WPT with new, holistic system for “Player of the Year” rating

WPT with new, holistic system for “Player of the Year” rating
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Arved Klöhn Content Writer
Fact Checked: PokerListings
  • Updated: July 2, 2025
  • Read time: 1 min

The World Poker Tour has revised the system for calculating the points for their annual Player of the Year award. These changes come into effect with the 2022 calendar year that has just begun. These include that from now on players at every WPT event can accumulate points towards the ranking. That means not only the events at regular WPT stops, but also every event at the smaller WPT DeepStack events is worth points now.

The new system came into effect at the start of the Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Florida. The Main Event began on Friday last week and the tournament kicks off the WPT’s Season XX.

WPT CEO Adam Pliska commented on the new system: “From Florida to Amsterdam, and Australia to Las Vegas, every time a player sits down to play a World Poker Tour branded event, they’re going to be competing to become Player of the Year. This is yet another pillar in the 20th anniversary celebration for the WPT and the players.”

As was the case last year, a total of $30,000 in “WPT Passport” prize money will be distributed as part of the WPT’s Player of the Year ranking. In addition to the award, the overall winner will receive a WPT Passport worth $15,000, while the second and third place players will receive WPT Passports worth $10,000 and $5,000 respectively.

Previous WPT Player of the Year winners

Several notable players have won the WPT’s Player of the Year bracket in the past. Among others, Daniel Negreanu, Betrand “ElkY” Grospellier and JC Tran could win this title.

Several players managed to win the title without winning a tournament, including the previous season’s Player of the Year, Jacob Ferro.

Those are all the winners since 2002:

SeasonYearsPOY-WinnerEvents won
12002–2003Howard Lederer2
22003–2004Erick Lindgren2
32004–2005Daniel Negreanu2
42005–2006Gavin Smith1
52006–2007J. C. Tran1
62007–2008Jonathan Little1
72008–2009Bertrand Grospellier1
82009–2010Faraz Jaka0
92010–2011Andy Frankenberger1
102011–2012Joe Serock0
112012–2013 Matthew Salsberg1
122013–2014Mukul Pahuja0
132014–2015Anthony Zinno2
142015–2016Mike Shariati1
152016–2017Benjamin Zamani0
162017–2018Art Papazyan2
172018–2019Erkut Yilmaz2
182019–2021Brian Altman1
192021–2022Jacob Ferro0

More Information

» Everything about the new WPT POY Rating
» WPT Schedule for 2022