Lisandro and Wahlebeck lead WSOP rankings

As we head into the home straight, the battle to be the 2009 World Series of Poker Player of the Year is hotting up.

Currently ranked #1 is Australian pro Jeff Lisandro, whose phenomenal WSOP has seen him add two more world titles to the Seven Card Stud bracelet he won in 2007. Two wins, three FTs, five cashes; impressive stuff indeed.

But not quite impressive enough to grab an outright lead at the top of the leaderboard, with flying Finn Ville Wahlbeck taking a share of top spot courtesy a bracelet win together with additional 2nd, 3rd and 13th placed finishes.

And while there are just twelve bracelets left to be won, there are still plenty of big names within striking distance of the coveted top spot. Two bracelet wins at this years WSOP has seen Phil Ivey rise to third place, while Britain’s Roland de Wolfe is well placed in 6th. There are additional challengers just outside the top ten too, with Daniel Negreanu in 11th, Steve Sung in 13th, John Juanda in 18th and JC Tran lurking with intent in 23rd. Don’t count anyone of them out.

The Player of the Year list also shows that this year’s World Series has made three new millionaires in the shape of Vitaly Lunkin, Isaac Haxton and Pete Vilandos (with Lunkin taking home a staggering $2.3m already). And a special mention should go to Fabrice Soulier for being this year’s nearly man – while recording a staggering six cashes, he’s only taken home $65k. With a bit of luck it could have been so very different for the Frenchman.

Two PKR players feature in the higher reaches of the POY list, with Team PKR Pro player James ‘James666’ Sudworth ranking 182nd (2 cashes for $59k) and Jack ‘DoctorFun’ Powell lying in 202nd after his impressive showing (4 cashes, $77k).

And before we sign off, there’s just one question that remains – has anyone seen Phil Hellmuth? Is he even in Vegas?

Don’t forget, you can watch the race for the Player of the Year title come to it’s dramatic conclusion live and exclusively at http://wsop.pkr.com.