Nominees for 4th Annual Global Poker Awards Announced; Ceremony on March 3
The nominees for the 4th annual Global Poker Awards have been announced and several players are in the running to pick up multiple awards, including two-time GPI award winner Jamie Kerstetter as well as World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Espen Jorstad and content creators Ethan "Rampage" Yau, Caitlin Comeskey and Marle Spragg, the latter four of whom are after their first awards.
Voting panels in 17 categories completed the process earlier this month and this week the final four of the fan's choice categories were also announced. There are plenty of previous GPI award winners among the nominees, including players like Stephen Chidwick, Daniel Negreanu, Brad Owen and Lex Veldhuis as well as industry professionals like Matt Savage, Paul Campbell and Jeff Platt.
The winners of each category will be announced at the live-streamed Global Poker Awards inside PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on March 3 at 5:30 p.m. local time.
For more information about the 4th annual Global Poker Awards, visit www.globalpokerindex.com/awards.
Read about the 3rd annunal Global Poker Awards!
Full 4th Global Poker Awards Nominees
Here is a list of all the nominees for the 4th Global Poker Awards:
Fans Choice – Best Trophy
- EPT Main Event Trophy
- PGT Stairway to Millions Trophy
- WPA – Women’s Poker Association
- WSOP Main Event Bracelet
In the race for best trophy, the golden European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event trophy faces off against the winding PokerGO Tour Stairway to Millions trophy and the suggestive Women’s Poker Association (WPA) trophy, as well as the iconic WSOP Main Event Bracelet.
Fans Choice: Fave Livestream
- EPT Live – PokerStarsLive
- King’s Casino Livestream
- Hustler Casino Live
- Poker at the Lodge
2022 was dominated by live streams as live poker bounced back at casinos and card rooms around the US.
The frontrunner in the live stream race is Hustler Casino Live, which drew mainstream attention with its content creator game and the jack-four hand seen around the world.
However, the other nominees are all worthy contenders, including the EPT Live – PokerStarsLive broadcast handled by James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton, the King’s Casino Livestream and always entertaining Poker at the Lodge.
People’s Choice for Poker Personality
- Ryan DePaulo
- Felipe Mojave Ramos
- Lex Veldhuis
- Ethan “Rampage” Yau
Content creators made up the final four of the People’s Choice for Poker Personality race, including vloggers Ryan DePaulo and Ethan "Rampage" Yau and streamers Felipe Ramos of GGPoker and Lex Veldhuis of PokerStars.
Yau and DePaulo were both nominated for Best Vlogger last year but lost out to Brad Owen, while Veldhuis is after his second award after being named Streamer of the Year in 2019.
Fans Choice – Best Hand
- Daniel Negreanu hits runner-runner quads on way to SHRB victory
- David Diaz lays down absolute monster on Day 7 of WSOP Main Event
- PapoMC pulls monster bluff in WSOP Main Event
- Wild J4 vs 89 hand between Robbi Jade Lew and Garrett Adelstein
Leading the way in the Best Hand category is the wild jack-four hand between Robbi Jade Lew and Garrett Adelstein that resulted in an intensive investigation and international news coverage, but there were other big hands this year.
One such hand is the runner-runner quads Daniel Negreanu hit against poker villain Bryn Kenney in the Super High Roller Bowl VII that propelled him to victory to win $3.3 million. There was also a massive laydown David Diaz made on Day 7 of the WSOP Main event and an even bigger bluff that Alejandro Lococo pulled in the same event.
Players Choice for Toughest Opponent
While Brian Altman and GPI award winners Alex Foxen and Stephen Chidwick are all solid contenders for the toughest opponent award, it will be hard to outshine Stephen Song's incredible 2022 performance that earned him both the overall GPI Player of the Year and the Mid-Major Player of the Year.
- Brian Altman (USA)
- Stephen Chidwick (England)
- Alex Foxen (USA)
- Stephen Song (USA)
Best Final Table Performance
- Daniel “Jungleman” Cates (USA), WSOP 50K Poker Players Championship
- Espen Uhlen Jørstad (Norway), WSOP Main Event
- Daniel Negreanu (Canada), Super High Roller Bowl VII
- Stephen Song (USA), WPT Prime Championship
Song's performance at the WPT Prime Championship in December 2022 is up for nomination for Best Final Table performance, alongside Espen Jorstad's WSOP Main Event performance and Negreanu's Super High Roller Bowl victory. But it will be tough to compete against Dan “Jungleman” Cates' historic back-to-back victories in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
GPI Breakout Player
- Angela Jordison (USA)
- Espen Uhlen Jørstad (Norway)
- Alejandro Lococo “PapoMC” (Argentina)
- Punnat Punsri (Thailand)
- Ethan “Rampage” Yau (USA)
Angela Jordison is a nominee for GPI Breakout Player after narrowly coming short of being named the GPI Female Player of the Year and Mid-Major Player of the Year. Also up for nomination is Jorstad, who won two bracelets last summer, as well as rising poker personalities Lococo and Yau and high-stakes up-and-comer Punnat Punsri.
Comeback Player
- Phil Ivey (USA)
- Alex Keating (USA)
- Taylor von Kriegenbergh (USA)
- Daniel Weinman (USA)
Poker Hall of Famer Phil Ivey's return to the felt has earned the poker legend a nomination for Comeback Player as he competes against fellow nominees Alex Keating, Taylor von Kriegenbergh and Daniel Weinman.
Rising Star in Content Creation
- Natalie Bode (USA)
- Caitlin Comeskey (USA)
- Jesse Fullen (USA)
- Lexy Gavin-Mather (USA)
Among the four nominees for Rising Star in Content Creation is PokerNews' own Jesse Fullen, who in 2022 did everything from orchestrate an elaborate April Fool's prank to coordinate the 2022 PokerNews Cup.
Also nominated in the category is Caitlin Comeskey, who is also in the running for Best Media Content: Video for her hilarious spoof of the jack-four controversy, as well as PokerGO's Natalie Bode and PokerCoaching.com's Lexy Gavin-Mather.
Best Media Content: Written
- Tim Fiorvanti (USA) for WPT.com: Andrew Moreno Made Good on a 15-Year Dream
- Connor Richards (USA) for PokerNews: The Endlessly Creative Side of Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel
- Jennifer Shahade (USA) for the Wall Street Journal: How Becoming a Poker Pro Helped Me Accept a Personal Tragedy
- Robbie Strazynski (Israel/USA) for Cardplayer Lifestyle: In the Name of the Father, the Son… and the Poker
PokerNews received a second GPI award nomination as Connor Richards' December 2022 article about Erik Seidel's creative side was nominated for Best Media Content: Written alongside pieces by Jen Shahade for the Wall Street Journal, Robbie Strazynski for Cardplayer Lifestyle and Tim Fiorvanti for WPT.
Best Media Content: Photo
- Antonio Abrego (USA) for PokerGO: “Oooooooooooo yeah!”
- Hayley Hochstetler (USA): Glantz Pulls Million Dollar Bounty
- Alec Rome (USA) for PokerNews/WSOP: Schindler Wins First WSOP Bracelet
- Spenser Sembrat (USA) for PokerNews/WSOP: “That First Bracelet Feeling”
Moments captured by the PokerNews WSOP photo team make up three of the four nominees for Best Media Content: Photo, including Hayley Hochstetler's photo of Matt Glantz pulling the million-dollar bounty, Spenser Sembrat's shooting of a memorable final table celebration and Alec Rome's poignant capture of Jake Schindler's bracelet victory.
Also in the running is Antonio Abrego's photo of Cates' historic back-to-back win for PokerGO.
Best Media Content: Video
- Caitlin Comeskey (USA): A love letter to the investigation parody
- Joey Ingram (USA): Emergency Investigation: Garrett vs Robbi on Hustler Live
- Gregory “Greg Goes All In” Liow (Canada): Poker vlogger who doesn’t understand that the voice over is done in post
- Marle Spragg (USA): Solvers.
Best Podcast
- Only Friends Podcast (Matt Berkey (USA), Melissa Schubert (USA), Landon Tice (USA) & Friends)
- Poker in the Ears (James Hartigan (Ireland), Joseph Stapleton (USA) for PokerStars)
- PokerGO Podcast (Timothy Duckworth (Australia), Donnie Peters (USA), Remko Rinkema (Netherlands) for PokerGO)
- The Chip Race Poker Podcast (David Lappin (Ireland), Dara O’Kearney (Ireland), Barry Carter (United Kingdom) for Unibet Poker)
Twitter Personality
- Phil Galfond (USA)
- Will Jaffe (USA)
- Jamie Kerstetter (USA)
- Marle Spragg (USA)
Best Streamer
- Kevin Martin “kevinmartin” (Canada)
- Benjamin Spragg “Spraggy” (England)
- Jon Van Fleet “apestylespoker” (USA)
- Lex Veldhuis “LexVeldhuis” (Netherlands)
Best Vlogger
- Jaman Burton (USA)
- Mariano Grandoli (ARG)
- Brad Owen (USA)
- Ethan “Rampage” Yau (USA)
Best Industry Person
- Ryan Beauregard (USA)
- Jack Effel (USA)
- Mori Eskandani (Iran/USA)
- Tana Karn (USA)
Best Tournament Director
- Paul Campbell (USA)
- Ray Pulford (USA)
- Matt Savage (USA)
- Toby Stone (England)
Best Event
- EPT Barcelona Main Event
- Triton Poker Coin Rivet Invitational
- World Series of Poker Main Event
- WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
Best Mid-Major Circuit/Tour
- RUNGOOD Poker Series (RGPS)
- Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT)
- World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC)
- WPT Prime (WPTP)
Best Broadcaster
- James Hartigan (Ireland)
- Jamie Kerstetter (USA)
- Jeff Platt (USA)
- Nick Schulman (USA)
*Photos courtesy of Global Poker Index
