He had to sweat it out during the WPT World Championship, the final event of the season, but Chad Eveslage is now officially the 2022 World Poker Tour Season 20 Player of the Year winner.
Eveslage entered the Season 20 finale with 2,325 points in the POY standings, putting him at the top but quite a few others were still mathematically in contention.
Final 2022 WPT Player of the Year Standings
| Place | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chad Eveslage | 2,325 |
| 2 | Steve Buckner | 2,275 |
| 3 | Josh Kay | 1,825 |
| 4 | Ray Qartomy | 1,775 |
| 5 | Stephen Song | 1,625 |
| 6 | Eliot Hudon | 1,600 |
| 7 | Naj Ajez | 1,425 |
| 8 | Mark Davis | 1,400 |
| 9 | Alexander Yen | 1,400 |
| 10 | Mike Vanier | 1,400 |
| 11 | Chance Kornuth | 1,350 |
| 12 | Robert Mizrachi | 1,300 |
| 13 | Andy Wilson | 1,300 |
| 14 | Darren Elias | 1,300 |
In addition to POY honors, Eveslage received a $15,000 WPT Passport. Meanwhile, runner-up Steve Buckner claimed a $10,000 WPT Passport, while third-place finisher Josh Kay received one valued at $5,000.
Close Race Until the End
Things got a bit dicey for Eveslage, who appeared on the PokerNews Podcast last month, when he busted short of the money in the $10,400 buy in tournament. That's because his nearest competitor, Steve Buckner, survived the bubble and was only 175 points off the lead.
Fred Paradis, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa runner up, was also in the money and mathematically still in contention. Eveslage didn't have to be quite as concerned with Paradis, who was at 1,000 points entering the tournament, because he would have needed to receive the full 1,600 points for winning the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas or he couldn't overtake the POY lead.
Eliot Hudon won the tournament for $4.1 million on Tuesday night and received the points for it, which put him in fifth place in the POY standings.
Buckner, on the other hand, only needed to finish in 32nd place or better to tie, and 24th place or better to win. On Day 3, however, he busted in 319th place, ending any possibility to win Player of the Year.
Paradis was still in it going into Day 4, so he made the race interesting, but was inevitably eliminated in 82nd place. With that, Chad Eveslage holds on and is officially the 2022 WPT Player of the Year winner.
Eveslage has been on a tear this past year and is becoming one of the top tournament players in the world. At the 2022 World Series of Poker, he won his first bracelet in Event #8: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller 8-Handed for a career best $1,415,610.
In WPT action this year, he cashed in five events, reached two final tables, and won the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas at Bellagio for $1,042,300 in October, his second seven-figure score of the year. For his career, the Indiana native now has $7.1 million in live tournament earnings, according to Hendon Mob.
Eveslage joins the following as winners of the WPT Player of the Year:
