Jason receiving his second bracelet of the year from his father Rick.
The 2016 World Series of Poker has 40 events in the books, a bit over halfway, and Player of the Year race is heating up. A handful of high value tournaments are slated over the next couple weeks and even though Jason Mercier’s lead looks to be solid, a win or couple deep runs from a contender could end the Summer of Mercier.

Simply put, a motivated Mercier is a player to be feared. The five-time bracelet winner won two this year and a third would not only etch his name in history as the seventh player in history to win three in a year, he stands to collect mind-numbing money from bracelet bets.

Mercier has seven cashes so far, with five final tables, one runner-up and in four $10,000 championship events. In a one-week span Mercier earned 366.26 points in the Deuce to Seven win, 287.70 points in Razz and 434.24 in the HORSE victory. Additionally, all of his cashes have come in different disciplines and not a single No Limit Hold’em event.

Martin Kozlov sits in second place after five cashes on the Series. He most recently won the $10,000 Six Max No Limit Hold’em Championship and earlier this year he finished fifth in the $3,000 Six Max NLH event. He made a deep run in the Summer Solstice event, barely missing the final table in 11th place for $25,335.

Paul Volpe is the first former PocketFives Number One ranked player to win a bracelet in 2016 and the last player over 1,000 points. Volpe has played the WSOP regularly since 2011 and has racked up 27 cashes since playing full time.

Volpe began the summer with a fourth place finish in the $1,500 Dealers Choice event and followed that up with his second career bracelet in the Eight Game Mix for $149,943. His five cashes this year have come in five different games and most recently finished in 10th place in the Six Max Championship Kozlov took down.

Benny Glaser has had a very unique Series – for starters he won two bracelets in four cashes for a total of $718,669. He first took down the $1,500 Omaha HiLo event and a few days later he took down the $10,000 Omaha HiLo championship.

Glaser’s first cash of the summer came in the $1,500 No Limit Deuce to Seven event and a week later he final tabled the $10,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Championship. His first career bracelet came in 2015 in the Triple Draw variant of the same game.

Ryan Laplante has spent the most time in the cashout line with nine cashes on the Series. His largest came in his first career bracelet – the $565 Pot Limit Omaha event. He earned $190,328 to push his career WSOP earnings over the $500,000-mark. He has cashed in HORSE, Six Max No Limit Hold’em, PLO, Limit Hold’em and Omaha HiLo.

WSOP Player of the Year Top Ten Standings

  1. Jason Mercier – 1,695.02
  2. Martin Kozlov – 1,252.58
  3. Benny Glaser – 1,156.57
  4. Michael Semenov – 1,125.12
  5. Ryan Laplante – 1,073.13
  6. Ian Johns – 1,059.50
  7. Paul Volpe – 1,044.15
  8. David Vamplew – 998.25
  9. Bart Lybaert – 984.90
  10. Michael Gathy – 969.30