With the 2023 World Series of Poker at the halfway mark, the festival's Player of the Year race remains a wide-open affair, though Faribault, Minnesota's Ian Matakis has widened his edge in recent days. Matakis, the winner of Online Event #2: $500 No-Limit Hold'em Bankroll Builder early in the series, has amassed 2,914.73 points to date, which puts him nearly 500 points -- or a runner-up finish in a typical event -- ahead of the current second-place player, Michael Santos.
Matakis has steadily added POY points to his running total over the past two weeks, and he has now logged 12 cashes in the series to date. Four of those cashes have come in online events, including his bracelet victory and another final-table showing.
Santos, with 2,429.26 points to date, heads a tightly bunched group of players within a 300-point spread. Just behind Santos at 2,358.97 is defending POY winner Shaun Deeb, while Christopher Brewer, Chad Eveslage, Josh Arieh, and Michael Moncek have also topped 2,100 points.
The winner of the WSOP's 2023 Player of the Year race wins a seat into the 2024 Main Event, in addition to a banner honoring the win which will hang at the series each year, into perpetuity. Here are the top ten players in the POY race through June 23rd's recorded cashes:
- Ian Matakis - 2,914.73
- Michael Rodrigues Pires Santos - 2,429.26
- Shaun Deeb - 2,368.97
- Christopher Brewer - 2,300.38
- Chad Eveslage - 2,217.92
- Josh Arieh - 2,173.70
- Michael Moncek - 2,151.16
- Jans Arends - 1,999.18
- Tyler Brown - 1,946.11
- Chance Kornuth - 1,933.38
Each of the top ten players on the POY leaderboard has already won a bracelet event this summer, including double winner Chad Eveslage, currently in the fifth spot.
