Phil Hellmuth has never been shy of expressing himself in person or on social media. He got into hot water at the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in October when he went wild at the poker tables and threatened to burn down the Rio and went on a 15 minute expletive filled rant.
He had to apologize multiple times soon after for his unruly behaviour. Hellmuth put all that behind him when he ended up winning his 16th WSOP bracelet. It did not take long for Hellmuth to go on another rant but this time he saved it for social media.
Hellmuth Blasts WSOP On Twitter
The 16 time WSOP bracelet winner took to Twitter to inform him nearly 300,000 followers that he was terribly unhappy with the WSOP Player of the Year (POY) points scoring system. Hellmuth has never won the WSOP POY award even though he has come very close to doing so, as he finished in second place on the WSOP POY Leaderboard during the 2012, 2011 and 2006 editions.
He is keen on making a run for the 2021 WSOP POY as he currently sits in third place with 2,598.59. Jake Schwartz is in second place with 2,614.45 while the top place is occupied by Anthony Zinno who has 2,627.88.
Hellmuth is baffled with the WSOP POY points scoring system and is wondering who came up with the rules for the 2021 WSOP POY.
In a tweet, Hellmuth wrote “WSOP Player of the Year” losing its luster? POY has never been about “Cashes and min-cashes,” this is absurd! It’s about final tables and wins. Deeb has two final tables (1st, 5th) and roughly same points as Jake (5th, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 7th) and me (6th, 5th, 4th, 2nd, 1st). another player has one Final Table (3rd in online tourn) and 2,000 pts! Who cares about 10th- and 14th- and 300th place?!? It’s not right. POY isn’t about cashes! I’m calling on WSOP to make it right in 2022. We need new voices to be heard!
Shaun Deeb Responds
Hellmuth does have a point and if anyone can get the attention of the WSOP, it will be the Poker Brat. The WSOP is yet to respond to Hellmuth’s questions and concerns but Shaun Deeb did respond.
Deeb who won his 5th WSOP bracelet at the 2021 WSOP said it was his goal to one day be able to surpass Hellmuth’s tally of 16 WSOP bracelets and take the number one spot. Deeb currently sits in 5th place on the WSOP POY Leaderboard with 2,470.69 points.
Deeb responded via Twitter and said “Phil poy should always be about the overall grind I have 7 more cashes than you, you know how much people love to have a big name in their table in the atm buyin tourneys Wsop should do whatever they can to get the biggest names in every event it’s great for brand and Rec exp.”
2021 WSOP POY Calculation
The POY calculation for the 2021 WSOP is taken from the WSOP Circuit formula that has been in play for many years. Points are calculated for each WSOP bracelet event but the number of points varies based on the buy-in amount and the number of entries that each bracelet event gets. No points will be given for certain WSOP No-Limit Hold’em events.
The first place finisher on the WSOP POY leaderboard will get $15,000 second place gets $7,500 while the third place finisher collects $2,500. The prize money is certainly not why Hellmuth is getting hot under the collar; it is more for the accolade of adding it to his WSOP resume.
