GPI300: Another late-season surge for Schemion

Although the names stay the same, there is plenty of movement inside the Top 10 this week …

PLAYER OF THE YEAR UPDATE

As expected, German star Ole Schemion (GPI#2, +7) sent shockwaves everywhere on the GPI rankings, including the Player of the Year race, where he now sits in second position overall, just a few hundred points behind Daniel Colman (GPI#18), who remains the man to beat in 2014.

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VIEW FROM THE TOP

Make it 15 consecutive weeks at the top of the GPI World Poker Rankings for Dan Smith (GPI#1, =), who has held the top spot since late August. Although he’s currently in the perfect position to end the season at #1, Smith does have a few older December scores that will continue to lose value later this month, including his victory last December at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

One man that will certainly try to prevent Smith from ending the season as the GPI’s #1 ranked player is former World #1 Ole Schemion (GPI#2, +7) who thanks to a pair of final table appearances at the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam, finds himself right back in the thick of things, just days removed from being in danger of falling out of the Top 10 for the first time in 17 months.

The cast of characters are the exact same for the third straight week. Each member of the Top 10 stays up, although there was quite a bit of movement thanks to Mr. Schemion.

The bubble also sees Jonathan Duhamel (GPI#11, =) and Sorel Mizzi (GPI#12, =) hold the 11th and 12th positions once again this week. The Canadian duo will certainly be looking at making their way back into the Top 10 by year’s end.

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SWIMMING UPSTREAM

A deep run at WPT Montreal sees US pro Maurice Hawkins (GPI#213, +80) move away from the GPI300 danger zone this week. Hawkins finished 13th at WPT Montreal last week, collecting a 14th cash in 2014.

Faraz Jaka (GPI#77, +61), who moves up over 60 spots this week, could appear on this list once again next week. Jaka is one of six players returning for final table play at the Seminole Hard Rock Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida today. Those points could go a long way into solidifying Jaka’s spot inside the Top 50 to end the 2014 poker season.

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DOWN THE LADDER

2009 EPT Kiev runner-up Alexander Dovzhenko (GPI#297, -94) finds himself in danger, four spots away from dropping out of the GPI300 for the very first time. The former World #14 has been ranked inside the Top 300 every week since the GPI’s first rankings were released in June of 2011.

A trio of Americans, Chad Eveslage (GPI#293, -64), Josh Arieh (GPI#281, -61) and David Diaz (GPI#272, -48), also find themselves in the GPI300 danger zone this week.

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IN-N-OUT

2010 WSOP November Niner Matt Jarvis (GPI#292), who’s a full-time student, decided to take a week off from school to fly down to Montreal to play in a few events at the Playground Poker Classic/WPT Montreal … sure looks like that was a great call! Although he wouldn’t cash in the WPT Montreal Main Event, Jarvis would end up winning the High Roller event, earning his biggest payday since his bracelet victory at the 2011 World Series of Poker.

Players dropping from the GPI300 this week include WSOP bracelet winners Athanasios Polychronopoulos (GPI#304) and Naoya Kihara (GPI#310) as well as former WPT champ Marcin Wydrowski (GPI#308).

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ON THE BUBBLE

Despite moving up one spot, Igor Kurganov remains ranked outside of the Top 300, and this, for only the second time of his career. The former World #7 sits on the bubble this week.