Global Poker Index: The O’Dwyer Era Extends Another Week; Holz Joins Top 10

3 min read
Steve O'Dwyer

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player’s results over six half-year periods. For a look at the entire list, visit the official GPI website. Here’s a look at the rankings as of March 16, 2016.

GPI 300 Top 10

RankPlayerGPI ScoreChange
1Steve O’Dwyer4430.60-
2Byron Kaverman4220.10-
3Bryn Kenney4064.73-
4Jason Mercier4034.73-
5Connor Drinan4006.82+2
6Dominik Nitsche3961.988-
7Nick Petrangelo3961.986-2
8Fedor Holz3742.39+6
9Stephen Chidwick3742.04+1
10Anthony Zinno3742.02-2

Steve O’Dwyer makes it 10 weeks as the world’s top-ranked tournament player according to the GPI following a relatively quiet week at the top of the rankings. The top four spots all stayed the same this week, with Connor Drinan — on the heels of an eighth-place finish in the World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship — improving two spots to No. 5 (a career-high).

There’s a virtual tie for No. 6 this week between Dominik Nitsche and Nick Petrangelo (note how we had to take it to a third decimal place with those two). And the next three players are also essentially even with Fedor Holz, Stephen Chidwick, and Anthony Zinno all within half a GPI point of each other.

Sitting just outside the top 10 this week are David Peters (No. 11), Sean Winter (No. 12), and Erik Seidel (No. 13).

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

RankPlayerTotal Score
208Robbie Wazwaz1907.93
228Anthony Spinella1851.48
239Matt Salsberg1822.92
252Mark Darner1787.14
263Aleksandr Gofman1765.62
278Griffin Paul1722.49
279Loni Harwood1722.18
284Derek Wolters1714.52
286Walid Bou Habib1706.70
299Kyle Bowker1688.85
300Terry Fan1685.83

Looking down at the other end of this week’s GPI top 300, there are 11 new names on this week’s list with Robbie Wazwaz the top-ranked among them. A cash in the 2016 Chicago Poker Classic Championship (where he finished 20th) gave Wazwaz enough points to jump from No. 337 all of the way to No. 208, his highest ranking to date.

Other players among this group who are also hitting career peaks, rankings-wise, include Anthony Spinella (at No. 228), Derek Wolters (at No. 284), and Terry Fan (at No. 300).

Biggest Gains

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
278Griffin Paul1722.49+222
228Anthony Spinella1851.48+184
263Aleksandr Gofman1765.62+178
123Stefan Schillhabel2273.68+161
252Mark Darner1787.14+135

Griffin Paul almost reached a career-high this week after leaping from No. 500 to No. 278, just five spots shy of his previous best ranking of No. 273 last October. That made him the biggest gainer of the week among the top 300 players, the move facilitated by his fifth-place showing in that aforementioned WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship.

The winner of that event, Stefan Schillhabel, also benefited in terms of GPI points, and as a result he traveled upward from No. 284 to No. 123 this week. That’s a career-high for Schillhabel as well who just made his GPI top 300 debut a month ago.

Biggest Drops

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
150Oliver Price2156.42-45
233Eddy Sabat1840.43-45
294Pascal Hartmann1694.12-43
221Toby Lewis1878.87-41
273Noah Bronstein1735.63-38

Finally, looking only at those players who stayed in the top 300, Oliver Price fell the furthest after going from No. 105 to No. 150 this week.

What to Expect Next Week

The World Series of Poker Circuit Los Angeles (at the Bicycle), the Hollywood Poker Open in St. Louis (at the Hollywood), and the Foxwoods Poker Classic in Mashantucket, Connecticut highlight the current tournament festival schedule as far as the United States is concerned.

Over in Europe the partypoker WPT Vienna is underway, as is the Norwegian Championships (in Dublin).

And in Morocco the 2016 Marrakech Poker Open Main Event gets started tomorrow, with start-to-finish coverage right here on PokerNews.

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.

Share this article

More Stories

Other Stories

Recommended for you
A Look at the Global Poker League's Rome Emperors and Montreal Nationals A Look at the Global Poker League's Rome Emperors and Montreal Nationals