The third installment of the 2012 British Poker Awards, which will be held on September 17 at the yacht H.M.S. President in London, is nearing judgment day and for all the nominees in all the categories, it’s about time that speech preparations are being made. Jinxing their chances notwithstanding, it’s always a safe idea to have something written down, be it an elaborate five-minute tear-jerker or just your regular scribbled notes on a diner napkin.
Speaking of the nominees, the British Poker Awards seeks to give plaudits to the UK players who made a big impact in the world of poker. Some players are more popular than others whereas some are probably just breaking into the scene, but rest assured, all these fellas – and ladies – deserve whatever praise they get from their peers.
Having said of all that, we’re here to break down the categories and their respective nominees, sort of like give everyone a chance to know who they’re voting for – after all, most of the awards are reader polls – to win their respective categories.
As an aside, we’re leaving out all the Pro’s Choice and Judges Choice awards because they’re completely out of the public’s hands.
One of the more eagerly anticipated awards is for Best Cash Player, which is the true barometer on how skilled a poker player is on the felt. The early favorite, at least in our opinion, is Sam Trickett, who has had quite a run since the calendar turned 2012. Joining Trickett in the running are Andrew Moseley, Ben Grundy, Alexander “Kanu7” Millar, and Fred Ogilvie.
For the Best Online Player category, a pair of Chris’ headline the list of nominees. Both Chris Brammer and Chris Moorman are also nominated for Best Tournament Player so you the safe play is to book these two as the early favorites to win the award for best online player. Three other players are also in the running, including Matthew Frankland, Rob Akery, and Ross “RLOG” Loggie.
The Poker Personality of the Year category doesn’t have to be a true-to-the-cards poker player, although Liv Boeree has earned her stripes in the industry for being both a personality and a hotshot poker pro, the latter of which is backstopped by three impressive cashes at the 2012 WSOP, including placing 631st in the Main Event. Joining Boeree in the running for UK poker’s personality award are Victoria Coren, Kara Scott, Neil Channing, and Andrew Feldman, who has also crossed over to the world of television as the mystery benefactor in the Channel 4 show “The Secret Millionaire”.
Coren and Channing may or may not be the faves to win in the Poker Personality of the Year category, but they can surely take solace in the fact that they have another category where they’re both in the running. This one, the Best Poker Blogger/Social Media, also has James Atkin, “Lil” Dave Nicholson, and Tony Kendall as the nominees.
Moving into the world of online poker forums, six websites are up in the running to be crowned the winner of Best Poker Forum. Contending for the title are BlackBeltPoker, BlondePoker, Gutshot, Punterslounge, SkyPoker, and TheHendonMob.
For Best UK Tournament, seven tournaments are in the mix led by EPT London, the APAT Grand Final, and the Sky Poker Tour Grand Final. Others looking to get readers’ support, include the DTD Grand Prix, the Genting Poker Series – London, GUKPT Goliath, and UKIPT Nottingham.
As for the Best Poker League, six of the UK’s best are all vying for the title, including Champions Poker League, Discover Poker League, Live Pub Poker League, Nuts Poker League, Poker Tree, and Redtooth Poker.
Finally, one of the most anticipated categories of the 2012 British Poker Awards is for Biggest Contribution to Growing & Promoting Poker. A total of eight – all worthy, by the way! – nominees are in the mix with each having legitimate claims for the award. Genting Poker Series’ Gary Coates and Kevin Proctor are in the running, as are UKIPT’s Kristy Thompson, D4 Events – Deepstack Events’ Mike Lacey, Russell Tamplin of the GUKPT, Simon Tomsett of Palm Beach Big Game, DTD’s Simon Trumper, Tony Kendall and Tony Kendall of Sky Poker, BlondePoker, and APAT.
