- The people over at the Global Poker Index provide an update of the happening in the world of tournament poker over the last week.
1. Nubs for Defending GPI Player of the Year
There are only a few weeks remaining to Dan Smith’s (GPI#32) reign as the defending Global Poker Index Player of the Year … but he certainly decided to go out in style, picking up the third seven-figure score of his career, winning the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic … it was Nubs all-around at the Bellagio.
2. More from the Bellagio
Still at the WPT Five Diamond, Brian Rast (GPI#621) took down the $100,000 buy-in High Roller event collecting over $1m USD for the victory. Rast defeated poker legend Erik Seidel (GPI#19) heads-up.
3. Eureka Breaks Records in Prague
A monster field of 1,315 took a shot at becoming a HUGE winner on the Eureka Poker Tour as the EPT Prague Festival debuted. German Dmitri Holdeew was able to turn his €1,000 buyin into a massive €226,000 first place prize. The final table included recent WSOP Summer Series standout Stephen Chidwick (GPI#61) and Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki (GPI#1291).
4. GPS Grand Final
Over 260 players entered the Genting Poker Series Grand Final as Richard Milner defeated Rupom Pal heads-up to pickup the £57,070 top prize. The GPS Grand Final was held at the Genting Club in Sheffield.
5. Carver Takes Down Cherokee Classic
North Carolina native Charles Carver (GPI#9906) made sure that the Cherokee Poker Classic title would remain in his home state when he took down the Main Event, earning over $100k USD as 492 players bought in with hopes of winning big right before the holidays!
6. Kessler, Tuthill Go Deep in Tampa
Over 300 players entered the WPT Regional Main Event in Tampa Bay, Florida over the weekend to take a shot at the $121k USD first prize. Two members of the GPI300 were able to run deep as Heartland Poker Tour Player of the Year Allen Kessler (GPI#155) and WSOP Circuit Caesars Las Vegas Champ David Tuthill (GPI#188) both earned Top 10 finishes.
7. WPT Doubles Down to End the Year
The World Poker Tour ends 2013 with two big events in Prague, and for the first time in South Korea. The Prague final table goes on Saturday while the Jeju FT will be presented a few days prior on Thursday. Jesse May is hosting a one-hour livestream show called Live and Direct at the end of each day of play in Prague – the first episode featured GPI CEO Alexandre Dreyfus – tune in nightly at 9pm CET for Live and Direct with Jesse May!
8. Big Names Still Alive at EPT Prague
Things are also heating up at EPT Prague as the Main Event still has plenty of stars still in contention, including Ludovic Lacay, Ana Marquez, Stephen Chidwick and GPI300 #1 and GPI Player of the Year contender Ole Schemion. Schemion, who continues to dominate the circuit, was too young to play any events in the US until now.
9. Bravo, Mr. Razavi
A tip of the cap to UK pro Sam Razavi (GPI#557) who won the APT Tour’s Asian Player of the Year for the second straight season over the weekend. Razavi, who was featured in a GPI interview at the WSOP this past summer, is a breath of fresh air on tour, it is certainly great to see him doing so well .. congrats, Sam!
10. Nadal Wins in Debut
World #1 tennis star Rafael Nadal won the very first live poker tournament he participated in last week. Nadal, who played against other sports star in a charity event, took out another World #1 … Daniel Negreanu, who still holds the #1 rank on both the GPI300 and the GPI Player of the Year lists.
