GPI Update: Sam Trickett Moves Into The Top 20 with Big European Results

Great Britain’s Sam Trickett(GPI#13) vaulted 15 places into the Top Twenty in this week’s GPI, after a 4th-place finish in Cannes at the World Series of Poker Europe’s €5,000 PLO. A month ago, Trickett was GPI#86 but he has been on a heater this fall. In addition to his WSOPE finish, he finished 7th in the £20,000 NLHE High Roller in London and made the final table as chip leader at the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes, which resumes play on November 13.

World Series of Poker Europe in Cannes

Four players from the final table of the €5,000 PLO moved up in the GPI 300. In addition to Sam Trickett, winner Steve Billirakis (GPI#67) soared 156 spots. Ramzi Jelassi (GPI#279), who finished 3rd, was the only first-time entrant to the GPI this week. Erich Kollmann (GPI#172) moved up 49 spots on the strength of his 7th-place finish.

With his win in the €3,000 NLHE Shootout, Tristan Wade (GPI#79) not only scored his first WSOP bracelet but also shot up 45 spots in the GPI. The bracelet win marked his second cash of the WSOP Europe and his fifth final table of 2011. Wade has steadily risen in the GPI from his debut in the Top 300 on June 27 at GPI#247. Four other in-the-money finishers from the €3,000 NLHE Shootout also moved up in the GPI: 3rd place Richard Toth (GPI#119 +147), 14th place Adrien Allain (GPI#137 +104), 16th place Tobias Reinkemeier (GPI#22 +17) and 18th place James Mitchell (GPI#162 +53).

London Open High Roller

Sam Trickett, who finished 7th in the EPT/UKIPT London Open £20,000 High-Roller, was one of six players in the Index to finish in the money. The winner, Philipp Gruissem (GPI#74) rocketed 225 places. Rob Akery (GPI#36) jumped over 69 players by finishing 3rd, and 4th-place finisher Oliver Busquet(GPI#21) moved up 17 spots. Michael Tureniec (GPI#167) and James Bord (GPI#238) returned to the GPI Top 300 based on their final-table finishes.

Top Ten Shuffle

Going into this week, only 113 points separated GPI#1 (Erik Seidel) and GPI#4 (Eugene Katchalov). That point difference between the top four was less than the 133 points separating Katchalov at #4 and Sorel Mizzi at GPI#5. With such a tight race at the top, it is not surprising to see some shifting in the top four. Small changes in score will shift players at the top of the board. Back in April, Jason Mercier (GPI#4 -2) won the North American Poker Tour’s $10,000 Bounty Shootout at Mohegan Sun. Eugene Katchalov (GPI#2 +2) finished runner-up. Although Mercier was victorious, when the scores from those events moved into the next half-year period in the GPI this week, he lost 154 points. Katchalov gained 21 points during the week.

Why? Mercier actually shuffled 6 scores last week: 2 aged into older periods, 2 replaced those scores, and the aged scores replaced 2 scores. Along with the 2011 Mohegan Sun victory, his 2010 Mohegan Sun victory in the same event (a $25,000 buy-in that year) aged and declined in value. The net losses (2 scores aging, 2 scores dropping off) were much greater than their replacements (including his 4th place finish in the €5,000 PLO in Cannes). Katchalov lost only the 2011 runner-up finish and he more than made up for its lesser value (and the loss of the score it knocked out of that period) because his GPI score for the first time reflected his 8th-place finish in Epic Poker’s first Main Event.

In similar fashion, Juha Helppi (GPI#8 +2) and Scott Seiver (GPI#10 -2) traded places. Helppi picked up some points because one of his scores aged into a period where he didn’t have 3 qualifying scores. (That gave Juha 16 qualifying scores over the last 36 months. He had 15 a week ago, due to the 3-per-half-year maximum.)

They swapped spots around Shawn Buchanan (GPI#9). While Shawn picked up almost 20 points with his 14th in €5,000 PLO in Cannes, it was not enough move him higher in the Top Ten. However, next week his runner-up finish to Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi (GPI#111 +2) in the €10,000 Mixed Hold’em Event in Cannes and €10,000 Main Event Final Table will enter the GPI database, as will Mizrachi’s bracelet win. So expect some movement from both Mizrachi and Buchanan next week.

With a lot of GPI points at stake, the results of the last three events of WSOP Europe are practically guaranteed to shake up the rankings next week.