Stephen Chidwick has stopped Alex Foxen’s record run at the top of the Global Poker Index (GPI) 37 weeks after Foxen stopped Chidwick from doing the same.
It’s not often that these two worlds align, but a fortnight ago, the man who a poll of high rollers said is the best live tournament player in the world, returned to the summit of the Global Poker Index (GPI).
Stephen Chidwick stopped Alex Foxen’s record streak of consecutive weeks at #1, 37 weeks after Foxen had stopped Chidwick from breaking the previous record held by Fedor Holz.
The man from Deal in the U.K. earned a career-high $10,197,347 in 2018 and has followed that up with the second-highest gross earnings of his career ($4,630,974) with half of the year remaining.
Chidwick has cashed ten times in 2019, winning three events, and two seven-figure scores. His first two wins came in his defence of the U.S. Poker Open, winning the 90-entrant $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $216,000, and the 39-entrant $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) event for $351,000. A second $25,000 PLO title ended up in Chidwick’s lap, including his first-ever World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, when he conquered a 278-entrant field to win the $1.6m first prize. Chidwick’s other seven-figure score came in March when he finished second to Jason Koon in the HK 1m Triton Refresh at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, Jeju.
And all of this while simultaneously becoming a father for the first time.
Chidwick’s move back into the top spot is no mean feat given Foxen’s incredible run of form. The American earned a career-high $6,632,556 in 2018, and like Chidwick, has also followed that up with his second-best annual performance of $3.1m.
Foxen has cashed 20 times in 2019, making an incredible 11 final tables, without landing a title (he has lost heads-up in four significant buy-in events). With Chidwick taking some paternity leave, Foxen has gotten his head down, but it hasn’t been enough to hang on to the #1 spot.
Nineteen people have held the #1 spot in the GPI.
Adrian Mateos
Anthony Zinno
Bryn Kenney
Byron Kaverman
Dan Smith
Daniel Negreanu
David Peters
Bertrand Grospellier
Erik Seidel
Fedor Holz
Jason Mercier
Marvin Rettenmaier
Nick Petrangelo
Ole Schemion
Scott Seiver
Stephen Chidwick
Steve O’Dwyer
Vanessa Selbst
Alex Foxen
Foxen holds the record for consecutive weeks at the top (37), and Mercier holds the record for most combined weeks (63). Selbst is the only female player to keep the #1 spot.
Consecutive weeks chart
1. Alex Foxen – 37
2. Fedor Holz – 30
3. Stephen Chidwick – 25
4. Steve O’Dwyer – 22
5. Nick Petrangelo – 20
Combined weeks chart
1. Jason Mercier – 63
2. Ole Schemion – 41
3. Dan Smith – 38
4. Alex Foxen – 37
5. Fedor Holz – 30
