With 21 events completed, the WSOP Player of the Year Race is shaping up to be one to watch. The current leader is a seasoned professional named Tom Schneider. Tom has been a force on the tournament scene since 2002 but was always a bridesmaid, cashing often but never winning the event, until this year’s 7-Stud bracelet win. He also had a fourth-place finish in the $2500 HORSE event. His lead isn’t very big though; his 155 points are only 20 more than the second-place player, who happens to be a WSOP legend.

Humberto Brenes is on Tom’s heels with 135 pts and three cashes of his own this year. Humberto has had 48 WSOP cashes (no, that’s not a misprint) and has two bracelets of his own. He had eight cashes last year alone, and is my early favourite to win the race this year.

Next is Russian poker star Alex Kravchenko, who also has three cashes so far this year. The veteran has earned over half a million in tournament cash and is a real threat to win, because he is so diverse in the poker variations he can play at a top level. He is alone in third place with 120 points.

The 21-year-old sensation named Steve Billirakis has continued his solid play since he won event #1 of this year’s tournament. He has cashed twice since then, and is currently tied with John (Razor) Phan for fourth place in the WSOP standings with 110 points.

Other notables are Greg (Fossilman) Raymer in sixth place and Phil Hellmuth in seventh, both only 50 points off the lead. Phil has won his 11th bracelet, and Allen Cunningham has won his fifth this year, leaving them with105 and 100 points respectively, and a good shot at winning this race too.

Names like Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Gavin Smith, and Erik Cajelais are all sitting at 75 points with lots of events left to be played. It’s still anyone’s race to win, and it’s going to be exciting to see who is able to do it.

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