A couple of weeks ago, we noted that the World Poker Tour closed its 19th season with the WPT Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event. Technically, that was true. There was one small matter, though, that the World Poker Tour hadn’t yet announced: WPT Season XIX Player of the Year.
They officially did that this week and named Jake Ferro as that WPT POY.
Decided at Bellagio
The Player of the Year race that ended with the World Poker Tour’s Season XIX was close. It was close enough to send players to the Bellagio to play the Five Diamond in the hopes of locking up that top spot on the POY leaderboard.
And when Jake Ferro finished in 14th place at that WPT Main Event in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, he did secure the win.
WPT CEO Adam Pliska said, “The WPT Player of the Year race came down to the wire and Jake’s determination in the final event makes him a fantastic winner. It was an amazing way to close out Season XIX and certainly raises the bar for what will be an historic 20th anniversary season.
Jacob Ferro hails from New York and put his first live tournament win on his CV back in 2011. His first win at a WPT-adjacent event was at the Borgata Poker Open in 2012; he won a side event for $22K. However, he had a solid year at the tables in general in 2021. And he also racked up some points at WPT events, even coming close to winning the WPT Rock N Roll Poker Open Main Event in November but finished second for $573,605. That became his largest score to date.
His WPT points in 2021 accrued as follows:
-WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa $3,500 buy-in: 39th place ($15,690)-WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open $3,500 buy-in: 2nd place ($573,605)-WPT Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic $10K buy-in: 14th place ($80,245)
https://twitter.com/WPT/status/1478789534795984898?s=20
In all, it feels as if Ferro is just getting started.
“I’m thrilled to have won WPT Player of the Year for Season XIX,” he told the WPT, “and am definitely looking forward to playing more World Poker Tour events in 2022. It would have been a dream come true to have etched my name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, but coming so close only makes me hungrier for the coming season.
For the win, Ferro received a WPT Passport to be used on any $15K worth of tournaments in Season XX. And for any tournament he wants to play in Season XX, the WPT will provide VIP treatment with free accommodations and ground transportation.
Ranking
Player
Points
1
Jacob Ferro
1,550
2
Rok Gostisa
1,450
3
Chad Eveslage
1,450
4
Brian Altman
1,450
5
Taylor Black
1,400
6
Gediminas Uselis
1,400
7
Vik Shegal
1,250
8
Christian Rudolph
1,250
9
Mike Liang
1,250
10
David Peters
1,200
11
Dapo Ajayi
1,200
Interestingly, the second, third, and fourth places on the leaderboard tied, which took them to the money totals. That put Gostisa in second place, officially, and the winner of a $7,500 WPT Passport. Eveslage took third place for a $2,500 WPT Passport. And Brian Altman missed out on a passport, but he won the WPT POY for Season XVIII. He knows what victory tastes like and will try to get there again next season.
Knafo Wins WPTDS POY
WPTDeepStacks just wrapped its 2021 year before Christmas with a WPTDS London Online at 888poker. That one found Gerard Carbo as its Main Event champion and ended the year on a successful note. But the Player of the Year race ended in early December when Albert Knafo of California appeared to have secured the POY victory.
WPTDS North American Player of the Year
1
Albert Knafo
1,400
2
Roman Shainiuk
1,350
3
Jason Young
1,250
Knafo won two WPTDeepStacks in 2021, the first in July in Las Vegas for $532,395 and the second one a side event at WPT Thunder Valley in December. But it was that big Venetian field and win that put him atop the leaderboard. He will receive a $10K WPT Passport. Shainiuk won a $3,500 WPT Passport and Young a $1,500 Passport.
https://twitter.com/WPTDeepStacks/status/1415357812675211264?s=20
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