Global Poker Index: Kenney Still King, Mateos and Chidwick Challenging

3 min read
Bryn Kenney (left), Adrian Mateos (center), Stephen Chidwick (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 November 1.

2017 GPI Player of the Year

RankPlayerGPI ScoreChange From Last Week
1Bryn Kenney3469.74-
2Stephen Chidwick3236.07+3
3Koray Aldemir3167.07-1
4Adrian Mateos3128.58+5
5Nick Petrangelo3094.01-2
6Dan Smith3057.16-2
7Dario Sammartino2972.63-
8Steve O'Dwyer2930.15-2
9DJ Alexander2919.11-1
10Manig Loeser2870.44+1

When we last checked in on the 2017 Global Poker Index Player of the Year race at the start of October, Bryn Kenney had been leading the way for nearly two months. Make that nearly three months now, as Kenney has continued his uninterrupted reign at No. 1 for the last 11 weeks.

Meanwhile Stephen Chidwick who was sitting at No. 10 four weeks ago has climbed all of the way to No. 2 in the POY race, including moving up three spots since a week ago.

Highlighting Chidwick's October were two final-table appearances in Macau — a sixth-place finish in the Triton Super High Roller Series Main Event won by John Juanda, and a fourth-place showing in the Asia Championship of Poker Main Event won by Alan King Lun Lau.

Adrian Mateos also made multiple final tables in Macau in October — three, in fact — including winning the ACOP Mini High Roller to help him jump from No. 9 to No. 4 this week.

GPI 300 Top 10

RankPlayerGPI ScoreChange From Last Week
1Bryn Kenney3434.18-
2Adrian Mateos3381.18+3
3Stephen Chidwick3296.52+5
4David Peters3275.04-2
5Nick Petrangelo3241.30-2
6Justin Bonomo3160.93-2
7Fedor Holz3130.06+2
8Steve O'Dwyer3119.05-1
9Dan Smith3101.23-3
10Koray Aldemir3043.44-

Checking back in on the overall GPI rankings, both Mateos (currently No. 2) and Chidwick (at No. 3) have improved their positions of late thanks to those performances in Macau. But no one has been able to knock Kenney out of the top spot in the overall rankings, as he remains the top-ranked tournament player in the world for an 11th-straight week.

In October Kenney did notch a sixth-place in the ACOP Super High Roller to help him maintain his leading pace. Looking down the list, a runner-up finish to Juanda in that Triton Super High Roller Series Main Event has helped former No. 1 Fedor Holz elevate to No. 7 in the latest update.

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

RankPlayerTotal Score
118Alan King Lun Lau2199.46
128Gerald Karlic2182.48
151David Laka Calzada2135.86
207Michael Aron2004.84
233Dominik Nitsche1957.97
253James Calderaro1923.32
261Christoph Vogelsang1902.53
263Atanas Kavrakov1901.43
269Alex Difelice1894.97
273Josip Simunic1885.55
286Ramin Hajiyev1866.08
287Dermot Blain1865.94
290Michael Linster1862.36
293Peter Eichhardt1856.46
300Simon Lam1845.45

This week's GPI update shows 15 new players entering the GPI Top 300 since a week ago, with the aforementioned Asia Championship of Poker Main Event winner Alan King Lun Lau the highest-ranked of the group after moving all the way up from No. 351 to No. 118.

The player from Hong Kong topped a 308-entry field to win a prize worth about $692K USD, pushing Lau's overall tournament earnings just over the $1.5M mark.

Dominik Nitsche took third in that event, helping him move back up into the Top 300 after going from No. 366 to No. 233.

Biggest Gains

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
118Alan King Lun Lau2199.46+233
128Gerald Karlic2182.48+204
101Mike Watson2245.03+167
151David Laka Calzada2135.86+158
269Alex Difelice1894.97+147

Lau leads the list of biggest gainers this week, with Gerald Karlic having also made a big move upwards from No. 332 to No. 128. Karlic likewise enjoyed success in Macau over the last couple of weeks, making three final tables himself including winning an HK$10,000 NL event.

Biggest Drops

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
272Philipp Gruissem1886.55-98
187Sam Greenwood2043.84-82
167Davidi Kitai2096.79-77
275Kiryl Radzivonau1881.62-73
150Ole Schemion2137.67-71

Finally this week's "Biggest Drops" list includes several familiar names, with Philipp Gruissem having fallen the furthest this week (among those still in the GPI Top 300) after tumbling from No. 174 to No. 272. Gruissem's highest previous GPI ranking was No. 2 in November 2013.

Keep an eye on that aforementioned Poker Masters series as well, where it looks as though the fields will be plenty big to qualify for GPI points and therefore affect both the 2017 POY race and overall rankings.

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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