Like nearly everything else, the Global Poker Awards took an unscheduled hiatus due to the pandemic. It was inevitable, though. Much of the world went into lockdown or some form of quarantining situation in early 2020, and much of the year lacked live poker results. In addition, people living in areas without online poker were unable to travel to accessible regions of the world. Obviously, the pandemic made a mess of everything in 2020.
The Global Poker Awards had just hosted a very successful ceremony in early March 2020. It celebrated the best of poker in 2019. The event took place at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. “Miami” John Cernuto won the Hendon Mob Award, and the Global Poker Index and The Hendon Mob honored Johnny Chan with the Poker ICON Award. Numerous people and industry representatives won awards that night.
The rest of 2020 made it impossible to host a fair Global Poker Awards nomination, voting, and awards process.
However, the Global Poker Awards peeked out from behind its medical-grade mask earlier this year. In April, the Global Poker Index (GPI), The Hendon Mob (THM), and PokerGO announced a multi-year partnership extension through 2024. That meant the Global Poker Awards would continue through 2024 as it had prior to the pandemic. And within that announcement, they let it be known that the Global Poker Awards would return in March 2022.
In June, the Global Poker Index relaunched its rankings. With a possible end to some pandemic crackdowns in sight and quite a bit of live poker already resumed, GPI opened the rankings again and tracked back to January 1, 2021.
It’s Back and It’s Official
GPI and THM, along with partner PokerGO, will present the Global Poker Awards to honor the best of 2021. And there is already a date for the ceremony: Friday, February 18. The PokerGO Studio at Aria on the Las Vegas Strip will again host the ceremony, and PokerGO will livestream it.
https://twitter.com/gpi/status/1470785352000491523?s=20
There will be more than 20 honorees. The full list is forthcoming, but it will include:
-2021 GPI Player of the year (Alex Foxen won in 2020 for 2019)-Player’s Choice for Toughest Opponent (Stephen Chidwick won in 2020)-Poker ICON (Johnny Chan won in 2020)-Best Vlogger (Andrew Neeme won in 2020)
Fan Choice awards will be available soon for voting, which will start in early 2021. In fact, organizers will announce the entire voting process soon.
Current POY Standings
With only about two weeks left in 2021, let’s look at the current GPI Player of the Year rankings as of December 15.
Ranking
Player
Points
1
Ali Imsirovic (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
3872.54
2
Uri Reichenstein (Israel)
3383.08
3
Chance Kornuth (USA)
3154.47
4
Adam Hendrix (USA)
3114.29
5
Sergio Aido (Spain)
3090.55
6
Chad Eveslage (USA)
3006.84
7
Johan Guilbert (France)
2998.51
8
Sean Perry (USA)
2997.08
9
Barry Hutter (USA)
2992.12
10
Brock Wilson (USA)
2981.38
Imsirovic has been in the top spot for 25 weeks.
The GPI usually presents an award for the Female Player of the Year as well. Kristin Bicknell won it for 2019 and for the two previous years as well. This year, though, she is not in the top 10. As of December 15, the standings are:
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