Following the second annual edition of the American Poker Awards, which turned out to be an absolute success, it is now time for the best-performing European poker players and their achievements throughout 2015 to be celebrated. This is slated to happen on May 3 in Monte Carlo in the 15th edition of the European Poker Awards.
For more than a decade now, the European Poker Awards have been honoring both players and industry personalities for their achievements on the circuit and contribution to the further growth and popularization of the game of poker. This year, the lavish ceremony will take place on May 3 at Monte Carlo Bay and will coincide with the European Poker Tour Grand Final.
Generally speaking, the nominees in most of the categories are determined by a specially appointed award nomination panel comprised of media personalities. Panel members are given the chance to vote on the best-performing players and the industry personalities that have contributed the most to poker’s growth in the previous year. This year, the panel included 62 members who had the challenging task to select the best of the best in 2015.
The panel’s ballots are now in the hands of the specially appointed independent voting jury. Jury members are to vote on and determine the winners in each voting category. The names of the winners are to be announced during the awards ceremony.
The winners in two of the categories – GPI Player of the Year and GPI Female Player of the Year, are already clear as they are determined by the GPI’s exclusive leaderboard scores. Generally speaking, the two awards are given to the best-performing players in the period between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015, or the ones that have collected the most points based on GPI’s unique scoring formula. German poker player Fedor Holz became the 2015 GPI Player of the Year and British female poker pro Liv Boeree was announced as the 2015 GPI Female Player of the Year.
Apart from those two categories, awards in nine more categories will be given in this year’s edition of the European Poker Awards. Organizers have recently announced the nominees in those and it is now up to the voting jury to determine the ones deserving to receive the shiny statuettes. Here are the nominees in the European Poker Awards:
Media Person of the Year
Neil Stoddart
Frank Op de Woerd
Remko Rinkema
Lee Davy
Industry Person of the Year
Luca Vivaldi
Edgar Stuchly
Thomas Lamatsch
Rob Yong
Hermance Blum
Breakout Player of the Year
Luca Vivaldi
Rob Yong
Edgar Stuchly
Thomas Lamatsch
Hermance Blum
Tournament Performance of the Year
Fedor Holz Wins WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas
Adrian Mateos Wins the 2015 EPT Grand Final Main Event
Mustapha Kanit wins EPT Barcelona $10,000 High Roller
Barny Boatman wins second career WSOP bracelet at WSOP Europe
Event of the Year (buy-in up to €2,000)
WPT500 at Dusk Till Dawn (November)
Estrellas Poker Tour Barcelona (August)
PokerListings Battle of Malta (November)
Norwegian Championships Norway Cup (November)
Event of the Year (category buy-in over €2,000)
WSOP Europe Main Event
EPT Barcelona Main Event
EPT Prague Main Event
EPT Grand Final Main Event
Poker Innovation or Initiative of the Year
WSOP Europe remote Twitch broadcasts
Norwegian Championship broadcast (sports style)
PokerStars using superstars (athletes) for global campaign
PokerStars Play Along App – Interactive Poker on TV
Moment of the Year
John Gale returns from three years off (because of brain tumor) to win WSOP gold bracelet number 2
Dzmitry Urbanovich wins Crazy Pineapple tourney at EPT Malta – 4th win of series
Pierre Neuville qualifies for the WSOP November Nine
Epic hand between Mateos and Lodden at EPT Grand Final (Daniel Negreanu says on stream `We’re seeing some high-level poker`)
Poker Media Content of the Year
Remko Report, PokerNews Podcast, August 2015 – Eli Elezra talks time in Israeli Army and high stakes with legends
`The Future of Poker in the Post-Boom Era`, Sam Grafton blog
Devilfish: A Friend with a Heart of Gold, PokerNews article (Jesse May, Mickey May)
`The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of Defeat` Neil Stoddart’s picture captures Montury consoling Messina at EPT Malta
