Who Leads the 2022 PokerGO Tour Leaderboard with One Month to Play?

With just one month to go, the race is on to top the PokerGO Tour leaderboard. With the World Series of Poker Europe complete, the 15 bracelet events that took place in Rozvadov have had a knock-on effect on the top 10 in the PGT Player of the Year. Three of those victories qualified for PGT points, so let’s look at who might win one of poker’s prestigious annual awards.

Chidwick Leads the Way

It is the British pro Stephen Chidwick who leads the PGT leaderboard, sat on 3,274 points with a month to play. Just 35 days remain for player to gather points and overhaul him, but they may find it hard to emulate Ali Imsirovic in winning the 2022 PGT Leaderboard as the Bosnian-American won in 2021. Imsirovic, of course, is banned from competing on the PGT for remaining events thanks to allegations he cheated yet to be fully investigated. Chidwick, who has earned $6.1 million in profit in PGT events this year alone, is going for his sixth outright tournament win, with his five so far one clear of Alex Foxen’s four.

Way back at the start of 2022, the PokerGO Tour got underway at The Venetian as one of Las Vegas’ most iconic venues welcomed players from around the world to the start of a new season. Early on, Phil Ivey was the man to watch and he is still very much in contention, sitting in second place on 3,083 points. Ivey has won over $5.9 million on the PGT this year, cashing an awesome 17 times, though this is 13 times fewer than the current leader.

Ivey is the only other player above 3,000 points, with Jason Koon in third place on 2,833. Like Ivey, Koon has cashed 17 times and will be looking forward to battling Phil Hellmuth in High Stakes Duel in December, though it won’t count towards his year-end total. Only one  player has won more money than Koon on the tour, with his $6,231,848 winnings the benchmark for profit among those at the top of the tree.

Who’ll Rise from the Middle Ranks?

With some stellar names packing out the top 10, players such as Michael Duek (2,400 points), Sean Winter (2,368) and Alex Foxen (2,356) will all be hoping for a superb end to their season. If they can get it, their win(s) may well propel them to within range of the leaders, with Duek ($5m), Sean Winter ($3.6) and Foxen ($6.5m) all winning heaps on the PGT in the last 11 months. Between them, Winter and Foxen alone have cashed on 39 occasions, an impressive level of consistency which has kept both men in the position to make a late run at the title.

The 2022 WSOP Main Event winner Espen Jørstad is in seventh place on $10.19 million, largely courtesy of his win in the biggest poker tournament to be held in 2022. He has 2,219 points, a total marginally ahead of Chad Evesalge (2,162), Danny Tang (2,139) and Daniel Dvoress (2,059), all of whom can still lay a claim to the throne if all goes well in the next four weeks or so.

The WSOP Europe €‎25,000-entry Platinum High Roller had 67 entries and as it turned out was essential to the overall points. Jørstad’s ninth-place finish earned him enough points to make the top 10 and Daniel Negreanu has even put himself within range of the pack, sliding into 21^st place on the char after coming fourth.

Other Big Names Still in the Race

Another event that concluded in Rozvadov was the WSOP Europe €‎50k Diamond High Roller, which saw 45 players pony up the eye-watering buy-in. With a prizepool of over $2.1 million, Daniel Dvoress earned plenty of points for his seventh-place finish meaning he moved back into the top 10 of the PGT Leaderboard with 2,059 points.

Another player to make the qualifying places thanks to a strong performance on the Czech-German border was the Malaysian Paul Phua, who won $482,433 when he won his first World Series bracelet, rising to 14^th place on the PokerGO Tour Leaderboard.

Another to survive the festival in rude health was Shaun Deeb, whose multiple third-place finished meant he rose to 31^st place on the overall PGT Leaderboard. 10 places higher at the moment is Daniel Negreanu, who put himself within range of glory sliding into 21^st place on the chart after coming fourth in the Super High Roller.

Just 21 places make the year-ending PGT Championship that runs from December 21^st to 22^nd, with players such as Chris Brewer, Cary Katz, and Alex Livingston all on the outside looking in when it comes to the official PGT Leaderboard.