Robert Campbell received a pleasant surprise after the World Series of Poker (WSOP) confirmed that he was the actual winner of the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year (POY) title. The WSOP admitted on Nov 8 that they had made an error in listing the results for an online bracelet tournament during the summer, which wrongly placed Daniel Negreanu at No. 1.
After looking at the error and recalculating the points, Campbell has moved to the top spot with 3,961.31 points. Shaun Deeb, who was gunning for a back-to-back POY victory is second with 3,917.32 points, while Negreanu who was initially announced as the 2019 POY had to be content with third place with 3,861.78 points, not 4,074.88 as previously listed.
Results Wrongly Reported
The error was spotted by Russian live poker reporter Alexander Elenskiy who started a thread on TwoPlusTwo forum regarding the mistake. Elenskiy, aka “iskander”, said the results for Event #68: $1,000 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em Championship were listed incorrectly, giving previously declared 2019 POY Negreanu some extra points.
The mistake affected places 32-46 in the online bracelet tournament, listing Negreanu as the 36^th place finisher, and awarding him 213.1 POY points, despite not cashing in the event. After reviewing the results, it has emerged that the 32nd-46th finishers from a different event were the ones listed for Event #68. The event in question was Event #87: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. where Negreanu placed 36th.
Max Silver was the real 36^th place finisher in Event #68, and not Negreanu, as correctly reported by Hendon Mob and other online news sites. This means the Canadian player had 23 cashes, not 24, with 3,861.78 in total POY points, about 100 points below POY winner Campbell.
Devastating for Deeb
This most recent development is particularly painful for Shaun Deeb who was made to believe he needed to score a 5^th place finish in the final event of the WSOPE in Rozvadov in order to surpass Negreanu. Deeb, the defending POY winner, went on an intense POY campaign this year, working hard to earn points to defend the title. He finished 11^th in the €550 Colossus event, earning him an extra 206.7 POY points, and was actually just two places away from the title, as a 9^th place finish would have given him much-needed points to topple Campbell off the top spot.
Both Negreanu and Campbell also cashed in the final event, with the Canadian finishing in 195^th place for 103.3 points, and the Aussie also earning the same points for his 149^th place finish.
Negreanu, Campbell Share Thoughts
Negreanu’s response to the crazy turn of events displayed great sportsmanship, congratulating Campbell for the well-deserved honor. Campbell also shared his thoughts on the POY situation, as well as the points structure for the race, in a lengthy post on Twitter.
The Aussie thanked the WSOP, the Rio and King’s for hosting a fantastic tournament series and said this year stands out as one of the most exciting years of his life. Campbell managed to capture two bracelets during the summer’s WSOP in Las Vegas. He won his first bracelet in the $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw, and followed it up with another victory in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship.
WSOP Issues Public Apology
In statement, the WSOP acknowledged their mistake which was caused by a data entry error during the uploading of results into their website. The person assigned to input the results erroneously encoded places 32-46 from Event #87 into Event #68. In the process, the correct results were overwritten. As a result, 15 players were listed as in the money finishers in Event #68, and received POY points, despite not cashing in the event, including Negreanu.
The WSOP said they have notified the affected players of the error. The team issued a public apology for the mistake they’ve committed and said they’ll spend the next few months fixing what needs to be fixed regarding POY procedures.
Following WSOP’s correction, the players making the 2019 WSOP POY Top 10 are as follows:
Campbell, Deeb, and Negreanu occupy the 1^st  2^nd, and 3^rd spots respectively; Anthony Zinno is at No. 4 with 3,322.00 points, Philip Hui at No. 5 with 3,186.17, Dan Zack at No. 6 with 3,126.13 points, Dario Sammartino at No. 7 with 3,091.03 points, Chris Ferguson at No. 8 with 2,997.10, Kahle Burns at No. 9 with 2,987.37 points, and Dash Dudley at No. 10 with 2,860.79 points.