GPI Year in Review: Big September Wins for Middleton, Zinno, Marvin Moves to #1

Tom Middleton would win big at EPT Barcelona, Anthony Zinno would do the same at WPT Borgata, where he would need to beat Vanessa Selbst heads-up for the title … oh, and Ole Schemion and David Benefield made some noise in September…

MIDDLETON’S BARCA BONANZA

Over 1,200 players would enter the EPT Barcelona Main Event as the European Poker Tour debuted its 10th season at Casino Barcelona. The UK’s Tom Middleton would outlast the huge field and collect the first Main Event victory of the season on the EPT. The win was Middleton’s third big win on the live tournament circuit and the seventh overall of his poker career; he started 2012 with a pair of significant victories in a Aussie Millions side event and the Fallsview Poker Classic.

All due respect to Middleton, but it’s two other names who grabbed the headlines in Barcelona as anything Ole Schemion could do, upcoming November Niner David Benefield could do better – or, at least, as well – as both players would cash in the Main, the High Roller and the 50K Super High Roller events with Benefield getting the best of Schemion in two of the three events.

Thomas Muehloecker would end taking down the High Roller event for over €390K while Joao Barbosa’s win in the Six-Max event, along with his other scores in Barcelona, would allow him to collect GPI Player of the Month honours for September.

ZINNO DEFEATS SELBST AT BORGATA

In was an upset down in Atlantic City as Anthony Zinno was able to defeat heavily favoured Vanessa Selbst heads-up to prevent Selbst from winning her very first WPT event at the WPT Borgata Poker Open. Now this isn’t to say that Zinno isn’t an accomplished player himself. Although he didn’t come into heads-up play with the same résumé as Selbst, Zinno had been grinding the circuit for a few years and this win would certainly place him in the limelight.

Just under 1,200 players would enter the WPT Borgata event including WSOP bracelet winners Cliff Josephy and Dan Heimiller, who each earned Top 15 finishes in Atlantic City.

During the tournament, The World Poker Tour would announce that the WPT World Championship was on the move. After being hosted by the Bellagio in Las Vegas since Day 1, the Championship would be making its way to the Borgata as Atlantic City would host some of the game’s biggest names starting in 2014. The WPT also announced that the Main Event buy-in would be reduced to 15K USD.

SEPTEMBER IN A FLASH

The Mad One, Marvin Rettenmaier, was expected at the Borgata, but instead he ran deep in a Eurasian Poker Tour event in the Ukraine. Rettenmaier would end up winning the event and collecting the 70K+ USD first prize.

GPI Top 10 contender David “Doc” Sands won the Festa Al Lago Main Event at the Bellagio … Famous Australian poker pro Billy “The Croc” Argyros won APPT Melbourne … WPT Champions Club member Mike Linster picked up a huge win at the Full Tilt Poker Festival in Montreal … French pro Quentin Lecomte won €100,000 at Unibet Open Cannes … Online wizard Luca Moschitta won the Peoples Poker Tour Nova Gorica Main Event while Martin Zentner and Bradford Albrinck won rings on the WSOP Circuit.

NEGREANU’S RISE TO GPI#1:

Daniel Negreanu started September dropping to #7 with the first release of the rankings. But Negreanu would finish second in the 10K High Roller tournament, earning €263,800 and, more importantly, earning valuable GPI points. The score would push Negreanu all the way up to #2 in the rankings. Kid Poker was one spot away from securing the #1 ranking for the first time in his poker career.

Jason Mercier, who had held onto the #1 rank since mid-May would drop to #3 during the month, surpassed by Negreanu and new World #1 Marvin Rettenmaier. Rettenmaier would hold onto the #1 spot for six weeks.

SCHEMION’S ROAD TO GPI PLAYER OF THE YEAR:

After a few months without results, Ole Schemion would return with a bang in September. As previously mentioned, Schemion would earn three cashes in September, all at the EPT Barcelona Festival.

Schemion started the month holding the #9 spot in the rankings. His early result in the Super High Roller event in Barcelona would move him to #7 in the rankings. Then, another two results in Barcelona and Schemion would capture the #1 rank on the 2013 GPI Player of the Year Leaderboard by mid-month. He would spend the next five weeks at the top.

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GPI YEAR IN REVIEW:

January ››  PCA, Aussie Millions Kickoff January
February ››  Welcome to February, Where Fantasy Met Reality
March ››  EPT Victory for Visser, Rocco Rocks Venice in March
April ››  Kid Poker Hits the Ground Running in April
May ››  Mercier Shines in Monte Carlo in May
June ›› WSOP Dominates June Headlines
July ››  Elezra, Harwood, Alaei Win, November Nine Set in July
August ›› Hinkle, Sivler Win Big in Florida, Rybin, Cristos Win WPTs in August
September ›› Big October Wins for Middleton, Zinno, Marvin Moves to #1
October ›› Negreanu Makes His Move as October Offers Tons of Action
November ›› Four Win on WPT, Mizzi Wins Premier League in November
December ›› Smith, Pair of Julians Win, Schemion Steals PoY

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