Global Poker Index: Kenney & Peters Lead, Koon & Kaverman Join Top 10
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 1.
2017 GPI Player of the Year
| Rank | Player | GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryn Kenney | 1780.53 | - |
| 2 | Mustapha Kanit | 1597.35 | - |
| 3 | Byron Kaverman | 1257.50 | - |
| 4 | Sergio Aido | 1175.05 | - |
| 5 | Koray Aldemir | 1147.45 | +3 |
| 6 | Manig Loeser | 1121.64 | +18 |
| 7 | Roland Israelashivili | 1057.54 | - |
| 8 | Park Yu Cheung | 958.34 | +2 |
| 9 | [Removed:17] | 956.39 | -4 |
| 10 | Alan King Lun Lau | 931.71 | +128 |
Two months down here in 2017, and Bryn Kenney maintains the lead again this week in the 2017 Global Poker Index Player of the Year race for a fourth-straight week.
The top four positions all stayed the same in the latest update, while Koray Aldemir moved up three spots after winning a $5,250 buy-in event at the World Poker Tour L.A. Classic last week. After his fast start to the year, Aldemir is currently ranked No. 15 in the overall GPI rankings (a career-high) and second among all German players, not far behind Fedor Holz (No. 13 overall).
New to the top 10 this week is another German player, Manig Loeser, who jumped from No. 24 to No. 6 after collecting two cashes at the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic, including a fifth-place finish in the Main Event won by Darren Elias for a record-tying third WPT title.
Also joining the list is Alan King Lun Lau of Hong Kong who earned three cashes at the Macau Poker Cup this month including two victories, one in a HK$10,000 buy-in tournament and another in a HK$15,000 event, enabling him to move all of the way from No. 138 to No. 10 on the POY list.
GPI 300 Top 10
| Rank | Player | GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Peters | 3453.94 | - |
| 2 | Bryn Kenney | 3255.49 | +1 |
| 3 | Nick Petrangelo | 3234.88 | -1 |
| 4 | Justin Bonomo | 3130.44 | - |
| 5 | Adrian Mateos | 3089.31 | - |
| 6 | Ankush Mandavia | 3065.68 | - |
| 7 | Dan Smith | 2956.33 | +1 |
| 8 | Jason Koon | 2951.83 | +3 |
| 9 | Ari Engel | 2936.25 | +1 |
| 10 | Byron Kaverman | 2925.64 | +2 |
Turning to look at the GPI overall rankings, David Peters remains in first position for a second week running while Bryn Kenney edges up to No. 2 ahead of Nick Petrangelo.
Jason Koon is a new name on this list after elevating from No. 11 to No. 8. That marks a career-high ranking and first appearance in the overall top 10 for the winner of this year's $100,000 PokerStars Championship Bahamas Super High Roller and over $8.2 million in live tournament earnings.
Former overall No. 1 and 2015 GPI Player of the Year Byron Kaverman has also pushed back onto the list after moving up from No. 12 to No. 10.
Welcome to the GPI Top 300
| Rank | Player | Total Score |
|---|---|---|
| 151 | Phil Hui | 1922.51 |
| 180 | Alex Difelice | 1857.98 |
| 209 | Aditya Prasetyo | 1813.30 |
| 218 | Jared Jaffee | 1800.23 |
| 225 | Dan Wilson | 1781.15 |
| 226 | DJ MacKinnon | 1780.80 |
| 238 | Govert Metaal | 1763.01 |
| 248 | Kristen Bicknell | 1742.42 |
| 260 | Ben Yu | 1728.63 |
| 263 | Ryan Laplante | 1723.10 |
| 271 | Alexander Greenblatt | 1715.54 |
| 276 | Kevin Andriamahefa | 1704.04 |
| 278 | Dan Heimiller | 1694.26 |
| 280 | Nick Pupillo | 1692.71 |
| 286 | Piotr Franczak | 1684.88 |
| 287 | Riley Fuller | 1682.70 |
| 288 | Yung Hwang | 1677.35 |
| 289 | Cliff Josephy | 1677.24 |
| 290 | Benjamin Perez | 1676.00 |
| 292 | Jasper Meijer | 1673.40 |
| 293 | Antonio Esfandiari | 1673.12 |
| 295 | Alex Ziskin | 1668.47 |
| 296 | Kalidou Sow | 1667.95 |
| 298 | Tobias Hausen | 1663.75 |
There are a lot of newcomers to the overall top 300 this week — 24 of them — with Phil Hui the highest-ranked of the group. Hui moved from No. 315 to No. 151 (a career-high) after finishing fourth (and being part of a four-way chop) in last week's WPTDeepStacks Big Stax 1500 won by Jimmy Poper.
Biggest Gains
| Rank | Player | Total GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 225 | Dan Wilson | 1781.15 | +261 |
| 226 | DJ MacKinnon | 1780.80 | +258 |
| 276 | Kevin Andriamahefa | 1704.04 | +172 |
| 151 | Phil Hui | 1922.51 | +164 |
| 180 | Alex Difelice | 1857.98 | +144 |
Phil Hui makes it onto the "Biggest Gains" list this week, as does DJ MacKinnon who after finishing runner-up in that WPTDeepStacks Big Stax 1500 event went from No. 484 to No. 226.
The biggest gainer among those in the current top 300, however, was Dan Wilson who after making two final tables in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic went from No. 486 to No. 225.
Biggest Drops
| Rank | Player | Total GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 297 | Sergey Lebedev | 1666.80 | -186 |
| 232 | Ivan Luca | 1770.62 | -154 |
| 262 | Luis Antonio Duarte Ferre | 1723.93 | -148 |
| 264 | Upeshka De Silva | 1722.27 | -96 |
| 281 | Patrick Mahoney | 1690.97 | -93 |
Finally, again sticking only with players in the overall top 300, Sergey Lebedev suffered the steepest decline after slipping from No. 111 down to No. 297 this week.
What to Expect Next Week
The World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic culminates later today with the final table of the Main Event where Daniel Strelitz has the chip lead and WPT co-host Mike Sexton is among the final six.
Meanwhile the WPTDeepStacks Jacksonville series in Florida got going yesterday, the PokerStars Festival Rozvadov kicks off in the Czech Republic today, and the two-day Aria Super High Roller 16 happens this weekend.
To view the 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.
