Race to the end
Angela Jordison was a revelation last year. The Oregonian ended 2021 with a boom and entered 2022 with a fire in its stomach. On the cusp of a famous double, in November she was at the top of the Global Poker Index (GPI) rankings for both the middle and leading female player of the year. Although she achieved some big results in December, her kicking was no match for those of the exceptional Cherish Andrews and Stephen Song.
$470,000 in prize money and nearly 1,000 GPI points to snatch victory from Jordison
An impressive trio of side event results for Andrews at the WPT World Poker Championship at Wynn Las Vegas propelled her to the top of the standings. In just five days, she finished sixth in the $3,000 event, second in the $10,000 High Roller Race, and first in the last $1,100 event for $470,000 in prize money and nearly 1,000 GPI points to snatch victory from Jordison. Unsurprisingly, she was also named WPT Player of the Festival.
Song had an equally stellar December and needed him to hit not one but two GPI leaderboards. In the WPT Prime tournament, he outlasted 5429 other players, defeating the impressive Lara Eisenberg to win $712,650, the lion’s share of a whopping $5,267,100 prize pool. The 422 GPI points that Song collected from that score was enough to put him just above Jordison at the top of the Mid-Major leaderboard and Adam Hendrix at the top of the overall Player of the Year standings.
All incendiary guns
An Omaha cash grinder, Jordison originally learned poker from her father, flying under the radar for most of her poker career. That would change in 2015, however, when she made headlines at the Spring Poker Round Up in Oregon when she completed an unexpected three-peat, winning the first three events of the festival.
Cut to late 2021, Jordison took the Venetian Deepstack, and followed it up with a fifth-place finish at MSPT Minnesota for $48,444 at the time. Those results whetted her appetite for trophies, and she went into 2022 all guns blazing.
And suddenly I got her into the mix in my GPI rankings for Master Intermediate and Player of the Year
It was a somewhat slow start to the year with a bunch of small cash, but Las Vegas’ big June-July campaign culminated in six WSOP prize money and three other prizes, including a third-place finish in event #18, the $1,000 no. Limit Hold’em, and Day 5 ran a deep 175th in the Main Event. Jordison immediately followed that up with a fifth-place finish at MSPT Iowa, a result that suddenly put her in the mix in the GPI Mid-Major and Female Player of the Year rankings.
Three more final tables in August came with a third-place finish at the WSOP Circuit (WSOPC) Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event, a sixth-place finish at the WSOPC Harrah’s Cherokee High Roller, then a side event at WPT Legends of Poker in Los Angeles. Five more awards came in September and October, but then she had another big result in November at WSOPC Choctaw Durant, where she finished fourth in the main event for a new job-best $96,595.
December is long
The heater was real and Jordison found herself on the defensive in December, enjoying the lead on both leaderboards, but fending off challenges from a chasing group all playing a busy December schedule. In the end, Andrews and Song’s last-ditch heroics proved unsustainable and they overtook them on every leaderboard during the WPT World Championships.
Andrews was out of reach now, but Jordison had one shot at clinching the Premier League title after Christmas. 643 players have taken their seats in the MSPT Venetian and only the second-place finisher will have enough points to overtake Song.
Unusually, with her back to the wall, Jordison climbed to the end table. With seven to go, the Pocket Kings held it tight against Richard the Coming, and for a moment it looked like it might be a fairytale. Sadly, it wasn’t because it crashed in fifth place for $31,355 and 204 GPI points, 41 short of what was needed to overtake Song.
The winner doesn’t take all
speaks exclusively to VegasSlotsOnline newsJordison thought about the year it was:
“I started 2022 as a cash game player. I finished the game flying from point to point, grinding tournaments, and fighting for player of the year. I pushed myself more than I ever thought possible. I hit some goals but beat others.
I didn’t think I’d have the chance to compete at this level, but I surprised myself.”
Jordison added, “I felt more confident with each deep run.” “There were times when I laughed and cried. My family supported me 100% and my friends crowded into my corner, pushing me every step of the way. I never thought I’d have the chance to compete at this level, but I’ve surprised myself and can’t wait until 2023!”
Unlike other endeavors, in poker, the winner doesn’t take all. There’s a lot of prize money to get behind and while Jordison may feel like she fell short of some targets, she still has a year that no one can take away from her. She has racked up 29 live circuit finishes for nearly $600,000, doubling her lifetime tournament earnings.
When it comes to the leaderboard, usually only the winner is remembered. Andrews and Song did something very special to win the Female Lead and Intermediate Major titles, respectively. So remarkable was Song’s achievement, in fact, that it earned him the prestigious award, the GPI Player of the Year, usually reserved for the highest-ranking players.
appropriate recognition
According to GPI, Andrews and Song will be invited to accept their awards at the World Poker Awards ceremony at PokerGO Studio at ARIA in Las Vegas – streamed exclusively on PokerGO. There will be a lot of buzz for these two guys in the coming weeks, and rightfully so. They are two of the brightest rising stars in the game.
However, I would suggest that when it comes to the 2022 GPI Breakout Player award, it’s double bridesmaid Jordison who should find herself in the winner’s circle. Occasionally, great Poker ambassadors appear, and she is one of them. Her intelligence, tenacity, warmth, and infectious enthusiasm for the game amazes everyone she meets. They represent the best in us, and this tribute would be a fitting acknowledgment of a more meaningful and engaging year in real life.
It is also appropriate to give the final word to Jordison:
“2022 has been a whirlwind year. I learned so much about myself and the game last year. I am so grateful for the experiences. I love poker and the poker community and I am proud to be a part of it. I think I made my dad proud.”
