Global Poker League Draft List Announced: 203 Players, More Than $550M in Earnings

Giovanni Angioni
Contributor
5 min read
Global Poker League Draft

With Draft Day of the first-ever Global Poker League (GPL) season just around the corner, Mediarex Entertainment has just released the official list of draftable players. The list consists of 203 players that the 12 franchise managers will be able to select from to get on their teams, and it's headed by Byron Kaverman, the 2015 GPI Player of the Year.

"The turnout for players signing up for the GPL Draft was much more than we expected, and I see that as a sign of hope," Mediarex CEO Alex Dreyfus told PokerNews. "When players unite, they can make a real impact on the growth of poker. We're happy to try and provide a foundation to make that happen."

33 Countries, More Than $500 Million in Combined Winnings Represented

Each GPL franchise will include five players, three of which will be drafted during GPL Draft Day from those who opted in to be draft eligible from the top 1,000 GPI-ranked players. The other two players left will be selected as "wild cards."

Global Poker League Draft List Announced: 203 Players, More Than 0M in Earnings 101

In order to be draft eligible, players in the top 1,000 of the GPI needed to confirm their availability to join the league. While a handful of big names decided the GPL and The Cube were not in their immediate future, as you can see by the gaps in the list, an impressive number of pros and legends of the game checked the "yes" box to give themselves the chance to be part of a project that aims to bring poker to a new level.

With combined live tournament winnings for an astonishing $562,834,964, the 203 players in the list hail from a total of 33 countries. While the delegation from the United States accounts for nearly half of the total field, the list of draft-eligible players includes names from every corner of the world, including Brazil, China, Canada, Russia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Who Are the 203 Players?

While the list does not include the names of poker superstars Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth — as they will be busy hosting the GPL's Draft Day alongside Kara Scott — we can see that an impressive number of top players decided to opt in.

One that is on the list and is likely to end up in one of the 12 teams is Antonio Esfandiari. Sitting second on US all-time money list with live tournament earnings for more than $26 million, Esfandiari is not only a terrific player, but is also one that sure knows how to attract attention and engage the public — two things the league and league franchises will without a doubt need in the inaugural season.

Among the others that may be picked to join the 2016 GPL are big time players such as Jeff Madsen, Jonathan Duhamel, Jason Mercier, Brian Rast, Vanessa Selbst, and Kevin MacPhee.

While Esfandiari is the list's biggest winner in live tournament poker, Chris Moorman leads the troop in terms of online cashes, as according to PocketFives he's been able to put together online winnings for nearly $13 million. Also on the list are other great names of the game as Italy's Mustapha Kanit, winner of the first-ever Global Poker Masters with team Italy, Germany's Dominik Nitsche, Belgium's Davidi Kitai, and 2014 WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson.

Here's the full list of the 203 draft-eligible players:

PlayerNationalityGPI RankLive EarningsOnline Earnings
Byron KavermanUSA1$6,757,855--
Anthony ZinnoUSA3$5,337,383--
Kevin MacPheeUSA5$5,424,937$7,118,382
Jason MercierUSA6$16,356,296$2,001,750
Fedor HolzGER9$7,549,491--
Davidi KitaiBEL10$6,757,706$448,657
Dominik NitscheGER13$5,164,231$3,398,488
Dzmitry UrbanovichPOL16$4,190,393--
Mike McDonaldCAN18$12,949,811$2,940,067
Jonathan DuhamelCAN21$17,592,802--
Thomas MarcheseUSA24$12,404,012--
Benjamin PollakFRA25$2,613,573$327,067
Mustapha KanitITA31$5,497,875$4,203,118
Sam GreenwoodCAN33$2,798,230$3,653,541
Igor YaroshevskyyUKR34$1,695,666--
Darren EliasUSA35$3,505,319$3,646,815
Jason WheelerUSA36$2,298,881--
Brian RastUSA38$16,313,290--
Dario SammartinoITA39$3,251,024-- 
Niall FarrellSCO41$1,939,694$2,456,781
Vladimir TroyanovskiyRUS42$4,199,228--
Scott ClementsUSA44$6,975,297$3,717,126
Ankush MandaviaUSA45$2,316,280$2,773,923
Mike LeahCAN48$5,040,388$2,762,255
Jared JaffeeUSA49$2,730,423--
Ismael BojangAUT51$1,870,754--
Hans WinzelerUSA53$2,009,527--
[Removed:17]NZL57$1,580,140$829,705
Shannon ShorrUSA59$6,052,301--
Michael WangUSA66$1,433,921$1,001,503
Andrew ChenCAN67$4,652,583$1,993,787
Mohsin CharaniaUSA71$4,724,869--
Jeremy AusmusUSA75$4,788,806--
Sylvain LoosliFRA76$4,857,533--
Samuel ChartierCAN77$2,455,530-- 
Jeff MadsenUSA80$5,147,837--
Brian YoonUSA81$2,788,075--
Scott DaviesUSA86$1,536,893--
Nipun JavaIND87$1,654,477--
Justin BonomoUSA88$9,690,053-- 
Vladimir DobrovolskiyRUS90$803,830--
Christian HarderUSA99$3,616,452$3,239,083
Kiryl RadzivonauBLR103$1,534,334$868,103
Jonathan LittleUSA106$6,257,741$1,053,162
Sorel MizziCAN110$11,148,823--
Govert MetaalNED115$2,117,699--
Andrey PateychukRUS116$2,873,717-- 
Ben YuUSA121$1,582,932$42,575
Matthew GlantzUSA133$6,021,692--
Igor KurganovRUS137$10,218,893--
Jussi NevanlinnaFIN140$1,843,978--
Ricardo AlvaradoUSA143$434,651--
Oliver PriceENG145$1,465,232--
Upeshka De SilvaUSA149$1,010,803-- 
Aaron MermelsteinUSA150$1,326,382--
Dylan WilkersonUSA151$1,791,157--
Sam SteinUSA153$4,601,497$1,611,926
Jake SchwartzUSA154$985,822--
Erwann PecheuxFRA155$1,169,511--
Allen KesslerUSA163$3,229,616--
Aleksandr GofmanRUS169$873,576--
Justin YoungUSA172$3,651,893--
Max SilverUSA175$2,358,622--
Alex RochaUSA186$763,079--
Jose Carlos GarciaPOL189$1,183,077$1,973,897
Bertrand GrospellierFRA192$10,922,427--
Jeffrey GrossUSA193$2,450,671$522,393
David BakerUSA197$3,767,257--
Christopher DeMaciUSA198$2,026,257-- 
Justin LibertoUSA204$1,833,347$147,690
George DanzerGER205$2,249,980--
Rep PorterUSA206$2,900,670--
Dani SternUSA210$2,733,207$1,763,804
David VamplewSCO215$3,599,940$1,970,537
Justin OliverUSA216$911,087--
Raiden KanHKG220$866,303--
Javier ZarcoESP223$1,204,811-- 
Chance KornuthUSA228$3,241,176$1,762,732
Noah BronsteinUSA230$526,940--
Timothy ReillyUSA232$821,795$1,171,445
Christopher TrybaUSA235$1,655,716--
Iliodoros KamatakisGRE239$623,682--
Walter TreccarichiITA249$819,052--
Thomas ButzhammerGER250$1,124,432--
Tobias PetersNED256$851,826--
Chris HunichenUSA264$1,201,785$8,136,397
Iaron LightbourneENG266$1,208,280--
Benjamin KeelineUSA268$562,337--
Leo WolpertUSA272$1,631,600$992,529
Martin JacobsonSWE273$15,045,724--
Matthew SalsbergCAN277$1,948,129--
Joseph EbanksUSA278$3,107,576--
John HolleyUSA279$1,391,384--
Scott BaumsteinUSA281$1,477,398--
David ParedesUSA309$2,270,126--
Felix BleikerSWI291$545,508--
Michael LaakeUSA293$704,645--
Diogo CardosoPOR294$532,175--
Joseph CoudenUSA295$1,090,210--
Jordan CristosUSA297$613,355$1,064,411
David TuthillENG300$1,448,234--
Seth BergerUSA301$1,005,125--
Jonathan KaramalikisAUS304$2,567,014$5,812,977
Isaac BaronUSA305$5,364,815--
Anton WiggSWE306$1,995,352$6,178,797
Kitty KuoTAI308$1,091,426--
Noah SchwartzUSA316$5,264,152$780,358
Eugene KatchalovUKR317$8,669,109--
Yung HwangUSA319$1,731,468--
Vanessa SelbstUSA321$11,728,256-- 
Ryan Van SanfordUSA323$840,175--
Chad EveslageUSA325$667,597$3,304,103
Matthew AffleckUSA333$1,782,928--
Manig LoeserGER337$1,563,516--
Darren RabinowitzUSA340$1,164,160$87,935
Kelly MinkinUSA342$779,519--
Natasha BarbourCAN347$688,855--
Christopher KlodnickiUSA353$8,286,614-- 
Rocco PalumboITA354$1,693,398$3,373,454
Timothy AdamsCAN355$2,546,978$1,403,178
Iacopo BrandiITA356$337,148--
Xuan LiuCAN359$1,649,190--
Mike GorodinskyUSA361$2,616,750--
Konstantin PuchkovRUS362$2,364,898--
Jake CodyENG363$4,132,822$697,494
Dong GuoCHN372$554,374--
Daniel WeinmanUSA373$1,211,132--
Thiago NishijimaBRA374$1,784,213--
Bryan ParisUSA380$705,804--
Nick PupilloUSA381$635,441--
Justin SchwartzUSA384$1,123,924$3,042
Jason LesUSA403$1,029,967--
Antonio BuonannoITA405$2,345,771--
Adam OwenUK408$305,147--
Andrea DatoITA409$1,719,798--  
Samuel PanzicaUSA411$731,845-- 
Emil PatelUSA427$670,937--
Pieter de KorverNED432$4,075,231--
Antonio EsfandiariUSA434$26,495,567--
Alexander IvarssonSWE438$391,513--
Ben WinsorENG450$622,568--
Jesse SylviaUSA451$5,987,767-- 
Nikolay FalRUS468$224,411$635,168
Li-Ta HsuTPE471$313,665--
Esther Taylor-BradyUSA481$556,610--
Diwei Bryan HuangSIN486$854,703$335,550
Alexandru MasekUSA492$1,306,752--
Joao Pires SimaoBRA493$508,033--
James RannENG494$550,886$221,883
Ray HensonUSA517$2,019,553--
Anthony GreggUSA522$10,476,457--
Jared GrienerUSA533$383,117--
Maxx ColemanUSA534$1,201,594-- 
Daniel StrelitzUSA538$1,038,680$1,412,310
Jonas LauckGER540$1,137,266$733,646
Valentin VornicuROM558$482,454$178,360
Shawn BuchananCAN566$5,902,874--
Dara O'KearneyIRL571$747,503$1,884,206
Nicolau Villa-LobosBRA573$1,160,434--
Jason MoUSA589$1,806,754--
Phil GalfondUSA594$2,339,619-- 
Oleksandr GnatenkoURK600$574,052$868,763
Felipe "Mojave" RamosBRA606$969,051$701,286
Sergey LebedevRUS612$1,087,222--
Kou VangUSA616$892,601$82,883
Terry FanTAI624$715,496--
Jerry WongUSA641$1,299,996--
Olov JanssonSWE645$153,367--
Keith LehrUSA649$2,736,773--
Cate HallUSA651$420,675--
Kenneth AldridgeUSA656$1,280,877$30,538
Fabrizio Gonzalez CataldiARG660$1,175,430--
Dmitry VitkindRUS672$1,290,923$628,228
Jason HelderUSA703$1,717,441--
James CollopyUSA713$1,251,342-- 
David NowlingUSA720$184,692--
Matthew SchultzUSA733$406,720$584
Gianluca EscobarITA747$243,329$923,354
Aaron OvertonUSA748$678,478--
William FoxenUSA757$183,920$552,446
Brian BenhamouFRA762$616,564--
Jonathan RoyCAN765$2,087,523--
Peter EichhardtSWE769$820,570--
Carlos ChadhaUSA785$471,832--
Chris MoormanENG793$4,107,768$12,963,272
Guillaume DiazFRA795$372,351--
Weiyi ZhangCHN823$253,446--
Andrey KotelnikovRUS834$200,126--
Phong 'Turbo' NguyenUSA836$980,570--
Romain LewisFRA847$216,455--
William ReynoldsUSA871$1,808,446$1,698,059
Muhamet PeratiALB875$416,232--
Clyde Tjauw ForNED885$517,335--
Fatima Moreira de MeloNED891$440,228--
Gregory MarcusUSA906$329,253--
Mark RadojaCAN908$1,906,952--
Dylan HortinUSA915$651,514--
Phillip McallisterENG944$540,467$2,052,592
Joe TehanUSA955$4,287,302--
Guy TaylorENG961$136,769$337,208
Luis FerreiraBRA972$456,789--
Petr JelinekCZE987$343,023--

*GPI rank as of Dec. 31, 2015.
**Online earnings according to PocketFives.com.

Taking place at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills on Feb. 25, 2016, GPL Draft Day will be live streamed on Twitch.tv and is already setting up to be an exciting event, especially now that we how know many icons of the game decided to make themselves available to play in the GPL and join Mediarex's disruptive initiative.

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Giovanni Angioni
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