Global Poker Index: Joe Kuether Takes Over 2015 Player of the Year Lead
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.
2015 GPI Player of the Year
| Rank | Player | GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Kuether | 1498.98 | +2 |
| 2 | Nicholas Petrangelo | 1378.60 | +4 |
| 3 | Scott Seiver | 1327.94 | -2 |
| 4 | Ivan Luca | 1231.94 | -1 |
| 5 | Ognyan Dimov | 1219.99 | - |
| 6 | Walter Fisher | 1192.79 | -2 |
| 7 | Jason Mercier | 1181.63 | - |
| 8 | Davidi Kitai | 1154.14 | - |
| 9 | Ramin Hajiyev | 1145.28 | - |
| 10 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | 1121.77 | +12 |
There’s a new name atop the 2015 Global Poker Index Player of the Year leaderboard this week as Joe Kuether moves up a couple of places to knock Scott Seiver off the top rung where he’d been sitting for the last month.
Among Kuether’s tournament scores thus far this year is a runner-up finish in the $25,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller, good for a career-high $1,050,000 cash. He’s also made final tables in a World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Open event, a WSOP Circuit prelim in West Palm Beach, and at the Deep Stack Extravaganza at the Venetian in Las Vegas.
Nicholas Petrangelo closed out February final-tabling the $5,250 NLHE event at the 2015 L.A. Poker Classic to move up to No. 2 in the POY rankings. The only newcomer in the top 10 this week is Dzmitry Urbanovich who jumped from No. 22 to No. 10 after winning the €2,200 Eureka Poker Tour Rozvadov High Roller in the Czech Republic.
GPI 300 Top 10
| Rank | Player | GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ole Schemion | 4259.17 | - |
| 2 | Davidi Kitai | 3742.29 | +1 |
| 3 | Pratyush Buddiga | 3722.71 | -1 |
| 4 | Scott Seiver | 3653.25 | - |
| 5 | Jason Mercier | 3600.76 | - |
| 6 | Bryn Kenney | 3510.52 | - |
| 7 | Jonathan Duhamel | 3327.37 | +1 |
| 8 | Ami Barer | 3325.72 | -1 |
| 9 | Daniel Negreanu | 3299.64 | +1 |
| 10 | Byron Kaverman | 3296.14 | -1 |
Turning to the overall GPI rankings, we find the same 10 players occupying the top positions again this week, with only small moves up and down among them. One player who hasn’t moved at all, though, is Ole Schemion who continues to enjoy a decent-sized lead over the chase pack as he comes in at No. 1 for an 11th-straight week.
Daniel Negreanu inched up another spot to No. 9 this week, and will likely move up further a week from now after collecting the points for taking 35th in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic. Negreanu earned $30,900 for that finish, which brings him less than $30K away from cracking the $30 million mark in career tournament winnings.
Welcome to the GPI Top 300
| Rank | Player | Total Score |
|---|---|---|
| 202 | Naoya Kihara | 1794.85 |
| 216 | Matas Cimbolas | 1748.04 |
| 238 | Carlo Savinelli | 1694.07 |
| 265 | Miltiadis Kyriakides | 1628.77 |
| 276 | Jeremy Kottler | 1592.40 |
| 286 | Alexander Greenblatt | 1571.05 |
| 287 | Eric Baldwin | 1570.23 |
| 289 | Alexander Rocha | 1567.30 |
| 292 | Boris Yanpolskiy | 1556.28 |
| 293 | Jesse Cohen | 1555.04 |
| 295 | Fabio Sperling | 1553.43 |
| 298 | Nathan Bjerno | 1549.83 |
| 299 | Artem Litvinov | 1548.42 |
| 300 | Joey Weissman | 1548.01 |
Fourteen players pushed their way upward and into the GPI Top 300 this week, with Team PokerStars Pro Online member Naoya Kihara the highest-ranked of that group this week after moving up from No. 310 to No. 202. Kihara cashed in three different events at the L.A. Poker Classic, final-tabling two of them.
Biggest Gains
| Rank | Player | Total GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 216 | Matas Cimbolas | 1748.04 | +322 |
| 238 | Carlo Savinelli | 1694.07 | +136 |
| 202 | Naoya Kihara | 1794.85 | +108 |
| 182 | Norbert Szecsi | 1859.70 | +93 |
| 192 | JJ Liu | 1826.46 | +85 |
Kihara’s move upwards was one of the biggest of the week for those within the Top 300, topped only by Carlo Savinelli who jumped from No. 374 to No. 238 and the week’s biggest gainer, Matas Cimbolas, who went from No. 538 all the way to No. 216.
Topping a field of 176 to win the €1,520 NLHE High Roller at the Winamax Poker Open helped Savinelli make his move upwards. Meanwhile Cimbolas recently final-tabled a couple of events at the Sky Poker UK Poker Championships in Nottingham, including winning the £3,000 No Limit Hold'em UKPC High Roller, to catapult him to a career-first appearance inside the GPI Top 300.
Biggest Drops
| Rank | Player | Total GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 258 | Anton Astapau | 1645.57 | -95 |
| 285 | Kimmo Kurko | 1576.73 | -84 |
| 296 | Kevin Eyster | 1552.65 | -77 |
| 262 | Millard Hale | 1640.61 | -71 |
| 291 | Tyler Reiman | 1563.64 | -71 |
Finally, among players who remained in the GPI Top 300 this week Anton Astapau experienced the biggest drop, moving down from No. 163 to No. 258.
To view both the 2015 Player of the Year and GPI overall rankings in their entirety, visit the official GPI website. While you’re at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.
