GPI300: After Negreanu, it’s Schemion’s turn to drop, Mercier on the cusp

Ole Schemion takes a step back in this week’s GPI World Poker Rankings …

VIEW FROM THE TOP

Dan Smith (GPI#1, =) sits atop the GPI World Poker Rankings for a 10th consecutive week. This marks a personal best for the American pro who had held the #1 rank for nine straight weeks at the end of 2012 – which lead to Smith becoming the first ever GPI Poker Player of the Year.

One week after Daniel Negreanu (GPI#8, =) dropped from the Top 3, it is Ole Schemion’s (GPI#4, -2) turn to do so. Just like Negreanu, Schemion’s 2013 season was so successful that any performance that is not repeated directly impacts his ranking. This is the first time this season that Schemion has been ranked outside the Top 3.

Jason Mercier (GPI#2 +1) and Scott Seiver (GPI#3, +1) move into the Top 3. Mercier is on the cusp of returning atop the GPI World Poker Rankings for the first time since September of last season.

Meanwhile, Stephen Chidwick’s (GPI#9, +2) and Jacob Schindler (GPI#15, -5) seem to be involved in a game of musical chairs. One week after taking Chidwick’s spot in the Top 10, Schindler sees the UK star pull the same trick on him this week.

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SWIMMING UPSTREAM

A Top 20 finish in the Main Event at the Isle Open in Pompano Beach, Florida sees circuit grinder Chad Eveslage (GPI#229, +71) make the biggest move inside the GPI300 this week. Eveslage, who finished 8th at WPT Rolling Thunder last March, inches closer and closer to a career-best ranking on the GPI.

A trio of UK stars: Roberto Romanello (GPI#211, +69), Niall Farrell (GPI#121, +48) and Sam Trickett (GPI#88, +30) also move up the ranks, as does WSOP Big One for One Drop Champion Daniel Colman (GPI#33 CB, +27), who reaches a career-high #33 rank this week.

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DOWN THE LADDER

A week after making a big move up, following a Top 10 finish in the High Roller event at EPT London, Canadian Yann Dion (GPI#184, -79) drops down again. With only six scores on tour so far in 2014, Dion will need to score in upcoming events in order to maintain his status amongst the Top 300 players, especially with late-season Montreal and Prague scores from 2013 moving into a different aging period in the coming months.

Recent WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event runner-up Jack Salter (GPI#75, -45), former World Top 10 Igor Kurganov (GPI#216, -60), Mohsin Charania (GPI#80, -36) and Johnny Lodden (GPI#176, -32) all take a tumble this week.

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IN-N-OUT

Congratulations to World Series of Poker Player of the Year contender Brandon Shack-Harris (GPI#298 CB) who makes his debut on the GPI Top 300 this week. Shack-Harris is joined by Fabian Quoss (GPI#293) who’s week in and week out game sees him back in again this week. He was our player on the bubble in last week’s report.

Ana Marquez (GPI#314) and Liv Boeree (GPI#320) are two of the most recognizable names who fall out of the 300 this week. Marquez falls out of the Top 300 for the first time since September 2012 while Boeree’s return to the 300 last week was short-lived, she has spent most of the second half of 2014 on the outside, looking in.

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ON THE BUBBLE

US pro Seth Berger finds himself on the bubble this week although that’s actually good news as he attempts to find his way into the Top 300 for only the second time of his poker career. Berger, who earned a pair of Top 3 finishes at  the 2013 World Series of Poker, recently spent a week inside the 300.