First GPI Awarded Hattrick Champion?
On March 3, the 4th GPI World Poker Awards will be broadcast live on PokerGO from its studio at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Last week, 29 categories were revealed, and the winners of four of them are already known.
Song won GPI Player of the Year and Midfielder of the Year
Stevie Chidwick won the PokerGo Tour Player of the Year award. Stephen Song won GPI Player of the Year and Midfielder of the Year, while Cherish Andrews won Women’s Player of the Year. Song can complete his first GPI Global Poker Prize hat-trick if he wins either Best Final Table Performance or Player’s Choice for Strongest Opponent.
Many other poker players, content creators, and industry figures are hoping to take home one of the other 25 trophies and few can take two. Jamie Kerstetter has been nominated in both the Broadcaster and Twitter Personality categories. Marley Cordero, former host of the podcast “The Rake,” is also among the Twitter personalities as well as the best video content. Alejandro ‘Papo MC’ Lococo was shortlisted for Breakout Player and Best Hand. Daniel Negreanu is nominated for Best Final Table Performance and Best Hand. Caitlyn Comeskey is a rising star and best video content creator. Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau is a combination of poker personality and breakout player, while Main Event World Series of Poker champion Espen Jørstad is nominated in both the Breakout Player and Best Final Table Performance categories.
Danise in my dreams
The awards are a passion project of GPI President and perennial punching bag Eric Danes, who works tirelessly and thankfully behind the scenes each year to make sure the accomplishments on and off the field are commemorated. Talking to me in the dream I had last night, Dannis said he really likes it when a deserving candidate is snubbed because as a Canadian, his favorite thing in life is to apologize.
Talking to VegasSlotsOnline news In real life, Dannis said he’s excited about this year’s party. He also said that he has not yet been released from disclosing the host of the awards otherwise It will be announced next week. So watch this space!
I will dive deeper into each category
This year’s GPI Global Poker Award nominations can be neatly broken down into categories that recognize players, content creators and industry figures, all of whom play a vital role in the health and success of the game. With three articles, I’ll dive into each category, starting with honoring player achievements.
GPI hack trigger
- Aspen Yorstad
- Angela Jordison
- Bonsari Bonsai
- Ethan “Rampage” Yaw
- Alejandro Papo MC Lococo
It was disappointing not to see Florida WPT Champion Andrew Willie Effect make the list, but there are a lot of people who deserve to receive this award.
One of those nominees is YouTuber, vlogger, and entertainer Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau who raised $1.3 million in 2022, winning a WSOP Circuit Ring in March, a Poker Masters event in September, and a $25,200 WPT Wynn High-Roller in December.
Bonat Bonsri raised $4.1 million in 2022 after spending only about $350,000 previously. He won the WPT Prime Taipei Championship and placed second in the WSOP Hall of Fame event, but the biggest event was his victory in the Triton $100,000 Main Event in North Cyprus where he took home $2.6 million.
Poker player and rapper Alejandro ‘Papo MC’ Lococo burst onto the scene with a 7th-place finish in the WSOP Main Event in November 2021 and continued his good run into 2022 with a win in the Eureka Prague 1100€ Main Event, a $2200 side event € at the same EPT Festival, a €1,100 side event at EPT Barcelona, and another deep run in the WSOP Main Event where he finished 39th.
I would raise question marks about Jørstad’s eligibility as a ‘broken player’
Former Unibet Poker Ambassador and Overbet Express vlogger Espen Jørstad takes a huge cut for $10m, which is an outstanding performance on anyone’s resume, however, I would raise question marks over Jørstad’s eligibility as a ‘super player’ given his ten or more years . The career that preceded that outcome. I contacted my former colleague, Jorstad, and asked him the following question:
VSO news: “A few years ago you were voted Poker’s Rising Star, this year you were nominated for Breakthrough Player… Are you looking to win a comeback player in a couple of years?”
yorstad: “New phone, Des.”
Last but not least, and in fact my tip for winning is Renaissance Woman Angela Jordison, who has been a mixed cash grinder for the “Get It Soft” game and, within a year, is now a “Get It Loud” No Limit Hold ‘Em tournament breaker. Jordison cruelly won GPI Midfielder of the Year and GPI Women’s Player of the Year awards by Song and Andrews.
VSO News He made the next exchange with Jordison.
VSO news: “When you celebrated your fiftieth birthday…if you remember that far away…did you feel like you were about to collapse?”
Jordison: “First, I hate you. Second, this class is mine! Those other b***s are going down!”
Jordison should win but the poker runner-up will probably finish second again.
Best final table performance
- Daniel “Jungleman” Cates (USA), WSOP 50K Poker Players Championship
- Espen Uhlen Jørstad (Norway), WSOP Main Event
- Daniel Negreanu (Canada), Super High Roller Bowl VII
- Stephen Song (USA), WPT Prime Championship
Last year, all of the nominees in this category of events came from the WSOP. This time, there are two offers from elsewhere. Daniel Negreanu’s Super High-Roller Bowl win and Stephen Song’s WPT Prime win collide with the inevitable nominations for the winners of the WSOP $50,000 Players Championship (Kates) and the WSOP Main Event (Yorstad).
To take anything away from other shows (especially back-to-back Cates shows) but I think this one is for Scandinavia. Jørstad’s marathon effort at the main event final table, capped off by an elegant display, is the stuff of Norse Legend.
The player chooses the strongest opponent
- Brian Altman (USA)
- Stephen Shedwick (England)
- Alex Foxen (USA)
- Stephen Song (USA)
Voted by the GPI Top 100, these four poker giants really do represent the best of the crop.
Altman made his best ever earnings of $1.4 million, including wins at the WSOP Circuit Florida, the WPT Seminole and at the WSOP Online. Song had a stellar year, making $2.3 million, including 44 chests, 17 final tables, a second-place finish in the WSOP $5,000 maximum, and victories at the Wynn Fall Classic and WPT Wynn Prime who blanked 5,430 a runner. .
Foxen will soon run this class but eventually the gong will go to Chidwick
With $27.5 million in live career winnings and millions more online, Foxen is undoubtedly one of the biggest competitors in the game. In 2022, he cashed 41 times for more than $7 million, including five wins, the largest of which was at the $250,000 WSOP when he earned $4.6 million. In my opinion Foxen will come close in this category but eventually the gong will go to Chidwick.
Fourth on the all-time money list, Chidwick is, quite simply, a phenomenon. The Englishman smashed online for a decade before focusing more on the live circuit and has so far amassed $44.7 million in live winnings. In 2022, he had his third biggest year, with $7 million in straight wins with 40 cashing in, 18 podium seats, and a staggering eight victories.
Fans’ Choice: Best Hand
- Daniel Negreanu hits the sprinter’s quads on his way to an SHRB win
- David Diaz puts on an absolute beast on Day 7 of the WSOP Main Event
- PapoMC pulls a monster trick at the WSOP Main Event
- Wild J4 hand for 89 between Robbie Jed Law and Garrett Adelstein
Outside Enforcement, Sick Barn, Treacherous Hoax and The Hand That Launched a Thousand Podcast Episodes, this is a difficult category to judge because every hand was so different.
Either would be worthy winners in a different year
First, I’m going to rule out that Negreanu’s good luck is all that it was, and any seasoned poker player has seen it before, admittedly not because of these bets. Diaz and Lococo have played so over the edge in their positions that I feel either of them would be worthy winners in a different year.
And yet, in the end, how can anything trump the insanity, society’s polarization, and misreading/hero calling/shake-gizmo/L.A. Times article with mud/endless investigation generates hand of the century between Robbie Jade Law and Garrett Adelstein . The best thing that can happen to poker is that hand wins the prize and we all agree never to talk about it again.
player return
- Phil Ivey (USA)
- Alex Keating (USA)
- Taylor von Kriegenberg (USA)
- Daniel Weinman (USA)
This is a completely new category, and to be honest I’m not sure if it belongs or how to determine how a player becomes eligible for it. I mean, weren’t we all a “back to live poker” type for our first full year in 2022 after the Covid Lockdowns?
There is also a risk that it only rubs a bit for the players.
Anyway, Weinman had a strong year, cashing in $680,000. So did Von Kregenberg who hit the $1 million mark in the live cash funds for the first time since winning WPT in 2011. Keating took home $690,000, but again, this seems like nothing out of the ordinary and far from a “comeback story.”
The award will go to Phil Ivey, who will not be present to receive it
Through the process of revocation thereafter, and perhaps the only reason this category exists, the award will go to Phil Ivey who will not show up to receive it, thus nullifying the award’s raison d’être. Ivey made about $6 million in 2022 – an impressive return to form when you consider he only managed to earn a paltry $1.7 million in 2020 during a global pandemic.
In Part Two next week, I’ll take a look at the creator nominations.
