Nominees for GPI American Poker Awards revealed

The contenders for the first ever GPI American Poker Awards have been announced. A nomination panel, comprised of close to 60 of the brightest minds in the poker industry was asked for two selections in each category. Votes were then tabulated and the four finalists in each category can be found below.

A Jury Panel will decide the winners. The members of the Jury will meet on the morning of the Awards in order to make their selections. The members of the esteemed Jury Panel will be announced at a later date.

The GPI American Poker Awards are sponsored by PokerStars, the world’s leading online and live poker operator, and will take place on Friday, February 27, 2015 at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

“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,” announced GPI Chief Executive Officer and GPI American Poker Awards President Alexandre Dreyfus. “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.”

“Our event is already endorsed by the poker community at large, including poker players all over the world,” Dreyfus continued. “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.”

The GPI’s exclusive formula has already determined the winners in the Player of the Year, Female Player of the Year and American and Canadian National Players of the Year categories. The GPI Player of the Year award is sponsored by Swiss watchmaker, Roger Dubuis.

Without any further ado, here are the nominees for the 2014 GPI American Poker Awards:

TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

Mohsin 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

Charania’s second WPT win last month at Bellagio caught the eye of our voters … Colman also received votes for his WSOP Big One for One Drop victory … Of his back-to-back WPT wins, voters were more impressed with Elias’ Borgata score … Newhouse is the only player to not have won an event to make the cut … Vanessa Selbst (WSOP Mixed Max), Jonathan Jaffe (WPT Montreal) and Christopher Bolek (Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Open) were three other notables to receive votes.

BREAKOUT PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Daniel Colman
Mukul Pahuja
Jake Schindler
Brandon Shack-Harris

Colman is the only player to be nominated in two different categories for his on-the-felt accomplishments … despite a strong 2013, Pahuja’s 2014 was event more of a breakout year according to our voters … Schindler’s big win at the PCA kicked off a strong 2014 campaign … although he had impressive results prior to the season, Shack-Harris was certainly one of the biggest revelations at the WSOP … Dylan Wilkerson, Scott Davies, Mike Leah and Jamie Kerstetter also received votes

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)

A Colman vs. Leah highlighted another big event at the SHRPO … the Playground continues to be one of the favorites stops on the circuit … Stammen vs. Kaverman battled for WPT bragging rights … another spectacular WSOP Main Event finished with an epic November Nine … the WSOP Big One for One Drop, the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, the WPT L.A. Poker Classic and the WSOP Players’ Championship also caught our voters’ attention

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)

Jeff Madsen took down the HPT Cal State Championship … Sean Yu was the first to win a WPT500 event … Jonathan Dimmig became poker’s latest millionaire … Hugo Pingray was the first ever Monster … the WPT Canadian Spring Championship, WPT DeepStacks San Diego and Calgary, the CPT Spring Showdown and the WSOP Seniors’ event all received votes

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

Effel and Stewart are two of the biggest pieces of the WSOP operation while the WPT’s successes can be attributed to, amongst others, Pliska and Savage. Chris Torina, Jeffrey Haas and Tab Duchateau were some others to receive votes in this category

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!

Having cameras follow Mark Newhouse moments after busting the November Nine made for some amazing TV from ALL IN … Brad Willis’ pieces on Vanessa Pacella reminded us of the human side of poker … another year, another stand-up job by the PokerNews team at the WSOP … Jason Somerville is building his own poker community within the poker community … Nolan Dalla’s blog, Brian Koppelman’s podcast featuring Vanessa Selbst and the Mark Hoke Show also received votes

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

The WPT, Dan Shak and friends host another successful charity function … Matt Stout single-handedly sets up the CSOP … REG hosts successful event at the ARIA … the WSOP and the One Drop Foundation once again raise funds … Poker Gives, Tiger Woods’ Poker Night, the St. Jude Celebrity Poker Tournament and the PokerStars NHL Alumni Charity Poker Tournament were others to receive votes

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

PNIA goes primetime on US television screens … Twitch lets poker fans into the world of online grinders … the WPT partners with the big players … the WSOP hits a home run with the Monster Stack … partypoker’s sponsorship deal with the Devils and 76ers, DraftKings satellites into poker tournaments and WSOP adds appearing on Ruffles chips were some others to receive votes

MEDIA PERSON OF THE YEAR presented by PokerUpdate

Nolan Dalla
Chris Grove
Kevin Mathers
Rich Ryan

They don’t make them like Nolan Dalla anymore … Grove keeps us informed with online poker happenings … Everyone loves KevMath, the human Google for poker players … Rich Ryan keeps us entertained while pulling double duty at the WPT and PokerNews … Kara Scott, Brad Willis, Joe Stapleton and Chad Holloway were a few, amongst many others, to receive votes. Presented by PokerUpdate, the Media Person of the Year at the American Poker Awards may be too close to call.

Fans can help decide the winner for Poker’s Best Ambassador. Voting is now open, as the People’s Choice will also be honored at the American Poker Awards.

The GPI’s exclusive formula has already determined the winners in the Player of the Year, Female Player of the Year and National Players of the Year categories.

See you in LA!