Gpi Poker Awards 2019
The Global Poker Index is the host of the European Poker Awards. The GPI EPA takes place every year in January and rewards the best European Poker Players and newcomers, as well as the people involved in the industry. Starting in 2015, the American Poker Awards took placee in Los Angeles, USA, and rewarded the best live poker players in America. The Global Poker Index (GPI) Global Poker Awards semi-finalists were released earlier this week and Doug Polk's name was absent from the Vlogger of the Year and Media Content of the Year: Video. Phil Hui won the award for “Final Table Performance” with his epic victory in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship at the 2019 WSOP. You can relive that entire final table on PokerGO right here.
The year 2019 is near the end, and the Global Poker Index is about to determine who wins the 2019 Player of the Year race. With only a couple of days left in this year, it’s highly unlikely that places would change.
In other words, the way the leaderboard looks right now is the way it’s probably going to look at the moment GPI declares the winner. Therefore, let’s take a look at the current leaders of the POY race — the top 10 players.
10. Ali Imsirovic
Tenth place is currently occupied by the Bosnian player Almedin “Ali” Imsirovic, who had one of the greatest years so far. The player from the Balkan country won a total of $8.12 million in all-time money and is currently ranked No. 11 on the overall GPI rank.
9. Timothy Adams
Timothy Adams, who goes by the online nick “tim0thee,” is currently ninth on the POY race. The Canadian managed to earn a total of $18.47 million during his life while playing poker and is currently located on No. 14 on GPI rank. Moreover, Adams is No. 2 on the Canadian list of the best players.
8. Manig Loeser
The German professional poker player Manig Loeser is currently considered the best player in his country, although he is not the highest-ranking German in the PoY race. He currently occupies the eighth position on the 2019 PoY leaderboard and is ranked No. 6 overall by GPI.
7. Sam Greenwood
Another player from Canada, Sam Greenwood, is currently sitting seventh in the race. He is ranked No. 3 in his country right now, although his poker earnings are higher compared to Adams, as he managed to win $20.9 million by playing poker.
6. Rainer Kempe
Rainer Kempe is actually the highest-ranking German in the PoY race, currently sitting in sixth place. He is ranked No. 2 in the overall GPI rank at the moment and managed to earn a total of $19.1 million, with $5 million being his best live cash ever.
5. Stephen Chidwick
Stephen Chidwick is definitely a name we’ve been hearing a lot this year, as the player from the UK has made some outstanding results. With a total of $32 million in his pocket, he is currently ranked No. 1 in the UK both in 2019 and in the overall GPI ranking.
4. Kahle Burns
Kahle Burns is currently ranked No. 2 in the GPI rank for Australia, but he is the only Australian player in the top 10 of the 2019 PoY. Burns had an outstanding year, and it seems that his time is yet to come. He has won a total of $7.8 million so far, with the best live cash being $1.3 million.
3. Bryn Kenney
Bryn Kenney is currently one of the best players in the world, but he is only in third place in the 2019 PoY race. Moreover, he is the third-placed American, as the first two also happen to be from the US. Kenney has managed to win a total of $54.5 million during his career, with his biggest cash being $20 million.
2. Sean Winter
Winter was supposed to win the 2019 PoY race until recently when Alex Foxen earned a big win and overtook him on the leaderboard. Winter is ranked No. 3 in the overall GPI rank and has managed to win a total of $15 million during his career.
1. Alex Foxen
Players from the US definitely dominated this year, as Foxen is also an American. If he wins the 2019 PoY award, he will become the only player in history to earn back-to-back wins as he was also the 2018 player of the year.
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Global Poker Index has made all the necessary calculations in its formula and finally confirmed that Alex Foxen is officially the 2019 GPI Player of the Year. What makes this win special is that Foxen has become the first player in history to win this prestigious award in back-to-back seasons, meaning the last two years were dominated by this talented American poker player.
In other words, Foxen made history and will definitely enter many poker books as the first one to do it. But let’s not jump the boat here — maybe he manages to repeat the same success for the third time? Time will tell.
Places 1 Through 5
At the moment of winning the title, Foxen had a total of 3806.09 points and was followed by Sean Winter with 3679.19. Third place belongs to Bryn Kenney, who also had a great year behind him and won a total of 3647.81 points.
Kahle Burns ended fourth with 3641.63 and Stephen Chidwick fifth with 3637.94. As you can see, Foxen had many more points compared to the other four players, who are very close to each other. However, at the start of December 2019, the leaderboard looked nothing like this.
In fact, starting December, it was Burns who had the best score, overtaking Winter along the way. Nevertheless, Winter managed to get back his position, only to see Foxen doing his best and having a great run in December.
All of that resulted in Foxen winning the title, creating back-to-back POY victories.
Gpi Poker Awards 2019 Nominees
The GPI doesn’t end its list with the top five players. In fact, the list is quite comprehensive and lengthy. Nevertheless, let’s take a look at places 6-10 on the leaderboard.
Places 6 Through 10
Sixth place was occupied by Rainer Kempe, who had a total of 3499.77 points, while Sam Greenwood followed him in seventh place with 3487.10 points. German professional poker player Manig Loeser ended eighth with 3434.91, while Timothy Adams had to settle for ninth place with 3377.88.
However, one of the most interesting things about this leaderboard is the difference between the ninth and 10th positions. Namely, Ali Imsirovic, the poker pro from Bosnia, was 0.30 points away from being ninth, as he had a total of 3377.59. Nevertheless, he made it to the top 10.
Foxen’s Achievement In 2019
Foxen managed to earn a total of $6.3 million in 2019 alone, with his biggest cash prize being $1.7 in a 429-entry WPT Five Diamond. He recorded a total of 40 cashes and made it to final tables 22 times.
Although he earned less money compared to 2018 when he managed to earn $6.6 million, the year of 2019 was overall better, as he only recorded 24 cashes in 2018.
It was very exciting to watch Foxen disrupting the leaderboard. Apart from him and three other players, the POY top 20 list was quite different in 2018, meaning only four players managed to remain on the list. Those were Chidwick, 2017 POY winner Adrian Mateos, and Kempe.
Other Winners
The 2019 GPI Female Player of the Year was awarded to Kristen Bicknell, a popular Canadian poker professional. Moreover, Foxen also received an award for the 2019 GPI Player of the Year Americas.
Gpi Poker Awards 2019 Winners
The best European player of 2019 was Chidwick, and the best Asian poker pro was Danny Tang.
Gpi Poker Awards 2019 Performances
Finally, the 2019 GPI Player of the Year LatAm was awarded to Farid Jattin from Colombia.