Updated on 22 Feb 26 by
Barry carter
Poker Expert

WSOP announce separate Player of the Year for $1,500 events

We recap some stories you may have missed including more $1m Spin & Go jackpots and more downswing advice from Phil Galfond.





WSOP announced $1,500 leaderboard

WSOP

After an incredible admin error last year we predicted there would be major changes to the WSOP Player of the Year in 2020 and this is the first of what could be many tweaks. 

Yesterday the WSOP finalised their $1,500 event schedule and announced there would be a separate leaderboard for $1,500 buy-in events. 

No word yet on the scoring system or the prizes but it certainly will solve an odd dichotomy at the WSOP, where massive thousand runner fields and Mixed Game events under 100 runners are judged alongside each other in the POY scoring system.

Galfond with more downswing advice

We really want him to start winning but the one plus point of Phil Galfond going on a 28 buy-in downswing during his first Galfond Challenge is he gets to share a lot of insights into variance and the mental game. 

This time his musings focus on how to question whether you are being outmatched or just unlucky when you go on a slump as bad as the one he is currently enduring:

Weekly $1m jackpots

spin go

You may have noticed PokerStars keep tinkering with their Spin & Go offering, most notably which games have a $1m jackpot at any given time. 

This week they announced they will be rotating the $1m jackpot every week, so regardless of your stake level you have a chance to win $1m. 

Stakes between $0.25 and $50 are all going to get the $1m jackpot, so keep an eye out for it in the PokerStars lobby.

Johns Hopkins Poker Course

One of the most popular courses ever at Johns Hopkins University is a poker theory course. They have started uploading the lectures up to YouTube and have some special poker guests along the way. You can watch the first one here:

Should there be two separate WSOP Player of the Year races? Let us know in the comments:


Poker Expert

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, Poker Satellite Strategy, PKO Poker Strategy, Endgame Poker Strategy, GTO Poker Simplified, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy and Beyond GTO. In 2025, he won the Global Poker Awards for Best Book and Twitter Personality of the Year.