Chad Eveslage Wins 2022 World Poker Tour Player of the Year Award
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Chad Eveslage backed up his successful 2021 campaign on the live tournament circuit with an even better performance in 2022. In addition to winning his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet as champion of this summer’s $25,000 no-limit hold’em eight max event, Eveslage had another extraordinary season at the Poker World Tour. The 31-year-old poker pro from Indiana secured four cashes, with two final table finishes and one title win. He grossed $1,450,825 in those four scores, securing 2022 WPT Player of the Year honors in the process.
Eveslage’s big win came in October at the Bellagio. He bested a field of 569 entries in the $10.4000 buy-in WPT Five Diamond World Classic Poker main event of no-limit hold’em to secure his second WPT title and the grand prize of $1,042,300. This was the second-biggest payday of Eveslage’s career, trailing only her $1.4 million along with her bracelet.
Eveslage’s heads-up opponent in that tournament, Steve ‘Cuz’ Buckner, made Eveslage sweat POY extension honors along the final stretch. In the last WPT main tour event of the season, the record WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, Eveslage was eliminated before the bubble burst. At that point, he was just 175 points clear of Buckner, who has cashed in five main tour events this year and made two final tables. Buckner cashed but ultimately finished in 319th place for $18,450 and 125 points, leaving him 50 points away from hitting Eveslage as well. Buckner, who also finished as runner-up in WPT Choctaws main event, grossing $1,056,950 this season.
Eveslage’s other final table this season came at the penultimate event, the WPT Seminole Rock’N’Roll Poker Open. He finished third out of a field of 1,541 entries in that tournament to earn $390,000 and 850 WPT POY extension points.
His other two honors this season were a 79th-place finish in 2022 WPT Venetian main event, the tournament he won in 2021, and a 239th place in the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker open.
Eveslage now has nearly $7.4 million in career tournament earnings, with over $2.6 million coming from WPT headline tour receipts.
Here is a look at the final top ten of the WPT POY extension classification:
| Classification | Player | WPT POY extension Points | WPT POY extension Points | WPT Cash out | WPT Final tables | WPT Titles |
| 1 | Chad Eveslage | 2,325.00 | $1,450,825 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Steve Buckner | 2,275.00 | $1,056,950 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | Josh Kay | 1,825.00 | $824,080 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Ray Quartomia | 1,775.00 | $621,300 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | Stephen Song | 1,625.00 | $747,750 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Eliot Hudson | 1,600.00 | $4,136,000 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Naj Ajez | 1,425.00 | $316,169 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | Mark Davis | 1,400.00 | $1,000,300 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Alexander Yen | 1,400.00 | $975,240 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | Mike Vanieri | 1,400.00 | $661,800 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
Eveslage became the twentieth player to secure the WPT‘S POY extension honours, as there has never been a repeat winner. Below is a look at POY extension winners of the last two decades:
| WPT Season | POY extension Winner |
| 1 | Howard Lederer |
| 2 | Eric Lindgren |
| 3 | Daniele Negreanu |
| 4 | Gavin Smith |
| 5 | JC Tran |
| 6 | Jonathan Small |
| 7 | Bertrand Grospellier |
| 8 | Faraz Jaka |
| 9 | Andy Frankenberger |
| 10 | Joe Serock |
| 11 | Matthew Salsberg |
| 12 | Mukul Pahuja |
| 13 | Antonio Zinno |
| 14 | Mike Shariati |
| 15 | Benjamin Zamani |
| 16 | Art Papazyan |
| 17 | Erkut Yilmaz |
| 18 | Brian Altmann |
| 19 | Jake Ferro |
| 20 | Chad Eveslage |
Photo credit: Joe Giron / World Poker Tour.
