Back in the very first week of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), we asked our readers to each pick a team of poker superstars, a squad of eight that together would outperform every other group anyone could choose.
Every team had a budget, each player had a price; everyone would collect points for their tournament results in line with the pricing and scoring used in the ODB Fantasy League (with which we officially partnered).
With the winner bagging a free $10K Las Vegas Main Event seat/package, competition has been fierce over the past six weeks. Now, as we enter the final stretch of the 2025 WSOP, it’s time to take a look at the top of the table.
Who is contesting the leaderboard, how did they get there, and what will it take to win?
Will 'Jeanriders' ride off with the win?
With just one week to go, the very top position in the table is being held by Team Jeanriders with 1,249 points. Unsurprisingly, the team’s main point-winner is Shaun Deeb, who has amassed 356 points so far, the biggest points tally of any drafted player.
Deeb went for $99 and is by far the most expensive player on the Team Jeanriders roster. The seven-time bracelet winner from New York is chasing Player of the Year (PoY) honors, which is just what you want for your Fantasy team; there are fewer opportunities to win points with each day that passes, so knowing you have a player hungry to rack up more results is a great advantage.
Deeb has already said he's going to play everything he can to secure the Player of the Year title. He's currently in the $1K Mystery Bounty PLO with a 60 big blind stack and we're expecting to see him in the $50K NLH High Roller — late reg for that closes tomorrow morning.
Blom-based 'Yeg Allstars' is knocking on the door
Second on the leaderboard at time of writing is Team Yeg Allstars (1,225 points), which does not have Shaun Deeb on the roster. Instead, this team has Viktor Blom doing the heavy lifting. Blom is the second-highest scorer on the Fantasy leaderboard so far, and what’s more went for a cut-price $22 in the Fantasy draft.
Could the choice of Blom over Deeb be the killer move? Blom has seven cashes at the series this year, but each one has seen him go deep. He’s still in the Main Event at time of writing, and if he continues his trend of reaching final tables — he has four so far — another deep run in the Big Dance could be just what Team Yeg Allstars needs to edge ahead in the race for the $10K prize.
Does 'Wuwizard' have the necessary depth?
Third on our leaderboard is Team Wuwizard (1,217), which has both Shaun Deeb and Viktor Blom on the books. With the two biggest point-scorers of the summer on the roster, how is this team not sitting pretty on top of the table?
The answer is depth. Team Wuwizard’s top 3 scoring players (Deeb, Blom and Dylan Linde) have contributed around 80% of the team’s points, while the bottom four players — Nicolas Milgrom, Ari Engel, John Hennigan and Kyle Miholich — have contributed around 14% of the team total. By contrast, Team Jeanriders’ bottom four have chipped in over 25%.
It’s one thing picking the standout stars of the summer, it’s another surrounding them with those who will keep picking up the points to help the team. Wuwizard has Brian Hastings still in the Main Event, alongside Viktor Blom, and while time is running out, we're not done here just yet.
Hometown heroes
No rundown of the top of our leaderboard would be complete without a mention of Team 2CardsChards (1,153 points), the selection of our own Sarah Herring, which is currently in 10th position out of 1,773 and proudly flying the flag for PokerOrg.
Sarah’s team is fewer than 100 points off the top spot, but don’t worry, there will be no conflict of interest here: whatever happens, we’re not awarding the top prize to a staff member!
Sarah ‘Auntie Chardonnay’ Herring’s top 10 team is also one that does not feature either Shaun Deeb or Viktor Blom, but does have a great spread of point scorers in Dylan Linde (3rd overall), 2025’s three-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser (5th overall) and Ben Lamb (10th overall).
Her point-scorers are well spread throughout the team, and the team still has a player in the Main Event with Brian Hastings. And with TORSE and a high-rolling HORSE event still to play, her choice of mixed game specialist Benny Glaser could prove a masterstroke.
Where can more points be won?
The Main Event is the big news this week, for obvious reasons, and as the jewel in the crown of the WSOP schedule, it awards triple points. What’s more, the high number of entrants — 9,735 — means it will also award a huge field bonus of 100 points to those who run deep to the final 99 players.
But there are a number of other events to be decided before the curtain falls on this year’s WSOP. Here’s what’s still to play.
- $1,000 Mystery Bounty PLO
- $5,000 Super Turbo Bounty NLH
- $50,000 High Roller NLH
- $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship
- $777 Lucky 7’s NLH
- $1,500 PLO 6-Max
- $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty NLH
- $3,000 TORSE
- $10,000 NLH Championship 6-Max
- $800 NLH Deepstack
- $3,000 PLO 6-Max
- $1,500 NLH The Closer
- $25,000 High Roller HORSE
- $5,000 NLH 8-Max
- $1,000 Super Turbo NLH
With these events still to award Fantasy points, we may be on the home stretch, but we’re certainly not there yet.
We’ll be watching on with interest as the final week of an incredible WSOP plays out, with the PokerOrg Fantasy Freeroll winner to be crowned in a week’s time.
