Global Poker Index: Ole Schemion Ties Mark for Longest Tenure at No. 1; Urbanovich Leads POY

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Ole Schemion

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.

2015 GPI Player of the Year

RankPlayerGPI ScoreChange
1Dzmitry Urbanovich2438.10-
2Connor Drinan2165.00-
3Nicholas Petrangelo2152.17-
4Ivan Luca2119.02-
5Steve O’Dwyer1814.48-
6Joe Kuether1751.76-
7Ramin Hajiyev1714.96-
8Atanas Kavrakov1633.72-
9Scott Seiver1607.54-
10Vladimir Dobrovolskiy1604.74-

Zero movement this week among the top 10 in the 2015 Global Poker Index Player of the Year race with Dzmitry Urbanovich remaining in the top spot for a fourth straight week.

Looking further down the POY rankings the first significant movement for the week comes from Michael Wang who jumped from No. 63 to No. 25 this week after the points he earned for a third-place finish in the 2015 PaddyPower Irish Open were added to his total for the year.

GPI 300 Top 10

RankPlayerGPI ScoreChange
1Ole Schemion4207.86-
2Davidi Kitai3910.74+1
3Scott Seiver3883.00-1
4Pratyush Buddiga3794.14-
5Stephen Chidwick3664.09-
6Bryn Kenney3555.73+1
7Jason Mercier3523.11-1
8Daniel Negreanu3492.23-
9Byron Kaverman3473.16-
10Sorel Mizzi3412.58-

It was another relatively quiet week at the top of the overall GPI rankings this week as well, with Davidi Kitai and Scott Seiver trading spots with Kitai moving up to No. 2, while Bryn Kenney and Jason Mercier made a similar exchange with Kenney moving into the No. 6 spot.

The big news, however, concerns Ole Schemion keeping the top spot for a 17th-straight week, thereby tying the all-time mark for longest reign atop the GPI rankings. As we mentioned last week, both Mercier (from May to September 2013) and Dan Smith (from August to December 2014) enjoyed 17-week stays at No. 1, meaning Schemion is poised to claim the record all for himself should he keep at No. 1 one more week.

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

RankPlayerTotal Score
275Joey Weissman1603.55
290Salvatore Bonavena1568.21
291Georgios Zisimopoulo1565.08
292Omar Lakhdari1564.04
293Nick Schulman1562.76
294Dean Blatt1560.43
296Gleb Kovtunov1556.68
297Ben Dobson1556.32
298Brett Shafer1555.57
299Antonio Buonanno1554.31

Just 10 new players found their way into the overall GPI Top 300 this week, all coming in near the bottom of the list. Joey Weissman is the highest-ranked of the group at No. 275 (up from No. 312) after cashing at the Deep Stack Extravaganza II at the Venetian earlier in the month.

Biggest Gains

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
291Georgios Zisimopoulo1565.08+96
296Gleb Kovtunov1556.68+83
279Michael Wang1996.94+68
290Salvatore Bonavena1568.21+65
217Jose Quintas1787.61+62

Michael Wang earned a spot among the biggest gainers in the overall GPI rankings this week as well, although Georgios Zisimopoulo was the player moving up the most this week of those inside the Top 300, going from No. 387 to No. 291 after collecting points earned at the European Poker Tour Malta stop where he cashed three times, including winning one side event.

Biggest Drops

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
278Jeff Gross1598.50-56
258Phil Hellmuth1665.44-49
144Anatoly Filatov2055.83-48
215Jonas Lauck1804.71-48
286Tom Dobrilovic1580.52-47

Finally among those keeping their spots in the Top 300 this week, Jeff Gross fell the furthest, going from No. 222 to No. 278. Phil Hellmuth appears on this list again this week as well after slipping from No. 209 to No. 258.

To view both the 2015 Player of the Year and GPI overall rankings in their entirety, visit the official GPI website. While you’re at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

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