The nominations for the 4th Annual American Poker Awards (APA) are out, and poker media content is the entree of the night with Poker Central and Doug Polk up for a combined 11 awards.
Hoodies remain on octopus-like hooks. Sunglasses sleep in the undisturbed draw. Hair as thick as a lion’s mane sees a brush for the first time in yonks. Bottled scents get to breathe. Expensive clothes blinded by the light. Heels prepare to make a dent in the earth. The smell of polish permeates the air.
It’s time for the American poker community to get dressed up. It’s time for teary-eyed speeches. It’s time for massaged egos. It’s time to find a space in the trophy cabinet. It’s time for the 4th Annual American Poker Awards (APA).
APA sounds like a type of alcohol, and one imagines the Andaz West Hollywood, Los Angeles will drown in the stuff when the poker community mass together on February 22nd to celebrate the performances, princes and princesses of 2017.
When the Global Poker Index (GPI) announced plans to host the 4th Annual APA I read the award categories and said that media entities would feature heavily. It seems my crystal ball doesn’t need a new battery.
It’s been a momentous 12-months for Poker Central. Born as poker’s version of UK Gold, the transformation has been revolutionary. For the first time in our industry poker fans have a one-stop shop for exclusive, original content, and the heady mix of industry leaders, poker players and media members who make up the 102 strong nomination panel rewarded them with eight nominations.
On an individual basis, poker media mogul, Doug Polk, turns up in three categories. Two for his exploits off the felt (Video Blogger & Biggest Influencer), and one for his skills on it (his One Drop High Roller victory). I can’t wait to see the video Polk produces, win or lose in the two media categories where he is up against Daniel Negreanu. Over the weekend, Polk called Negreanu an ‘embarrassment to poker.’ Let’s hope there is a comedian brave enough to have some fun with the seating arrangements on the night in question.
12 awards.
54 finalists.
Here are the nominations in full:
BREAKOUT PLAYER
• Dejuante “DJ” Alexander
• Michael Del Vecchio
• William Alex Foxen
• Artur Papazyan
TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCE
• Scott Blumstein (WSOP Main Event)
• Darren Elias (WPT Fallsview)
• Bryn Kenney (PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Super High Roller)
• Doug Polk (WSOP One Drop High Roller)
MOMENT OF THE YEAR
• 70-year-old John Smith makes back-to-back WSOP 10K Heads-Up finals
• Ema Zajmovic becomes first female player to win open event on World Poker Tour
• Vanessa Selbst’s Full House loses to Gaelle Baumann’s Quads early in the WSOP Main Event
• Tom Dwan makes his return to America, stars on Poker After Dark reboot on PokerGo
EVENT OF THE YEAR
• Super High Roller Bowl (ARIA Las Vegas)
• partypoker MILLIONS North America (Playground Poker Club Montreal)
• Poker Masters Event #1 (ARIA Las Vegas)
• World Series of Poker Main Event (Rio Las Vegas)
MID-MAJOR CIRCUIT
• Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT)
• RUNGOOD Poker Series
• WPTDeepStacks (WPTDS)
• World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC)
JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
• Drew Amato
• Lance Bradley
• BJ Nemeth
• Steve Ruddock
• Jessica Welman
BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR
• Nick Schulman
• Joseph Stapleton
• Lon McEachern
• Ali Nejad
MEDIA CONTENT
• Adrian Moreno in tears after Little One for One Drop win; days after losing his friend (Drew Amato, photo for WSOP.com)
• Dead Money: A Super High Roller Bowl Story (PokerCentral documentary)
• Poker Brat: The Phil Hellmuth Story (Phil Hellmuth, published by D&B Publishing)
• Resilience Defined: Sheddy Siddiqui Raising his Two Boys #ForCathy (Lance Bradley, article for PocketFives)
PODCAST
• PokerCentral Podcast (Brent Hanks, Will O’Connor, Remko Rinkema)
• PokerNews Podcast (Brent Harrington, Sarah Herring, Matt Parvis)
• Poker Life Podcast (Joe Ingram)
• TwoPlusTwo Podcast (Terrence Chan, Ross Henry, Adam Schwartz
VIDEO BLOGGER
• Joe Ingram
• Daniel Negreanu
• Andrew Neeme
• Doug Polk
POKER STREAMER
• Jeff Gross
• Bill Perkins
• Jason Somerville
• Jaime Staples
• Parker Talbot
INDUSTRY PERSON
• Tony Burns
• Sean McCormack
• Adam Pliska
• Matt Savage
POKER’S BIGGEST INFLUENCER
• Cary Katz
• Daniel Negreanu
• Doug Polk
• Matt Savage
OTHER TROPHIES TO BE PRESENTED AT THE AWARDS
• 2017 GPI American Player of the Year: Bryn Kenney
• 2017 GPI Female Player of the Year: Kristen Bicknell
• Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poker
• Charitable Initiative
• Jury Prize
• PocketFives Legacy Award
• People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year
The People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year is one for you, the fan, follow the blue rabbit hole to have your say.
