GPI 300 Update: Quiet Week at the Top; Results from Macau and Los Angeles Roll In

The Top Twenty of the GPI 300 were relatively quiet this week with the exception of a few players affected by aging results, most notably Jonathan Duhamel (GPI#15 -4) and Chris Klodnicki (GPI#24 -7). Duhamel loses 63 points because his score for his 4^th place finish in the 2011 NBC National $25,000 Heads-Up ages into Period 4. Klodnicki falls out of the Top Twenty due to his score for his 10^th place finish in the Borgata Deep Stack Double Play Open $1,500 NLHE event from March aging into Period 2 where it is excluded by the four cash cap. With no other Period 1 scores to replace it, Klodnicki’s overall score is lowered by the 113 points it was providing. This was good news for Tommy Vedeswho was GPI#21 last week. Klodnicki’s fall allows him to slide into the Top Twenty for the first time.

There are several more events aging into lower Periods next week which could cause even more significant changes in the Top Twenty. The 2011 Epic Poker League $20,000 NLHE 8-Handed event that Mike McDonald won and Erik Seidel final tabled ages into Period 3 and this year’s WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars $9,500 NLHE Championship Bounty event that Jason Mercier and Jonathan Duhamel cashed in ages into Period 2. This gives  Bertrand “ElkY’ Grospelliera shot at overtaking the GPI Number One position from Mercier since he currently is only three points behind him. However, Mercier is currently playing at the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, an event ElkY decided to skip this year, instead focusing on Pokerstars WCOOP 2012 online action. A strong finish in this event for Mercier could help him hold onto the Number One spot despite his other aging result.

Results from the Macau High Stakes Challenge and The Legends of Poker

Several GPI 300 players cashed in the Macau High Stakes Challenge $258,000 NLHE Super High Roller this week, including a newcomer. Nick Wong makes his GPI 300 debut after finishing 3^rd. Wong is no stranger to High Roller final tables, he has made seven of them since August of 2009, and has finished on top three times. One of those final tables ages out of Period 6 this week costing him a few points but with his new 3^rd place finish he still nets a 349 overall point gain and moves up to GPI#215. John Juanda(GPI#70 +21) finished 5^th in this event and Sam Trickett (GPI#37 +45) finished 7^th. The 307 points Juanda earns for this cash replaces the 205 he earned for cashing in this year’s WSOP Main Event netting him a 102 point overall gain. Trickett only had one score in Period 1 last week so he adds the entire 268 points he earns for the Super High Roller to his score and jumps up in the rankings. Phil Ivey was also at the final table of the Super High Roller but it does not affect his GPI score. Ivey already had four higher scores in Period 1, three from the WSOP and one from the EPT Grand Finale €25,000 8-Max High Roller in Monte Carlo.

The Legends of Poker $3,500 NLHE Main Event also wrapped up this week with ten GPI 300 players in the money. At the final table were Ali Eslami (GPI#125 +81), Jeff Madsen (GPI#208 +83), and Jesse Martin (GPI#140 +8). Eslami and Madsen used their cashes to gain more points and move farther up the rankings than any other GPI 300 players this week. The 288 points Eslami earned for his 4^th place finish gives him the largest overall point gain of any GPI 300 player this week and Madsen moves up 83 spots, the most of any GPI 300 player this week, to GPI#208.  Joseph Cheong (GPI#46 -1) and Jason Koon (GPI#40 -1) both cashed in the Main Event but neither gets to count the score because they are excluded by the four cash cap. Yevgeniy Timosheko (GPI#129 +48), on the other hand, does get to count his score for this cash and the 183 points he earns gives him one of the largest jumps in rank. Also cashing in the Main Event and picking up some points were Isaac Baron (GPI#69 +6), Brian Hawkins (GPI#164 +29), Dwyte Pilgrim (GPI#121 +19), and Todd Terry (GPI#73 0).

Aging Results Bring Some Players Back to the GPI 300; Cause Others to Exit

Nick Wong was the only player making a GPI 300 debut this week but several other players rejoin the GPI Elite thanks to aging results. Ondrej Vinklarek(GPI#264) picks up 64 points because his win at the 2011 EPT Barcelona €1,000 NLHE ages into Period 3 where he previously only had one score. Greg Ronaldson (GPI#282) gains 63 points because his score from this year’s WPT Mauritius €1,100 NLHE Main Event ages into Period 2 allowing his WSOP $1,500 PLHE to count in Period 1. Erich Kollmann’s runner-up finish in the 2011 CAPT Bregenz €2,000 Main Event ages into Period 4 allowing his 3^rd place from the 2011 CAPT Salzburg €2,000 Main Event to count in Period 3 giving him a 26 point boost. Bryan Devonshire gains 83 points because his 3^rd place finish in the L.A. Poker Classic $2,080 Eight Game Mix ages into Period 2 where he previously only had one score.

Ryan Eriquezzo rejoins the GPI 300 despite his score remaining the same. This is due to Max Lemanski’s win in the 2010 EPT Vilamoura €3,000 Heads-Up event aging into Period 5 costing him 24 points and knocking him out of the GPI 300. Also leaving the Index due to aging results are Antony Lellouche,Martin Staszko, Timothy Finne,Andrew Robl, and Johnny Lodden.