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2026 WSOP Player of the Year Race Heads Into Final Stage in Bahamas

57 minutes ago

Mrinal Gujare 57 minutes ago

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The 2026 WSOP Player of the Year will be decided at WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas, with Shaun Deeb currently leading.
The competition offers a $1 million prize pool shared among the top 100 players, plus the new Binion Cup for the champion.
Final bracelet events and the $50M Super Main Event will determine if Deeb retains his title or another player overtakes him.

The 2026 WSOP Player of the Year race will conclude at WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas. Defending champion Shaun Deeb leads Naoya Kihara and William Alex Foxen, with Daniel Negreanu also competing for the title and $1 million leaderboard prize pool.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has confirmed that the 2026 WSOP Player of the Year (POY) race will conclude at WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas, bringing the season-long competition to its final stage.

Defending 2025 Player of the Year champion Shaun Deeb currently leads the standings, with Naoya Kihara and William Alex Foxen close behind. The competition will continue through the final bracelet events at WSOP Paradise, where the remaining points will determine the overall winner.

The 2026 race features a $1 million leaderboard prize pool distributed among the top 100 players, while the eventual champion will receive the newly introduced Binion Cup.

First introduced in 2004, the WSOP Player of the Year competition began with Daniel Negreanu claiming the inaugural title. Negreanu has since won the award twice and remains among the contenders for a third victory in 2026.

The current POY format combines points earned across three major WSOP stops:

WSOP in Las Vegas
WSOP Europe
WSOP Paradise

With results from all three series contributing to the standings, WSOP Paradise will determine the final rankings and the distribution of the $1 million leaderboard prize pool.

The Bahamas festival will also feature some of the year's largest guaranteed prize pools, including the $50 million-guaranteed Super Main Event.

Shaun Deeb Leads as Three-Way Battle Remains Close

Deeb enters the final stage of the 2026 WSOP POY race holding a narrow advantage over his nearest competitors.

The defending champion is pursuing his third Player of the Year title, which would place him alongside Negreanu as a three-time winner if both players succeed in adding another title. The newly introduced Binion Cup is also at stake.

Negreanu, an eight-time WSOP bracelet winner and two-time Player of the Year champion, currently occupies sixth place in the 2026 standings.

Although he trails the leader by several hundred points, Negreanu believes the points available at WSOP Paradise could provide an opportunity to close the gap.

"WSOP Paradise is the perfect setting for a dramatic finish to the year," said Negreanu. "I'm sitting a few hundred points back, but with big points available in the Bahamas, capturing a third Player of the Year title is absolutely within striking distance. It all comes down to how I perform in the season finale."

Another player competing for a higher position is Lucas Jumalon, the 2026 WSOP Main Event champion, who currently ranks 15th on the Player of the Year leaderboard.

"I’ve been on an incredible journey this year, and it isn’t over yet. Knowing that the Player of the Year race will be decided in the Bahamas just adds to the anticipation. I'm excited to get to WSOP Paradise, play my best poker, and hopefully climb even higher up the ranks," Jumalon said.

Alongside the Player of the Year competition, WSOP Paradise will host its $50 million-guaranteed Super Main Event, one of the central tournaments of the Bahamas festival.

Online satellites are currently available through GGPoker, providing players worldwide with opportunities to qualify for the tournament.

The Super Main Event will form part of the WSOP Paradise schedule as the festival brings the annual WSOP calendar to a close.

WSOP Paradise to Determine Final POY Rankings

Position	Name	Points
1	Shaun Deeb (United States)	3,410
2	Naoya Kihara (Japan)	3,388
3	William Alex Foxen (United States)	3,381
4	Justin Liberto (United States)	2,827
5	Joshua Arieh (United States)	2,750
6	Daniel Negreanu (Canada)	2,698
7	Jesse Lonis (United States)	2,674
8	Eelis Jaakko Eino Paerssinen (Finland)	2,638
9	Michael J. Moncek (United States)	2,592
10	Joshua Reichard (United States)	2,575
11	Benny Glaser (United Kingdom)	2,554
12	Nicholas Schulman (United States)	2,552
13	Calvin Anderson (Mexico)	2,365
14	Martin Zamani (United States)	2,280
15	Lucas Jumalon (United States)	2,271

With Deeb defending his lead, Kihara and Foxen close behind, and multiple bracelet winners inside the top 15, the 2026 Player of the Year competition remains unresolved.

The remaining bracelet events at WSOP Paradise will determine whether Deeb secures a third title or another contender moves ahead in the standings.

The series will conclude the unified POY competition across Las Vegas, Europe and the Bahamas, with the Binion Cup and $1 million leaderboard prize pool at stake.

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