GPI 300 Update: ElkY Is Back On Top

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellieris once again Number One, reclaiming the top spot after Jason Mercier’s ten week reign. As was discussed last week, Grospellier was just three points behind Mercier coming into this week and Mercier has aging results. Mercier’s cash in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars $9,500 NLHE Championship Bounty event ages into Period 2, where it is excluded by the four cash cap. It is replaced in Period 1 by a lower score resulting in a net loss of 110 points. This combined with a loss of a few points due to a score aging into Period 6 drops his overall score 115 points. However, Mercier did not give up GPI#1 without a fight. He entered the Partouche Poker Tour Season 5 Grand Final where a deep run could have kept him on top. The PPT has concluded but the results from it won’t be reflected in the GPI rankings until next week. For Mercier, that doesn’t matter since he finished just short of the money.

The posting of the PPT results will matter for several other players, including final tablers Daniel O’Brien (GPI#231 -5) and Dan Smith (GPI#3 0). Not surprisingly, all of the players that made the final table have GPI qualifying cashes, but only the ones named Dan are currently ranked in the Elite Top 300. O’Brien should get a big bump in score next week when this result is added which could improve his rank. Like Mercier, Smith was making his own run for GPI#1 at the PPT. If he had won the Grand Final he was poised to beat out Grospellier, but like Mercier he fell short finishing 7th. While O’Brien and Smith were the only two GPI 300 players at the final table, that may change after the results are in. The winner of the event, Ole Schemion, has a very good shot at making his GPI 300 debut when the PPT results are factored in next week.

A new result did report this week that affected the Top Twenty. David “Doc” Sands(GPI#9 +3) cashed at The River $4,000,000 Guaranteed Poker Series $2,000 NLHE Main Event and gains a net 72 points. This puts Sands, who has ranked as high as GPI#3, back in the Top Ten for the first time in ten weeks.

Despite only one Top Twenty player posting a new result this week, aging events ensured there was a lot of movement, with only four players remaining at the rank they were previously.Jonathan Duhamel (GPI#24 -9) pays a big price for the aging of his cash at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars $9,500 NLHE Championship Bounty event. It ages into Period 2 and replaces his final table appearance at the PCA $100,000 NLHE Super High Roller from January. That lowers his score by 245 points. Additionally, his 6th place finish at the 2011 Big Event $10,000 Bounty Shootout ages into Period 4 costing him 45 more points for a total score drop of 290 points which knocks him out of the Top Twenty. Also out of the Top Twenty is Sorel Mizzi (GPI#21 -11). His win at the 2011 WPT Rendez-Vous ὰ Paris €15,000 NLHE High Roller ages into Period 3 and replaces a lower score costing him 190 points. This is only the second time Mizzi has been outside the Top Twenty since the Index began in June of 2011.

The 2011 Epic Poker League $20,000 NLHE 8-Handed event ages into Period 3 this week. As expected, the winner of that event, Mike McDonald (GPI#8 -1), and final tabler Erik Seidel (GPI#14 -6) both see their scores go down as a result. Seidel loses a net 216 points and is left with only two scores in Period 2. McDonald has excess Period 2 scores so the exit of his Epic Poker result means the entrance of his cash in the EPT Prague Main Event resulting in a score drop of only 92 points.
The aging of these three events also hit former Top Twenty ranked players hard this week. Tim West (GPI#280 -67), Matt Waxman (GPI#89 -40), and Fabrice Soulier (GPI#62 -32) all dropped in rank by over 30 spots with West plummeting 67 spots and nearly out of the Top 300. West’s cash in the Epic Poker event ages into Period 3 where it replaces his 2011 HPT Nevada State Poker Championship $1,500 NLHE Main Event score. He loses a combined 134 points and now has no Period 2 scores. Waxman won an event at the 2011 WPT Rendez-Vous ὰ Paris which ages into Period 3 replacing another score. Like West, he has no other Period 2 scores to replace it and loses 244 points this week. For Soulier it is a double whammy. He cashed in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars $9,500 NLHE Championship Bounty event and finished 3rd in the Epic Poker event. Due to aging in both of these events, he loses 182 points and falls from GPI#30 to GPI#62.
While the aging results were bad news for other players, they were good news for Eugene Katchalov (GPI#19 +2) and Philipp Gruissem (GPI#20 +2). They both rejoin the Top Twenty thanks to the aging of other players’ scores. Katchalov returns at GPI#19 after spending just two weeks out and Gruissem rejoins the Top Twenty for just the third time.

The River Guaranteed $4,000,000 and IPT Campione Main Events Conclude

David “Doc” Sands (GPI#9 +3) was not the only player who came out for the guaranteed money at The River. Maria Ho (GPI#230 0), Corey Burbick (GPI#157 +1), and Kunal Patel (GPI#258) also cashed in the Main Event. For Ho and Burbick it meant a payday but no change to their GPI score because both have four higher Period 1 scores. Patel, on the other hand, earned 99 points for his cash and joins the Top 300 for the second time.
The other event at The River reporting results was the $5,000 NLHE ‘No Juice’ event. Jacob Bazeley (GPI#190) made the final table of that event and returns to the Top 300. Rupert Elder (GPI#202 +40) was at the final table of the Palm Beach Big Game ₤1,000 NLHE event and earned 103 points for his runner-up finish.
Three GPI Top 300 players cashed in the IPT Campion SFr 2,380 NLHE Main Event: Massimo Mosele (GPI#216 +15), Carla Solinas (GPI#284), and Sergio Castelluccio (GPI#117 +34). Mosele earned 144 points for his 14th place finish but already had four Period 1 scores so it replaces his WPT National Series – Saint Vincent €1,500 NLHE Main Event score netting him a 44 point overall gain. Solinas also replaces a lower Period 1 score with the IPT Campione result and nets a 39 point gain. Unlike the other two, Castelluccio had an open slot in Period 1 so he picks up 113 points, deducting just 1 point from the 114 points he earned in this event due to an event aging out of Period 6.

On the Horizon

Next week’s rankings should see a lot of movement, with final results expected to be reported from the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event as well as results from the WPT Grand Prix De Paris reporting in.