Outside of winning a bracelet, the World Series of Poker Player of the Year award is the most prestigious thing that poker players will spend this summer chasing. Past winners include Chris Ferguson, Mike Gorodinsky, Jason Mercier, the only two-time winner in history, Daniel Negreanu, and reigning and defending champion Shaun Deeb.

With the 2019 World Series of Poker just hours away, PocketFives editorial staff have put together their picks for who will make the most out what should be an incredible summer. Here are their picks for 2019 WSOP Player of the Year.

Jeff Walsh, Senior Writer

My top pick in 2019 is going to be Brandon Shack-Harris. When it comes to tournaments, the Chicago-based pro loves nothing more than to head to the Rio in the summertime with an eye on taking down tournaments and picking up bracelets. He loves the series so much, it’s even in his Twitter handle (@Oscillator_WSOP). But as we all know, loving the series isn’t enough, you’ve got to have the goods. Harris has two bracelets, over $3.2M in earnings and one look at his Hendon page will show you that he is ready to fire in just about every tournament, no matter the buy-in. My big prediction for him is a double bracelet summer and maybe even a trip to WSOP Europe to make sure he seals the deal.

Despite my enthusiasm for Harris, you simply can’t sleep on Paul Volpe. The former #1-ranked player on PocketFives was recently named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in WSOP History and is as dangerous a player as there is. And he plays everything. He’s been one of the most productive players in Daniel Negreanu’s $25K Fantasy Draft in its history and this may just be the year that Volpe turns those fantasy results into a very real Player of the Year title. He picked up his third gold bracelet in 2018 and I fully expect him to take down a tournament in 2019 as well as go very deep in one of the marquee ‘gimmick’ events, like The Big Fifty.

So, I’m on the record with Brandon Shack-Harris and Paul Volpe.

Donnie Peters, Managing Editor

Negreanu, Deeb, and Ferguson are three of the names that immediately come to mind when you think about who are the favorites to win the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year award. But who likes to bet on the chalk?

Ben Yu is someone who is a little bit further down the board that is a great pick to win WSOP Player of the Year. He puts in a high volume, isn’t too busy firing in the ARIA High Roller tournaments down the street, and can play all the games well. Benny Glaser and Adam Owen, a pair of Brits, are also two contenders for the WSOP Player of the Year award, in my mind. Owen is still searching for his first gold bracelet, so we know he’ll be hungry.

Dylan Linde is also looking for his first bracelet and is coming off a career year in 2018. Plus, Linde has a new book to push and that can serve as some additional motivation to grind, grind, grind all summer long. David ‘ODB’ Baker has been on top of the world lately, having recently won the WPT L.A. Poker Classic for a career-best score. He’s another high-volume, all-around player who can certainly contend for this award. Lastly, three-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Yoon should be considered a threat to win the WSOP Player of the Year award.

So I’ve got Yu, Glaser, Owen, Linde, Baker, and Yoon as my bets to win 2019 WSOP POY.

Lance Bradley, Editor in Chief

Volume, volume, volume. Under the current points system, you can’t win WSOP Player of the Year if you’re not willing and able to play a heavy schedule. Gone are the days of focusing on the $10,000 Championship events and picking up big points. Two years ago, Ferguson won in part because he seemingly played every event. So that limits the number of contenders every year.

And while Deeb and Negreanu are the obvious favorites, I think the attention they’re drawing might be overshadowing a couple of other names that I think are going to be in contention from the minute cards are in the air.

Shawn Buchanan has won zero WSOP bracelets over his career. He’s had a couple of close calls though and plays every game on the schedule. He recently mentioned that the cash game scene in Las Vegas isn’t catching his eye as much as it once was. That’s good news for the players in those games, but bad news for anybody who finds him at their WSOP table. Again, it comes down to a lot of volume and Buchanan just loves to play. If he gets hot early, he’ll be talked about a lot this summer.

In the weeks after the 2018 WSOP wrapped up, James Obst told the world he intended to chase a tennis career and would be giving up poker. While the tennis thing is still in the works, Obst is playing a full schedule at the 2019 WSOP with the intention of making as much money as possible to help him with his tennis dream. He’s always had the talent to hang with the best, now he’s got extra motivation and apparently, an improved mindset. That scary combination makes him an easy pick for me.