2023 Global Poker Award Nominees Revealed; Winners to Be Announced on February 24
The anticipation for the 5th Annual Global Poker Awards is building as the voting process concludes, revealing the nominees across 16 categories. Notable among them is Caitlin Comeskey, a previous winner who secured nominations in three categories: Short-Form Content Creator, Best Video Content, and Best X/Twitter Personality. Comeskey faces stiff competition from Marle Spragg, another three-time nominee.
The prestigious GPI Poker Player of the Year trophy is set to be awarded to Bin Weng, while Kristen Foxen secures her fourth GPI Female Player of the Year title, and Nick Pupillo prepares to claim the Mid-Major PoY title. GGPoker has already picked up the Award of Merit, with more trophies, such as The Hendon Mob Award and the Charitable/Community Initiative, to be presented.
Final Four voting for the GPA Fans Choice Awards is open and concludes on January 31. Poker fans can make their selections in four categories: Best Hand, Best Trophy, Best Live Stream, and Poker Personality. Anyone can vote in this final round, including fans who voted in the first round – only 1 vote per person/IP address.
Don't miss the live broadcast of the Global Poker Awards on PokerGO, scheduled for Saturday, February 24, 2024.
In the meantime, hear who the PokerNews Podcast crew think will win in our latest episode:
Full 5th Global Poker Awards Nominees
Here is a list of all the nominees for the 5th Global Poker Awards:
Fans Choice: Best Hand
- Bill Perkins goes ALL-IN, but he’s late for a flight on Poker at the Lodge
- Craziest Pre-Flop Action of ALL-TIME at Triton Poker Series London
- Dwan vs Polk in 1.13M Pot in Million Dollar Game on Hustler Casino Live
- Dwan vs Wesley in the biggest pot in televised poker history on Hustler Casino Live
2023 saw another collection of hands that will remain long in the memory of the poker community. Tom Dwan makes up two of the four nominees, with his clashes with Doug Polk and Wesley Fei on Hustler Casino Live. Dwan and Fei played the largest pot in televised poker history, which saw $3.1 million head over to the former.
Bill Perkins pulled off an epic bluff at the The Lodge Card Club that was made even more memorable by his abrupt departure to catch a flight midway through the hand.
The final inclusion in the best hand category took place at Triton Poker London in the $125K Main Event. Four high rollers picked up four premium hands, resulting in a chaotic pre-flop betting round.
Fans Choice: Poker Personality
- Gregory Liow “Greg Goes All In”
- Seth Moeller “SethyPoker”
- Jonathan Rand “Slow Poker”
- Alexander Seibt “Wolfgang Poker”
Four fresh faces make up the Fans Choice: Poker Personality race, which sees Gregory Liow “Greg Goes All In”, Seth Moeller “SethyPoker”, Jonathan Rand “Slow Poker” and Alexander Seibt “Wolfgang Poker” competing for the honor.
Seibt became the first poker vlogger to cross the one-million subscriber mark on YouTube and will be looking to emulate close friend Ethan "Rampage" Yau, who collected the award last year.
Fans Choice: Best Live Stream
- Hustler Casino Live
- Poker at the Lodge
- PokerGO
- PokerStars Live
- Triton Poker
Fans Choice: Best Trophy
- Asian Poker Tour Taipei Lion Trophy
- Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup
- NAPT Las Vegas Main Event Trophy
- Poker Dream Malaysia Dragon Trophy
- World Series of Poker Main Event Bracelet
Players Choice for Toughest Opponent
Voted on by the Top 100 players on the GPI as of January 3, 2024
- Stephen Chidwick
- Alex Foxen
- Isaac Haxton
- Jason Koon
2019 winner Stephen Chidwick makes the shortlist for a third time, while this is the second nod for Alex Foxen. Jason Koon and Isaac Haxton complete the list of crushers.
No poker player had a better year than Haxton on the live felt last year. He picked up seven $1M+ paydays, contributing to the $16,961,907 he was paid out in 2023.
Best Final Table Performance
- Padraig O’Neill, EPT Prague Main Event
- Erik Seidel, WSOP Paradise Super High Roller
- Daniel Sepiol, WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
- Daniel Weinman, WSOP Main Event
GPI Breakout Player
- Jans Arends
- William Kopp
- Samuel Laskowitz
- Santosh Suvarna
Best Media Content: Written
- The Tales of Billy Baxter: The Final Days of Stu Ungar (David Hill for WPT.com)
- The Truth Detective: A Poker Player’s Guide to a Complex World (Alex O’Brien)
- He Played At An Elite Level For Seven Decades: Doyle Brunson Remembered During WSOP By His Peers (Connor Richards for PokerNews)
- PokerGO might have just saved televised poker (Brad Willis for Poker.org)
PokerNews Editor and Live Reporter Connor Richards has made the final four in the Best Media Content: Written for a second consecutive year. His December 2022 article about Erik Seidel's was pipped to the post by Jen Shahade, who penned the deeply personal How Becoming a Poker Pro Helped Me Accept a Personal Tragedy.
Following the passing of Doyle Brunson, Richards spent the latter half of 2023 speaking to a collection of the Godfather of Poker's peers, who detailed the impact he had on their lives.
Best Media Content: Photo
- Matthew Berglund: “Inconsolable”
- Hayley Hochstetler: “Weinman Wins”
- Rachel Kay Winter: “Schulman Cool”
- Danny Maxwell: “On the Bubble”
Moments captured by the PokerNews WSOP photo team make up all of the nominations for Best Media Content: Photo.
Matthew Berglund captured the heartbreaking moment of a poker player running kings into aces for a second time on Day 1 of the Main Event. Daniel Weinman was full of emotion following his triumph in the record-breaking Main Event and was snapped by Hayley Hochstetler.
Rachel Kay Winter may have grabbed the best winner's picture of all time with her snap of the ice-cold Nick Schulman while Danny Maxwell perfectly encapsulated the scenes of the Main Event bubble.
Best Media Content: Video
- Caitlin Comeskey: A love letter to the million dollar game @HCLPokerShow
- Phil Galfond, Matti Harju: What Makes Phil Ivey the GOAT? [Untold Stories] (Phil Galfond, Matti Harju)
- PokerGO: Doyle Brunson Celebration of Life
- Marle Spragg: ICM
Best X/Twitter Personality
- Caitlin Comeskey
- Will Jaffe
- Jamie Kerstetter
- Marle Spragg
Best Streamer
- Kevin Martin “kevinmartin”
- Benjamin Spragg “Spraggy”
- Bert Stevens “girafganger7”
- Lex Veldhuis “LexVeldhuis”
Best Vlogger
- Jaman Burton “TheDrawingDeadVlog”
- Corey Eyring “corey_eyring”
- Daniel Negreanu “dnegspoker”
- Brad Owen “BradOwenPoker”
- Alexander Seibt “Wolfgang_Poker”
Best Short-Form Content Creator
- Caitlin Comeskey
- Gregory Liow “Greg Goes All In”
- Marle Spragg
- Alexander Seibt“Wolfgang Poker”
Best Industry Person
- Ryan Beauregard
- Mori Eskandani
- Adam Pliska
- Francine Watson
Best Tournament Director
- Jack Effel
- Ray Pulford
- Matt Savage
- Toby Stone
Best Event
- Irish Poker Open Main Event
- World Series of Poker Main Event
- WPT Prime Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
- WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
Best Mid-Major Circuit/Tour
- Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP)
- RUNGOOD Poker Series (RGPS)
- World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC)
- WPT Prime (WPTP)
Best Stand-Alone Festival/Series
- Irish Poker Open
- Malta Poker Festival
- Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
- Wynn Millions Poker Series
Best Broadcaster
- Henry Kilbane
- Ali Nejad
- Jeffrey Platt
- Nick Schulman
Best Podcast
- Only Friends Podcast (Matt Berkey, Melissa Schubert, Landon Tice and friends)
- Poker in the Ears (James Hartigan, Joseph Stapleton for PokerStars)
- The Chip Race Poker Podcast (David K Lappin, Dara O’Kearney, Barry Carter for Unibet Poker)
- Thinking Poker (Andrew Brokos, Carlos Welch)
Hustler Casino Live, Angela Jordison Get Recognition at 4th Annual Global Poker Awards
*Photos courtesy of Global Poker Index
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum's proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.
