A clerical error has been revealed which actually means Robert Campbell wins the WSOP Player of the Year, not Daniel Negreanu.

Robert Campbell

The World Series of Poker Player of the Year award has come under much scrutiny this year but now it is under the microscope for a different reason.

After some Postlegate-esque investigation by one poker journalist it has been revealed that incorrect points were awarded in one of the events, meaning Daniel Negreanu did not win the award for a historic third time, he actually came 3rd. Double bracelet winner Robert Campbell of Australia is actually the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year.

Russian poker journalist Alex Elenskiy discovered that the wrong points were awarded in Event #68: $1,000 Online Championship:

@shaundeeb @RealKidPoker @Kevmath @WSOP @SonicJaxx2019 you should check #68, according to official report DN got 213.1 points, but he didn't cash there. All places from 32 to 46 in #68 are messed up with #87. https://t.co/LUO6oWfNz8



results from #68 - https://t.co/EBmUd5cmoS — Alex Elenskiy (@GT_iskander) November 8, 2019

As such the actual final standings saw Campbell bag 3,961.31 points to Negreanu's 3,861.78.

The player perhaps with the most to be upset about, because it impacted something directly within a degree of control for him, is 2nd place finisher and defending champion Shaun Deeb. Had this error been spotted earlier he would have known he only needed 9th place in the €550 Colossus, not 5th as he was led to believe. He came 11th in that event and could conceivably have folded his way to the accolade.

A statement from the WSOP, first given to PocketFives, confirmed the error:

We have confirmed an error was made in our results for WSOP Event #68, affecting places 32-46. As a result, Daniel Negreanu was given 213.1 points erroneously in this event. We deeply regret this error and its impact. Recalculating our Player of the Year results has an impact to the standings. Robert Campbell finishes in 1st place in the now final results, with Negreanu dropping to third place. Again, we apologize profusely for the error in our calculations and the impact it has had.

While he must have been very disappointed, Negreanu was the first player to congratulation Campbell on social media:

Congrats mate! Some good news coming your way. Well deserved champ. 👏👏👏 https://t.co/BkcrXECuXo — Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) November 8, 2019

With most in the poker industry suggesting the POY scoring system needs changing, this is only going to further criticism of the current method, which was weighted towards volume.

How should the scoring be changed? Let us know in the comments: