Chris Ferguson Back On Top of WSOP POY Leaderboard

Chris Ferguson has regained his pole position atop of the 2017 WSOP Player of the Year Leaderboard, where he currently sit with 1,046.56 points, ahead of nearest rivals Ryan Hughes (961.23) and John Racener (956.72). These players now represent the only real challengers to Ferguson’s position, as the next closest contenders, John Monnette (865.21) and Alex Foxen (786.76) chose not to make the journey across the Atlantic to the King’s Casino in the Czech Republic.
After the WSOP Europe kicked-off, Ferguson briefly lost his POY top position after Ryan Hughes finished Event 1: €1,100 No Limit Hold’em – Monster Stack in 20th place for €3,184. Hughes has since followed up with another cash, this time in 32nd place at Event #4: €1,650 No Limit Hold’em – 6-Handed for €2,429.
In the meantime, with 6 of its 11 events already completed, Chris Ferguson has managed to cash in four events, albeit with finishes ranging from just 70th to 29th for a collective payout of €8,088.
Current WSOP POY Standings:
1: Chris Ferguson (1,046.56)
2: Ryan Hughes (961.23)
3: John Racener (956.72)
4: John Monnette (865.21)
5: Alex Foxen (786.76)
Chris Ferguson initially set himself up for winning the 2017 WSOP POY title after cashing 17 times at the WSOP in Las Vegas for $380,200. If he succeeds in maintaining a gap between himself and nearest rivals in Europe, the 54 year-old pro could become the first player ever to win the title without having actually captured a WSOP bracelet that year. Since 2004, for instance, previous winners have won anywhere between 1 and 3 bracelets, with Jeffrey Lisandro (2009) and George Danzer (2014) in the latter category.
Currently in 9th place in the WSOP POY standing is Daniel Negreanu, who has 6 career WSOP bracelets to his name, including one captured at a WSOP Europe event in 2013. The PokerStars ambassador has decided not to attend this year’s Series in the Czech Republic, though, as he has complained about the revamped scoring system, which he says is unfair.
“It’s the points system of the WSOP that’s completely broken. It focuses way too much on player numbers and not on buy-in and quality of players,” explains Negreanu.
At this year’s WSOP, Negreanu cashed a total of 11 times, including recording 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th place finishes.