Poker in the South: Revealing the Nominees for the 3rd Annual Gulf Coast Poker Awards
Table Of Contents
The Gulf Coast Poker Awards were created in 2019 to offer regional recognition to players and industry professionals from the southern part of the United States. This year’s awards will recognize winners in eight categories from a pool of nominations submitted by tournament directors, staff, poker media, and players spanning the region.
“The GCP Awards were designed to recognize achievements and contributions by poker players, industry professionals, and content providers that shine a positive light on poker in the south,” GCP’s Bill Phillips told PokerNews. “We wanted to honor the people in the region, the birthplace of poker, who have put together a great year. Nominees must have a tie or connection to the South. This year we added a new Award; the GCP Tour POY award. This specifically honors a player's achievements in GCP only events.”
To be eligible nominees must have a connection to the extended Gulf Coast Poker region, which includes the southeastern United States from eastern Texas, up to Arkansas, along Tennessee to North Carolina, and everything south of that.
PokerNews is pleased to reveal the list of nominees for the 3rd Annual GCP. Winners will be revealed during the upcoming Awards Flight of the Poker Gras Main Event at Harrah's, New Orleans – which just debuted a new poker room – on Friday, September 30th.
3rd Annual Gulf Coast Poker Award Nominees
| Love of Poker | Player of the Year | Industry Professional | Female POY | Content Provider | Senior of the Year | GCP Tour POY |
| David Hendrix | Nathanael Kogel | Dennis Jones | Mary Darnell | “Captain” Tom Franklin | Charles Miller | Stanislav Angelov |
| Carl Masters | Mark Davis | Justin Hammer | Prissy Giroir | Ben Mintz | Hamid Izadi | Donovan Dean |
| Paul Dutsch | Gavin Munroe | Ross Carroll | Krista Lowery | Ante Up Magazine | Jerry Giroir | Charles Brady |
| Joseph Hebert | Matt Higgins | Lisa Crompton | Dallas Pirman | Andrew Neeme | David Champion | Gavin Munroe |
| Ben Mintz | Donovan Dean | Heather Ohlman | Elanit Hasas | Jonathan Little | Kenneth Schatten | Matt Higgins |
| Princess Fitzpatrick (dealer) | Logan Hewitt | Chris Hight | Kristen Deardorff | Chance Kornuth | Johnny Master | Kenneth Mason |
| Johnny Masters | Preston McEwen | Brandon Campbell | Chris Read | The Lodge Stream | Jeter Brock | Dan Lowery |
| Michael Vernace (deceased) | JJ Liu | - | JJ Liu | GCP Bill Phillips (ineligible) | Lonny Weitzel | Joseph Hebert |
| Bobby Carver (deceased) | David Diaz | - | June Jenkins | - | Charles Brady | Charles Johnson |
| - | Mack Khan | - | - | - | Chester Dilday | David Bradshaw |
| - | - | - | - | - | Peace Marvel | Levi Carden |
| - | - | - | - | - | Benny Morgan | - |
A Look Back at the 2019 Winners
During the first edition of the Gulf Coast Poker Awards, Yousef "Joe" Saleh (pictured above) was crowned Player of the Year. Fittingly, Saleh showed it was justified by winning the Poker Gras $600 Main Event for $34.195 days later while in New Orleans.
Here’s a look at those who captured awards at the inaugural ceremony back in 2019:
Inaugural Gulf Coast Poker Award Winners
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2019 Player of the Year | Yousef "Joe" Saleh |
| 2019 Break-Out Player of the Year | Josh Thibodaux |
| 2019 Senior of the Year | Robbie Matthews |
| 2019 Most Consistent Tournament Player | Blake Whittington |
| 2019 Content Provider of the Year | Cory Waaland |
| 2019 Female Player of the Year | Irene Carey |
| 2019 Cash Game Player of the Year | Gui Zheng |
| 2019 Industry Professional of the Year | Jesse Hollander (bestbet Jacksonville) |
Click here for a look at the New Poker Room at Harrah's New Orleans!
2020 Gulf Coast Poker Award Winners
In 2020, PokerNews was fortunate enough to earn a GCP award in the “Content Provider of the Year” category thanks to the PokerNews Podcast team.
“In this category, just about every year, it’s hard to argue there is anybody out there contributing as much poker content and has a connection to the Gulf Coast as Chad Holloway,” said tour co-founder Bill Phillips. “This year he and his co-hosts Sarah Herring and Jeff Platt] on PokerNews Podcast, as always, kept us entertained and informed.”
Another big winner was 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Domestic Main Event champ Joseph Hebert, who not only won the award for “Player of the Year,” but also topped a 495-entry field to win the stop’s 2021 Poker Gras $600 Main Event ($257,400 prize pool) for $39,716.
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2020 Player of the Year | Joseph Hebert |
| 2020 Break-Out Player of the Year | Preston McEwen |
| 2020 Senior of the Year | Hamid Izadi |
| 2020 Content Provider of the Year | PokerNews Podcast |
| 2020 Female Player of the Year | Chris Read |
| 2020 Industry Professional of the Year | Justin Hammer |
