The American Poker Awards will hand out 15 different medals of honour as the nomination process begins.
La La Land.
Who cares about all of that dancing and singing nonsense?
Three days before Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone take over the world at the 89th Academy Awards, the wo
rld of poker will be in the City of the Stars, to honour the greatest movers and shakers of the most-lauded card game in the world.
The American Poker Awards (APA), presented by PokerStars, will take place Thursday, Feb 23, 2017, at the Sofitel Beverly Hills in California. The evening begins with the third annual APA Poker Conference 14:00 – 18:00 followed by a reception at 19:00. The award ceremony starts an hour later giving the 150 guests time to put their glad rags on.
There will be 15-awards handed out at this year’s ceremony.
We already know the recipients of three of them:
GPI Player of the Year – David Peters
GPI Female Player of the Year – Cate Hall
GPI World Series of Poker Player of the Year – Jason Mercier
The APA will be rolling out a few old favourites:
• “Breakout Performance of the Year”
• “Industry Person of the Year”
• “Media Content of the Year”
• “Media Person of the Year”
• “Moment of the Year”
• “Tournament Performance of the Year”
• “Jury Prize”*
• “Lifetime Achievement Award.”*
• “Charitable Initiative of the Year.”*
*Determined by the APA Jury
Here are the shiny and new:
Event of the Year
In previous years the APA has honoured live event organisers over a series of buy-in ranges. The new award consolidates them.
Mid-Major Circuit of the Year
A new award to honour the best regional and mid-major tours across North America.
Twitch Streamer of The Year
Twitch streaming is the new way to absorb poker content, and it’s a must-have category. The award will not be nomination led, and instead, the APA Awards Jury will decide on a winner.
Podcast of the Year
There will be more poker-related podcasts in the future, and so I understand the creation of this award, which will be selected by the nomination panel.
PocketFives Legacy Award
It’s good to see the online poker community included in the awards ceremony. PocketFives will hand out an award to ‘an online poker legend’ who has also made ‘significant contributions’ on the live tournament circuit.
Hendon Mob Award
The final new award will go to the player who amassed the most ITM cashes on the Hendon Mob database throughout 2016.
The Voting Process
A nomination panel consisting of over 50 members of the poker community have already begun casting votes. The deadline is January 31. If you feel you have the experience to be a part of the panel then send your name to [email protected]
The nomination panel will draw up the shortlist of four nominees, and an APA Jury of seven people will select the winner on the day of the awards.
Here is a look back at the winners in 2015:
• GPI Player of the Year – Byron Kaverman
• GPI Female Player of the Year – Kelly Minkin
• Media Person of the Year – Donnie Peters
• Industry Person of the Year – Matt Savage
• Breakout Performance of the Year – Josh Beckley
• Tournament Performance of the Year – Anthony Zinno (WPT LA Poker Classic)
• Event of the Year (-$2,000 buy-in) – WSOP Colossus
• Event of the Year (+$2,000 buy-in) – WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
• Poker Initiative of the Year – WSOP adds an Online Bracelet
• Charitable Initiative of the Year – Charity Series of Poker (Matt Stout)
• Poker Presenter of the Year – Kara Scott
• Poker Moment of the Year – Daniel Negreanu’s run in the WSOP Main Event
• Poker Media Content of the Year – Joe Giron’s photo of Negreanu in that event
