The Global Poker Index American Poker Awards are in the bag. Mike Sexton and Kevin Mathers were honoured with a lifetime achievement and special jury awards
The Global Poker Index (GPI) American Poker Awards (APA) are in the bag. My plan was to stay awake all evening and tweet win-by-win but the speed of the Global Poker League (GPL) Draft made that impossible.
Talking about speed:
Byron Kaverman was awarded the GPI Player of the Year award. Kelly Minkin picked up the Female Poker Player of the Year award.
World Poker Tour (WPT) stalwart and Poker Hall of Famer, Mike Sexton, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award. It’s been a good year for Sexton after the release of his biography Life’s a Gamble.
Twitter robot Kevin Mathers also picked up a special award for his contributions to the industry. Looking through social media, it proved to be one of the most popular picks of the night.
Here are the winners.
Media Person of the Year
Joey Ingram
Kevin Mathers
Donnie Peters
Jason Somerville
Industry Person of the Year
Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director
William Mason, Seminole Hard Rock Director of Poker
John Pappas, Poker Players Alliance Executive Director
Matt Savage, TDA Founder & WPT Executive Director
Breakout Performance of the Year
Josh Beckley
Asher Conniff
Cate Hall
Kelly Minkin
Tournament Performance of the Year
Jonthan Duhamel, WSOP One Drop High Roller
Mike Gorodinsky, WSOP Poker Players’ Championship
Joe McKeehen, WSOP Main Event
Anthony Zinno, WPT LA Poker Classic
Event of the Year (Buy-In Under $2,000)
WSOP Colossus
WPT500 at ARIA
SWOP Millionaire Maker
WPTDeepstacks – DSPY Championship
Event of the Year (Buy-in Over $2,000)
Super High Roller Bowl, ARIA
WSOP Main Event
WSOP One Drop High Roller
WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Poker Innovation or Initiative of the Year
Poker Central Launches 24/7 TV Network
SHRPO Live Streams 4 Final Tables Simultaneously
WSOP Online Bracelet
WSOP Colossus
Charitable Initiative of the Year
Chad Brown Memorial Tournament (Maria Ho, Vanessa Rousso)
Charity Series of Poker (Matt Stout)
Tiger’s Poker Night (Tiger Woods, WPT Foundation)
WSOP One Drop High Roller/Little One for One Drop
Poker Presenter of the Year
Sarah Herring
Kara Scott
Joe Stapleton
David Tuchman
Poker Moment of the Year
Anthony Zinno Back to Back WPT Titles
WSOP Colossus Attracts Over 22,000 Players
Phil Hellmuth Wins 14th Bracelet at WSOP
Daniel Negreanu Busts 11th in the WSOP Main Event
Poker Media Content of the Year
BUST, an Insider’s Account of Greenville’s Underground Poker Scene (Brad Willis)
Faraz Jaka Homeless Poker Millionaire, CNN Money (Jaka, Gayles, Carson)
Jason Somerville’s record Twitch Broadcast during WCOOP in September 2015
Joe Giron shoots photo of Negreanu crumbled on the floor after ME elimination
Summary
Poker awards are always extremely subjective to the point of annoyance. I didn’t agree with all of the nominations. I thought there were some undeserving, some same-old-same-old, and some missing. However, I think the panel did a good job, and for once there isn’t really much to say except to congratulate Alex Dreyfus and his team for another job well done.
