John Racener Takes Top Spot in WSOP POY Standings

The 2017 World Series of Poker is in the home stretch with the calendar turning over to July. Only a handful of events remain and the Player of the Year race is getting tighter, with anyone in the top 20 spots having a legitimate chance to win the title. John Racener leads the standings with 691.66 POY points with a near 50-point cushion over the field.

Racener picked up his lucky 13th cash in the Online High Roller event in 48th place after winning his first career bracelet earlier in the Series in the Dealers Choice Championship. Racener hasn’t made another final table but all of his cashes have been fairly deep.

Sitting in second place is Chris Ferguson with 643.94 events. It’s a safe bet that no one in the poker community wants to see Ferguson win with his involvement with Full Tilt.

Ray Henson keeps getting close to winning a bracelet. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
Everyone’s favorite player Ray Henson made another two final tables since the previous update – his fourth of the Series – and is the third player of the 600-point mark. He finished in third place in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha HiLo event for $96,555 and then finished in seventh place in the $10,000 buy-in of the same game for $58,612.

Henson’s propensity to play every event, every day, coupled by the fact he doesn’t have five days tied up in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship gives him a better chance to move up in the standings.

John Monnette moved ten spots up in the standings to fifth overall. He’s cashed in four straight $10,000 Championship events: 14th in Pot Limit Omaha, 16th in PLO HiLo and 17th in Seven Card Stud HiLo. 

John Monnette could lead the race with a deep run in the Poker Players Championship. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
Dario Sammartino was previously unranked until he picked up his sixth cash on the year. That number is low compared to the rest of the Standings but he cashed in four Championship events, got third place in the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop and his lowest finishing position of a cash was 49th place.

Daniel Negreanu is gunning to win his third WSOP POY title. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
Daniel Negreanu dropped five spots in the rankings but bumped his overall score to over 500 points. He’s cashed nine times on the Series and had three deep runs since his last final table in the HORSE Championship mid-month. He finished 13th in the Limit Hold’em Championship, 18th in the Seven Card Stud HiLo Championship and 12th place in the $2,500 Big Bet Mix.

Top 20 WSOP Player of the Year Standings (as of July 3)

1. John Racener – 691.66 (+1)
2. Chris Ferguson – 643.94 (NR)
3. Ray Henson – 614.87 (+4)
4. Ryan Hughes – 592.87 (+2)
5. John Monnette – 583.92 (+10)
6. Barry Greenstein – 559.63 (+5)
7. James Obst – 555.58 (-6)
8. Aditya Agarwal – 544.99 (-)
9. Mike Leah – 542.99 (-7)
10. Daniel Negreanu – 541.24 (-5)
11. Ben Yu – 494.89 (+6)
12. David ODB Baker – 484.63 (NR)
13. Dario Sammartino – 482.74 (NR)
14. Alex Foxen – 477.83 (-4)
15. Igor Sharaskin – 471.86 (-6)
16. Chris Moorman – 469.87 (NR)
17. Brian Yoon – 463.16 (NR)
18. Pablo Mariz – 459.41 (-15)
19. Mikhail Semin – 445.27 (NR)
20. Shaun Deeb – 444.93 (-2)
Dropped from Rankings: Joseph di Rojas (12th), Michael Gagliano (13th), Taylor Black (14th), David Pham (16th), Max Pescatori (19th), Arkadiy Tsinis (20th)

Take a look at the previous update’s standings.