Chidwick, Pollak, Schemion Highlight European National PoY Winners

With the 2013 poker season in the books, we take a look at some of the GPI National Players of the Year in Europe …

GERMANY  |  OLE SCHEMION

As we officially announced on Friday, Ole Schemion (GPI#1) wrapped up an amazing 2013 season to pickup GPI Player of the Year honours on the Global stage as well as his home in his home country.

The race in Germany was especially exciting to watch. With three of the top four players in the world currently hailing from Germany, it was only assumed that the German race would go down to the wire … which is did – until December – where Schemion put the final nail into the World and National races final tabling EPT Prague:

1. Ole Schemion 1163.14
2. Philipp Gruissem 962.57
3. Marvin Rettenmaier 918.52
4. Martin Finger 777.30
5. Dominik Nitsche 760.28

FRANCE  |  BENJAMIN POLLAK

French pro Benjamin Pollak (GPI#105) wrapped-up the GPI France National Player of the Year title late in the season after posting solid results in multiple disciplines throughout the 2013 campaign.

The French PoY title didn’t come so easy to Pollak, who had to sweat Roger Hairabedian playing WPT Prague to end the year before finishing on top. Big Roger had the opportunity to finish ahead of Pollak in the race should he win the WPT title. Sadly for Hairabedian, he would bubble the WPT final table and the win belonged to the BetClic pro.

1. Benjamin Pollak 753.52
2. Roger Hairabedian 715.17
3. Erwann Pecheux 649.28
4. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 636.72
5. Flavien Guenan 519.81

SPAIN  |  ADRIAN MATEOS DIAZ

At only 19 years of age, Adrian Mateos Diaz (GPI#81) picks up GPI National Spain Player of the Year honours, despite a last-ditch effort from Ana Marquezto steal the title away from the young gun with her 35th place finish at EPT Prague.

Mateos Diaz closed out a dream season in November when he captured his first-ever World Series of Poker bracelet at WSOP Europe. The young Spaniard would defeat french star Fabrice Soulier heads-up to win the Main Event in Enghien-les-Bains.

1. Adrian Mateos Diaz 673.94
2. Ana Marquez 609.17
3. Sergio Aido 594.22
4. Carlos Mortensen 432.60
5. Raul Paez Corral 379.24

UNITED KINGDOM  |  STEPHEN CHIDWICK

Despite the best efforts from UK young stars Matthew Ashton, David Vamplew and Max Silver, to name a few, the UK race wasn’t even close as hybrid star (live/online) Stephen Chidwick (GPI#35) would take down the GPI National United Kingdom Player of the Year race, finishing over 100 points ahead of his nearest competitor.

Chidwick’s win was especially impressive as the race also included the likes of Toby Lewis and Chris Moorman, who, like Chidwick, are some of the best hybrid poker stars in the world.

1. Stephen Chidwick 870.31
2. Matthew Ashton 636.20
3. Toby Lewis 632.73
4. David Vamplew 619.20
5. Tamer Kamel 542.59

FINLAND  |  JONI JOUHKIMAINEN

It was yet another good year on the live tournament circuit for Finnish pro Joni Jouhkimainen (GPI#17) who won four events during the 2013 campaign and collected a total of 18 Top 10 finishes for yet another year above the 800K USD mark.

Jouhkimainen accumulated almost twice as many points as the next two players on the list: Lauri Pesonen – who enjoyed a career-year on the circuit – and Kimmo Kurko, whom could be Jouhkimainen’s biggest National threat in 2014, given the way that he finished the 2013 season with Top 6 finishes at EPT Barcelona and the WPT Grand Prix de Paris.

1. Joni Jouhkimainen 877.50
2. Lauri Pesonen 487.41
3. Kimmo Kurko 432.11
4. Juha Helppi 418.74
5. Ville Mattila 358.21

RUSSIA  |  YURY GULYY

A strong final push at EPT Prague allowed Yury Gulyy (GPI#55) to surpass high stakes star Igor Kurganov atop the Russia standings and is awarded the title of GPI National Russia Player of the Year. Gulyy, who scored twice in Prague – including a 26th place finish in the Main Event – came into the final month of the season trailing Kurganov by 60 points.

Vladimir Troyanovskiy, who trailed Gulyy by just 0.01 points coming into the final weeks of the season, would fall to fifth overall in the country’s National race.

1. Yury Gulyy 736.42
2. Igor Kurganov 663.10
3. Konstantin Puchkov 628.31
4. Andrey Shatilov 604.62
5. Vladimir Troyanovski 604.53

ITALY  |  DARIO SAMMARTINO

Dario Sammartino (GPI#67) was able to hold off WPT Champions Club member Giacomo Fundaro.

Sammartino, who came into December holding a slight 11-point lead on Fundaro, was able to stave off Fundaro’s charge with a 70th place finish at EPT Prague. As expected, that score would be enough for Sammartino to take home the GPI National Italy Player of the Year title.

1. Dario Sammartino 773.82
2. Giacomo Fundaro 644.61
3. Salvatore Bonavena 393.10
4. Rocco Palumbo 380.05
5. Giuliano Bendinelli 361.08

OTHER EUROPEAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR WINNERS

AUSTRIA:
1. Thomas Muehloecker 703.40
2. Erich Kollmann 278.68
3. Gerald Karlic 242.93

BELGIUM: 
1. Davidi Kitai 649.41
2. Kenny Hallaert 468.85
3. Kevin Vandersmissen 456.44

CZECH REPUBLIC:
1. Ondrej Vinklarek 412.60
2. Martin Staszko 351.91
3. Vojtech Ruzicka 346.63

DENMARK:
1. Mickey Petersen 549.61
2. Rasmus Agerskov Larsen 422.24
3. Lasse Frost 376.20

HUNGARY:
1. Zoltan Purak 500.49
2. Andras Nemeth 305.28
3. Hoa Luong 209.64

IRELAND:
1. Dermot Blain 429.54
2. Peter Murphy 260.39
3. Marc MacDonnell 235.59

LITHUANIA:
1. Anaras Alekberovas 672.30
2. Mantas Visockis 384.03
3. Liutauras Armanavicius 361.63

NETHERLANDS:
1. Govert Metaal 589.20
2. Paul Berende 540.99
3. Mateusz Moolhuizen 535.96

NORWAY:
1. Yngve Steen 545.97
2. Jan Sjavik 386.98
3. Johnny Lodden 336.39

PORTUGAL:
1. Joao Barbosa 429.88
2. Jonathan Aguiar 399.69
3. Joao Vieira 314.17

SLOVAKIA:
1. Jan Bendik 680.96
2. Stefan Vagner 283.71
3. David Hrdlicka 68.48

SWEDEN:
1. Martin Jacobson 536.51
2. Simon Eric Mattsson 434.42
3. Robin Ylitalo 434.10

UKRAINE:
1. Yevgeniy Timoshenko 581.34
2. Alexander Dovzhenko 423.30
3. Artem Metalidi 368.00

GPI EUROPEAN POKER AWARDS

The 13th edition of the GPI European Poker Awards will take place, in Deauville, France, on January 29th, 2014. Some of these winners are scheduled to be part of the festivities. This year’s edition of the GPI European Awards will be presented in conjunction with EPT Deauville. PokerStars and Lucien Barriere Hotel et Casinos will serve as event sponsors.

Click here for more information regarding this year’s awards ceremony.