Global Poker Index Awards
2019 Global Poker Awards - Behind the Scenes - Teaser. Pages Businesses Sports & Recreation Sports League Global Poker Index Videos 2019 Global Poker Awards. Poker Innovation or Initiative of the Year: Poker Central launches 24/7 television network I don't think Poker Central will win this award, as it hasn't even really caught on in the poker community yet, much less a mainstream audience. April werden im PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas in Zusammenarbeit von Global Poker Index (GPI), Poker Central und PokerStars die Global Poker Awards 2018 vergeben. Nun sind die Nominierungen da, in 20 Kategorien werden die Preise verliehen. Die einzige deutsche Nominierung hat Christian Zetzsche in der Kategorie 'Poker Journalist' bekommen. The 2019 Global Poker Awards won’t be awarded until the first week of March, but the final four in each category will be announced on Friday. With little time to go before the culling from the.
The first Global Poker Awards ceremony was held at the PokerGO Studios in Las Vegas on the evening of April 5, 2019. Poker players and many in the industry attended to honor those who were nominated for their poker accomplishments, including play, events, reporting, and industry contributions in 2018.
The event was hosted by the Global Poker Index and Poker Central, and it was presented by PokerStars. Some attended in Las Vegas, while others watched online at PokerGO, which was opened for free viewing, or followed along with updates on social media.
Of the nearly two dozen awards, there were 13 with pre-announced nominations. Winners were chosen by a jury of poker industry representatives, though their identities have not been revealed.
Nominees and Winners
The winners in these categories are highlighted.
Tournament Performance:
–Justin Bonomo in Super High Roller Bowl IV
Global Poker Index Awards 2019
–John Cynn in WSOP Main Event
–Maria Lampropulos of PCA Main Event
–Dylan Linde at WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic
ICYMI: 🌐🏆 @john_cynn wins the 2018 Tournament Performance of the Year Award for his @WSOP Main Event Win – Watch the #GlobalPokerAwards for free on: https://t.co/7mE83fp7Rkpic.twitter.com/vziHieNPmD
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Breakout Player:
–Almedin Imsirovic
–Maria Konnikova
–Ping Liu
–Christopher Michael Soyza
ICYMI: 🌐🏆 Almedin “Ali” Imsirovic wins the award for Breakout Player of the Year – @aliImsirovic. Watch the #GlobalPokerAwards for free on: https://t.co/7mE83fGJfUpic.twitter.com/dVwCdKxSEc
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Streamer of the Year:
–Jeff Gross
–Jason Somerville
–Jaime Staples
–Lex Veldhuis
🎞 The King of @TwitchPoker and 2018 #GlobalPokerAwards Streamer of the Year is: Lex @RaSZi Veldhuis pic.twitter.com/mzFPB3c9MP
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Vlogger of the Year:
–Marle Cardeiro
–Joe Ingram
–Andrew Neeme
–Daniel Negreanu
–Doug Polk
ICYMI: 🌐🏆 Andrew Neeme wins the Vlogger of the Year Award @andrewneeme. pic.twitter.com/tlpGIueLGw
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Podcast:
–LFG Podcast with Chad Holloway and Jamie Kerstetter
–Poker Central Podcast with Brent Hanks and Remko Rinkema
–PokerNews Podcast with Sarah Herring and Jeff Platt
–Chip Race Poker Podcast with David Pappin and Dara O’Kearney
–Fives Poker Podcast with Lance Bradley and Donnie Peters
ICYMI: 🌐🏆Huge congrats to The Chip Race Poker Podcast on winning Podcast of the Year Award #GlobalPokerAwards@dklappin, @daraokearney, @thechiprace, @UnibetPokerpic.twitter.com/K8z9Ic5UO0
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Broadcaster:
–Maria Ho
–Lon McEachern
–Nick Schulman
–Lex Veldhuis
ICYMI 🌐🏆 And the winner for Broadcaster of the Year is: @MariaHo🎙#GlobalPokerAwardspic.twitter.com/M0C3xUFGt9
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Poker Journalist:
–Drew Amato
–Sarah Herring
–Remko Rinkema
–Christian Zetzsche
ICYMI: 🌐🏆 Sarah @AuntyChardonnay Herring wins the award for Poker Journalist of the Year. Congrats #GlobalPokerAwardspic.twitter.com/AYMXSEtuYq
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Media Content:
–Drew Amato for photo of Doyle Brunson at last WSOP
–Lance Bradley for book “The Pursuit of Poker Success”
–Haley Hintze for article entitled Vayo v. PokerStars
–Poker Central/PokerGO for Super High Roller Club broadcast
🌐🏆 Media Content of the Year: Lance Bradley: The Pursuit of Poker Success, published by D&B Publishing #GlobalPokerAwards – @Lance_Bradley & @DBPoker1
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Global Poker Index Awards Nominees
Industry Person:
–Angelica Hael of World Poker Tour
–Cary Katz of Poker Central
–Matt Savage of WPT, TDA, etc.
–Ty Stewart of World Series of Poker
–Rob Yong of Dusk Till Dawn and PartyPoker
ICYMI: 🌐🏆 Angelica Hael (World Poker Tour) wins the award for 2018 Industry Person of the Year! #GlobalPokerAwards – @AngelicaHael, @WPTpic.twitter.com/nB7RQAVTPw
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Tournament Director:
–Tony Burns of Seminole Hard Rock
–Paul Campbell of ARIA
–Jack Effel of World Series of Poker
–Kenny Hallaert of Unibet Open
🌐🏆@TDPaulCampbell wins Tournament Director of the Year Category. Thank you for all the great work you do for the players and the @ARIAPoker room #GlobalPokerAwards
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Mid-Major Tour or Circuit:
–888poker Live
–RUNGOOD Poker Series
–Unibet Open
–WPTDeepStacks
–WSOP Circuit
🎞 RunGood Series takes down the award for Mid-Major Circuit of the Year #GlobalPokerAwards@RGPokerSeriespic.twitter.com/3gLEaDmLgi
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Event of the Year:
–PartyPoker Caribbean Poker Party Main Event
–Super High Roller Bowl IV
–WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic
–WSOP Main Event
ICYMI: 🌐🏆 And the Award for Event of Year goes to WSOP Main Event #GlobalPokerAwards@WSOPpic.twitter.com/QTBxEIziqR
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Moment of the Year:
–Randi Hilsercop gives husband Jeremy a WSOP trip for Christmas, goes viral and results in PokerStars gifting him a PSPC Platinum Pass
–Joe Cada wins WSOP Closer after finishing fifth in WSOP Main Event
–Doyle Brunson plays final WSOP event
–Justin Bonomo wins Big One for One Drop to complete Super High Roller streak
🌐🏆 @JustinBonomo wins the Moment of the Year Trophy #GlobalPokerAwards
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Popular Vote and Predetermined Awards
Two of the awards were given based on their standings on the Global Poker Index, and each of them finished at the top of the rankings in their given categories.
2018 GPI Poker Player of the Year: Alex Foxen
2018 GPI Female Poker Player of the Year: Kristen Bicknell
Your GPI Player & Female Player of the Year @WAFoxen & @krissyb24pokerpic.twitter.com/rnrY8cKQF7
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
The People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year was determined by the poker public. People around the world were welcomed to submit nominees to honor those who work to promote the game on and off the tables. The four with the most votes then went back to the public for a final vote, which ended on April 3.
–Jonathan Little
–Brad Owen
–Johnnie Moreno
–Lex Veldhuis
ICYMI: 🌐🏆 With over 50% of the votes and ten of thousands of unique voters, the 2018 People Choice Award goes to Brad Owen #GlobalPokerAwards – @TheBradOwenpic.twitter.com/IOSSfZ5Gav
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
The PocketFives Legacy Award was given to the online poker player who achieved the most success, and PocketFives chose to give that honor to Chris Moorman, the most acclaimed player in nearly every category of online poker.
🌐🏆 Chris @Moorman1 Moorman receives @PocketFives Legacy Award, presented to an online legend who has made outstanding contributions to the live tournament circuit. #GlobalPokerAwardspic.twitter.com/pmcEqYCugk
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Other award winners were chosen by the jury and awarded as follows:
–Lifetime Achievement in Poker: Doyle Brunson
–Charitable Initiative: Robbie Strazynski’s Run Well Campaign
–Jury Prize: Drew Amato
🌐🏆 You may have noticed, the Lifetime Achievement Award wasn't handed out on the stream, but we're incredibly honoured to award Doyle @TexDolly Brunson the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Global Poker Award 👏 #GlobalPokerAwardspic.twitter.com/xfL5Wbq0ir
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
🌐🏆 Robbie Strazynski wins the Charitable Initiative Award for his amazing Run Well Campaign. Congrats @cardplayerlife. Watch the full acceptance speech: https://t.co/ZhuNBVod4s
— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019
Related Articles
That didn’t take long, did it?
One day after the closing of the nomination period for the inaugural awarding of the Global Poker Awards, the Global Poker Index has come out with the final list of nominees. Spanning the globe and the world of poker, the Global Poker Awards will take over for the European and American Poker Awards program in what will be a global salute to the game. 130 members of the Nomination Panel (including this writer) put forth their selections for 13 awards, with the following as the results (followed by a quick handicapping):
Tournament Performance of the Year
Justin Bonomo, Super High Roller Bowl IV
John Cynn, World Series of Poker Championship Event
Maria Lampropulos, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event
Dylan Linde, World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic
This is going to be the first of what should be several Global Poker Awards for Bonomo. While Cynn, Linde and Lampropulos were excellent choices, Bonomo’s work in the SHRB was truly stunning.
Breakout Player of the Year
Ali Imsirovic
Maria Konnikova
Ping Liu
Michael Soyza
I’d love to see Konnikova get the award – her story of going from greenhorn to tournament poker champion from the tutoring of Erik Seidel is a My Fair Lady story for the poker world – I believe that Imsirovic will come out with the award. His work at the Poker Masters against some of the best in the world made his mark in 2018.
Streamer of the Year
Jeff Gross
Jason Somerville
Jaime Staples
Lex Veldhuis
Veldhuis is doing some excellent work (and may have one of these Global Poker Awards in his future if he keeps it up), but it is Somerville that everyone is shooting for in this category.
Vlogger of the Year
Marie Cordeiro
Joe Ingram
Andrew Neeme
Daniel Negreanu
Doug Polk
Arguably one of the most difficult categories to handicap as everyone is well-deserved of the award. In fact, it is too difficult to make a choice…let’s see what happens with this one!
Podcast of the Year
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)
The PocketFives Podcast (Lance Bradley, Donnie Peters)
Could see a surprise here. The LFG Podcast and the PocketFives Podcast are excellent, but the PokerCentral Podcast has a “home field” advantage which may pull some in the Jury (the final arbiters of who will receive the awards) to it. Another tough category.
Broadcaster of the Year
Maria Ho
Lon McEachern
Nick Schulman
Lex Veldhuis
As she was one of my choices in my nomination picks, I have to stick with Ho on this award. Had an outstanding broadcast year in 2018 and can’t wait to see what she will do in the future.
Journalist of the Year
Drew Amato
Sarah Herring
Remko Rinkema
Christian Zetsche
Rinkema barely outraces Herring in this category. While Amato is in the running also (unfortunately, I’ve been unable to enjoy much of Zetsche’s work as he is primarily a European journalist), Rinkema has a variety of poker-related media that he has churned out, all of it top notch.
Media Content of the Year
Drew Amato, photography: Brunson Bids Farewell to WSOP
Lance Bradley, book author: The Pursuit of Poker Success
Haley Hintze, journalist: Vayo v. PokerStars
PokerCentral/PokerGO, broadcast network: Super High Roller Club: Schulman feat. Nejad
Once again, going to stick with who I nominated. Hintze deserves this award and, just as an aside, it is not good to lump all of these diverse contents into the same category. If you’re going to separate streaming, vlogging and podcasts into their separate categories, you can do the same for content (reporting, books, broadcasting).
Industry Person of the Year
Angelica Hael, WPT
Cary Katz, Poker Central
Matt Savage, tournament director par excellence
Ty Stewart, WSOP
Rob Yong, partypoker, Dusk ‘Till Dawn
Holding with the person I picked as a nominee. Hael has done some great work in 2018 and look forward to seeing just how great she can be in the future.
Tournament Director of the Year
Tony Burns, Seminole Hard Rock
Paul Campbell, ARIA
Jack Effel, WSOP
Kenny Hallaert, Unibet Open
As I nominated both, I am going to go for either Campbell or Effel. Can’t go wrong with any of the choices, however.
Mid-Major Tournament Circuit of the Year
888poker LIVE
RUNGOOD Poker Series
Unibet Open
WPT DeepStacks
WSOP Circuit
The WPT DeepStacks tournaments are all well run, regardless of where in the world they are run. They would be an excellent recipient of this award.
Event of the Year
Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party Main Event
Super High Roller Bowl IV
WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic
WSOP Championship Event
I nominated the SHRB, but this is a tough list of combatants. Not going to make a pick here as it is too close to call.
Moment of the Year
Jeremy Hilsercop receive PSPC Platinum Pass after viral video
Joe Cada Wins “The Closer” after registering following his fifth-place knockout in the WSOP Championship Event
Doyle Brunson Plays Final WSOP Event
Justin Bonomo Completes High Roller Sweep (SHRB China, SHRB Vegas, One Drop)
Have to go with Bonomo here. It wasn’t just one moment, it was THREE in the span of a few months. Difficult to overlook.
Two other trophies, for 2018 GPI Player of the Year (Alex Foxen) and for 2018 GPI Female Player of the Year (Kristen Bicknell) will be handed out during these ceremonies. Other awards – for Charitable Initiative, Lifetime Achievement, the PocketFives Legacy Award and a Jury Prize – will be determined by the Jury itself. A final category – the People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year – will be given after, well, a vote of the people is taken.
The First Annual Global Poker Awards will be handed out and broadcast live from the PokerGO studios in Las Vegas on April 5. It promises to be an interesting evening as poker looks to honor those who make the game great, both through their play and through their work behind the scenes.