Poker Luminaries Honored at Inaugural Global Poker Awards
The first-ever Global Poker Awards were handed out Friday night at the PokerGO studios in Las Vegas. Presented by the Global Poker Index and sponsored by PokerStars, the Global Poker Awards replaced the combination of the American Poker Awards and European Poker Awards, honoring the elite in the poker world of 2018.
Last month, the finalists in 20 categories were determined by a special nomination panel; those finalists were announced in mid-March. A separate jury, composed of “industry representatives,” then selected the ultimate winners.
To be more accurate, 13 of the 20 categories had finalists, who were then whittled to a winner. The other categories either had a single winner chosen by the jury, were determined by the Global Poker Index rankings (Player of the Year and Female Player of the Year), or, in the case of the People’s Choice Award, determined through online nominations.
The Global Poker Awards weren’t without controversy. After the finalists were announced, there was some outrage in the poker community regarding the Vlogger of the Year and Streamer of the Year categories. Some nominees, people felt, weren’t deserving, while others were snubbed. Now, with awards, there will always be snubs, but one nominee, in particular, was odd. Jason Somerville, who has been one of the most prolific poker streamers over the years, was nominated for that category despite not streaming at all in 2018. It seemed pretty obvious that the panel just knew his name and wrote it down.
The Global Poker Index responded to the complaints by saying, in part, “… the GPI will be making concerted efforts in 2019 and beyond to improve the voting process by consulting with key industry figures and making changes for the betterment of the awards as a whole.”
2019 Global Poker Awards Finalists
TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCE
• Justin Bonomo (Super High Roller Bowl IV)
• John Cynn (WSOP Main Event) – WINNER
• Maria Lampropulos (PCA Main Event)
• Dylan Linde (WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic)
BREAKOUT PLAYER
• Almedin “Ali” Imsirovic – WINNER
• Maria Konnikova
• Ping Liu
• Christopher Michael Soyza
STREAMER OF THE YEAR
• Jeff Gross
• Jason Somerville
• Jaime Staples
• Lex Veldhuis – WINNER
VLOGGER OF THE YEAR
• Marle Cordeiro
• Joe Ingram
• Andrew Neeme – WINNER
• Daniel Negreanu
• Doug Polk
PODCAST
• LFG Podcast (Chad Holloway, Jamie Kerstetter)
• PokerCentral Podcast (Brent Hanks, Remko Rinkema)
• PokerNews Podcast (Sarah Herring, Jeff Platt)
• The Chip Race Poker Podcast (David Lappin, Dara O’Kearney) – WINNER
• The Fives a PocketFives.com Podcast (Lance Bradley, Donnie Peters)
BROADCASTER
• Maria Ho – WINNER
• Lon McEachern
• Nick Schulman
• Lex Veldhuis
POKER JOURNALIST
• Drew Amato
• Sarah Herring – WINNER
• Remko Rinkema
• Christian Zetzsche
MEDIA CONTENT
• Drew Amato (photo: Brunson bids farewell to WSOP)
• Lance Bradley (book: The Pursuit of Poker Success, published by D&B Publishing) – WINNER
• Haley Hintze (article: Vayo v. PokerStars)
• PokerCentral/GO (Super High Roller Club: Nick Schulman featuring Ali Nejad)
INDUSTRY PERSON
• Angelica Hael (World Poker Tour) – WINNER
• Cary Katz (Poker Central)
• Matt Savage (WPT, TDA, more)
• Ty Stewart (World Series of Poker)
• Rob Yong (Dusk Till Dawn, partypoker)
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR
• Tony Burns (Seminole Hard Rock)
• Paul Campbell (ARIA) – WINNER
• Jack Effel (WSOP)
• Kenny Hallaert (Unibet Open)
MID-MAJOR TOUR/CIRCUIT
• 888poker Live
• RUNGOOD Poker Series – WINNER
• Unibet Open
• WPTDeepStacks
• WSOP Circuit
EVENT OF THE YEAR
• partypoker Caribbean Poker Party Main Event
• Super High Roller Bowl IV
• WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic
• WSOP Main Event – WINNER
MOMENT OF THE YEAR
• Jeremy Hilsercop receives PSPC Platinum Pass (with help from Joe Ingram, Arlie Shaban, PokerStars and the poker community) as video of wife gifting him trip to WSOP on Christmas day goes viral
• Joe Cada wins WSOP The Closer; registering for the event moments after remarkable 5th place finish in WSOP Main Event
• Doyle Brunson plays his final WSOP event
• Justin Bonomo wins Big One for One Drop, completing Super High Roller Streak (SHRBChina, SHRBIV, One Drop) – WINNER
OTHER TROPHIES
• 2018 GPI Poker Player of the Year – Alex Foxen
• 2018 GPI Female Player of the Year – Kristen Bicknell
• Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poker – Doyle Brunson
• Charitable Initiative – Robbie Strazynski
• Jury Prize – photographer Drew Amato
• PocketFives Legacy Award – Chris Moorman
• People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year – Brad Owen
COMMENTS