Poker Writer
Shaun Deeb emerged as the ultimate winner of a hard-fought WSOP Player of the Year battle. Deeb sacrificed playing in this year’s Main Event to focus on pursuing Player of the Year points, and his success validates that strategy.
Deed edged out Benny Glaser, Martin Kabrhel, and Michael Mizrachi to win the honor for the second time in his career. He was previously Player of the Year in 2018. He’s only the second player to win the title more than once, with Daniel Negreanu being the other to have managed it.
Deeb held the lead in the race for the final two weeks of the series, though Glaser was trying hard to chase him down. Mizrachi’s Main Event win also put him in contention to win it, but “the Grinder’s” overall light schedule over the summer left him short of the necessary points to catch Deeb.
Deeb Win Sparks Criticisms of the POY Formula
There’s no denying that Deeb put together a very strong summer to win Player of the Year. However, many people immediately questioned why Mizrachi was not the winner.
The vast majority of comments on WSOP posts about Deeb’s win were not congratulations, but claims that one of the other players was more deserving. Most felt that it should have gone to Mizrachi.
The Grinder is undoubtedly the story of the summer, having won the two most prestigious events on the schedule: first, the Poker Player’s Championship, then a dominant Main Event performance.
Poker streamer Kevin Rob Martin stated shared an opinion on X that was reflective of many of the comments:
Whoever invented WSOP player of the year formula can’t do math
The Player of the year is The Grinder.
Man Shaun Deeb beasted but if you win the PPC and the Main and that’s not auto player of the year the thing is broken
A smaller number of commenters said that Glaser was the most deserving, thanks to his three bracelets early in the series. He’s the only person to have won three in a year without getting Player of the Year for it. However, those bracelets came in events that had neither a huge buy-in nor a massive field and therefore weren’t worth quite so many points.
Viewers Care About Bracelets, POY Considers Deep Runs
Many suggested that Deeb should have been third at best. However, the poker-viewing public mostly takes note of wins, while the Player of the Year formula factors in other deep runs.
That worked Deeb’s favor thanks to multiple final table appearances alongside the bracelet he won in the prestigious $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller. He made the final table in five events and finished top-three in four of them, including that win. That consistency ultimately counted more towards Player of the Year than the wins of Mizrachi or Glaser who did not have as many results outside of their attention-grabbing wins.
By skipping the Main Event, he booked a 19th place finish in Event #88: $50,000 8-Handed High Roller, adding precious points to his total.
Part of the reason Deeb won is that he was prioritizing the race, while Mizrachi and Glaser may have had other priorities.
Poker player Christopher DeMaci mentioned how Deeb knew the formula well and played a schedule specifically crafted to maximize his chances.
He studied the point system and exploited it to the max for an award that has no prize. Every single poker player would’ve taken Benny’s summer and ESPECIALLY the Grinders over Shaun’s.
Deeb skipping the Main Event in order to pursue Player of the Year was only the most visible manifestation of that.
High-Volume Strategies Harder to Pull Off
Deeb isn’t the first player to make a concerted effort at winning Player of Year in this way. However, it’s no longer as easy to game the system as it once was.
The WSOP changed its points formula last year, limiting each player’s score to the sum of their ten best results. This was to avoid “accumulation winners,” the most controversial of which was Chris Ferguson in 2017. He didn’t win any events that year, but snagged the honor by putting up a remarkable 20 cashes.
Now, some fans are questioning whether the formula deserves another update. On the one hand, Player of the Year is intentionally about more than just bracelets. However, given that’s what fans focus on, it strikes many as odd if a three-bracelet winner and a player who won the two most prestigious of the series both finished runner-up to someone with just a single win.
Deeb isn’t complaining, though. He had a plan, and he executed it to perfection. And whatever his critics might say, he’s Player of the Year because of it.
