WOW.
So okay... there's more tweets than that, but you get the idea.
Daniel definitely has a point. The current system is crap, and indeed it undervalues final tables and bracelets, while overvaluing small cashes in large fields.
The system is just a lame and oversimplified mathematical formula.
Here are the current standings: http://www.wsop.com/2017/poy/
As of now, Ryan Hughes leads, who does not have any finishes above 5th place. So his stats are:
Cashes: 15
Bracelets: 0
Best finish: 5th place
Number of final tables: 4
Number of finishes in top 27: 7
Number of finishes in top 50: 8
Number of cashes worse than top 50: 7
So Negreanu has a point. A guy who never finished better than 5th, and who is leading mostly based upon cashing 15 times (more than half being worse than 50th place), is not deserving of Player of the Year.
But is Negreanu "making history" and deserving of the honor for 2017?
No.
He hasn't yet won a bracelet in 2017. Not a single Player of the Year has ever been crowned without winning a bracelet.
Negreanu is also critical of Racener, who is 2nd in Player of the Year. While Racener did win a bracelet this year, most of his 16 cashes are near the minimum. He has zero other final tables, and in fact never came closer than 13th in any other event.
And what of Negreanu? Zero bracelets, 4 final tables (including 2nd and 3rd place), and 10 total cashes. He has refused to play the big-field NL Holdem events. But how is that "making history"? That's a good WSOP, but not a great or historic one.
The system sucks, but Negreanu shouldn't be the one complaining.
I should also point out that these tweets started about 35 minutes after Daniel busted from the $50k in 5th place.
He came into the final day as the chip leader with 5 left, and was gone within a little more than 2.5 hours.
Reportedly he was very frustrated about this, and some even opined that he didn't play well that day (I didn't see, so I can't comment).
So these tweets were probably sent out of tilt. Still interesting to see where his mind is, regarding the POY situation.
The system needs to penalize people for entering a tournament and not cashing.
Rather simple fix when it comes to Caesars and the WSOP. Pay enough $$ to sponsor the award and create your own criteria. I'm pretty certain that the first I had heard of Negreanu in the 2000's was when he won the Toyota WSOP Player of the Year Award. DN/Pokerstars should pay for the rights to the award and then he can do whatever the hell he wants with the criteria. For example, most cashes in events played by DN.
Otherwise, he should stop whining.
Daniel is a fucking cry baby, nothing new here . . .
Someone should tweet that poy is as good as rake is good for the game what a babby.