Matakis Still Leads WSOP POY; Hellmuth Cracks Top Ten After 17th Bracelet Win

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Jul 08, 2023 3 min read

It's been a quiet week for the World Series of Poker Player of the Year race due to the WSOP Main Event taking centre stage over the last few days. With that, long-time leader Ian Matakis tops of the leaderboard ahead of Chris Brewer and Shaun Deeb.

The landscape of the top ten frontrunners has changed since PokerNews' last POY instalment, with Matakis retaking the lead from Deeb. Brewer has shot up to second place after bagging his second bracelet of the summer, and Phil Hellmuth has entered the top ten for the first time this series after capturing his record-extending 17th bracelet.

2023 WSOP POY Top Ten Leaderboard

Brewer in the Running

Brewer became the second player to be a double bracelet winner at the 2023 WSOP. His first bracelet came in the biggest event of the series, the $250,000 Super High Roller, which he won for $5,293,556. He bagged bracelet number two after being the last player standing in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw Lowball Championship for an additional $367,599.

PokerNews spoke to Brewer after his most recent victory, where he touched on his feelings about the POY race.

"I'm going to try," said Brewer when asked about if he was gunning for the top spot. "I'm not going to go completely all out for it if it is going to cost me EV in some way."

However, Brewer added, "I would like to win. I think it would be really cool."

Can Hellmuth Become Player of the Year?

It's taken until week six of the WSOP for Hellmuth to crack the top ten in the Player of the Year Standings and could be in the running for getting his first POY banner following a strong end to the series.

He recently extended his bracelet record after taking down Event #72: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty for $803,818, which saw him crack the upper echelons of the leaderboard as well as breaching the top twenty on the all-time money list.

It would take an incredibly deep run from Hellmuth in the Main Event to boost his chances for POY, something that he hasn't done for quite some time. His last in-the-money finish in poker's most famous event was in 2015, where he finished in 417th for $21,786.

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

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