WSOP Championship Event Leaderboard; How Could It Work?
Table Of Contents
Last week, the World Series of Poker announced the 17 Championship events that will form part of its 2020 event schedule. This is an increase of one from 2019, with the introduction of the WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em Championship.
In addition, they also announced that there will be a special $10,000 Championship Event leaderboard, something the WSOP says will be similar to the Player of the Year race, but exclusively for these big buy-in events.
"All the events [will] be part of a new leaderboard the WSOP has planned for 2020. Any player cashing in these events will earn points throughout the summer with prizes up for grabs for the winner."
More information regarding this leaderboard is due to be released soon, but here PokerNews takes a look at what that leaderboard could look like if applied to the 2019 WSOP.
Most Cashes (Total)
A leaderboard heavily skewed by the biggest $10,000 Championship Event of them all, the Main Event, the top ten features the top eight finishes in this year's World Championship. The only two exceptions being $50,000 Poker Players Championship winner Phillip Hui and $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship winner Dash Dudley.
| Place | Player | Total Cashes (USD) | Number of Cashes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hossein Ensan | $10,000,000 | 1 |
| 2 | Dario Sammartino | $6,278,618 | 3 |
| 3 | Alexander Livingston | $4,000,000 | 1 |
| 4 | Garry Gates | $3,000,000 | 1 |
| 5 | Kevin Maahs | $2,200,000 | 1 |
| 6 | Zhen Cai | $1,850,000 | 1 |
| 7 | Nicholas Marchington | $1,525,000 | 1 |
| 8 | Timothy Su | $1,250,000 | 1 |
| 9 | Phillip Hui | $1,152,725 | 3 |
| 10 | Dash Dudley | $1,086,967 | 1 |
Highest Number of Cashes
A different way of looking things here, as we take a look at the players who cashed the most times in Championship events at the 2019 World Series of Poker, and there's a three-way tie at the top of the counts as Shaun Deeb, Bryce Yockey and Mark Gregorich all sit with four cashes in Championship events.
Behind them, there are a whopping 28 players with three cashes in Championship events including Daniel Negreanu, Anthony Zinno, Brian Hastings, Cary Katz, Josh Arieh, David "ODB" Baker, Mike Matusow, Nick Schulman, Paul Volpe and Phil Hui.
| Player | Events | Cash |
|---|---|---|
| Shaun Deeb | 5th: $50,000 Poker Players Championship | $232,058 |
| 2nd: $10,000 Dealer's Choice | $193,090 | |
| 24th: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha | $30,532 | |
| 17th: $10,000 NLHE Six Max | $28,618 | |
| $490,147 | ||
| Bryce Yockey | 4th: $50,000 Poker Players Championship | $325,989 |
| 8th: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better | $45,551 | |
| 8th: $10,000 Dealer's Choice | $38,238 | |
| 57th: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha | $16,466 | |
| $426,244 | ||
| Mark Gregorich | 4th: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw | $81,635 |
| 13th: $10,000 Razz | $17,260 | |
| 18th: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better | $15,100 | |
| 1,018th: $10,000 Main Event | $15,970 | |
| $129,965 |
GPI Points
Our final way of sorting out the best Championship event performers comes courtesy of our friends at the Global Poker Index who calculate their own annual Player of the Year standings using GPI points. The score for a given event is derived from a combination of their finishing place percentage as well as the buy-in.
Main Event champion Hossein Ensan's achievement is diminished somewhat, with the multiple cashes of Shaun Deeb and Nick Schulman seeing them move ahead of him, despite the Main Event offering the German a whopping 618.19 points.
However, it's Dario Sammartino's multiple cashes, as well as his deep Main Event run, that see him well clear of the rest of the pack.
| Place | Player | Points | Total Cashes | Best Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dario Sammartino | 903.53 | 3 | $6,000,000 (2nd: $10,000 WSOP Main Event) |
| 2 | Shaun Deeb | 706.84 | 4 | $232,058 (5th: $50,000 Poker Players Championship) |
| 3 | Nick Schulman | 626.97 | 3 | $463,670 (1st: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better) |
| 4 | Hossein Ensan | 618.19 | 1 | $10,000,000 (1st: $10,000 WSOP Main Event) |
| 5 | Bryce Yockey | 600.17 | 4 | $325,989 (4th: $50,000 Poker Players Championship) |
| 6 | Luke Schwartz | 553.45 | 3 | $273,336 (1st: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw) |
| 7 | Phil Hui | 548.69 | 3 | $1,099,311 (1st: $50,000 Poker Player's Championship) |
| 8 | Brian Hastings | 542.57 | 3 | $286,570 (2nd: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better) |
| 9 | Yueqi Zhu | 519.28 | 3 | $238,420 (2nd: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better) |
| 10 | Robert Campbell | 506.18 | 2 | $385,763 (1st: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better) |
2019 WSOP Player of the Year Robert Campbell just sneaks into the top ten, with his two $10,000 finishes earning him 506.18 points.
Conclusion
While we don't know what format the leaderboard will take, or indeed what prizes lay in store for the winner, it's clear that it's not straight forward to determine the best-performing player in Championship Events at the World Series of Poker.
What is also not clear is whether players will approach this new "title" with the determination that has seen close battles for the overall Player of the Year title in recent years.
