The Global Poker Awards, the poker world's leading series of honors recognizing excellence throughout the poker world, has announced its finalists for awards in 18 separate categories. The categories include 15 awards for which voting by a cross-section of the poker world was conducted in the past two weeks, plus three special "Fans' Choice" categories open to the general public.
One of this year's Fans' Choice categories, for Best Poker Personality, remains open to everyone for voting through January 26. The four finalists in the Best Poker Personality offer a truly international section, with the final four being France's Johan “YoH ViraL” Guilbert, Canada's Greg “Greg Goes All In” Liow, the United States' Jonathan Little, and Japan's Masato Yokosawa. The final voting is an all-new round, although preliminary votes also carry over, and anyone can vote again through this link.
Five poker personalities pick up two finalist nods each
Five well-known poker people made the final four in two categories each. France's Guilbert was one of the five double finalists, after also making the final cut in the GPI Breakout Player category.
Guilbert was joined by four Americans in receiving two finalist nods -- Jamie Kerstetter, Jeff Platt, Doug Polk, and Joe Stapleton. Kerstetter, Platt, and Stapleton make up three fourths of the finalist roster in the Best Broadcaster category, joining Ali Nejad. Stapleton (with James Hartigan) and Polk also made the finals in the Best Podcast category.
Polk also made the finals in one of the Fans' Choice categories, for Best Hand. Kerstetter picked up the second finalist nod in the Best Twitter Personality (where she seeks to repeat), while Platt's second finalist nod came in the Best Media Content: Video category.
The winners will be announced next month, when the 3rd Global Poker Awards will be streamed live from the PokerGO Studio at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Friday, February 18. Besides these awards, the GPA ceremonies will also include the winners in several Player of the Year categories, as previously announced.
Here are the finalists as announced on Tuesday by the Global Poker Awards in these 18 categories:
BEST FINAL TABLE PERFORMANCE
- Koray Aldemir (Germany), WSOP Main Event
- Jeremy Ausmus (USA), WSOP PLO High Roller
- Daniel “Jungleman” Cates (USA), WSOP 50K Poker Players Championship
- Adam Friedman (USA), WSOP 10K Dealer’s Choice 6-Max Championship
GPI BREAKOUT PLAYER
- Christopher Brewer (USA)
- Kyna England (USA)
- Johan Guilbert (France)
- Vanessa Kade (Canada)
PLAYERS CHOICE FOR TOUGHEST OPPONENT
- Michael Addamo (Australia)
- Stephen Chidwick (England)
- Ali Imsirovic (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
- David Peters (USA)
TWITTER PERSONALITY
- Will Jaffe (USA)
- Jamie Kerstetter (USA)
- Kitty Kuo (Taiwan)
- Kevin Mathers (USA)
BEST STREAMER
- Kevin Martin “kevinmartin” (Canada)
- Benjamin Spragg “Spraggy” (England)
- Jonathan Van Fleet “apestylespoker” (USA)
- Lex Veldhuis “LexVeldhuis” (Netherlands)
BEST VLOGGER
- Jaman Burton (USA)
- Ryan Depaulo (USA)
- Brad Owen (USA)
- Ethan “Rampage” Yau (USA)
BEST INDUSTRY PERSON
- Tony Burns (USA)
- Jack Effel (USA)
- Mori Eskandani (Iran/USA)
- Matt Savage (USA)
BEST TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR
- Paul Campbell (USA)
- Justin Hammer (USA)
- Ray Pulford (USA)
- Andy Tillman (USA)
BEST EVENT
- Seminole Hard Rock Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Opening Event
- World Series of Poker Main Event
- Wynn Mystery Bounty (Summer 2021)
- Wynn Millions
BEST PODCAST
- Poker in the Ears (James Hartigan, Joseph Stapleton for PokerStars)
- The Chip Race Poker Podcast (David Lappin, Dara O’Kearney for Unibet Poker)
- The Doug Polk Podcast (Doug Polk)
- The Heart of Poker (Kara Scott)
BEST BROADCASTER
- Jamie Kerstetter (USA)
- Ali Nejad (USA)
- Jeff Platt (USA)
- Joseph Stapleton (USA)
BEST LIVE REPORTER
- Merom “Mickey” Doft (USA)
- Timothy Duckworth (Australia)
- Chad Holloway (USA)
- Christian Zetszche (Germany)
BEST MEDIA CONTENT: WRITTEN
- Lance Bradley (Canada) for PocketFives: Isai Scheinberg: His Company, His Legacy, and How Black Friday Impacted Both
- Alex O’Brien (Germany) for BBC: How a $10k poker win changed how I think
- D’Arcy Maine (USA) for ESPN.com: While battling brain cancer, Michael Graydon lives World Series of Poker dream
- Charles Rabin (USA) for Miami Herald: From immigration ‘cage’ to newest poker champ at Hard Rock. An Afghan refugee’s luck turns
BEST MEDIA CONTENT: PHOTO
- Antonio Abrego (USA) for PokerGO: Adam Friedman defeats Phil Hellmuth for 3rd straight WSOP 10K Dealers Choice title
- Hayley Hochstetler (USA): The End of an Era
- Enrique Malfavon (USA) for PokerGO: The WSOP Main Event Bubble Bursts
- Danny Maxwell (Ireland) for PokerNews/WSOP: Brandon Shack-Harris and his umbrella at WSOP
BEST MEDIA CONTENT: VIDEO
- Paul Graydon & Andrew Neeme (USA): The Villain Who Stole Christmas
- Last Call Pokeridokumentii (Finland)
- Jeff Platt (USA) for PokerGO: “Stand Up for Me, Please!”
- Remko Rinkema (Netherlands) for PokerGO: Run it Back with Stefanie Ungar
- Run It Once: Meet The Jungleman
FANS CHOICE: BEST HAND
- Daniel “Jungleman” Cates (USA) gets Leng to fold in 50K PPC
- Doug Polk (USA) makes epic fold vs. Phil Hellmuth on High Stakes Poker
- Nicholas Rigby (USA) pulls monster bluff during late stages of WSOP Main Event
- Quads over Quads on Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event (Chang Liu vs Ugur Secilmis)
FANS CHOICE: BEST TROPHY
- Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup
- MSPT South Dakota State Championship
- Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship
- WPTDeepStacks Gold Coast
FANS CHOICE: POKER PERSONALITY
- Johan “YoH ViraL” Guilbert (France)
- Greg “Greg Goes All In” Liow (Canada)
- Jonathan Little (USA)
- Masato Yokosawa (Japan)
Featured image source: revolutionpix/Global Poker Index
