As of October 23, 2026, Nick Schulman leads Card Player's 2026 Player of the Year race with 7,956 points. In the separate WSOP Player of the Year race, defending champion Shaun Deeb was first in WSOP.com's October 8 update. The WSOP race ends at WSOP Paradise, December 3 to 17, 2026.
Two Player of the Year races are heading into their final stretch, and several leaders are better known online by screen names than by their real names. Here's where things stand and who's who.
Card Player POY: Schulman on top
Card Player's 2026 Overall POY leaderboard, checked October 23, has Nick Schulman first with 7,956 points, three titles and 14 final tables for $6,394,764. Schulman, a Poker Hall of Famer since July 2025 and a familiar voice on PokerGO broadcasts, started out as a teenage pool player at New York's Amsterdam Billiards (Wikipedia).
Others near the top include Alex Foxen (4th, 7,349 points) and Eelis Pärssinen (5th, 7,000 points). Kristen Foxen sits 16th with 5,017 points and two titles.
WSOP POY: Deeb defending
The World Series of Poker runs its own Player of the Year race. In its October 8 update, WSOP.com had Shaun Deeb, the 2025 winner, in first place. Alex Foxen was third and Pärssinen eighth. The race ends at WSOP Paradise, December 3 to 17, 2026, so the order can still change.
Real names and screen names of the contenders
- Shaun Deeb. Before the 2011 shutdown of US online poker known as Black Friday, he played online as "tedsfishfry" and "shaundeeb" (Wikipedia). In 2011 he also paid the Main Event buy-in for his 91-year-old grandmother, the oldest entrant that year.
- Eelis Pärssinen. His full name is Eelis Jaakko Eino Pärssinen, and a generation of pot-limit Omaha players knew him only as "EEE27" (PokerNews). In June 2026 he won the WSOP $25,000 PLO High Roller for $2,161,056. Six days later he beat fellow Finn Juha Helppi heads-up for his third bracelet, the first all-Finnish heads-up for a bracelet and the first time a Finn has won three (PokerNews).
- Kristen Foxen. Born Kristen Bicknell, she now plays under her married name. Online she was "krissyb24," reaching PokerStars Supernova Elite three years running. Her sixth bracelet, the most by any woman in WSOP history, came in the 2026 $25,000 High Roller for $1,773,083 (Wikipedia).
- Alex Foxen. The former Boston College tight end plays online as "bigfox86." He married Kristen in April 2022, four years after beating her heads-up for the MSPT Venetian title.
- Nick Schulman. No alias on record. He has seven bracelets, three of them in the same event, the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Championship (2009, 2012 and 2025).
Why two races?
Card Player's POY counts results across many tours and festivals, while the WSOP race counts only WSOP events. A player can lead one and not the other, which is exactly what is happening in 2026: Schulman leads Card Player's list, and Deeb, 41st there, led the WSOP list in October.
What to watch
WSOP Paradise is the last big chance to move up the WSOP standings. Card Player's leaderboard will keep updating through the end of the year. We'll post a final recap when both races are decided. Until then, see the full bios linked below for career stats, nicknames and sources, plus our explainer on how poker players got their nicknames.
FAQ
Who leads the 2026 Card Player Player of the Year race? Nick Schulman, with 7,956 points as of October 23, 2026.
Who leads the 2026 WSOP Player of the Year race? Shaun Deeb, the 2025 winner, was first in WSOP.com's October 8, 2026 update. The race ends at WSOP Paradise, December 3 to 17, 2026.
What was Eelis Pärssinen's online name? EEE27.
What is Kristen Foxen's maiden name? Bicknell. She played online as krissyb24.