Surprising Star Wins WSOP Player of the Year Award

The end of the World Series of Poker has finally come, which meant that the big award of the event was handed out at its conclusion. Many of the big names in the world of poker were among the favourites at the start of the event, however, there was to be a very shock winner that topping the Player of the Year rankings.

Few would have given Josh Arieh much of a chance of winning the award at the start of the event, but he was the one that ended up at the top of the standings. It would have been considered a huge shock after a pulsating series of events. But, his eleven cash returns throughout the series show that it was no fluke that he was the star attraction in the WSOP this year.

Arieh’s Cash Return Events

Arieh took cash returns from eleven events throughout the WSOP, which includes two wins that he picked up during the series. The first of his victories came in the 39^th event of the series in the Pot-Limit Omaha. He returned $204,766 for his excellent performance in that event, and he won a second event just shortly after that. He also picked up a win in the 66^th event that was staged, as he came out on top in the Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship. That event would also signal his highest cash out of the WSOP, as he won $484,791 for his excellent performance.

Arieh would also finish in the top ten of four further events, with his next best finish being sixth in the Poker Players Championship. That finish saw him earn returns of $161,422. Further top ten finishes came in the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Championship, High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha and the Super Turbo No-Limit Hold em. The latter of those was his final cash return of the WSOP, as he won just over $10,000 after finishing in the tenth place of the 86^th event of the series. His first cash returns at the WSOP came when finishing 46^th in the GGPoker Flip & Go, and then 64^th in the Eight Game Mix 6-Handed.

Huge Names In Rankings

Arieh was crowned winner towards the end of the WSOP, as he accumulated 4,194.59 points. That was a clear advantage from the remaining players on the leaderboard, and there were some huge names in contention come the final stages. Phil Hellmuth was the player that was the closest challenger for the title, but the legendary star could only accumulate 4,720.01 points at the end of the competition. Daniel Nergreanu rounded off the top three in the standings, as the poker heavyweight finished the WSOP with 3,531.03.

Other players that finished in the top 16 places for the Player of the Year rankings included Ben Yu, Jake Schwartz and Joao Vieira. All eyes will soon turn to the next WSOP event, which will be taking place in Las Vegas at the end of 2022.