Being one of the most prestigious poker rankings in the world, the GPI Player of the Year ranks the players who demonstrate consistency and excellent performance on the live circuit during one calendar year. And the Global Poker Index publishes updates of the leaderboard on a weekly basis.
Generally speaking, the GPI Player of the Year ranking is based on the players’ performance given their finishing in cash positions in various qualifying tournaments within the calendar year. A qualifying event is one with a buy-in fee of $1 and 21 or more entries.
And as previously reported, American poker player Byron Kaverman became the 2015 GPI Player of the Year with a total of 4,736.90 points. The poker pro received the great honor after showing more than excellent performance on the felt last year. He won a WSOP event for his first-ever gold bracelet, topped the fields of other prestigious tournaments, and collected a little less than $3.5 million in live tournament earnings.
Fellow American poker player Anthony Zinno ranked 2nd in the prestigious leaderboard with a total of 4,649.05 points. It is interesting to note that he actually topped the ranking for 17 consecutive years in 2015. His reign started on July 8 and ended on November 3, when the player was replaced by Kaverman.
Last year, Zinno added $3.8 million to his poker bankroll. He won his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet as well as two WPT Main Events. Bearing in mind his previous WPT title from September 2013, Zinno became the third-ever player to win three WPT Main Events, with Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen being the other two.
Irish poker professional Steve O’Dwyer finished 2015 ranking 3rd in the 2015 GPI Player of the Year leaderboard with 4,640.17 points. The player won 3 high roller events over the span of the past twelve months and finished in cash positions in a number of other prestigious events. Last year was O’Dwyer’s most profitable one as the poker pro managed to collect a little less than $4.9 million in live tournament winnings.
Nicholas Petrangelo took 4th place in the 2015 GPI Player of the Year ranking with 4,605.26 points collected over the past twelve months. The player won a total of $3.4 million in 2015 and it could be said that last year was his most profitable one since the beginning of his poker career. Petrangelo topped the field of a WSOP event for his first gold bracelet and won a PCA event as well. What is more, he made final table appearances and finished in cash positions in a number of prestigious events around the world.
Last but not least, German poker pro Fedor Holz ended the year ranking 5th in the GPI Player of the Year leaderboard with 4,260.13 points. Holz, too, had quite a successful year, winning $3.5 million in various live events. In December, the young German emerged victorious in the WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas. Apart from his triumph, he made several final table appearances and cashed in other prestigious tournaments throughout 2015.
