World's Best Poker Players
CardPlayer.com offers comprehensive poker rankings. Our Player of the Year race has ranked tournament poker player success for more than a decade and we now rank casino and online tournament data. For more in-depth poker statistics checkout The Poker Leaderboards.
2025 POY Leader Boards - Overall
| Rank | Player | Location | POY Points | Titles | Final Tables | POY Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Luke Schwartz | London, GBR | 614 | 0 | 1 | $215,914 |
| 1952 | Fady Khabbaz | Syracuse, NY, USA | 613 | 1 | 3 | $96,560 |
| 1953 | Scott Fritz | Seattle, WA, USA | 613 | 0 | 4 | $50,886 |
| 1954 | Nazar Buhaiov | UKR | 612 | 0 | 4 | $70,534 |
| 1955 | Maximilan Sanders | GBR | 612 | 1 | 1 | $160,113 |
| 1956 | Khamar Xaythavone | USA | 612 | 1 | 4 | $56,192 |
| 1957 | Jonatas Freitas | BRA | 612 | 1 | 2 | $112,166 |
| 1958 | Christian Sare | ARG | 612 | 0 | 2 | $74,035 |
| 1959 | Elijah Ruffin | CA, USA | 612 | 1 | 4 | $116,554 |
| 1960 | Michal Mrakes | Prague, CZE | 610 | 0 | 4 | $44,296 |
| 1961 | Drew O'Connell | Middletown, NJ, USA | 610 | 0 | 3 | $105,075 |
| 1962 | Dillon Najor | Del Mar, CA, USA | 610 | 0 | 2 | $173,601 |
| 1963 | Mael Chicot | FRA | 610 | 0 | 2 | $76,673 |
| 1964 | Timothy Acker | San Diego, CA, USA | 610 | 0 | 4 | $85,206 |
| 1965 | Razvan Scutaru | ROU | 610 | 0 | 2 | $144,347 |
| 1966 | Kyle Merron | Athol, MA, USA | 610 | 0 | 3 | $53,623 |
| 1967 | John Cipriano | Famingdale, NJ, USA | 608 | 0 | 3 | $74,307 |
| 1968 | Matthew Hall | CAN | 608 | 1 | 6 | $54,871 |
| 1969 | Rick Green | Roseville, CA, USA | 608 | 0 | 1 | $123,936 |
| 1970 | Santiago Nadal | MEX | 608 | 0 | 1 | $62,650 |
| 1971 | Trevor Lewis | Fayetteville, AR, USA | 608 | 0 | 1 | $90,630 |
| 1972 | Scott Wright | USA | 608 | 0 | 1 | $105,678 |
| 1973 | Todd Stewart | USA | 608 | 0 | 1 | $72,831 |
| 1974 | John Longowa | Weldon Spring, MO, USA | 608 | 0 | 1 | $96,751 |
| 1975 | Kristoffer Rasmussen | DNK | 608 | 0 | 1 | $94,171 |
| 1976 | Darren Taylor | IRL | 608 | 0 | 1 | $95,253 |
| 1977 | Tray Jones | Miami, FL, USA | 608 | 0 | 1 | $138,000 |
| 1978 | Alessandro Smittarello | ITA | 608 | 0 | 1 | $92,335 |
| 1979 | Zelin Wang | El Monte, CA, USA | 608 | 0 | 1 | $99,328 |
| 1980 | Marc Robinson | Beverly Hills , CA, USA | 607 | 1 | 7 | $49,705 |
| 1981 | Ari Katz | MD, USA | 607 | 0 | 2 | $66,725 |
| 1982 | Dimas Martinez | Buford, GA, USA | 606 | 0 | 2 | $58,388 |
| 1983 | Dominic Brazier | Grand Rapids, MI, USA | 605 | 0 | 3 | $90,759 |
| 1984 | Frank Lin | Los Angeles, CA, USA | 605 | 0 | 6 | $78,429 |
| 1985 | Harry Casagrande | AUT | 604 | 0 | 3 | $94,828 |
| 1986 | Daniel Wojcik | Newark, NJ, USA | 604 | 0 | 2 | $114,343 |
| 1987 | Roman Nuraev | RUS | 604 | 0 | 2 | $104,942 |
| 1988 | Joachim Haraldstad | NOR | 604 | 1 | 4 | $248,386 |
| 1989 | Li Tang | CHN | 604 | 1 | 2 | $113,969 |
| 1990 | Robert Lupo | Gainesville, FL, USA | 603 | 1 | 5 | $61,054 |
| 1991 | Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss | Las Vegas, NV, USA | 603 | 0 | 5 | $130,709 |
| 1992 | Christopher Frank | DEU | 603 | 0 | 5 | $251,035 |
| 1993 | Shaan Siddiqui | 603 | 0 | 3 | $64,444 | |
| 1994 | Ilyas Muradi | FL, USA | 602 | 1 | 3 | $95,123 |
| 1995 | Evgeniy Semenets | RUS | 602 | 1 | 4 | $83,402 |
| 1996 | George Hortelano | Weston, FL, USA | 601 | 0 | 4 | $50,228 |
| 1997 | Ka Kwan Lau | Sheung Shui, HKG | 601 | 0 | 2 | $438,974 |
| 1998 | Fabian Foster | Davenport, FL, USA | 600 | 1 | 1 | $141,365 |
| 1999 | Salvatore Evola | Bethlehem, PA, USA | 600 | 1 | 2 | $124,854 |
| 2000 | Kelechi Amadi | USA | 600 | 0 | 3 | $58,301 |