GPI POY Races Return as Brand Celebrates 10th Anniversary

The Global Poker Index (GPI), a leaderboard index that ranks hundreds of thousands of live tournament poker players across the world has officially celebrated its 10th anniversary on 27 June. To mark this major milestone, the “poker ranking authority” is bringing back its popular Player of the Year (POY) rankings which have been suspended in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GPI’s POY races have effectively resumed on June 30, with the latest rankings displayed on its home page. Players will now continue to be ranked under the GPI Global, Female, and National (US) categories.

As part of GPI’s 10th year anniversary celebrations, a new POY race has also been added – the 2021 Mid-Major Player of the Year – bringing the total number of GPI POY races to four. The new category covers all scores in poker tournaments with a buy-in of $2,500 and below. GPI’s partner database, The Hendon Mob (THM), has already begun tracking players’ performances in this category.

All results and POY points calculated retroactively to January 1, 2021 will also count towards this year’s races.

No Changes to GPI’s Ranking Calculations

The addition of a fourth POY race will not affect GPI’s ranking system. As usual, points will be determined based on the player’s top 13 results from at least 32 qualifying events. This method applies to all four POY categories.

Alex Foxen is the latest recipient of the GPI Global POY award. He bagged the honor for two straight years in 2018 and 2019. Last year, American poker pro Giorgiy Skhuluhiya was leading the race when the rankings were suspended in June and then eventually terminated due to the pandemic. There was no official winner declared for 2020.

The first-ever GPI Global POY award went to Jason Mercier back in 2011. Other players ranked as world’s number one by the GPI include Bertrand Grospellier, Erik Seidel, Dan Smith, Ole Schemion, Daniel Negreanu, , Fedor Holz, Bryn Kenney, and Stephen Chidwick.

GPI History

The GPI was founded in 2011 by Federated Sports + Gaming and the Epic Poker League (EPL). Former World Series of Poker (WSOP) commissioner Jeffrey Pollack initially served as executive chairman, with poker pro Annie Duke and Matt Savage acting as commissioner and tournament director respectively.

In 2012, Federated Sports + Gaming filed for bankruptcy and the GPI was eventually acquired by Zokay Entertainment, headed by Alexandre Dreyfus. The GPI has since grown to become one of the top poker ranking systems in the world.