The Bernard Lee Poker Show 11-29: GPI & HendonMob President Eric Danis

Bernard Lee
Contributor
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In this episode of The Bernard Lee Poker Show on the PokerNews Podcast Network, Bernard Lee interviews the President of Global Poker Index and Hendon Mob, Eric Danis. During the show, Eric discusses the upcoming Inaugural Global Poker Awards, which will be held on April 5 in Las Vegas. The ceremony, which will present awards for 20 categories, will also be broadcast live by PokerGO.

After Eric recalls how he became part of the poker industry, he discusses how the concept of the Global Poker Awards was created. Additionally, Eric addresses the controversy about the awards nominations and explains how the nomination process is performed and voted on. Finally, Bernard and Eric examine some of these year’s categories and also recall some of their favorite past poker award moments.

Show Time Stamps

0:00Welcome to The Bernard Lee Poker Show as this week’s guest will be the President of the Global Poker Index (GPI) and Hendon Mob, Eric Danis.
0:13The inaugural Global Poker Awards was announced earlier this month and will be held on April 5 in Las Vegas. The ceremony, which will present awards for 20 categories, will also be broadcast live by PokerGO.
1:07Phillip Pope captures the WSOP Circuit Tulsa Hard Rock Main Event for $215,000 over a field of 533 entries and has earned a seat into the 2019 WSOP Global Casino Championship.
2:07Down to the final table, the $3,500 WPT Main Event held at Venetian, kicked off on last Friday, March 22, and had 734 entries total. The first prize is $431,655 and we will review the results on next week’s show.
3:022019 Spring Season of the RunGood Poker Series, with its theme “Showbound,” will be at the Horseshoe Bossier City, just outside of Shreveport, Louisiana this week.
3:53RunGood Gear Ad
4:36Bernard welcomes Eric Danis to the show.
5:11Eric joins the show.
5:49Eric explains how the concept for inaugural Global Poker Awards was conceived.
7:29Eric discusses the critical partnership with PokerGo and Global Poker Awards and having the ceremony in Las Vegas. “To me, when it comes to tournament poker around the world, (Las) Vegas is iconic. So having the awards in Vegas just made perfect sense.”
9:45Eric recalls how he became part of the poker community. “Always had a passion for poker…Cards have always been part of my life…I started my own poker blog...My friends were really into poker at that time…One of my first big breaks was covering the Daniel Negreanu $25K (Fantasy) draft, the second one I believe and that started opening some doors…(suddenly) I was working for the GPI.”
14:57Bernard lists the 20 categories for the inaugural Global Poker Awards, held on April 5.
16:10Eric discusses the People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year award, the one award that the public can vote on. Go to www.GlobalPokerAwards.com to place your vote.
18:14Eric discusses the impressive accomplishment of Kristen Bicknell winning GPI Female Player of the Year (POY) in back-to-back years (2017 and 2018).
20:26Bernard announces that 2018 GPI Player of the Year, Alex Foxen, will be the show’s guest next week.
21:14Eric mentions other players who have achieved GPI Player of the Year and some who have not achieved the No. 1 ranking.
24:29Share My Pair Ad
25:01Bernard continues his interview with the President of the GPI and Hendon Mob, Eric Danis.
25:40Bernard explains some controversy about the Inaugural Global Poker Awards nominations and mentions that GPI posted a statement regarding this matter on Twitter.
26:21Eric addresses the controversy and explains how the nomination process is performed and voted on. “The nominees (will) stay the same this year because it would be unfair for those nominated…and there’s also names in those categories that are very much deserve to be on there. So, I want to make sure that those people are celebrated…What we are going to do next year is going to have way more specialized voting…I’m very appreciative of the feedback.”
34:18Bernard and Eric discuss the Media Content of the Year category.
37:59Bernard and Eric discuss the Moment of the Year category. “This one (category) is really tough.”
43:09Eric explains how an eight- to 10-person jury of poker players, industry leaders and media members vote to determine the winner based on the final nominations.
45:08Eric reminisces about his favorite past Poker Award moments including a few last year including Kristen Bicknell winning GPI Female POY, One Step Closer Foundation with the President Jacob Zalewski winning the Charitable Initiative of the Year and Eric himself winning Jury Prize. Also, he recalls Brandon Shack-Harris winning 2014 Breakout Player of Year.
52:46Bernard recalls his favorite moments including two moments from last year: Lon McEachern and Norman Chad winning Lifetime Achievement Award and presenting Jacob Zalewski the Charitable Initiative of Year Award.

Let us know what you think of the show - tweet about the podcast using #BernardLeePokerShow, and be sure to follow @BernardLeePoker on Twitter or Instagram.

You can follow Eric Danis on Twitter @EricDanisPoker.

The Bernard Lee Poker Show is now available on iTunes.

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