The 2023 World Series of Poker is rounding the corner into the month of July and Shaun Deeb has the lead in the race for his second WSOP Player of the Year honor. Deeb, who last won the award in 2018, is on pace to become the second two-time champion since Daniel Negreanu won in 2004 and 2013.

The six-time bracelet winner has four more cashes since PokerNews’ last POY update, which includes another WSOP final table. This has seen him overtake Ian Matakis, who now sits in second place.

Early frontrunner Chad Eveslage has fallen outside of the top five. Michael Rodrigues, Chance Kornuth, and Chris Brewer have also put in a string of results which sees them climb to the upper echelons of the leaderboard.

2023 WSOP Player of the Year Standings

Deeb Makes His Move

Deeb has 12 cashes and one bracelet so far in 2023 — a pace that matches a 2018 effort where he brought home two bracelets over 20 cashing finishes. Besides his win, Deeb has three other top-five finishes — two of them on the live felt in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event and the $1,500 Omaha Mixed event. Elsewhere on the internet, he nearly picked up another bracelet with a runner-up finish in the $1,000 Online Deepstack event.

Shaun Deeb’s 2023 WSOP Cashes

Brewer a Closing Horse?

The former collegiate runner and current high-stakes crusher finally broke through with his first bracelet in the $250,000 Super High Roller. The win has propelled him to the top five on the leaderboard, with plenty of opportunities to close the gap throughout the rest of the summer.

Besides the win, Brewer had a late run of bad luck to finish third in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.

Chris Brewer’s 2023 WSOP Cashes

Others Chasing Deeb

Rodrigues found his way into the mix with a win in the first-ever $1,500 Badugi event and he has bolstered his resume with final table finishes in both the $1,500 and $10,000 versions of the Limit 2-7 Triple Draw. He’s joined by Kornuth with three top-five finishes in high roller events in 2023, including the runner-up spot in the $25,000 event that kicked off the summer.

The rest of the top 10 players feature Josh Arieh, Michael Moncek, John Monnette, and Jeremy Ausmus. Ausmus is a new addition to the list after his victory in the $3,200 High Roller on WSOP.com. The other three found their way into the top ten with wins of their own, but they’ve fallen back a few slots as players like Brewer, Kornuth, and Rodrigues have moved into contention.

Meanwhile, Brian Rast is picking up ground outside the top ten with a win in the Poker Player’s Championship and a run to seventh in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo event.