Global Poker Index: Saout, Piccioli, Salas Move Up; Sammartino Tops POY

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Antoine Saout (left), Bryan Piccioli (center), Damian Salas (right)

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 July 26.

2017 GPI Player of the Year

RankPlayerGPI ScoreChange
1Dario Sammartino2928.47-
2Nick Petrangelo2881.97-
3Dan Smith2841.98-
4Bryn Kenney2840.97-
5Koray Aldemir2833.85-
6Sergio Aido2809.01-
7David Peters2684.63-
8Ari Engel2652.80-
9Charlie Carrel2618.77-
10Justin Bonomo2616.70-

With the 2017 World Series of Poker having reached an exciting finish, the 2017 Global Poker Index Player of the Year Race has settled down once more with no changes among the top 10 players since the last update.

Having moved up into the lead for the first time last week, Dario Sammartino continues at No.1 just ahead of Nick Petrangelo, with everyone else in the Top 10 staying put as well. Sergio Aido remained at No. 6, but did add some points to his total after collecting a cash in a $5,000 NL event in the Deepstack Extravanganza series at the Venetian.

Looking just outside the top 10, Manig Loeser jumped from No. 23 to No. 11 this week after winning the Triton Super High Roller Series 2017 Montenegro Main Event last week. Loeser topped a 52-entry field in the HK$1,000,000 buy-in event to earn a whopping HK$16,877,600 first prize worth about $2.16 million USD.

Meanwhile Javier Zapatero won that aforementioned $5K Deepstack Extravangaza event, besting a 688-entry field to earn $561,349. With that win, Zapatero jumped from No. 84 to No. 22 in the GPI POY race.

GPI 300 Top 10

RankPlayerGPI ScoreChange
1Nick Petrangelo3480.87-
2David Peters3294.37-
3Ari Engel3182.73-
4Adrian Mateos3177.14-
5Bryn Kenney3166.75-
6Sergio Aido3066.15+3
7Justin Bonomo3042.65+1
8Ankush Mandavia3039.56+12
9Steve O'Dwyer3032.63-2
10Dario Sammartino3024.41-

Petrangelo remains the top-ranked tournament player in the world for a 17th-straight week according to the Global Poker Index, with the top five all remaining the same since a week ago.

Aido moved up from No. 9 to No. 6 this week. Meanwhile Ankush Mandavia rejoined the Top 10, moving from No. 20 to No. 8 after a fifth-place finish in that same Deepstack Extravaganza event won by Zapatero.

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

RankPlayerTotal Score
99Antoine Saout2261.14
156Bryan Piccioli2081.82
177Damian Salas2038.19
183Jonathan Karamalikis2028.00
207Jesse Sylvia1970.07
230Adrian Attenborough1929.55
239Dimitar Danchev1919.52
262Salvatore Dicarlo1800.27
265Adam Geyer1878.25
268Joey Weissman1873.84
270Justin Young1872.76
285John Juanda1854.19
296William Berry1832.27

This week 13 players joined the GPI Top 300, with the top three all having done so thanks to their final-table finishes in the 2017 WSOP Main Event won by Scott Blumstein.

Antoine Saout jumped all of the way from No. 340 to No. 99 on the strength of his fifth-place finish. Bryan Piccioli went out just before Saout in sixth, helping him move up from No. 460 to No. 156. And seventh-place finisher Damian Salas went from No. 506 to No. 177 thanks to points earned from his showing.

Incidentally, Main Event champion Blumstein is ranked No. 506 this week, moving up from No. 2,250 after his win.

Biggest Gains

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
177Damian Salas2038.19+329
156Bryan Piccioli2081.82+304
99Antoine Saout2261.14+241
88Patrick Leonard2310.75+207
183Jonathan Karamalikis2028.00+185

Salas, Piccioli, and Saout topped the "Biggest Gains" list this week as well (considering only players inside the Top 300).

Patrick Leonard topped this list a week ago, and he again made another big move in the last update, going from No. 295 to No. 88 after all the points were tabulated following his incredible three-victory run not long ago. In the space of just a few days, Leonard won two $25,000 ARIA High Rollers as well as the $10,400 Bellagio Cup XIII, with his first prizes for those wins totaling more than $1.26 million.

Biggest Drops

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
188Chad Eveslage2015.32-61
224Artur Koren1937.77-52
247Alexander Lynskey1902.78-42
187Benjamin Tollerene2018.98-40
274Michal Mrakeš1867.01-35

Finally, considering only players in the current GPI Top 300, Chad Eveslage slipped the furthest this week, going from No. 127 to No. 188.

What to Expect Next Week

The WSOP is over, but there's still plenty happening on the poker tournament calendar, including the Borgata Summer Poker Open, the World Poker Tour Choctaw series, the Mid-States Poker Tour Iowa State Poker Championship, the Unibet DSO- Malta series, and starting next Monday the PokerStars Festival Bucharest series.

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.

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