The Stars of 2024 Honored at the 6th Annual Global Poker Awards

LAS VEGAS, February 22, 2025—The PokerGO® Studio at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas held the 6th annual Global Poker Awards (GPAs) this evening, putting poker’s best and brightest throughout 2024 in the spotlight. Jeff Platt and Drea Renee hosted the event, during which Platt himself was honored as Best On-Air Talent for the second time.

Thirty-eight trophies were handed out during awards week, as 2024 GPI Player of the Year David Coleman, Female PoY Cherish Andrews, and Mid-Major PoY Han Feng were presented with their hardware for their success on the felt last year. Coleman and Feng won their first GPA, while Andrews received her second, winning Female PoY in 2022.

Benjamin and Marle Spragg joined Andrews, each winning their second GPA. Benjamin won Best Streamer for the second time, having been voted Best Streamer in 2021. Marle won Best Short Form Creator this year after winning Best X/Twitter Personality last year.

Barry Carter had a successful 2024, picking up the award for Best X/Twitter Personality and honored for his work with Dara O’Kearney for Best Book and Best Podcast with The Chip Race, which also includes O’Kearney and David Lappin, winning for the third time.

Brad Owen won his third GPA, returning to the top of the Best Vlogger category for the second time. In 2018, Owen previously won the People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year.

Adrian Mateos, Rania Nasreddine, Jeremy Ausmus, Jesse Lonis, Abby Merk, Francine Watson, Luca Vivaldi, Ryan Beauregard, Nikki Limo, and Danny Maxwell were among the poker community members to win their first GPA.

New awards unveiled this year included Most Weeks at GPI #1, Director of Poker Operations, Best Episodic Poker Series, Best Book, and Fan’s Choice: Best Poker Room. 

6th GLOBAL POKER AWARDS WINNERS

Announced winners:

GPI POKER PLAYER OF THE YEAR

David Coleman (USA)

GPI MID-MAJOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Han Feng (USA)

GPI FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Cherish Andrews (USA)

MOST WEEKS AT GPI #1 IN 2024

Jesse Lonis (USA)

POKERGO TOUR PGT PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Jeremy Ausmus (USA)

List of Winners:

GPI BREAKOUT PLAYER

Rania Nasreddine (USA)

BEST FINAL TABLE PERFORMANCE

Barny Boatman (England), EPT Paris

PLAYERS CHOICE FOR TOUGHEST OPPONENT

Adrian Mateos (Spain)

BEST X/TWITTER PERSONALITY

Barry Carter (England)

BEST STREAMER

Benjamin Spragg – Spraggy (England)

BEST VLOGGER

Brad Owen (USA)

BEST SHORT-FORM CONTENT CREATOR

Marle Spragg – Marle Poker (USA)

RISING STAR IN CONTENT CREATION

Abby Merk – Abby Poker (USA)

BEST INDUSTRY PERSON

Francine Watson (England)

BEST TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR

Luca Vivaldi (Italy)

BEST DIRECTOR OF POKER OPERATIONS

Ryan Beauregard (USA)

BEST EVENT

World Series of Poker Main Event, Horseshoe Las Vegas

BEST MID-MAJOR TOUR/CIRCUIT

Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP)

BEST STAND-ALONE FESTIVAL/SERIES

Irish Poker Open, Royal Dublin Society

BEST EPISODIC POKER SERIES

The Big Game on Tour by PokerStars

BEST ON-AIR TALENT

Jeffrey Platt (USA)

BEST PODCAST

The Chip Race (David K Lappin, Dara O’Kearney for Unibet Poker)

BEST POKER BOOK

Beyond GTO: Poker Exploits Simplified (Dara O’Kearney, Barry Carter)

BEST MEDIA CONTENT: WRITTEN

A Further Investigation into the Existence of the BotFarm Corporation (Jonathan Raab for Poker Pro)

BEST MEDIA CONTENT: VIDEO

The Four Rules of the Poker Kings (Greg Clark, BBC Scotland)

BEST MEDIA CONTENT: SHORT-FORM VIDEO

Nikki Limo (USA) – What’s it like playing poker as a woman

BEST MEDIA CONTENT: PHOTO

Danny Maxwell (Ireland) – Barny GOATMAN

BEST JOURNALIST

Brad Willis (USA)

BEST LIVE TOURNAMENT REPORTER

Mickey Doft (USA)

BEST HAND (FANS CHOICE)

Xuan Liu stars in Wild Hand at The Lodge

MOST ENTERTAINING PLAYER (FANS CHOICE)

Alejandro “Papo MC” Lococo (Argentina)

MOST ORIGINAL TROPHY DESIGN (FANS CHOICE)

PGT Texas Poker Open Belt Buckle

BEST POKER LIVE STREAM (FANS CHOICE)

Poker at The Lodge

BEST POKER ROOM (FANS CHOICE)

Playground Poker Club Montreal, Canada

GPI AWARD OF MERIT

Gene Calden

THE HENDON MOB AWARD

Dominick French

CHARITABLE/COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

Poker Gives

For further information:

Anthony Charter
PR & Communications Manager
[email protected]

About GPI/THM

Global Poker Index® (GPI) is live tournament poker’s ranking authority, classifying over 800,000 active players from over 100 countries across over 35,000 festivals. GPI’s Hendon Mob Poker Database (THM) has archived over 550,000 live poker tournaments and 4.5 million individual results and is continually updated via real-time data collection from over 2,500 partner venues. Global Poker Index and The Hendon Mob are trading names of Mediarex Group, a global sports and entertainment organization founded in Malta in 2012. For more information, visit http://globalpokerindex.com/ and http://thehendonmob.com/

About PokerGO®

PokerGO® is the world’s largest poker content company, delivering poker’s premier live events worldwide to consumers. The platform provides more than 100 days of live poker on an annual basis, streaming PokerGO® owned and operated tournaments such as the Super High Roller Bowl, Poker Masters, U.S. Poker Open, and PokerGO Cup, along with select World Series of Poker final tables and more. PokerGO’s video-on-demand library includes original content that provides unmatched access to the world of poker, including “High Stakes Poker,” “No Gamble, No Future,” and “High Stakes Duel.”