Historic Summer Leads to WSOP Player of the Year for Scott Seiver
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Three bracelets wasn't enough for Scott Seiver to run away with the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year award, but he did hold on to win. And now he might be one year away from an even bigger honor — the Poker Hall of Fame.
The live WSOP in Las Vegas wrapped last week, but there were still two WSOP Online bracelet events earlier this week that could have impacted the Player of the Year race. As such, the WSOP couldn't call it official for Seiver as a few other players were still mathematically in competition.
Fierce Competition
The 2024 World Series of Poker will go down as one of the best ever. Two legends of the game — Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey — ended decade-long bracelet droughts. And even with three bracelets, Seiver still needed a late final table appearance to hold off two close competitors — Michael Rocco and Jeremy Ausmus — to win POY.
Ausmus tied Phil Hellmuth's 2021 single-series record with seven final table appearances, and that wasn't even good enough for second place. That is because Rocco, who won his first bracelet in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship (6-Handed) event late in the series, also had a memorable summer that included six top nine finishes.
But as strong as Rocco and Ausmus performed this summer — and John Racener and quite a few others — the top player at the 2024 WSOP was Seiver, who becomes eligible for the Poker Hall of Fame at age 40 next year.
PokerNews Podcast Discusses Seiver Winning WSOP Player of the Year
2024 WSOP Player of the Year Top 10 Standings
Seiver won his fifth, sixth, and seventh bracelets this year, and reached two other final tables, both late in the series. On the final day of play, the New Yorker took sixth place for $131,719 in the $25,000 High Roller H.O.R.S.E. tournament, gaining 398.43 Player of the Year points, leaving Rocco, Ausmus, and Racener in a position where they essentially needed to win one of the final two WSOP Online bracelet events to overtake his lead. None of the contenders ran deep in either of those last online events.
When all was said and done, Seiver accumulated 4,403.85 points, almost exactly 600 more than Rocco, the runner-up. Ausmus was a close third place finisher at 3,686.60, while Racener took fifth place at 3,557.10, and Xixiang Luo rounded out the top five with 3,480.93 points.
Recapping Seiver's Dominant Summer
Seiver called his shot back in May on winning Player of the Year. He even went so far as to send out a tweet looking for some betting action against his prediction. The poker superstar wasn't all talk — he walked the walk.
The newest WSOP Player of the Year now has $26.8 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob. But like the 2023 Poker Hall of Fame inductee who has six WSOP bracelets — Brian Rast — his reputation is just as strong, if not stronger, as a cash game player as it is as a tournament grinder. And that is why he'll be tough to top next year when the HOF vote comes around.
Seiver began the summer with a victory for $426,744 in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better Championship event. Two weeks later, he took down the $1,500 Razz tournament for $141,374. In doing so, he became the favorite for Player of the Year. He'd tack on a third bracelet in late June in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship for $411,041. But he'd still need to finish off the series with two final table appearances to make it difficult for Rocco, Ausmus, or Racener to catch up in the Player of the Year race.
In total, Seiver won three bracelets, reached five final tables, and cashed in 17 events (three online). He is the first to win three WSOP bracelets at the same venue in the same year since Jeffrey Lisandro in 2009. George Danzer won three in 2014 but the first occurred in the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (APAC) series. Ivey (2002), Hellmuth (1993), Ted Forrest (1993), and Puggy Pearson (1973) are the only other players to win three WSOP titles in a single series.
Next stop, the Poker Hall of Fame?
