Phil Hellmuth Rails Against WSOP About Its POY Rules

The all-time leading bracelet winner is at it again with another uproar. In October, Phil Hellmuth went wild for 15 minutes, ranting at the poker table at Rio threatening to scorch the property.

He later apologized for his unruly behaviour. On November 1, he took to social media complaining about how unhappy he was about the WSOP Player of the Year points scoring system.

Hell is never shy expressing himself. But, his gameplay continues to put him on the map, making him one of the most influential poker players. The pro poker player recently landed his 16th bracelet after winning Event#31:$1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw. 

Hellmuth’s Blast on Twitter

Hellmuth is questioning how the WSOP POY points scoring system works and wonders who created the rules for the system. He took it to his Twitter account with a following of almost 300k to say he was unhappy about the system.

Phil has never won the WSOP Player of the Year award despite scoping several other awards. He has come close to winning it by finishing in second place in the WSOP POY Leaderboard in 2006, 2011, and 2016.

This year, it seems the poker player wants to scoop the award. Phil currently has 2598.59 points, taking third place after Jake Schwartz with 2614.45 and Anthony Zinno with 2627.88.

In his tweet, Hellmuth said new voices needed to be heard. He asked WSOP to make it right in 2022. Phil explained that WSOP POY was losing its sheen, noting it was about cashes and min-cashes, final tables, and wins.

He went ahead to show how several players had scored. In his tweet, Shaun Deeb has reached two final tables yet has almost similar points as Jake and Phil, who have reached five final tables during this year’s WSOP schedule at Rio. He also said that another player had reached the final table once and already had 2,000 points.

Deeb’s Response

Shaun Deeb agreed with Phil, saying he had a point. He went ahead and noted that only the Poker Brat (Phil) could attract WSOP’s attention about the issue.

Deeb won his fifth WSOP bracelet this year. His goal is to surpass Hellmuth’s 16 WSOP bracelets. Deeb is in the fifth spot on the WSOP Player of the Year Leaderboard with 2470.69 points.

In his response to Phil, Deeb said POY should be about the overall game. He explained that he had cashed in seven more times than Phil. His suggestion was for the WSOP to do whatever it can to include the prominent players in every match, as it would be great for the brand.

WSOP POY Calculation

This year, the POY tallying is using the WSOP Circuit formula. The formula is calculating points for each WSOP bracelet event.

But, the number of points differs depending on how much a player spends on buy-ins and the number of times a player re-enters a bracelet event. Unfortunately, some WSOP No-Limit Hold ’em events do not come with these points.

The winner of the WSOP POY Leaderboard will earn $15,000, while the runners-up will get $7500. The third position winner will get $2500. But, Phil’s uproar could not be because of the reward. Instead, it could be because of the accolade he will earn and add it to his WSOP resume.

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