Poker Writer
Over two weeks of the 2026 WSOP are in the books, and Naoya Kihara of Japan has emerged as the early breakout star, as he leads the Player of the Year race over defending champion Shaun Deeb, which has propelled his 25K Fantasy team into first place.
The 2025 WSOP POY winner, Deeb, entered the summer series with the lead after a strong showing in WSOP Europe in the spring. He was widely regarded as the heavy favorite to win again this year and his chances remain strong as he sits in second place. But for now, Kihara has the lead on the 8-time bracelet winner.
The 44-year-old Kihara took the lead after winning back-to-back bracelets in two different $10,000 championship events, the 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship and the Seven-Card Stud Championship for the second and third bracelets of his career. His double bracelet wins extend the streak of at least one player winning multiple bracelets in a single WSOP to 26 years.
Kihara’s lead at the top is a boon for Japanese poker, which has seen a surge in recent years, with more and more Japanese players playing in the WSOP.
POY Race Top Five
Outside of Kihara’s lead at the top of the leaderboard with 1,596 points, the top five is full of players who have had a great start to the series.
Deeb is in second with 1,596 points. Most of Deeb’s points come from WSOP Europe as he only has one cash so far in the summer series. He ranks 43rd on the fantasy points leaderboard as his summer has not fully kicked off in full yet results wise.
Chris Hunichen is third place with 1,490 points. He had a final table from the large field $500 Freezeout event which is giving him the most points. Hunichen will be a threat throughout the series with his proclivity to play every high roller event.
The Monster Stack winner Richard Alsup sits in fourth place with 1,409 points. Winning the almost 12,000 entry event is a huge point grabber and puts him directly into contention.
Rounding out the top five is Lithuania’s Marius Kudzmanas with 1,402 points.
Kihara Puts Team Banana on Top in 25K Fantasy
Not only is Kihara first in the POY race, but he is also the reason Team Banana leads the 25K fantasy team standings so far. Marco Johnson and Scott Seiver have also contributed results to the team’s lead.
- 2nd: Team Lang Gang, 434 points – Jeremy Ausmus and Mike Leah lead this team, with each having over 100 points. Ausmus has two final tables in $10,000 mixed-game events. Allen Kessler has also contributed a strong 85 points to the team, mainly for his third-place finish in the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship, in what was a real chance for him to win his first bracelet.
- 3rd: Team Spitework, 414 points – Led by Biao Ding, who is the third-highest individual point-earner with 142 points. David Peters has also pitched in 102 points.
- 4th: Team Blez/NGNF, 395 points – Chris Brewer is second in the player points list with 210 as he spearheads this team into the top five. His three final tables so far have made for the strongest individual resume for any player who hasn’t won a bracelet yet in this WSOP.
On the other end of the spectrum, Team DNegs has not gotten off to the best start, with only 161 points. They sit in 20th place out of the 24 teams.
Photo credit: Miguel Cortes / WSOP
