How Important Is the First Open Event of the WSOP in the Player of the Year Race?
The World Series of Poker Player of the Year (POY) race is always a fun one to follow. This year, the formula backing the rankings is powered by the Global Poker Index (GPI), and it will cover all open events at the WSOP in Las Vegas this summer and WSOP Europe in Berlin in October.
On Friday, the first open event of the 2015 WSOP found its winner, with Michael Wang defeating Bryn Kenney in heads-up play to earn the title in Event #2: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Along with the $466,120 top prize, Wang booked 473.22 POY points, and he currently leads the way over Kenney (418.96) and Artur Koren (387.22).
Koren finished third behind Wang and Kenney, and that got us thinking — how do the players that get off to an early start fare in the WSOP POY race when it's all said and done?
Let's take a look.
| Year | First Open Event | Top Finishers | End-of-Year POY Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $25,000 Mixed-Max No-Limit Hold'em | 1st: Vanessa Selbst | 38 |
| 2nd: Jason Mo | 114 | ||
| 3rd: Al Decarolis | 250 | ||
| 4th: JC Tran | 15 | ||
| 2013 | $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em | 1st: Trevor Pope | 57 |
| 2nd: David Vamplew | 18 | ||
| 3rd: Darryll Fish | 192 | ||
| 4th: Jared Hamby | 13 | ||
| 5th: Jamie Armstrong | 247 | ||
| 6th: Dan Kelly | 19 | ||
| 7th: Brandon Meyers | 317 | ||
| 8th: David Peters | 33 | ||
| 2012 | $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em | 1st: Brent Hanks | 45 |
| 2nd: Jacob Bazeley | 173 | ||
| 3rd: Andrew Badecker | 272 | ||
| 4th: Vanessa Selbst | 11 | ||
| 5th: Ryan Schmidt | 295 | ||
| 6th: Abdyl Konjuhi | Not in top 500 | ||
| 7th: Michael Kaufman | 325 | ||
| 8th: JP Kelly | 132 | ||
| 9th: Richard Park | Not in top 500 | ||
| 2011 | $10,000 Heads-Up Championship | 1st: Jake Cody | 10 |
| 2nd: Yevgeniy Timoshenko | 28 | ||
| 3rd: Gus Hansen | 201 | ||
| 4th: Eric Froehlich | 46 | ||
| 2010 | $50,000 Poker Players' Championship | 1st: Michael Mizrachi | 2 |
| 2nd: Vladimir Shchemelev | T-16 | ||
| 3rd: David Oppenheim | T-195 | ||
| 4th: John Juanda | T-3 | ||
| 5th: Robert Mizrachi | T-22 | ||
| 6th: David "Bakes" Baker | T-3 | ||
| 7th: Daniel Alaei | T-25 | ||
| 8th: Mikael Thuritz | T-61 | ||
| 2009 | $40,000 40th Annual No-Limit Hold'em | 1st: Vitaly Lunkin | 4 |
| 2nd: Isaac Haxton | T-42 | ||
| 3rd: Greg Raymer | T-180 | ||
| 4th: Dani Stern | T-227 | ||
| 5th: Justin Bonomo | T-120 | ||
| 6th: Alec Torelli | T-157 | ||
| 7th: Lex Veldhuis | T-177 | ||
| 8th: Noah Schwartz | T-180 | ||
| 9th: Ted Forrest | T-451 | ||
| 2008 | $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship | 1st: Nenad Medic | T-45 |
| 2nd: Andy Bloch | T-13 | ||
| 3rd: Kathy Liebert | T-118 | ||
| 4th: Mike Sexton | T-220 | ||
| 5th: Amit Makhija | T-173 | ||
| 6th: Chris Bell | T-26 | ||
| 7th: Patrick Antonius | T-265 | ||
| 8th: Mike Sowers | T-391 | ||
| 9th: Phil Laak | T-341 | ||
| 2007 | $5,000 Mixed Hold'em Championship | 1st: Steve Billirakis | T-18 |
| 2nd: Greg Mueller | T-18 | ||
| 3rd: Tony George | T-157 | ||
| 4th: Steve Paul-Ambrose | T-157 | ||
| 5th: Fred Berger | T-259 | ||
| 6th: Roger McDow | T-97 | ||
| 7th: Kirk Morrison | T-177 | ||
| 8th: Jon Turner | T-215 | ||
| 9th: John Younger | T-331 |
Looking at the POY finishing position for those players that won the first open event of the WSOP, their average POY result was 27.4, with only Vitaly Lunkin, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, and Jake Cody placing in the WSOP POY's top 10 to end the year. Mizrachi earned the best finish when he took second in 2010 following opening the Series with a win in the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship.
If we extend this to looking at the top three finishers from the first open event of the year, we get an average POY finishing position of 91.9. Knowing that, it doesn't seem like winning or performing very well to reach the top three in the first event plays too much into the eventual POY finale. But if we look at different players specifically, it could be the case.
For players like Mizrachi and Lunkin, plus others like Vanessa Selbst, John Juanda, and David "Bakes" Baker, it can certainly help propel them to a much better summer, and that could eventually turn them into a contestant for to win the POY title. All of these players play a fairly high volume of WSOP events each summer and also play a wide variety of tournaments, they aren't just one-trick ponies. For them, getting off to a booming start can play big dividends on the long road ahead.
This year, Wang's victory might not lend itself to him topping the POY leaderboard when it's all said and done, but Kenney could very well get the early boost he'll need, as he's a high-volume player who will play all the games.
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