Lee Davy continues his confessions series by breaking down his reasoning behind his nominations for the 2014 Global Poker Index European Poker Awards.
I am proud to announce that I have been asked to join a select band of people who will create the initial short list for the 2014 Global Poker Index (GPI) European Poker Awards.
I didn’t cast a vote in all of the categories. I found some easy, others hard, some received one vote, others two, and here most of them, laid out, just for you.
Breakout Player of the Year
There were four people who immediately sprung to mind when considering my vote in this category: Martin Jacobson, Jack Salter, Simon Deadman and Mustapha Kanit.
The inclusion of Jacobson might seem strange to some of you. He was already established as one of the best in the business, well before his $10m win, but he fitted the category criteria perfectly. In the end I left him out, instead voting for him in the ‘Tournament Performance of the Year’ category.
Simon Deadman was the other player to miss out by a worm’s testicle. His consistency, throughout 2014 was outstanding, but I thought Kanit’s two titles at the Aussie Millions, and Salter’s performances in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final, and the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP-APAC) just edged him out.
Tournament Performance of the Year
This was a no brainer for me.
Prior to the 2014 WSOP Main Event, Martin Jacobson was one of the best players in the world NEVER to win a major title. I was hardly surprised that he would choose the most prestigious one of the lot to break his duck.
He was one of the early chip leaders, and used every ounce of his experience to tough his way through to the final table. From that point on his planning, strategy and execution was stunning. The fact that he then donated $250,000 to Raising for Effective Giving (REG) was the chili sauce on that particular kebab.
Charitable Initiative of the Year
This was another easy vote for me. I contribute 3% of my gross income to Raising for Effective Giving (REG). I trust the people who have founded the non-profit; I have similar values, beliefs and interests. They have found a place in my heart and I will always support them, and the people that they support with the money we give them.
Industry Person of the Year / Media Person of the Year
I have coupled these together because I can’t remember which category I voted for each individual. I know, shame on me.
These are tough awards. Very subjective awards. I imagine people will tend to vote for the colleagues they have most contact with. It makes total sense as they get to see, first hand, the tireless work and effort that they are applying to their job.
As I work for the World Poker Tour (WPT) I decided that I would support two of my own. My first vote went to Jessica Tomsett. I don’t know what Jessica’s title is. I never have, and I don’t care. I have always felt like a part of the WPT team, but when Jessica was appointed, she made me feel like I was part of a family.
She looks after me. She looks after everyone. The lines between the top and bottom of the WPT organization are very faint. It’s a small team. Everyone works under extreme stress and pressure. Jessica does it with a smile on her face. It’s a great smile. I could be in an awful mood, but as soon as I see her, it falls onto the floor and gets washed away in the gutter with all the other wasteful shit.
The second person I voted for was our photographer Alin Ivanov. The photographers and videographers are the unsung heroes of the poker community. Nobody knows their names. Nobody understands the role. This often includes the people who manage them.
They are artists, creators and visionaries. Keep them on a leash and they will snarl. Cut them loose and they create wonder out of shit. This is poker. It’s not ballet. Yet Alin can turn the boring and mundane into beauty and magnificence. It’s all about emotion. He captures it perfectly.
I also voted for him because prior to 2014 he was a right miserable bastard. There were times when I wanted to strangle him. But he’s grown up a lot in the past 12-months; interestingly over the same period he has been given more responsibility.
For this I honor him.
The third person that has really impressed me this year is Remko Rinkema. If you can find someone who loves his job more than this man, then I want to meet him or her. He’s a poker nut.
He works at almost every event in the world. Why? It’s because people trust him to deliver top quality product – and he does. Look what he has done since he was handed the opportunity to be front and center as the PokerNews Sideline Reporter. Feminists grab your pitchforks. Remko stepped into a woman’s role and smashed it. People were not employing males in those positions. Thanks to this cuddly little bear, that’s all changed.
Poker Media Content of the Year
This one was a real pain in the ass. I don’t know if it’s my age, or a lack of interest, but nothing sprung to mind. I don’t know whether that’s a good thing, or a bad thing?
In the end I voted for Alin Ivanov and Mantvydas Plynius. I have already spoken about the work that Alin does, so I won’t waste any more letters on the Romanian and instead focus on the giant from Lithuania.
When I first met Mantys he hardly spoke a word of English. Even today he bemoans his lack of English vocabulary and yet I think he speaks more eloquently than most of the people I know.
How brave is that?
Here he was in the midst of strangers, far away from his family, and he couldn’t even communicate with us.
But this was one of his strengths. To make up for his lack of language he focuses on emotion. If you pay attention to his videos, you will see the emotion that he captures in every single frame. You wouldn’t expect this from a guy who failed to blink when once filming a decapitated head, and could easily be a stunt double for The Terminator.
His videos are beautiful and yet nobody outside of the media room knows who he is.
That has to change.
