Deeb, Kihara & Foxen Battle for 2026 WSOP POY Title

Just 29 points separate the top three players in the 2026 World Series of Poker Player of the Year race, with Shaun Deeb holding the narrowest of leads over Naoya Kihara and Alex Foxen heading into December’s WSOP Paradise (WSOPP).

The WSOP confirmed on Thursday that The Bahamas festival will decide this year’s Player of the Year winner, with Deeb looking to become just the second player to claim the award three times. The defending champion currently sits on 3,410 points, with Kihara just 22 behind and Foxen a further seven back.

There’s more than just bragging rights on the line, too. A total of $1 million in leaderboard prizes will be distributed among the top 100 finishers, while the eventual winner will also receive the newly introduced Binion Cup.

For the first time, the POY race includes results from WSOP Europe, the summer WSOP in Las Vegas, and WSOPP. That means the three frontrunners have one final opportunity to separate themselves before the 2026 season comes to a close.

Deeb Chasing Third POY Title After Ninth Bracelet Win

Deeb entered the summer as the reigning champ and Player of the Year favorite, having already recorded three runner-up finishes across WSOP Europe and the early stages of the Las Vegas series.

The American eventually got his hands on a ninth bracelet in Las Vegas, adding another title to a collection that already puts him among the most successful players in WSOP history.

Unlike previous summers, Deeb wasn’t piling up dozens of small cashes. He recorded just six in Las Vegas, but his deeper finishes were enough to keep him at the top of the standings.

Along with his bracelet victory, he finished runner-up in another event, made two further final tables, and enjoyed a deep run in the Main Event.

His summer earnings totaled $956,086, including bounties, although that didn’t translate into quite the profit some might expect. Deeb finished the series $89,286 in the black, representing a 10.3% return on investment before expenses.

Having won the POY award in 2018 and 2025, Deeb now has the chance to become the only three-time winner.

Kihara’s Heater Puts Him Within Touching Distance

Of the three players leading the race, Kihara might be the biggest surprise. The Japanese pro put together one of the most impressive performances of the summer, winning back-to-back $10,000 Championship bracelet events and cashing 16 times across the series.

His victories came in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship and $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship, taking his career bracelet tally to three. The wins came 14 years after he became the first Japanese player to win a WSOP bracelet back in 2012.

Kihara’s summer wasn’t just about those two titles, either. He also recorded two third-place finishes and another two seventh-place finishes, including a deep run in the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship won by fellow Japanese player Koji Fujimoto.

As PokerNews reported earlier this summer, Kihara has been at the forefront of Japan’s growing poker scene, particularly when it comes to mixed games. He was even on the rail celebrating Fujimoto’s bracelet victory, before stepping in to translate his countryman’s winner interview.

“When I first won a bracelet, nobody had won one before. After that, it took two years for the second one. These days, every year, two Japanese bracelet winners… Winning the bracelet is getting more common, not special,” Kihara told PokerNews.

There’s a strong argument that Kihara was the standout performer in Las Vegas and now, just 22 points separate the pair, leaving Kihara with every chance of becoming Japan’s first WSOP Player of the Year in December.

Foxen’s Consistency Keeps Him in the Hunt

Foxen is hardly a stranger to deep runs in major poker tournaments, and his summer results showed exactly why he’s considered one of the game’s most consistent performers.

The American recorded 14 cashes at the 2026 WSOP, including a bracelet victory in the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty for $594,246.

Another big cash came in the $100,000 High Roller, where a sixth-place finish earned him $522,347. He also finished third in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship for $300,000 and seventh in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for another $267,993.

Foxen made several other deep runs, including fifth-place finishes in the $10,000 Eight-Game and $600 NLH/PLO Deepstack, along with a tenth-place finish in the $25,000 H.O.R.S.E.

2026 WSOP Player of the Year Top 15

Although Deeb, Kihara, and Foxen have opened up a sizeable advantage, several familiar names remain in contention with WSOPP still to come.

Daniel Negreanu, who won his eighth bracelet in July, believes there’s still an opportunity to make up ground and claim his own third POY award.

“WSOP Paradise is the perfect setting for a dramatic finish to the year,” said the GGPoker ambassador. “I’m sitting a few hundred points back, but with big points available in the Bahamas, capturing a third Player of the Year title is absolutely within striking distance. It all comes down to how I perform in the season finale.”

Reigning WSOP Main Event champion Lucas Jumalon also finds himself in the top 15 and will be looking to climb further up the standings when play resumes in December.

“I’ve been on an incredible journey this year, and it isn’t over yet,” Jumalon said. “Knowing that the Player of the Year race will be decided in the Bahamas just adds to the anticipation. I’m excited to get to WSOP Paradise, play my best poker, and hopefully climb even higher up the ranks.”

$1 Million in Prizes Up for Grabs at WSOP Paradise

The WSOP has allocated $1 million in prizes for the top 100 players, with packages designed to bring them back for future events.

The top three finishers will each receive a $100,000 WSOP Paradise Package, while players finishing fourth through 15th will collect a $30,000 Super Main Event Package. Additional packages and tournament tickets will be awarded through 100th place.

There is also another $1 million available through the separate WSOP Parlay promotion, which rewards players who reached a bracelet event final table, live or online, during 2026 and compete at WSOPP.

The festival’s $50 million guaranteed Super Main Event will be among the biggest attractions, with online satellites already running through GGPoker’s WSOP Express.

How Does the 2026 WSOP Player of the Year Work?

The WSOP introduced several changes to its Player of the Year competition for 2026, most notably combining results from three separate bracelet festivals into one leaderboard.

There are a few important rules to keep in mind:

• Only open live bracelet events count toward the standings. Online bracelet events and restricted-entry tournaments, such as Seniors and Ladies events, are excluded.
• Only a player’s best 15 results contribute to their final points total.
• Players can only receive POY points once per event, even if they cash multiple times.
• Players eliminated in the same round of certain tournament formats receive equal points based on the average for those finishing positions.
• For POY purposes, a final table is defined as the top nine finishers.
• With the best-15-results rule in place, players who have already accumulated plenty of points may need particularly strong finishes to improve their totals.

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game.

Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).