GPI Update: L.A. Poker Classic and EPT Copenhagen Results Stir up the GPI

The Global Poker Index ranks professional level tournament performance over a rolling 36-month period where more recent results are weighted more heavily than older results. Learn more about how the Global Poker Index is calculated.

The lull in the poker world last week came to an end as results from the L.A. Poker Classic and EPT Copenhagen started rolling in, resulting in a lot of movement at all levels of the Global Poker Index. Jason Mercier holds on to GPI#1. Eugene Katchalov falls out of the Top Four for the first time since the Index premiered while Vanessa Selbst makes her first Top Five appearance.

Many Changes in the Top Twenty Including New Members of the Top Five

While Jason Mercier remains at Number One this week he is one of only four players in the Top Twenty to repeat their ranking from a week ago.  For the rest of the Top Twenty some are up and some are down but one thing is certain, they are on the move.

Leading those that are up this week are Vanessa Selbst (GPI#5 +3) and Jonathan Duhamel(GPI#10 +6).  They both take a positive step in the rankings after finishing 1st and 2nd at the L.A. Poker Classic $5,100 NLHE event.  Selbst sees her highest rank to date while Duhamel makes only his second appearance in the Top Ten.  Also enjoying a multiple spot jump this week is Steve O’Dwyer.  He moves up five spots to GPI#12 on the heels of his 7th place finish in the DKr 35,000 EPT Copenhagen NLHE Main event.

While Selbst, Duhamel, and O’Dwyer enjoy their upward movement others are not so fortunate, including Eugene Katchalov, who for the first time since the inception of the Index finds himself outside the Top Four.  Katchalov has occupied the fourth spot for the past sixteen weeks, and prior to that bounced in and out of third place, while nearly reaching GPI#1 back in October when he held GPI#2 for three straight weeks.  His drop to sixth this week is due to losing 246 points, the largest loss of points for any player, caused by his scores moving into new aging periods.  Katchalov’s point loss is predominantly due to the aging of his 3rd place finish in last year’s EPT Barcelona NLHE Main event moving into Period 2.  That cost him 110 points and also knocks out his WSOP Seven Card Stud win from last June costing him an additional 132 points.

While Katchalov takes the largest hit due to aging results this week, he is not alone.  Half of this week’s Top 20 have at least one score moving into a new aging period with five of them having multiple scores moving into new periods.  Matt Marafioti (GPI#16 -6) and Will Failla (GPI#8 -2) each have multiple scores aging this week causing them to lose points and fall in the rankings despite both cashing in the Deep Stack Extravaganza $2,500 NLHE Main event.  Marafioti does not gain many points for his Main event cash because he already had four scores counting in Period 1.  He picks up 138 points for his twelfth place finish but it replaces a 130 point score from last year’s Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic netting him only 8 points.  His cash in the 2010 Deep Stack Extravaganza aging into Period 5 allows him to pick up an additional fourteen points because it was not previously counting in Period 4.  However, the aging of his 2011 L.A. Poker Classic NLHE Championship costs him 112 points lowering his overall score and causing him to tumble out of the Top Ten.  For Failla the aging effect is slightly different but similar.  He gains the entire 188 points his final table appearance in the Main event rewards him because his win at last year’s Legends of Poker NLHE Main event also ages this week making room for his new score in Period 1.  However, the net effects of that event aging along with his 2009 and 2010 L.A. Poker Classic scores also aging ultimately lowers his overall score.

Benefiting from the multi-cash aging this week are Erik Seidel (GPI#2 +1) and Shawn Buchanan (GPI#4 +1).  For Seidel the aging of his scores does nothing but benefit his overall score.  Both his 2010 and 2011 L.A. Poker Classic finishes age this week, but they age into periods where he did not previously have a full complement of scores so he picks up 75 points.  While Buchanan’s 13th place finish in last year’s Legends of Poker NLHE Main event and his 2010 L.A. Poker Classic NLHE Championship event score age into periods 2 and 5 costing him points they ultimately benefit his score.  Because he has more scores than are allowed by the cap for these periods the aging of his results allow these additional scores to count giving him a net gain of 39 points, enough for him to take over the spot vacated by Katchalov and make him GPI#4 this week.

L.A. Poker Classic Provides Big Boosts and Introduces New Faces

The $5,100 NLHE event saw not only Selbst and Duhamel at the final table but five other GPI ranked players this week, including Josh Brikis (GPI#161 +108) who has the largest jump in rank this week as well as the second highest gain in score thanks to the 233 points he receives for his 3rd place finish.  Also at the final table were Stephen Chidwick(GPI#185) who returns to the GPI after falling off at the end of January, and Faraz Jaka(GPI#51 +38) who gains 199 points this week from his 5th place finish.  Matt Stout andMcLean Karr, who finished 7th and 8th respectively, also picked up points this week.  Karr gets a nice boost moving up 25 spots from GPI#40 thanks to his 167 point gain from this event.

The $25,000 NLHE High Roller went very well for Dan Shak, Dan Fleyshman, andBertrand “ElKY” Grospellier who finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively.  Both Shak and Fleyshman join the Index this week. Shak has the highest return this week at GPI#167 and Fleyshman makes his GPI debut at GPI#279.

Edward Sabat’s (GPI#222 +68) 6th place finish in the $1,600 NLHE – Bounty Championship propels him up the rankings this week.  He was joined at the final table by newcomer Owen Crowe and Andy Frankenberger.  With none of their scores aging this week Sabat gains 89 points and Frankenberger 80 points for their cashes in this event.

Recent Champions Among The Ranks 

Dane Mickey Petersen (GPI#215) got his first ever tournament win at home last week in the EPT Copenhagen DKr35,000 NLHE Main event.  Pierre Neuville (GPI#35 +26) uses his runner-up finish to help him gain 260 points for the largest point gain this week.

Other Copenhagen action saw Samuel Chartier (GPI#30 +1) take home top prize in the DKr15,000 NLHE event and Rupert Elder (GPI#104 +54) finish a close third.  Elder picks up 140 points from this event giving him a nice bump in the rankings.

Other GPI ranked players who walked away with wins this week were Fabrice Soulier andMax Silver.  Soulier (GPI#29 +6) won the $2,080 NLHE-6 Max event at the L.A. Poker Classic and Silver (GPI# 234 +15) won the €2,000 NLHE High Roller event at the UK & Ireland Poker Tour.

Debuting on the Global Poker Index

Five players joined the Index this week, including Epic Event One Pro/Am qualifier Dan Fleyshman who debuts at GPI#279.  EPT Copenhagen winner Mickey Petersen has the highest debut at GPI#215.  Also new this week are two players who saw final table action last week.  Owen Crowe finished 7th in the LA Poker Classic $1,600 NLHE Bounty Championships and Dan Murariu who finished 8th in the Unibet Open Prague NLHE Main event.  Rounding out the new faces is Michael Graydon at GPI#296.

Returning to the Global Poker Index

Returning to the GPI this week on the heels of final table cashes are Andrew Teng(GPI#219) and Randal Flowers (GPI#274).  Teng finished third in the €2,000 NLHE High Roller event at the UK & Ireland Poker Tour.  Flowers finished fifth in the 2,080 NLHE-6 Max event at the L.A. Poker Classic.  Also rejoining the Index this week are Daniel Shak(GPI#167) who makes the highest return to the Index this week, Stephen Chidwick(GPI#185), Yuliyan Nikolaev Kolev (GPI#295), and Mike Leah (GPI#297).

Exiting the Global Poker Index

We say goodbye to eleven GPI ranked players from last week. Some of the departing players are relative newcomers including Konstantin Streletskiy who made his debut just last week.  Others leaving this week have become staples of the Index including Vivek Rajkumar who was knocking on the door of the Top Ten back in July.  He does not leave alone however.  Other big names departing are Per Linde, Jason DeWitt, and Surinder Sunar all of whom have previously ranked in the Top 100.  Also dropping out of the GPI rankings this week are Tyler Cornell, Simon Charette, Saar Wilf, Matthias De Meulder, Mihails Morozovs, and Richard Toth.