2025 WSOP Player Of The Year Race Tight At Halfway Point

This week represents the halfway point of the 2025 World Series of Poker schedule. Through the first 50 live gold bracelet events, there have been incredible performances from some of poker’s living legends. Amidst the $182 million awarded across all of those tournaments, there’s fierce competition for one of the most prestigious awards the WSOP has to offer: the Player of the Year.

WSOP Player of the Year honors were first officially awarded in 2004. The winner’s prize has varied throughout the history of the award, but a WSOP POY banner representing each winner hangs in the Horseshoe Events Center.

You might presume that the lone double winner this summer, Benny Glaser, would own the top spot. After rattling off victories in event 8, $1,500 dealers choice and event 15, the $1,500 mixed Omaha 8-or-better, Glaser is now a seven-time WSOP bracelet winner. But the UK mixed-games star is third in this race, thanks in part to just one additional cash thus far in the summer.

No, the number one spot at the midway point of the 2025 WSOP POY race instead belongs to someone else. Scott Bohlman, who finished fourth in that $1,500 dealers choice event, has put together a tremendous summer thus far. Through 50 events, Bohlman has a bracelet win in a massive $2,000 no-limit hold’em field, three final table appearances, and eight cashes. Bohlman’s most recent final table came in the form of a ninth-place finish in the $10,000 limit hold’em championship.

Big Names, Top Contenders

Viktor Blom hasn’t yet found his elusive first WSOP gold bracelet, but he’s done almost everything else a player could do so far this summer. Blom has made final tables in four different formats, finishing fourth in the $10,000 Omaha eight-or-better championship, sixth in the $50,000 no-limit hold’em high roller, second in the $10,000 limit hold’em championship, and fifth in the $10,000 Big O championship.

Joao Vieira

In total, those results netted Blom over $900,000 in results. He sits second overall in the 2025 WSOP POY standings.

Just behind Glaser in fourth place is pot-limit Omaha crusher Caleb Furth. Furth narrowly missed out on joining Glaser as a double winner this summer. He won his second career WSOP bracelet in the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha event. Furth then finished second to Philip Sternheimer in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better championship. He has four cashes overall, all in Omaha variants.

Portugal’s Joao Vieira won his fourth career WSOP bracelet in the $100,000 no-limit hold’em high roller. The $2,549,158 first-place prize is the second-largest result of Vieira’s career. Vieira recorded his sixth cash and second final table in the $10,000 Razz championship, which wrapped up on Thursday. Vieira sat sixth in the most recent update, but fourth place in that Razz event will carry him into the top five.

Nick Schulman joined Glaser as a seven-time WSOP bracelet winner in recent weeks. Schulman’s victory in the $10,000 no-limit deuce-to-seven championship is his third victory in that prestigious event. The 2025 Poker Hall of Fame nominee has five cashes overall so far this summer.

Breakouts And Previous Winners

The aforementioned Sternheimer is having a long-awaited breakout at the 2025 WSOP. In addition to winning the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better championship, Sternheimer also finished third in the $10,000 dealers choice. Sternheimer has six total WSOP cashes thus far, and sits in seventh.

Currently residing in the number eight spot in the WSOP POY standings is a player you may have heard of, Daniel Negreanu. He’s cashed seven times at the 2025 WSOP so far, and made three final table appearances. It started with a runner-up finish in the $10,000 limit Omaha eight-or-better championship right out of the gate. Negreanu then finished seventh in the $10,000 no-limit deuce-to-seven championship and eighth in the $10,000 limit hold’em championship.

Negreanu bubbled the official final table of the $250,000 no-limit hold’em super high roller, finishing ninth. He is the only person ever to win WSOP Player of the Year twice, having done so in 2004 and 2013.

Shaun Deeb earned WSOP POY honors in 2018. Deeb is currently ninth overall in 2025, and living up to his reputation as one of the highest volume players every summer. The six-time bracelet winner has nine cashes thus far at the 2025 WSOP, including two close calls. Deeb finished third to Furth and Sternheimer in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better championship and then immediately jumped into the $1,500 Razz.

It seemed as though Deeb had a lock on his seventh career bracelet, but he ultimately settled for second.

Rounding out the top 10 is Ryan Hoenig. The Fort Collins, Colorado native won his first career WSOP bracelet in the $10,000 dealers choice championship. Hoenig narrowly missed out on back-to-back wins, settling for third in a 1,499-entry $1,500 Big O field.

2025 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Standings 

As of June 19

Bohlman, Blom, and Vieira photo credits: PokerGO / Miguel Cortes.