Nominees Announced for 2014 GPI American Poker Awards
The first edition of the PokerStars-sponsored GPI American Poker Awards is set to hit the stage on Feb. 27, 2015, at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, with a glam ceremony hosted by veteran journalist and poker media personality Kara Scott.
The event will reward all the best players and key figures in the North American poker industry who best contributed to the growth of the game during 2014, and is is expected to see all the biggest names in the North American poker landscape in attendance.
"I'm truly excited about the upcoming ceremony," said Global Poker Index (GPI) Chief Executive Officer and GPI American Poker Awards President Alexandre Dreyfus.
"For once, this type of event won’t be held inside a casino, or even in Las Vegas, but will instead take place at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. This is the beginning of a yearly tradition, celebrating the best in poker in Canada and in the USA."
QOur event is already endorsed by the poker community at large, including poker players all over the world,” Dreyfus went on. "The support of PokerStars is a great way to build on that, helping us to promote poker on a larger scale and celebrate this amazing game with the global poker community and beyond. I’m truly excited about the upcoming ceremony."
Thirty-five nominees in ten different categories
During the past week, a panel composed of 60 of what the GPI calls "the brightest minds in the poker industry” worked hard to screen all of 2014's biggest events, successes and contributions to the industry, and create a short list of four names for each of the 10 categories included in the awards.
"I wish to thank each and every member of the Nomination Panel for taking part in the selection process for this very first edition of the GPI American Poker Awards," Dreyfus continued. "We noticed some very interesting trends and I do believe that their selections reflect perfectly with what happened in the North American poker landscape in 2014."
A special jury panel - whose members will be announced at a later date - will then meet the morning of Feb. 27 to choose the winners and identify the names that will be announced during the official ceremony sponsored by the Swiss luxury watchmaker Roger Dubuis.
Here’s a full list of all the nominees for each category of the 2014 GPI American Poker Awards:
TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
- Moshin Charania, WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic winner
- Daniel Colman, Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event winner
- Darren Elias, WPT Borgata Poker Open winner
- Mark Newhouse, WSOP Main Event 9th place finisher
BREAKOUT PLAYER OF THE YEAR
- Daniel Colman
- Mukul Pahuja
- Jake Schindler
- Brandon Shack-Harris
EVENT OF THE YEAR (CATEGORY BUY-IN OVER $2,000)
- Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event (Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood)
- WPT Montreal (Playground Poker Club, Montreal)
- WPT World Championship (Borgata, Atlantic City)
- World Series of Poker Main Event (Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas)
EVENT OF THE YEAR (CATEGORY BUY-IN UP TO $2,000)
- HPT Cal State Poker Championship (Commerce Casino, Los Angeles)
- WPT500 at ARIA (ARIA Resort & Casino, Las Vegas)
- WSOP Millionaire Maker (Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas)
- WSOP Monster Stack (Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas)
INDUSTRY PERSON OF THE YEAR
- Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director
- Adam Pliska, WPT President
- Matt Savage, WPT Executive Director & TDA Founder
- Ty Stewart, WSOP Executive Director
POKER MEDIA CONTENT OF THE YEAR
- ALL IN Magazine: Mark Newhouse
- Brad Willis, WSOP 2014: Stages/Never stop fighting for PokerStars blog
- PokerNews Live Reporting at the 45th WSOP
- Jason Somerville for Run it UP!
CHARITABLE INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR
- “All In” for Kids Poker Tournament presented by CHOP and the WPT Foundation
- Charity Series of Poker
- REG (Raising for Effective Giving)
- WSOP One Drop partnership
POKER INNOVATION OR INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR
- Poker Night in America
- Twitch opens its doors to live streaming poker
- WPT successful partnerships with DeepStacks, Hublot, DraftKings, Monster
- WSOP Monster Stack event
MEDIA PERSON OF THE YEAR
- Nolan Dalla
- Chris Grove
- Kevin Mathers
- Rich Ryan
2014 Poker’s Best Ambassador
People can help decide the winner of Poker’s Best Ambassador by casting a vote on this page.
During the ceremony, Dan Colman and Vanessa Selbst will also be awarded as the 2014 GPI Player of the Year and 2014 GPI Female Player of the Year, respectively.
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