Jake Ferro Earns WPT Season XIX Player of the Year Honors
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Despite not winning a World Poker Tour (WPT) event, Jake Ferro is the Season XIX Player of the Year.
Ferro booked an impressive three cashes during the COVID-shortened 2021 season for a total of $669,540. Although he didn't ship a WPT trophy, he ran deep in two major events.
Unseating the Defending Champ
Brian Altman entered the year as the reigning POY winner and he started off right where he left off pre-pandemic. The New Englander won the first event of the season — $3,500 Seminole Hard Rock Tampa — for $613,225, beating out a field of 1,165 entrants. He'd go on to cash in two other events and rack up 1,450 Player of the Year points.
Altman compiled another impressive season on the World Poker Tour and now has three titles, one fewer than Darren Elias, who holds the all-time record. But when all was said and done, Ferro piled up 1,550 points, 100 more than Altman, and now becomes the reigning WPT Player of the Year.
How He Did It
Like Altman, Ferro ran deep at the WPT Tampa stop in June, and cashed in 39th place for $15,690. He'd then have even greater success — much greater success — in November in South Florida at the $3,500 buy-in Seminole Hard Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open.
With a massive field of 1,566 entrants, Ferro took second place for $573,605, far and away the largest score of his poker career. Gediminas Uselis, also a 2021 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) champion, won it for $778,490.
Ferro's impressive play didn't stop in Florida. He ran deep again in December, this time in the prestigious $10,400 buy-in WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The newly minted Player of the Year finished in 14th place out of 716 for another $80,245.
“I’m thrilled to have won WPT Player of the Year for Season XIX and am definitely looking forward to playing more World Poker Tour events in 2022,” Ferro said. “It would have been a dream come true to have etched my name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, but coming so close only makes me hungrier for the coming season.”
Prior to the start of Season XIX, Ferro had never cashed in a World Poker Tour event. In all live tournaments during the 2021 calendar year, he cashed for $1,050,000. From 2008-2020, he had a combined $190,000 in earnings according to The Hendon Mob.
*Images courtesy of World Poker Tour (WPT).
