Trophies Galore at 14th European Poker Awards
It was all handshaking and hugs on Wednesday as the 14th European Poker Awards were handed out at the Portomaso Marina Hilton Hotel in Malta. The nominees were determined by a panel of more than 50 poker media members, players, and industry insiders; from those nominees, the winners were chosen by a special jury vote.
Before we get to the entire list of winners, I am going to toot my own horn for a moment. When the European Poker Awards nominees were announced, I wrote the following about the Tournament Performance of the Year award:
For Tournament Performance, it is very hard to evaluate how one person’s run to a title is better than another’s aside from sheer dominance (say, Jamie Gold in the 2006 WSOP Main Event) or size of a tourney (like, I don’t know…the WSOP Main Event). In this case, I think I would have to go with Martin Jacobson’s victory in the 2014 WSOP Main Event. It is tough to say whether or not the bulk of his performance was any better than anyone else’s, but his performance at the final table was fantastic. Luck is certainly required to win any large tournament, but it was apparent during the final table that Jacobson deserved his title.
And sure enough, it was Martin Jacobson who won the award. Not that I went out on a limb too much on that one – it is hard to weight any run to a championship more than a player’s charge to the WSOP Main Event bracelet.
Of course, I am human. I am not perfect. So in an effort to be fair and balanced, I should also quote myself from when I predicted the Breakout Player of the Year and take my medicine:
Breakout Player of the Year should be fairly simple: George Danzer. Danzer won three World Series of Poker bracelets last year: $10,000 Razz and $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo in Las Vegas and $5,000 8-Game Mixed at WSOP Asia Pacific. He had two other final table appearances in WSOP events and ten cashes in total. He also had a win in a preliminary event at the European Poker Tour Grand Final, to boot.
I was REALLY confident on that one. I was also REALLY wrong. To my surprise, Jack Salter took home that trophy. He cashed sixteen times in live tournaments, winning three times and finishing second two times. It was one of those runner-up finishes that provided him with his biggest paycheck: €765,000 ($1,058,369) the European Poker Tour Grand Final. Salter certainly deserves all of his accolades.
Here are the nominees and winners (highlighted) of the European Poker Awards:
Martin Jacobson
Tournament Performance of the Year
Victoria Coren-Mitchell (UK), EPT Sanremo victory
Martin Jacobson (SWE), WSOP Main Event victory
Davidi Kitai (BEL), WSOP Event #15 victory
Dominik Panka (POL), 2014 PCA Main Event victory
Breakout Player of the Year
George Danzer (GER)
Dominik Panka (POL)
Oliver Price (UK)
Jack Salter (UK)
Event of the Year (Category Buy-In Over $2,000)
EPT Barcelona Main Event
EPT Prague Main Event
EPT Vienna Main Event
Master Classics of Poker Main Event
Event of the Year (Category Buy-In up to $2,000)
Battle of Malta
Estrellas Poker Tour Barcelona
Eureka Poker Tour Prague
WPT500 at Dusk Till Dawn
Industry Person of the Year
Hermance Blum (FRA), WPT Europe General Manager
Edgar Stuchly (AUT), EPT President
Rob Yong (UK), Dusk Till Dawn
Leon Tsoukernik (CZE), King’s Casino
Poker Media Content of the Year
EPT Live Commentary
Nosebleed, Victor Saumont
Neil Stoddart’s pictures
Remko Rimkema’s videos
Charitable Initiative of the Year
Helping Hands Charity Tournament
REG Charity
Right to Play, Quintessentially Foundation in partnership with PokerStars
WPT UK Charity Raffle
Poker Innovation or Initiative of the Year
Expresso, Winamax Poker
Shark Cage, PokerStars
Unibet launching its own gaming platform
WPT500 and expansion to new markets
Media Person of the Year presented by PokerUpdate
Giovanni Angioni (ITA)
Marc Convey (UK)
Lee Davy (UK)
Remko Rinkema (NED)
A number of awards were also given out for Players of the Year, determined by the Global Poker Index’s formula. Since it was simply math that was used, there was no need to vote on the winners:
2014 Top Player in the World Award – Ole Schemion
2014 GPI National Player of the Year Award, Poland – Dominik Panka
2014 GPI National Player of the Year Award, Ukraine – Eugene Katchalov
2014 GPI National Player of the Year Award, Ireland – Dermot Blain
2014 GPI National Player of the Year Award, France – Erwann Pecheux
2014 GPI National Player of the Year Award, Russia – Anatoly Filatov
2014 GPI National Player of the Year Award, Spain – Adrian Mateos
2014 GPI National Player of the Year Award, Italy – Mustapha Kanit
2014 GPI National Player of the Year Award, United Kingdom – Oliver Price
2014 GPI Female Player of the Year Award – Liv Boeree
In addition, Pierre Neuville was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
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