While several of the leaders in the Hublot Player of the Year race made it to Atlantic City to play in the WPT Borgata Poker Open, none survived and there is now a logjam at the top of the standings. After taking down the title and $575,112, Erkut Yilmaz earned 1,200 points and is now in a tie with WPT Choctaw winner Brady Holiman, and WPT Gardens Poker Festival winner Simon Lam.
Hublot Season XVII WPT Player of the Year Top 10 (as of September 22, 2018)
1st: Erkut Yilmaz – 1,200 points
2nd: Simon Lam– 1,200 points
3rd: Brady Holiman – 1,200 points
4th: Men Nguyen – 1,100 points
5th: TK Miles – 1,000 points
6th: Jake Schindler – 1,000 points
7th: Viet Vo – 1,000 points
8th: Oleg Shnaider – 900 points
9th: Christopher Smith – 900 points
10th: Austin Wentling – 800 points
Click here for full standings.
Because his cash total topped Lam’s by about $10,000, Yilmaz edges the other two champions out in a tiebreaker. Lam took down the WPT Gardens Poker Festival in July for $565,055. Holliman won the WPT Choctaw in August for $469,185.
Lam and Holliman both played in Atlantic City but were unable to make it in the money. All three are now in the hunt for the Hublot Player of the Year title.
Men Nguyen “The Master” Nguyen sits in fourth place with 1,100 points after finishing third at the Gardens and 11th at the Choctaw. Following him are TK Miles, Jake Schindler, and Viet Vo, all with 1,000 points. Miles just finished runner-up in the WPT Borgata ($383,399). Schindler was runner-up at the Gardens ($366,740), and Vo was runner-up at the Choctaw.
Closing out the top-10 with 900 points each are Oleg Shnaider (third at Borgata for $283,341) and Christopher Smith (third at Choctaw for $223,370). Sitting in 10th with 800 points are Austin Wentling, Craig Varnell, and Tony Ruberto.
The WPT action is already cranked back up at Live! Hotel & Casino and back-to-back events offer a chance for some quick movement in the POY race. Several players with points should be in the field and looking to move up in the standings
What Can You Win in the Hublot WPT Player of the Year Race?
As the official timekeeper and official watch of the World Poker Tour, Hublot is once again the presenting sponsor of the WPT Player of the Year award and will be awarding a custom Hublot timepiece to the winner of the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race. Additionally, the Season XVII winner will receive $15,000 in WPT tournament buy-in credits and complimentary accommodations at all WPT Main Tour events in Season XVIII.
Prizes have been added for the second- and third-place finishers in the race, too. The runner-up will receive $7,500 in WPT tournament buy-in credits and third place will receive $2,500 in WPT tournament buy-in credits. WPT tournament buy-in credits can be used in any global WPT event, including the WPT Main Tour, WPTDeepStacks, WPT500, and WPT Special Events.
For more information on all WPT Player of the Year prizing, click here.
Live! Hotel and Casino is Next Stop on WPT Main Tour
The WPT Main Tour heads to Maryland Live! Casino & Hotel September 21-25 for the WPT Maryland $1.5 million guaranteed championship event. The $3,500 event offers a chance for players to jump right back in the tournament action.
The tour then rolls into Jacksonville, Fla., for the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble October 19-23. That event features a $5,000 buy-in and $1 million guaranteed prize pool. The bounty format also offers a chance at some extra bucks ($2,500) by eliminating some notables in the field.
After that, it’ll be WPT Montreal at the Playground Poker Club from October 28 through November 4 as part of the tour’s new four-year partnership with partypoker to produce tournaments in Canada and Europe. The event featured a C$5,300 buy-in and C$5 million guaranteed prize pool.
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and host of the True Gambling Stories podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @PokerTraditions.
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