The RunGood Poker Series Player of the Year Race Heats Up
The RunGood Player of the Year Race powered by the Global Poker Index is now three months into a 12-month stint. This leaderboard marks a first for the RunGood Poker Series and since the August 2023 announcement, there have been plenty of faces rotating around the top 10 rankings, though the top three have held a constant lead. The top three in the race: Brian Winter, Jason Simon, and Shaun Emery, have a combined 18 final table appearances with two of those being Main Event final table appearances, 28 cashes and 7 titles through 7 tour stops around the country.
Though the top three on the leaderboard have held steadfast, the race is still very much anyone’s game, and those faces are being hunted by others looming amongst the rankings. In addition to a main event final table appearance in St. Louis, David Prociak claimed two RunGood titles during the late October Graton stop, moving him to fourth place in the race, less than 100 points from fellow St. Louis Main Event final tablist Shaun Emery.
Sitting in eighth place in the POY Race is a name that many chasing points don’t want to see: RunGood Ambassador Daniel Lowery, holding 375 points. Lowery is less than 80 points away from finding himself in the top five.
Within the top 10 there are also two names that one might consider to be “sleeper” picks, but don’t count them out by any means. Horseshoe Tunica local, Walker Miskelly currently sits in 5th place in the race and can be seen regularly making deep runs and final table appearances with 7 cashes and 2 final tables through just two attended stops. A recent California transplant, Forrest Kollar, who sits in 7th place in the race, can now be seen at most RunGood stops in the Midwest where he’s collected 5 cashes and a final table appearance, with 4 out of the 5 cashes being top 20 finishes.
This week, the RunGood Poker Series is in both Cleveland, OH, and Tunica, MS, where many of the top 10 can be seen competing in events. In fact, Shaun Emery bagged a healthy 356,000 in yesterday’s Day 1A of the $1,000 Main Event at JACK Cleveland, while Brian Winter, Jason Simon, and Dylan Lemery can be seen firing at the $600 Main Event at Horseshoe Tunica. Walker Miskelly bagged Day 1A last night with 138,000 chips.
While it may seem as if the top three have a comfortable lead, the race is still in its infancy and with plenty of seasoned players in the top 10 rankings, it’s anyone’s game. The winners will be determined in summer of 2024 after the Spring 2024 RGPS season concludes. The top 5 on the leaderboard will receive an entry into the Hendon Mob Mid-Major Championship Event at Thunder Valley Casino along with $500 travel credit, and the person at the very top of the leaderboard will also earn a banner that will travel on the RGPS tour across the country.
The up-to-date leaderboard powered by GPI can be found here: https://www.rungood.com/pages/rungood-player-of-the-year-race-powered-by-the-global-poker-index