Previous WSOP ‘Player of the Year’ winners

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is one of the longest-running and richest Poker games events in the world.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is one of the longest-running and richest Poker games events in the world.

The Series was set up in 1970 and since has given out billions of US dollars throughout the years to successful players.

One of the greatest title a player can receive is the ‘Player of the Year’ award. It takes a lot of skill to earn the accolade, which was introduced in 2004. By participating in WSOP events across the globe, players receive a certain amount of points, depending on how well they do. The higher they place, the more points they receive.

Many legendary Poker players have won this award throughout the years, the majority being professional Poker players who play the game for a living. Let’s take a look at some of the winners of this award in recent years and how they managed to earn such success.

Daniel Negreanu

Winner of the award in 2004, 2013 and 2019, Negreanu is a professional Poker player who has seen a lot of success during his career. Not only has the Canadian managed to win this title a record three times, but he has also bagged himself six WSOP Bracelets and one WSOP Circuit Ring.

Negreanu is one of the most influential Poker players in the world with his total live earnings to date a whopping $42,024,086. He entered the Poker Hall of Fame in 2014 and is consistently ranked as one of the best players in the game.

Jeffrey Lisandro

Lisandro is from Sydney, Australia and is nicknamed ‘Iceman’ for having a stone-cold look and freezing his opponents out of the competition. He currently has six WSOP Bracelets and one WSOP Circuit Ring, the same as Negreanu, but his earnings to date are minuscule in comparison at just $5,709,067. Lisandro won ‘Player of the Year’ in 2009, the same year he won three of his bracelets and managed to reach four final tables. The tournament earnings he made in 2009 were just $807,521, showing that to be the best, you don’t need to make the most money.

Shaun Deeb

Last year’s winner was Shaun Deeb. The American achieved his title after he won two bracelets and reached five final tables. His total tally of bracelets only stands at four, so it shows how impressive the professional was in last year’s tournaments. Deeb learnt the game of Poker from his Grandma and since then has gone on to earn over $7 million in total live earnings - let’s hope Grandma is seeing some of the benefits too! Deeb is often mentioned in the press for speaking his mind, with the most recent controversy involving him calling out Bryn Kenney for his reckless gambling actions.

Jason Mercier

Mercier was the American winner of the ‘Player of the Year’ award in 2016. In his professional Poker career, he has managed to win five WSOP Bracelets and has a career earnings total of $19,646,077.

The Floridian still resides in his home state and continues to enter Poker tournaments in the surrounding areas, but recently has stepped away from the game to pursue more important duties.

Since becoming a father, his focus has been on his family, meaning that he made his 2019 WSOP debut in June this year. In an interview, the player stated: “Since last summer, I think I played maybe under 50 hours of Poker total”.

Greg Merson

Merson’s victory for ‘Player of the Year’ can be deemed as one of the most successful seasons in WSOP history. In one year, the man from Washington D.C managed to convert both of his final tables into coveted bracelets and win a huge tournament earnings total of $11,428,359.

He was the only player to win two WSOP Bracelets in 2012 and gained one of them by winning the Main Event. He managed to deny legend Phil Hellmuth another bracelet that year and in turn took the ‘Player of the Year’ crown as well as the bracelet.