Gratitude and Unity Highlight Fifth Global Poker Awards
It is not often that the poker world comes together behind any one cause or purpose. But the Fifth Global Poker Awards in Las Vegas on February 24 highlighted the best of the game and the industry, as well as what it means to many of the winners and nominees to be a part of the community.
The Global Poker Awards took place at the PokerGO Studio on the Las Vegas Strip, as it does each year, and brought together – physically and virtually – the most notable people, entities, and events of the previous year. With 2023 on display, Jeff Platt and Drea Renee hosted an evening of dinner, drinks, speeches, humor, memories, and trophies.
By the Industry, For the Industry
The Global Poker Awards honors dozens in the poker world who provide content, host events, play their best, and highlight the ups and downs of the game for the rest of the world to see.
Some of the categories for the awards put the usual candidates on display. But the voting by a mix of industry professionals, media, participants, and fans sometimes produces unexpected results. That was a refreshing part of this year’s Global Poker Awards, as well as the gratitude expressed by some of the winners.
Jack Effel, accepting Best Poker Event award for WSOP Main Event: “I think poker’s in a really great place right now. I think poker has a lot of legs, and I think it’s going to continue to grow. I really admire seeing all of you in this room and seeing these awards and everybody being recognized for their contributions to poker. It’s really come a long way for us in this industry.”
Adam Pliska, accepting Best Industry Person award: “Why is this so special to me? All of you, as part of the community, have been great, wonderful to work with. This was probably the toughest year of my 21 years (in poker), and it reminded me why it’s such a great thing to be a part of this amazing community. I love my team, but I love all of you. … Look around in this room at the extraordinary people. We frustrate each other, and we piss each other off and everything else, but you know what? We have amazing, amazing careers. We have this amazing opportunity, and I’m just so grateful.”
Ali Nejad, accepting Best Broadcaster award: “To each and every one of you in this room who work in various capacities to support, at times in a very unsung manner, this little thing that we have that continues to persevere, year in and year out, in the face of tremendous amounts of adversity and challenges, my deepest personal thank you to each and every one of you.”
Final Doylisms
No one expressed feelings about poker the way that Doyle Brunson did, courtesy of a video compilation of his words. After Mori Eskandani accepted the Poker Icon award on Brunson’s behalf, the Godfather of Poker reached out from beyond the grave with some gems:
“I feel you own your experiences. They’re yours to keep. What you do now will become a permanent part of you – the good things and the bad things. Think about that as you go through life. I can’t tell you that the cards you’re dealt will be the ones you want, but whatever they turn out to be, play them wisely and honestly and with passion and pleasure. That’s the secret.”
“(Poker) was always challenging, exciting, and rewarding, an ongoing education, an emotional adventure that continues… And I am thankful that I chose my own path or at least followed the path chosen for me and embraced the opportunities that came my way. I still play poker because it energizes me and keeps me thinking young.”
“That’s the most beautiful part of being a gambler – the freedom and the memories.”
Pre-Determined Winners
Prior to the ceremony on February 25, the poker community knew some of the winners already. The initial set of winners was determined by the numbers, the GPI Player of the Year standings from 2023 and the PokerGO Tour Player of the Year race.
- GPI Player of the Year: Bin Weng (USA)
- GPI Female Player of the Year: Kristen Foxen (Canada) (fourth POY win)
- Mid-Major Player of the Year: Nick Pupillo (USA)
- PokerGO Tour Player of the Year: Isaac Haxton (USA)
The GPI Award of Merit, recognizing something that greatly influenced poker as a whole for the year, went to GGPoker’s Game of Gold. The poker-themed reality show was an offshoot of Poker After Dark and brought some of the biggest names in poker to a private game to compete on group and individual levels. In the end, Maria Ho emerged as the champion.
The THM Award, established to recognize great accomplishments by players via their Hendon Mob results, went to Casey Kastle, a longtime poker pro based out of Slovenia. He was the first player to cash in poker tournaments in 50 different countries/nations.
And the award for Best Charitable Community Initiative went to Nadya Magnus. She consistently offers seats into major tournaments to women, via social media and various contests, all from her own pocket. She regularly works to increase the number of women in poker, even currently running a contest to award seats to women for the 2024 WSOP Main Event.
Ceremony GPI/THM Winners
There were several fan’s choice awards, determined by popular vote and announced at the ceremony:
- Fan’s Choice for Poker Personality: Greg Liow of Greg Goes All In
- Fan’s Choice for Best Livestream: PokerStars Live
- Fan’s Choice for Best Trophy: Asian Poker Tour’s Taipei Lion
- Fan’s Choice for Best Hand: Triton London pre-flop action with Stephen Chidwick, Jean Noel-Thorel, and Juan Pardo
There was one Players’ Choice award, which took votes from a top percentage of ranked players to choose their toughest opponent.
- Players’ Choice for Toughest Opponent: Steven Chidwick (third category win)
As for other people who won awards, they were as follows:
- Best Streamer: Bert “Girafganger” Stevens
- Best Tournament Director: Toby Stone
- Best Vlogger: Jaman Burton
- Best Twitter/X Personality: Marle Spragg
- Best Final Table Performance: Dan Sepiol for WPT World Championship win
- Best Photo Media Content: Rachel Kay Winter for Nick Schulman winner photo
- Best Short Form Content Creator: Caitlin Comeskey
- GPI Breakout Player: Jans Arends
- Best Broadcaster: Ali Nejad
- Best Written Media Content: David Hill for WPT Billy Baxter piece
- Poker Industry Person of the Year: Adam Pliska
Finally, there were awards given to various entities for their poker contributions in 2023:
- Best Mid-Major Circuit: WPT Prime
- Best Video Media Content: PokerGO for Doyle Brunson’s Celebration of Life
- Best Podcast: The Chip Race
- Best Standalone Festival: Wynn Millions
- Best Event: WSOP Main Event
PokerGO has made the entire livestream of the Global Poker Awards 2024 available via YouTube.
