself ended up in 195th place, which also earned him 103.3 points to take his total up to 4,074.88 (the math is slightly off because of rounding error).
That meant that Deeb needed about 365 points to pass Negreanu and win WSOP Player of the Year. The target finish for Deeb was 5th place in the Colossus, as that would earn him 388 points. He made it to Monday’s Day 3 and the final eleven players, but he struggled early on and was the first player to bow out.
Deeb ended up with 3,917.34 total points, putting him in third place behind Campbell, who finished with 3,961.31.
Seven WSOP Europe cashes
Daniel Negreanu entered WSOP Europe in the third spot in the WSOP Player of the Year race, behind Campbell and Deeb.
He cashed six times at WSOP Europe prior to the Colossus event to jump into the lead. He sold pieces of his WSOP Europe action to fans, so his results in the past month likely made a number of people a solid return.
Negreanu also cashed a whopping 17 times at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. He did not earn a bracelet in any of those tournaments, but did reach four final tables and came in second twice.