GPI 300 Update: Lacay Wins EPT San Remo Main Event and Rejoins GPI 300

Ludovic Lacay won the San Remo €5,000 NLHE Main Event this week, grabbing his first European Poker Tour title and a return to his place among the GPI Elite. Lacay was ranked GPI#81 when the Global Poker Index began and was a constant presence in the rankings until four weeks ago when for the first time he fell out of the GPI 300. His Main Event win adds 464 net points to his score and he rockets up the rankings to GPI#126. 3rd place finisher Artem Litvinov also gets a tremendous boost this week, gaining the most points and making the biggest jump in rank of any player in the GPI 300 from last week. Litvinov gains a net 323 points and moves up 114 spots to GPI#151.

Lacay Joined by Other Newcomers

Lacay is not the only player riding their success at San Remo into the GPI 300. Jason Tompkins (GPI#260), Laurent Polito (GPI#243) and Samad Razavi (GPI#290) all make their GPI 300 debut this week. Tompkins joined Lacay at the final table of the Main Event, Polito finished 27^th, and Razavi placed 70th. Morten Mortensen (GPI#231), Fabian Quoss (GPI#236), and Ignat Liviu (GPI#262) also cashed in the Main Event and return to the GPI 300 this week.

Other players joining the GPI Elite for the first time are Juan Carlos Alvarado (GPI#250),Wilfried Harig (GPI#270), and Thomas Gabriel. Alvarado and Harig each cashed in the €2,000 NLHE Re-Entry, with Alvarado finishing 3^rd. Gabriel final tabled the €2,000 NLHE-Six Max Turbo and joins the GPI 300 at GPI#226.
Anthanasios Polychronopoulos (GPI#258) and Jose “Nacho” Barbero (GPI#281) return this week after cashing in the €2,000 NLHE-Six Max Turbo.

San Remo Success Lifts Players to Their Highest Rankings

New scores from the San Remo events take several players to their highest ranks to date. Micah Raskin final tabled the Main Event and gets a 30 spot boost to GPI#66. Keven Stammen (GPI#34 +35) was runner-up in the €10,000 NLHE 8-Max and earned the 2^nd largest score gain of the week at 254 points. Ismael Bojang also final tabled the 8-Max and moves up 56 spots to his personal best at GPI#135.Martin Finger (GPI#98 +57) enters the Top One Hundred for the first time after his final table appearance in the €5,000 NLHE 6-Max. He was joined by Mickey Petersen (GPI#106 +32) and Rocco Palumbo (GPI#172 +60) who also reach their highest ranks to date this week.

Aging Results Hit Top 20 Hard

While many players benefitted from their play in San Remo, the Top Twenty were hammered by the aging of last year’s WSOP-E results. Michael  “The Grinder” Mizrachi(GPI#15 -8) falls out of the Top Ten due to a 164 point loss due to the aging of his win in the €10,000 Mixed NLHE into Period 3. Roger Hairabedian’s (GPI#23 -7) 3^rd place finish in the same event leads to his drop out of the Top Twenty. Shawn Buchanan (GPI#30 -18) sees his score go down because of the aging of both his runner-up finish in the €10,000 Mixed NLHE and his Main Event final table score. Taking the largest hit of all is Erik Seidel who plummets from GPI#19 to GPI#55. Seidel’s 2011 WSOP-E Main Event cash and his runner-up finish in the 2011 Hollywood Poker Open NLHE Main Event age this week leading to a total loss of 409 points, the most of any player this week.

Young, Billirakis, Kuzmin Exit the GPI 300

Thirteen players exit the GPI 300 this week but most notable are Justin Young, Steve Billirakis, and Alexander Kuzmin. This trio of perennial GPI 300 ranked players fall out of the GPI Elite for the first time this week. Young was once ranked as high as GPI#29 but a current shortage of Period 2 scores causes his exit. Billirakis spent the entire last quarter of 2011 in the Top One Hundred but has fallen in the rankings due to having only four GPI qualifying scores so far in 2012.