The Season XV World Poker Tour® Five Diamond World Poker Classic $10,400 Main Event was one for the ages, with a record-breaking, star-studded field and two million dollar winners in James Romero and Ryan Tosoc. Not only did Romero and Tosoc take home more than $3 million, collectively — Romero took $1.938 million for first, and Tosoc earned $1.124 million for second — but the two of them shot up to second and fifth, respectively, in the Season XV Hublot WPT® Player of the Year race.
Romero’s victory over the 791-entry field earned him 1,400 points in the Season XV Hublot WPT Player of the Year race. Tosoc earned 1,200 points.
Current Hublot WPT Player of the Year Top 10
1st: Ben Zamani – 2,500 points
2nd: James Romero – 1,400 points
3rd: Jesse Sylvia – 1,250 points
4th: James Mackey – 1,250 points
5th: Ryan Tosoc – 1,200 points
6th: Pat Lyons – 1,200 points
7th: Jake Schindler – 1,100 points
8th: Seth Davies – 1,100 points
9th: Andjelko Andrejevic – 1,100 points
10th: Sam Panzica – 1,050 points
*In the event of a tie, the player who earns the most money in the season will be awarded the higher place. If a second tiebreaker is needed, the player who makes the most WPT final tables in the season will be awarded the higher place.
Thanks to a season so far with four WPT Main Tour cashes, including three WPT final tables, Ben Zamani maintains his lead in the race as the 2016 calendar year comes to a close. With 2,500 points, Zamani is 1,100 points ahead of Romero. Zamani is going to be a tough player to catch, but there are 15 otherswith at least 1,000 points that could come challenging should they make a deep run or two inthe 2017 portion of the WPT’s Season XV schedule.
In Season XIII, Darren Elias jumped out to a big lead when he stormed out of the gates with two early-season victories. But then Anthony Zinno excelled in the latter half of the Season XIII schedule with two WPT wins of his own and earned the Hublot WPT Player of the Year title thanks to the late surge. Through the 2016 portion of the current Season XV schedule, 12 WPT champions were crowned, and any one of them could challenge Zamani should they find another victory in one of the eight remaining WPT Season XV Main Tour events.
Plus, there are a few players, like Tosoc, who might not have won an event this season but have put up enough results to be in the conversation. Tosoc’s second-place finish in the WPT Five Diamond Main Event scored him 1,200 points in the Season XV Hublot WPT Player of the Year race, and Jake Schindler, who was also at the WPT Five Diamond final table with Tosoc, has 1,100 points on the season. Alex Condon (also at the recent WPT Five Diamond final table) and Zach Gruneberg are the two other non-champions with at least 1,000 points.
To give you an idea of what’s at stake points-wise in the 2017 portion of the Season XV schedule, in Season XIV there were 15 in-the-money positions that awarded 1,000 points or more in the events that followed WPT Five Diamond.
The winner of the Hublot WPT Player of the Year will be awarded a custom Hublot watch.
For more information on the Hublot Player of the Year race, click here.
Click here to view the complete Season XV schedule for the World Poker Tour.