Josh Arieh Finishes 2021 WSOP On A High With POY Award

Summary

• Arieh earned a total of 4,194.59 points to secure WSOP POY award
• Phil Hellmuth and Shaun Deeb failed to catch up
• Arieh ended his impressive run with two bracelets and 11 cashes worth more than $1.1 million

Josh Arieh is the new World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year.

The American poker pro capped off his impressive WSOP run this year by taking home the coveted title after scoring a total of 11 cashes and winning two bracelets throughout the series.

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Surprise WSOP POY Victory for Arieh

The Georgia poker player surprised everyone when out of nowhere he catapulted to the No. 1 spot in the leaderboard race just a week ago after winning Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship, his second bracelet at the 2021 series. He also reached the final table of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, finishing in 6th place, boosting his points.

Some of poker’s biggest names, such as Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Shaun Deeb attempted to dethrone Arieh as the festival drew to a close, but the 47-year-old continued to accumulate more points in the final events of the series to secure the title. He had deep runs in Events 84 and 86, finishing 7th and 10th respectively.

Arieh also took part in the final tournament of the 2021 series, Event #88: $5,000 8-Handed NLHE, but did not reach Day 2, ending his excellent run with 4,194.59 POY points. Arieh’s closest rival in the race, Hellmuth, also fell short of earning points in Event #88 and finished with 3,664.09 points.

The Poker Brat despite reaching his seventh WSOP table is currently in 2nd place in the POY leaderboard but he could be surpassed by Deeb who is still competing in the ongoing final tournament. Even if Deeb eventually takes down Event #88, his additional points won’t be enough to catch up to Arieh.

Arieh’s incredible run this year earned him two bracelets, the WSOP POY title, and over $1.1 million in winnings. His total live earnings now sit at more than $9.2 million.

WSOP POY Leaderboard Latest Rankings

With Event #88 yet to crown a winner, here are the current WSOP POY Top 10: Josh Arieh (1st with 4,194.59 points), Phil Hellmuth (2nd with 3,664.09 points), Daniel Negreanu (3rd with 3,531.03 points), Jeremy Ausmus (4th with 3,272.57 points), Ryan Leng (5th with 3,042.21 points), Ben Yu (6th with 3,026.64 points), Dylan Linde (7th with 2,976.62 points), Koray Aldemir (8th with 2,911.73), Scott Ball (9th with 2,907.94 points) and Shaun Deeb (10th with 2,895.75 points).