Global Poker Index: Ole Schemion Begins Year On Top; Sorel Mizzi on the Rise

Martin Harris

Jan 08, 2015 3 min read

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player’s results over six half-year periods. The GPI also ranks the top performers of the year over two six-month periods as calculated by the USA Today Global Poker Index point system.

GPI Player of the Year

As we reported last week, Daniel Colman clinched the 2014 Global Poker Index Player of the Year title despite late surges by Ole Schemion (who finished second) and Davidi Kitai (who took third).

Meanwhile the race for the 2015 Global Poker Index Player of the Year has already begun, and we’ll be reporting the start of that race soon once the first events of the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure complete.

GPI 300 Top 10

Rank	Player	GPI Score	Change
1	Ole Schemion	4141.38	-
2	Davidi Kitai	3494.28	+1
3	Ami Barer	3490.07	+1
4	Daniel Colman	3435.80	+1
5	Dan Smith	3415.07	-3
6	Bryn Kenney	3300.14	+2
7	Jacob Schindler	3278.27	-
8	Pratyush Buddiga	3275.84	-2
9	Sorel Mizzi	3144.18	+4
10	Joseph Cheong	3136.86	-

The first week of the year saw a few small moves being made among players at the top of the overall GPI rankings, with Schemion retaining his spot as leader and Dan Smith slipping back to No. 5. Sorel Mizzi joins the top 10 this week by moving up to No. 9. Mizzi also carries the chip lead to today's final table of the 2015 PCA $100,000 Super High Roller, and thus appears poised to move up even further depending on his finish today.

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

Rank	Player	Total Score
272	Marcin Wydrowski	1582.32
274	Fedor Holz	1578.92
275	Richard Kirsch	1576.29
277	Matt Jarvis	1574.00
279	Nuri Hakan Demircioglu	1571.66
287	Ilan Boujenah	1560.62
288	Georgios Sotiropoulos	1559.44
289	Madis Muur	1557.70
292	Ondrej Vinklarek	1553.87
293	Tim West	1552.55
295	Sam Greenwood	1548.10
296	Ian O’Hara	1553.87
297	Sotirios Koutoupas	1547.11
298	Juha Helppi	1544.06
299	Max Altergott	1543.32

Down at the other end of the GPI Top 300 there were more relatively small moves up and down causing 15 players to lose their spots and 15 others to take their places, with none of the newcomers rising any higher than Marcin Wydrowski who moved up to No. 272.

Sam Greenwood who moved up to No. 295 this week is also part of that final table of the PCA $100,000 Super High Roller, returning to the short stack among the final seven players. His career-high GPI rank came last June when he peaked at No. 165.

Biggest Gains

Rank	Player	Total GPI Score	Change
233	Stuart Rutter	1666.29	+42
190	Alexander Condon	1770.88	+36
139	Millard Hale	1945.68	+34
223	Jonas Mackoff	1683.63	+33
145	Anton Astapau	1903.44	+32

There weren’t any huge moves among those in this week’s Top 300, and thus the biggest gainers of the week saw only modest gains, relatively speaking. Interestingly, Stuart Rutter earns the distinction as the week’s biggest upward mover for a second week in a row after moving up from No. 275 to No. 233. Rutter’s jump from No. 358 into the Top 300 last week gave him the same honor as the week’s biggest mover.