Chris Ferguson wins 2017 WSOP Player of the Year

Mostly min-cashes wins it for the mostly unforgiven Full Tilt founding member, after a record breaking number of cashes in a single year.

With the elimination of John Racener on Day 2 nobody else remained in the WSOPE Main Event to challenge Chris Ferguson's impressive and controversial WSOP Player of the Year run.

Ferguson has cashed a record 23 times, won one bracelet and banked $496,343 this series. He accumulated 1,178.53 points, compared to the 1,042.04 points of Racener, to secure the accolade. He wins a free $10,000 entry into the WSOP Main Event for his efforts. 

The win is controversial for two reasons. One is that this was a POY won almost exclusively on min-cashes after a scoring formula that weighted them more favourably. To put it into context, Ferguson is currently 279th on the 2017 overall money list and David Bach won two bracelets at the series this year. 

The other reason is, obviously, that Ferguson was one of the leading figures behind the Full Tilt Scandal as one of the site's founders. He emerged out of hiding after the Department of Justice and PokerStars reimbursed Full Tilt players with their bankrolls, but with few exceptions (Like Phil Hellmuth, below) he still remains unforgiven for his role in the scandal (something which he is yet to discuss in public).

Welcome back to the @WSOP winners circle Chris Ferguson!! #ChrisFergusonsSixthWSOPWin #WSOPBraceletHunting #POSITIVITY pic.twitter.com/8ucqlOI1du

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) November 2, 2017

It will be fascinating to see what, if any, changes to the WSOP POY scoring system is made between now and next year's WSOP (and also what, if any, ceremony Ferguson will receive in Rozvadov.)

Should a POY system be more skewed towards titles, or at least final tables? Share your views in the comments: