Shaun Deeb has officially won the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year title. He finished the series with 4,194.10 points, narrowly edging out Benny Glaser, who earned 4,153.66 points. Michael Mizrachi finished in third place with 3,804.96 points. This is Deeb’s second WSOP POY title, his first coming in 2018. He now matches Daniel Negreanu, who won the title in 2004 and 2013, as the only player to have won the WSOP Player of the Year twice.

Shaun Deeb’s Performances During WSOP 2025

Shaun Deeb’s 2025 WSOP performance included 18 total cashes. Under the current POY scoring system, only his 10 best results counted. His biggest moment was a win in Event #79: $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, which awarded him his seventh career WSOP bracelet, a career-best prize of $2,957,227, and 1,359.61 POY points.

Additional results for Deeb during the WSOP 2025 include:

• 2nd place in Event #84: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em, earning $154,906 and 532.23 points
• 3rd place in Event #36: $10,000 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship (527.95 points)
• 2nd place in Event #43: $1,500 Razz (471.62 points)
• 2nd place in WSOP Online #12: NL Hold’em Monsterstack (497.43 points)
• 31st place in Event #21: $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better (211.45 points)
• 12th place in Event #47: $2,500 Mixed O8/Stud8 (206.26 points)
• 19th place in Event #88: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (136.38 points)
• 1,036th place in Event #19: $500 Colossus (126.71 points)
• 17th place in Event #14: $25,000 Mixed PLO/NLH (124.46 points)

Deeb reached four final tables and placed in the top three in four events during the series. He also cashed in 18 total events, although only ten of those counted toward his POY points under the revised scoring system.

Benny Glaser Falls Just Short Despite Winning Three Bracelets

Benny Glaser had one of the most decorated summers of any player at the 2025 WSOP, winning three bracelets in June. Despite these wins, he fell short in the Player of the Year race due to the structure of the POY scoring system, which considers only a player’s top 10 results.

Glaser added several min-cashes to reach ten qualifying results, but could not secure one final deep run to overtake Deeb’s score. On the final day of the series, he was eliminated in 114th place in Event #97: $1,500 “The Closer,” approximately 70 places short of what he needed to earn enough points to take the lead. He then max late-registered Event #100: $1,000 Super Turbo, but was eliminated early.

Glaser’s total was 4,153.66 points. He became the first player to win three bracelets in a single WSOP series and not win the Player of the Year award.

Michael Mizrachi Wins WSOP Main Event and PPC but Finishes Third

Michael Mizrachi won the two most prestigious tournaments at the 2025 WSOP—the Main Event and the $50,000 Poker Players Championship (PPC). Aside from the God run, he placed fourth overall in the POY standings with 3,804.96 points. Mizrachi cashed in 11 events total but did not have enough additional deep runs to surpass Deeb or Glaser. Mizrachi was also inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame during the 2025 series.

In 2010, Mizrachi also won the PPC and reached the final table of the Main Event, finishing in 5th place. That year, he lost out on the Player of the Year title to Frank Kassela.

Final WSOP 2025 Player of the Year Standings

Rank	Player	Country	Points
1	Shaun Deeb	USA	4,194.10
2	Benny Glaser	United Kingdom	4,153.66
3	Michael Mizrachi	USA	3,804.96
4	Martin Kabrhel	Czech Republic	3,639.41
5	Scott Bohlman	USA	3,328.86
6	Joao Vieira	Portugal	3,025.20
7	Brian Rast	USA	3,006.66
8	Daniel Negreanu	Canada	2,972.05
9	Klemens Roiter	Austria	2,813.51
10	Zdeněk Žíža	Czech Republic	2,807.76

Martin Kabrhel and Zdeněk Žíža both finished in the top 10, making the Czech Republic the only country other than the United States to have multiple players among the top 10.

Scoring System Controversy and Phil Hellmuth’s Criticism

The 2025 WSOP POY scoring system counts only the top 10 results for each player, with a cap of one online cash included. This scoring method was implemented in 2024.

Phil Hellmuth publicly criticized the outcome. In a video posted to X, Hellmuth stated, “I don’t think any professional poker player believes that the right person won Player of the Year.” He argued that either Michael Mizrachi or Benny Glaser should have won. He claimed that “90% of the poker world believes” Mizrachi should have received the title. He also stated, “Player of the Year should be about champions,” and proposed that second and third bracelets should count for triple points.

Winners Win!

This not a rebuke of @WSOP: the 2025 WSOP was fantastic! Well done Staff, Floor People and Dealers!

This is not a rebuke of @shaundeeb: he had a great year, and won the POY (Player of the Year) fair-and-square by the rules posted

This a rebuke of WSOP POY Formula.… pic.twitter.com/HfUhDL6oUe

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) July 22, 2025

Hellmuth also accused Deeb of influencing the scoring system, saying, “He’s writing the rules and he’s winning Player of the Year and nobody likes the result? What is happening? This has to change.”

Deeb responded on X, stating that he had “zero involvement in the WSOP changing the POY formula.” He added that the new system “hurt me more than it helped,” and that he had previously criticized it, including in a pre-series interview with PokerNews. In that interview, Deeb said the rule “punish(es) people like me who put in volume and multi-table.”

I’ve stayed quiet through most of the Player of the Year chatter — but after @phil_hellmuth video, it’s time to respond. There’s been too much misinformation floating around, so let’s set the record straight.

First off: I had zero involvement in the WSOP changing the POY…

— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) July 23, 2025

Deeb wrote that while Mizrachi and Glaser had excellent summers, the POY award is “a points-based system” and “isn’t about highlight reels.” He also said he would be willing to help improve the system, even if it reduced his chances of winning in the future.

Shaun Deeb’s Career Achievements in Online and Live Poker

Shaun Deeb has a long track record in both live and online poker. He has won seven WSOP bracelets and reached 48 final tables, with over 229 cashes at the WSOP. His total live tournament earnings exceed $16.6 million.

Online, Deeb has won eight World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) titles and five Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) titles. He was named WCOOP Player of the Series in 2012 and again in 2015. Early in his career, Deeb often played 15 to 20 online tournaments simultaneously. He won $312,610 in his largest recorded online cash in a $1,000 Full Tilt event with 615 entries.

His first WSOP bracelet came in 2015 in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship. He later won bracelets in 2016 ($1,500 Seven-Card Stud), 2018 (two bracelets), 2021 ($25,000 PLO High Roller), and now again in 2025 ($100,000 PLO High Roller).