2018 WSOP Player of the Year: Elio Fox Grabs Early Lead, Cada Second

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Jun 05, 2018 3 min read Last updated Jun 20, 2018

Last night Elio Fox nearly claimed his second 2018 World Series of Poker bracelet in less than a week. It's no surprise, then, to discover Fox is the early leader in the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year race.

After topping a field of 243 to win Event #2: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty, Fox finished runner-up last night in Event #5: $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller won by Nick Petrangelo. In addition to earning Fox nearly $2.2 million in prize money, those two finishes netted Fox a bundle of WSOP POY points to place him in the top spot.

Here's how the 2018 WSOP POY Top 10 looks as of this morning, Tuesday, June 5:

Joe Cada took ninth place in that event won by Fox, then turned around and won Event #3: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout. With those two deep runs, the 2009 WSOP Main Event winner is currently in second in the POY race.

Petrangelo's big win in the $100K High Roller, good for a $2,910,227 first prize, earned him enough points to place him in third position currently. Julien Martini is behind him in fourth after capturing the title in Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better.

Event #10: $365 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold'em winner William Reymond rounds out the top five, and Johannes Becker, who last night won Event #8: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball, is currently in sixth. In other words, the top six spots in the POY standings are all currently occupied by players who have captured bracelets so far.

Meanwhile Bryn Kenney (in seventh), Danny Wong (in eighth), and Paul Volpe (in 10th) have each collected two cashes during the first week of play, with Aymon Hata's third-place finish in the $100K High Roller enough to place him in eighth currently.

About the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year

This spring the WSOP announced that after hearing player feedback, the POY formula would be adjusted "to better reward bracelet winners and players who run deep, while still rewarding consistency." The new formula is "loosely based" on the one employed to calculate WSOP Circuit rankings, with modifiers based on buy-ins and field sizes.

A table comparing the 2017 and 2018 systems on the WSOP site highlights some of the changes. There is now a much greater difference in points earned between first- and second-place finishes, and min-cashes are now worth relatively less than was the case a year ago.

The 2018 WSOP POY race includes events from this summer's WSOP in Las Vegas as well as from the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe series in Rozvadov, Czech Republic later this year (Oct. 11-Nov. 2). Finishes in 72 of the 78 bracelet events at the 2018 WSOP will count toward the POY, with the following six events excluded:

• Event #1: $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em
• Event #32: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em
• Event #36: Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em
• Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em
• Event #57: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies Event
• Event #78: $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop

While we'll be looking in on the WSOP POY race once a week here on PokerNews, you can check the standings any time on the constantly updated WSOP Player of the Year page. There you also can find a "Point Calculator" to discover in advance how many points each event will award based on the number of entries.

• Tags WSOP 2018 WSOP Elio Fox Joe Cada Nick Petrangelo Julien Martini William Reymond Johannes Becker Bryn Kenney Danny Wong Aymon Hata Paul Volpe
• Related Tournaments World Series of Poker
• Related Players Joe CadaElio FoxBryn KenneyDanny WongPaul VolpeNick Petrangelo