button in SafariThese Players Are Dominating the WSOP Player of the Year Race
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Three players, four bracelets, and too many final tables to count. The 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) hasn't even reached its halfway point, but the WSOP Player of the Race has already heating up with Nick Schulman, Alex Foxen and Naoya Kihara all putting up stellar performances to kick off the summer.
This trio occupies the top three spots on the POY race, while others in the top-ten include seven-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh, high-stakes crusher Chris Hunichen and Midwest grinder Richard Alsup. Two-time POY Shaun Deeb is also in the top-ten, despite only having one cash this summer.
WSOP Player of the Year Current Top-Ten Standings
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Schulman | 2,002 |
| 2 | Alex Foxen | 1,902 |
| 3 | Naoya Kihara | 1,686 |
| 4 | Dennis Weiss | 1,686 |
| 5 | Justin Liberto | 1,646 |
| 6 | Chris Hunichen | 1,609 |
| 7 | Shaun Deeb | 1,602 |
| 8 | Stephen Hubbard | 1,579 |
| 9 | Joshua Arieh | 1,541 |
| 10 | Richard Alsup | 1,408 |
Career Summers Already For These Three
Poker Hall of Famer Schulman currently leads the POY standings with 2,002 points, the bulk of which came when he won his eighth bracelet in $1,500 H.O.R.S.E., and that score came after he finished runner-up in $1,500 Limit Badugi. Schulman has also had two other final table appearances, most recently finishing fifth in $10,000 Big O Championship.
PokerNews wrote about Schulman's red-hot summer start earlier this week, which you can read about here.
Before he could finish celebrating Kristen Foxen winning her sixth bracelet, Alex Foxen found himself back in the WSOP winner's circle as he took down $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty to win his fourth bracelet. The high-stakes dominator had already been having an impressive summer, having finished third in the $25,000 Heads Up Championship for $300,000, fifth in $600 NLH/PLO for $55,305 and sixth in $100,000 High Roller for $522,347.
The Foxen household may have two bracelets already this summer, but Japan's Kihara has two of his own, having won $10,000 2-7 No-Limit Draw Lowball Championship and $10,000 Limit Seven Card Stud Championship. That's quite the result for a player whose only other bracelet was earned in 2012.
Kihara sits third in the POY race with 1,686 points, tied with Germany's Dennis Weiss, who won $1,500 Limit Hold'em for $133,704, finished runner-up in $1,500 Limit Razz for $90,354, and also finished fifth in $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo for $56,738.
Reigning POY Still Heating Up
After he won his second POY title in 2025, and had two runner-up finishes at WSOP Europe earlier this year, all eyes have been on Shaun Deeb in the Player of the Year race. But the perennial grinder has logged just one cash this summer, albeit a final table finish in $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship for $99,557.
But never rule out Deeb, who still finds himself in seventh place in the POY race with 1,602 points. He is always a go-to pick for POY favorite and went for $133 in the 25k Fantasy draft as the most expensive player.
The WSOP POY race was a topic of discussion on the latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast, which premieres on Thursday morning. Check out that episode to see what Chad Holloway, Ben Ludlow, and Mike Holtz, himself a two-time WSOP.com POY winner, think about this year's POY race.
