GPI Year in Review: Hinkle, Silverman Win Big in Florida, Rybin, Cristos Win WPTs in August

Blair Hinkle would win huge in the 10M guarantee Main Event at the Seminole Hard Rock in Florida, Steven Silverman would take down the first WPT Alpha8 while the WPT’s new season opens with two events, oceans apart…

HINKLE’S REDEMPTION, SILVERMAN SHINES

It was well documented that one of the biggest victims of Black Friday was US poker pro Blair Hinkle. Months after winning over 1M USD in the largest FTOPS event ever presented on Full Tilt Poker, Hinkle would see that money vanish as FTP closed its doors.

Hinkle’s luck would certainly turn around in August as he would go on to win the 10M USD guaranteed Seminole Hard Rock Open for over 1.7M USD. Hinkle, who also picked up his second WSOP Circuit Ring at Horseshoe Council Bluffs in April, would receive GPI Player of the Month honours for August.

Steven Silverman would also be the focus of many discussions in Florida. The Seminole Hard Rock would be the site of the very first 100K USD buy-in WPT Alpha8 event, attracting a total of 21 players and creating a 2M+ USD prize pool. Silverman would end up defeating J.C. Tran heads-up to win the inaugural event.

The next WPT Alpha8 tournaments would be set for London and St. Kitts later in the year.

WPT SEASON XII KICKS OFF IN CYPRUS, LOS ANGELES

A brand new season on the World Poker Tour would kickoff on both sides of the ocean … first, in Cyprus, Marvin Rettenmaier’s attempt at winning a second straight WPY Merit Cyprus Classic title would be cut short, however, the star German would go on to defeat Roger Hairabedian heads-up to win the High Roller title … the win would push Rettenmaier to the #2 rank on the GPI300.

The Main Event victory would go to Alexey Rybin. Rybin would collect $258,000 USD for the victory, the first of his career on the live tournament circuit.

Over in Los Angeles, Jordan Cristos would take down one of the original events on the WPT schedule, the Legends of Poker. Many experts believe that Cristos was due for a huge payout, he had been travelling the World Poker Tour for the last little while in hopes of picking up that huge score.

The Legends final table would include Phil Laak, who bowed out in fifth position. The Unabomber had also final tabled the Legends of Poker back in 2003, during the WPT’s second season.

AUGUST IN A FLASH

The European Poker Tour would make their way to Barcelona in late August to kickoff their new season. Although the Main Event wouldn’t start until September, the 50K Super High Roller event took place in August with Vitaly Lunkin taking down the title and winning over €770K for the big victory. Soenke Jahn and Jonathan Currle would win Estrellas events.

Three of the hottest players to come out of 2013, Daniel Laidlaw, Sergio Aido and Joe Kuether would all collect victories during the month. Laidlaw would win the Sydney Championships in Australia, Aido the UKIPT Galway High Roller event in Ireland while Kuether won the Arizona State Championship over in the US.

Alan Gold (UKIPT Galway Main Event), Adam Foster (Empire State Championship), Tom Alner (Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon), Jason Strasser (WSOPC Connecticut), Maria Ho (River Poker Series 5K No Juice) and Kaophone Inthavong (River Series Main) were some of the other winners in the month of August.

NEGREANU’S RISE TO GPI#1:

Despite not cashing in any events in August, Daniel Negreanu would still have to endure quite the roller coaster ride inside the GPI Top 10 during the month. Starting off ranked #6 overall, Negreanu would jump to the #3 position with the first release of the August rankings. Kid Poker would move to #7 a few weeks and eventually settle for sixth, returning to the exact same place he started the month in.

Another month and Jason Mercier continues to lead the GPI300. Mercier will have spent just under four months at #1, however, this would be the last time he would finish the month at #1 … stay tuned to our September update for further information!

SCHEMION’S ROAD TO GPI PLAYER OF THE YEAR:

Still nothing from Ole Schemion, although he would end the month in contention in the EPT Barcelona 50K Super High Roller event. In fact, Schemion would make the final table in the event. The FT would be played out in September, allowing Schemion to pickup his first PoY points in three months.

Schemion would start the month ranked #9 in the Player of the Year race. His position would not change throughout the month, however, with his SHR result in the air, it was expected that Schemion would be trending upwards in September … turns out, he wouldn’t be satisfied with a single score in Barcelona.

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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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