As the first full work week of 2014 kicks off and we all struggle to make it to the gym while we starve ourselves at our desks, poker players all over the world will be focusing on their own work and felt-covered desks as the second half of WPT Season XII looks to get started at WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open on Jan 26 – 31, 2014, at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Two players in particular will be keeping an eye on the events of this Spring as Dan Smith and Vasili Firsau are both sitting atop the WPT Player of the Year leaderboard with 1,400 points each. A deep run in any of the remaining events can make all the difference and catapult a player into the lead in a competition that rewards the winner with free hotel accommodations at every WPT Main Event and free ground transportation to and from each venue.
Here’s the current Top 15 on the WPT Player of the Year leaderboard:
| 1 | Dan Smith | 1,400 |
| 1 | Vasili Firsau | 1,400 |
| 3 | Anthony Zinno | 1,200 |
| 3 | Derrick Rosenbarger | 1,200 |
| 3 | Gary Benson | 1,200 |
| 3 | Jordan Cristos | 1,200 |
| 7 | Dan Heimiller | 1,150 |
| 8 | Eddy Sabat | 1,100 |
| 8 | Mohsin Charania | 1,100 |
| 10 | Jared Jaffee | 1,050 |
| 10 | Shaun Suller | 1,050 |
| 12 | Alexey Rybin | 1,000 |
| 12 | Mukul Pahuja | 1,000 |
| 12 | Vanessa Selbst | 1,000 |
| 15 | Barry Hutter | 950 |
| 15 | Cong Pham | 950 |
As you can see, lurking right behind Smith and Firsau are four players all sitting just 200 points back in the race, all who could easily leapfrog the frontrunners with a deep run in an upcoming WPT Main Event.
Stay tuned to WPT Live Updates to see who can make a run at the title and claim the spoils due the victor.