2018 WSOP Player of the Year: Elio Fox Leads Ahead of Volpe, Cada

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Jun 12, 2018 3 min read Last updated Jun 20, 2018

The first week of the 2018 World Series of Poker saw Elio Fox leap into first position in the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year race after notching a win and a runner-up within the first five events of the summer.

A second week is in the books at the 2018 WSOP, and while Fox hasn't added any further cashes he remains on top after winning Event #2: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty and taking second in Event #5: $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller.

Here's how the 2018 WSOP POY Top 10 looks as of this morning, Tuesday, June 12:

A week ago Paul Volpe had edged into the top 10 after a couple of early cashes. Since then he's picked up two more, including a victory in Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship to earn his third career bracelet and move all of the way up to second in the POY standings.

Joe Cada is in third now after winning Event #3: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout, one of four cashes so far this summer for the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event champ.

Nick Petrangelo only has one cash so far in the 2018 WSOP, but it was a big one. He won that aforementioned $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller for a $2.9 million-plus first prize and enough POY points to keep him in fourth currently.

Roberly Felicio (in fifth) won Event #7: $565 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold'em and Craig Varnell (in sixth) picked up the bracelet in Event #19: $565 Pot-Limit Omaha, helping both move up into the top 10. Meanwhile Julien Martini (in seventh) was on the list a week ago after he won Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better.

It's no surprise to see Justin Bonomo on this list already (in eighth) after the year he's been having. Adding to his long list of big 2018 scores, Bonomo won Event #16: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship over the weekend, to pick up his second career bracelet.

To round out the top 10, last night Jeremy Wien (in ninth) won Event #20: Big Blind Antes $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em, a day after Ognyan Dimov (in 10th) picked up the title in Event #17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed.

Meanwhile John Racener (in 11th), Andrey Zhigalov (in 12th), and Benjamin Moon (in 13th) are among those just outside the current top 10.

About the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year

This spring the WSOP announced that after hearing player feedback, the POY formula would be adjusted "to better reward bracelet winners and players who run deep, while still rewarding consistency." The new formula is "loosely based" on the one employed to calculate WSOP Circuit rankings, with modifiers based on buy-ins and field sizes.

The 2018 WSOP POY race includes events from this summer's WSOP in Las Vegas as well as from the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe series in Rozvadov, Czech Republic later this year (Oct. 11-Nov. 2). Finishes in 72 of the 78 bracelet events at the 2018 WSOP will count toward the POY, with the following six events excluded:

• Event #1: $565 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em
• Event #32: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em
• Event #36: Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em
• Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em
• Event #57: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies Event
• Event #78: $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop

While we're providing a weekly update on the race here at PokerNews, you can always visit the WSOP Player of the Year page for the latest standings as well as a "Point Calculator" to discover beforehand how points from upcoming events will be awarded according to the number of entries.

• Tags WSOP 2018 WSOP Elio Fox Paul Volpe Joe Cada Nick Petrangelo Roberly Felicio Craig Varnell Julien Martini Justin Bonomo Jeremy Wien Ognyan Dimov
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