Global Poker Award Nominees Announced Ahead of February 18th Show

Posted by Joe Ellison . March 25, 2024

“And the winner is…”

The 2021 Global Poker Awards will take place on February 18^th this year, with excitement building for some of the world’s biggest poker players, organizers and fans. Everyone can’t wait for the winners to be announced, and with all-new categories, Fans’ Choice Awards and much more, we can’t wait either.

Among the nominations, plenty of poker legends have received nods, such as our own columnists Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin, whose The Chip Race podcast is up for best podcast.

To celebrate the nominations being finalized, we spoke with Eric Danis, President of the Global Poker Index and The Hendon Mob, as he continues preparations for the greatest poker show on Earth.

World Series of Poker a Big Influence on Nominations… For Now

Overall, last year’s 2021 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas was a huge boon to the poker industry, and that is represented in the 2021 Global Poker Awards nominations. With the four favorite final table performances all coming from the WSOP, Danis believes that although this is this an indicator of just how important the World Series is to poker players and fans alike, next year could well be a different story.

“There is no doubt that the World Series of Poker will always be host to some of the best final tables year in, year out,” he said. “But I think the fact that the WSOP was one of only a few major events to happen in 2021 made it more predictable that they could run the table. With more major tours returning, I’m sure we’ll see voters add a few non-WSOP final tables to their ballots next year.”

Multiple Nominees Include Cates, Stapleton and Kerstetter

Several stand out performers are nominated for multiple awards, such as Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, broadcaster & podcast co-host Joe Stapleton and plyer and presenter Jamie Kerstetter. But whose award acceptance speech would Danis most like to hear on February 18^th when the show goes out live on PokerGO?

“If we could somehow have both Jungleman and Doug Polk accepting trophies at the same time, their winner’s speech could break poker twitter!” said Danis.

Indeed, the feedback on Twitter has been sensational. While poker has been in a transitionary phase for two years, with live events pivoting to online during the pandemic, the return of many major events in 2021 and from now on mean everyone looks forward to the chance for winners to celebrate their achievements at the Global Poker Awards.

Who Could Win the Toughest Opponent Category?

All four of the nominees for Toughest Opponent are exceptional players, with Australian Michael Addamo joined in the final four by Britain’s finest, Stephen Chidwick, the 2021 PokerGO Tour winner Ali Imsirovic and perennial peer-favorite David Peters all given the recognition from their fellow players.

Danis has noticed a wave of interest in all four men during the last year on The Hendon Mob.

“We introduced Players Choice at our last GPA’s with Stephen Chidwick taking home the trophy.” He said. “The list of four nominees this year is, as expected, as impressive. The search engines often contain these four names. Ali Imsirovic, who kept on winning poker tournaments every weekend in 2021 it seemed, was obviously a very popular follow both on GPI and THM during the past year, but all four players are absolute studs, and very popular on the database.”

Fans’ Choice Awards Highlight Fun Element in Poker

There are some brilliant awards up for grabs this year, but our favorite may well be the choice of Best Trophy, which is open to the poker-loving public. Suggested by new GPI/THM Poker Information Manager Kevin Mathers, also known as ‘Kevmath’, one trophy to make headlines is the one awarded to winners of the MSPT South Dakota State Championship, which has two upturned pistols as part of the trophy. Just how popular is the South Dakota trophy and do the other three trophies in the running still have a chance?

“Sure, a couple of guns on a trophy stand are cool,” says Danis, “But the competition was ferocious for Best Trophy. We can’t wait to reveal the winner on Feb 18^th on PokerGO and we can thank then non-member of GPI/THM Kevin Mathers for the Best Trophy category. I think he may have suggested a Best Trophy category as a joke, or at least expecting us to say no, but instead, I think he was shocked at how fast I said yes to the suggestion!”

It’s sure to be an absolute blast in mid-February and we’ll be bringing you an exclusive glimpse behind the scenes of the Global Poker Awards in February as the hype for the greatest poker show of the year builds in earnest.

Who’ll get their hands on a 2021 Global Poker Award in Las Vegas in four weeks’ time? We can’t wait to find out!

2021 Global Poker Awards Nominations in full:

Best Final Table Performance

Koray Aldemir – WSOP Main Event
Jeremy Ausmus – WSOP PLO High Roller
Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates – WSOP Poker Players Championship
Adam Friedman – WSOP Dealer’s Choice 6-Max Championship

GPI Breakout Player

Christopher Brewer (U.S.A.)
Kyna England (U.S.A.)
Johan Guilbert (France)
Vanessa Kade (Canada)

Players Choice – Toughest Opponent

Michael Addamo (Australia)
Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom)
Ali Imsirovic (Bosnia/U.S.A.)
David Peters (U.S.A.)

Twitter Personality

Will Jaffe (U.S.A.)
Jamie Kerstetter (U.S.A.)
Kitty Kuo (Taiwan)
Kevin Mathers (U.S.A.)

Best Streamer

Kevin Martin (Canada)
Benjamin Spragg (United Kingdom)
Jonathan Van Fleet (U.S.A.)
Lex Veldhuis (Netherlands)

Best Vlogger

Jaman Burton (U.S.A.)
Ryan Depaulo (U.S.A.)
Brad Owen (U.S.A.)
Ethan Yau (U.S.A.)

Best Industry Person

Tony Burns (U.S.A.)
Jack Effel (U.S.A.)
Mori Eskandani (Iran/U.S.A.)
Matt Savage (U.S.A.)

Best Tournament Director

Paul Campbell (U.S.A.)
Justin Hammer (U.S.A.)
Ray Pulford (U.S.A.)
Andy Tillman (U.S.A.)

Best Event

Seminole Hard Rock Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Opening Event
World Series of Poker Main Event
Wynn Mystery Bounty Event (Summer)
Wynn Millions

Best Podcast

Poker in the Ears (James Hartigan & Joseph Stapleton for PokerStars)
The Chip Race Poker Podcast (David Lappin & Dara O’Kearney for Unibet Poker)
The Doug Polk Podcast (Doug Polk)
The Heart of Poker (Kara Scott for 888poker)

Best Broadcaster

Jamie Kerstetter (U.S.A.)
Ali Nejad (U.S.A.)
Jeff Platt (U.S.A.)
Joseph Stapleton (U.S.A.)

Best Live Reporter

Merom ‘Mickey’ Doft (U.S.A.)
Tim Duckworth (Australia)
Chad Holloway (U.S.A.)
Christian Zetszche (Germany)

Best Media Content (Written)

Lance Bradley for PocketFives: ‘Isai Scheinberg: His Company, His Legacy, and How Black Friday Impacted Both’
Alex O’Brien for BBC: ‘How a $10k poker win changed how I think’
D’Arcy Maine for ESPN: ‘While battling brain cancer, Michael Graydon lives World Series of Poker dream’
Charles Rabin for Miami Herald: ‘From immigration ‘cage’ to newest poker champ at Hard Rock. An Afghan refugee’s luck turns’

Best Media Content (Photography)

Antonio Abrego for PokerGO: ‘Adam Friedman defeats Phil Hellmuth for Third Straight WSOP 10K Dealers Choice title
Hayley Hochstetler for PokerNews: ‘The End of an Era’
Enrique Malfavon for PokerGO: ‘The WSOP Main Event Bubble Bursts’
Danny Maxwell for PokerNews: ‘Brandon Shack-Harris and his Umbrella at WSOP’

Best Media Content (Video)

Paul Graydon & Andrew Neeme: ‘The Villain Who Stole Christmas’
Pokeridokumentii (Finland) – ‘Last Call’
Jeff Platt for PokerGO: ‘Stand Up for Me, Please!’
Remko Rinkema for PokerGO: ‘Run it Back with Stefanie Ungar’
Run It Once: ‘Meet The Jungleman’

Fans’ Choice: Best Hand

Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates Gets Ryan Leng to fold in WSOP $50K PPC
Doug Polk makes Epic Fold vs. Phil Hellmuth on High Stakes Poker
Nicholas Rigby (U.S.A.) pulls monster bluff during late stages of WSOP Main Event
Quads over Quads on Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event (Chang Liu vs Ugur Secilmis)

Fans’ Choice: Best Trophy