World Series of Poker Player of the Year: Negreanu Still Leads, "Bakes" Jumps to Third
The top of the World Series of Poker Player of the Year leaderboard remains the same from last week, but the rest of the top 10 has been shaken up quite a bit. Daniel Negreanu still leads the POY race after earning most of his points with his Main Event win at WSOP Asia Pacific in April. He's kept his lead thanks to five cashes at WSOP Las Vegas. He added two of those cashes in the past week—39th place in Event #32: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (Six Handed) and 34th place in Event #41: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (Six Handed)—to extend his lead over second-place Tom Schneider. Schneider has cashed seven times at the 2013 WSOP, including two bracelet wins, but has only one cash in the past week, a 60th-place finish in Event #35: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. He trails Negreanu by just over 32 points in the POY standings.
WSOP PLAYER OF THE YEAR TOP 10 (through 43 events)
| Place | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Negreanu | 470.53 |
| 2 | Tom Schneider | 438.51 |
| 3 | David "Bakes" Baker | 414.10 |
| 4 | Jared Hamby | 368.73 |
| 5 | Dan Kelly | 344.70 |
| 6 | Jason Duval | 328.85 |
| 7 | Mark Radoja | 327.75 |
| 8 | Erick Lindgren | 323.51 |
| 9 | Jesse Martin | 318.38 |
| 10 | Scott Clements | 303.50 |
Dan Kelly dropped two spots from third place to fifth place this week. Kelly got off to a remarkable start this summer, cashing eight times in the first three weeks but hasn’t made the money of any tournament since then. His POY points total remains at 344.70, allowing two players who were not among the top ten a week ago to surpass him. A week ago, Kelly was the only player in the top ten who hadn’t won a bracelet this year, but now David “Bakes” Baker and Scott Clements have joined him. Baker took over Kelly’s spot in third place with his runner-up finish in Event #43: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball. He has a total of six cashes so far this summer, including four final tables, for a total of 414.10 POY points. Clements had one cash during the past week, a fifth-place finish in Event #35: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. It was his second final table and fourth cash of the Series.
Other than Baker, the biggest mover in the rankings was Jared Hamby, who vaulted ahead of Kelly into fourth place on the strength of his bracelet victory in Event #40: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. Erick Lindgren and Jesse Martin also won bracelets this past week, earning enough POY points to jump into eighth and ninth place, respectively.
Jason Duval was in tenth place a week ago but climbed up to sixth by making another final table just a few days after winning his first career bracelet. Mark Radoja had two more cashes over the past seven days but still dropped from fifth to seventh.
There are now about 20 events remaining at the WSOP in Las Vegas, including the Main Event and the prestigious One Drop High Rollers event with its six-figure buy-in. Player of the Year points will also be awarded at the WSOP Europe in October, so plenty of points are still available. Come back to PokerNews.com for weekly updates on the POY race as Negreanu tries to extend his lead over Schneider, Baker, and the rest of the field.
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