Global Poker Index: Dan Smith Continues Dominance; Daniel Colman Making POY Charge

Daniel Colman

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player’s results over six half-year periods. The GPI also ranks the top performers of the year over two six-month periods as calculated by the USA Today Global Poker Index point system.

2014 GPI Player of the Year

RankPlayerGPI ScoreChange
1Dan Smith3839.04-
2Daniel Colman3820.76+3
3Mustapha Kanit3567.62-1
4Jason Mercier3545.77-1
5Scott Seiver3480.86-1
6Jacob Schindler3384.02-
7Keven Stammen3278.36-
8Alex Bilokur3276.21-
9Davidi Kitai3251.01+7
10George Danzer3226.87+9

While Dan Smith maintains his lead in the 2014 GPI Player of the Year race and Daniel Colman has jumped up into second position, the biggest moves occurred at the bottom of the top 10 with Davidi Kitai and George Danzer both making big gains to move into the ninth and tenth spots, respectively.

A runner-up showing in the £5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha event at EPT London this week was enough to catapult Kitai from No. 16 up to No. 9. Meanwhile George Danzer's stellar WSOP Asia-Pacific where he cashed three times including winning his third WSOP bracelet this year in the AU$5,000 8-Game Mixed Event helped him move back into the top 10 for the first time since July.

GPI 300 Top 10

RankPlayerGPI ScoreChange
1Dan Smith4074.73-
2Ole Schemion4015.54-
3Daniel Negreanu3889.56-
4Jason Mercier3814.17-
5Scott Seiver3648.91-
6Olivier Busquet3600.88+5
7Davidi Kitai3588.84+1
8Byron Kaverman3570.64-2
9Alex Bilokur3493.30-2
10Stephen Chidwick3370.26-1

Dan Smith continues to top the overall GPI rankings as well this week as there was no change among the top five. This marks the eighth-straight week Smith has led the GPI 300, while he's now been in first position in the GPI POY race for seven weeks.

Meanwhile leaping up into the sixth spot from No. 11 this week is Olivier Busquet, his victory in the £2,200 UKIPT High Roller over the weekend garnering him the points to move up and into a career high spot for the New Yorker.

Welcome to the GPI

RankPlayerTotal Score
208Matias Ruzzi1834.94
257Atanas Kavrakov1708.97
270Jesse Alexis Cohen1695.83
289Dmitry Yurasov1654.22
291Chad Eveslage1652.05
292Fabian Quoss1651.49
293Ludovic Geilich1647.28
294Alexander Queen1644.49
295Roman Korenev1642.59
296James Collopy1641.93
297Seth Berger1639.82
298Bryan Campanello1639.66
299Andrey Pateychuk1638.73

A lot of shuffling — most of it at the very bottom of the GPI Top 300 — meant 13 players dropped from the list to be replaced by 13 others this week. Among those falling out of the Top 300 this week are a number of notables, including Zimnan Ziyard (to No. 322), Barny Boatman (to No. 324), and Johnny Lodden (to No. 350).

Biggest Gains

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
195Rasmus Agerskov Larsen1864.76+56
205Richard Lyndaker1842.08+55
192Henrik Hecklen1873.37+54
156Joao Vieira2031.26+53
257Atanas Kavrakov1708.97+52

An eighth-place finish in the £770 UKIPT Main Event helped move Denmark's Rasmus Agerskov Larsen up from No. 251 to No. 195 this week.

Biggest Drops

RankPlayerTotal GPI ScoreChange
279Jacob Bazeley1683.55-81
251Giacomo Fundaro1727.09-69
290Sergio Aido1653.22-67
276Kunal Patel1689.32-60
267Corrie Wunstel1697.34-56

Finally among those dropping this week yet retaining spots inside the Top 300 Jacob Bazeley fell the furthest, moving down from No. 198 to No. 279.

To view the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you’re at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

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