GPI300: Ole on Top, Mukul Moves Up, Kid Poker Plummets

Remember the days where all was quiet at the top of the GPI300 rankings? Well, Ole is #1, Mukul takes a huge leap and Daniel drops out of the Top 10 – how’s that for drama!

GPI PLAYER OF THE YEAR

We start with a quick note on the GPI Player of the Year race. Just like this week’s GPI300 update, the PoY is filled with movement, including three new members entering the Top 5.

We had already predicted Ole Schemion’s return to the PoY Top 5 for the first time since January, but Alex Bilokur and Mukul Pahuja have also joined Ole inside the Top 5. We’ll have a full update in our usual Thursday look at the GPI Player of the Year race tomorrow – stay tuned!

VIEW FROM THE TOP

After spending the past 9 of 10 weeks away from the #1 rank, Ole Schemion (GPI#1, +2) is back on top of the world this week, following a big victory in the High Roller event at EPT Sanremo, days before the final EPT festival of the season in Monte Carlo. Vanessa Selbst (GPI#2, -) retains the #2 rank this week … in fact, Selbst is the only member of the Top 10 to have kept her ranking this week in what is one of the wildest moving weeks ever atop the GPI300.

Marvin Rettenmaier (GPI#3, +1), Jason Mercier (GPI#4, +1) and Mike McDonald (GPI#5 CB, +1), who all move up one spot this week, are all part of the Top 5 this week.

Recent successes on the World Poker Tour see Mukul Pahuja (GPI#7 CB, +13) takes a huge leap inside the GPI Top 10 for the first time of his career. Pahuja and fellow American Paul Volpe (GPI#9, +3) are our two new entries inside the Top 10 this week.

The biggest shock this week isn’t just that Daniel Negreanu (GPI#12, -11) is no longer #1, it’s that he free falls all the way down to #12 overall! Past successes have come back to haunt Kid Poker, big time! He and fellow Canadian Jonathan Duhamel (GPI#14, -6) both drop out of the Top 10 this week.

GPI TOP 10:

[table id=1091 /]

SWIMMING UPSTREAM

Barry Hutter (GPI#131 CB, +112) moves up to a career-best #131 in the world this week. Hutter finished 8th at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown last week, missing out on the WPT Final Table by just two spots. This was Hutter’s first score since his final table participation at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic back in December.

Jorma Nuutinen (GPI#170 CB, +127), Oliver Price (GPI#179 CB, +95), “The Takeover” Nick Schulman (GPI#136, +90) and Dimitar Danchev (GPI#60, +72) are some other big name players who made the biggest strides inside the GPI300 this week.

This week’s Top 10 Movers within the GPI300:

[table id=1092 /]

DOWN THE LADDER

Former EPT Sanremo Champion Ludovic Lacay (GPI#230, -62) drops to #230 this week, his lowest point on the GPI300 this 2014 poker season. Lacay will hope to buck the trend in Monte Carlo, as he is expected to play in plenty of events at the EPT Grand Final Festival.

A pair of Canadians, Timothy Adams (GPI#249, -93) and Sam Greenwood (GPI#264, -53) are also on the way down. Brazilian star Nicolau Villa-Lobos, German Robert Haigh (GPI#214, -88), Latvian Mihails Morozovs (GPI#190, -50) and Danish pro Lasse Frost (GPI#197, -49) also join list of those who took a tumble this week.

This week’s Top 10 Drops within the GPI300:

[table id=1093 /]

IN-N-OUT

A fourth place finish in a 1K side event at the Borgata Spring Open was enough for Justin Young (GPI#204) make a return to the GPI300 this week. Young, a former Top 30 player on the GPI, makes a return to the 300 for the first time in a year.

WPT and WSOP event winner Rocco Palumbo (GPI#234), two-time WSOP Circuit Council Bluffs Champion Blair Hinkle (GPI#271), WPT and EPT champ Roberto Romanello (GPI#275) and Triple Crown winner Jake Cody (GPI#278) all make a return to the GPI300 this week.

The Brat is gone … For the very first time of his career, Phil Hellmuth (GPI#326) sits on the outside, looking in as he his no longer a member of the GPI300. Hellmuth, who only has 10 cashes to his credit since his 2012 victory at WSOP Europe, could continue to fall in in standings if he doesn’t earn a significant score in the very near future.

Fellow former WSOP Main Event Champion Ryan Riess (GPI#321), Benjamin Spindler (GPI#319), Manig Loeser (GPI#324) and reigning and defending WSOP 50K Poker Players Championship winner Matthew Ashton (GPI#328) join Hellmuth on the outside this week.

[table id=1094 /]

ON THE BUBBLE

Last week’s player on the bubble, Dmitry Vitkind (GPI#222) made a successful return to the GPI300 this week following some successes at EPT Sanremo.

This week’s bubble player is hybrid star Isaac Haxton (GPI#301), who drops out of the GPI300 for this first time since February. The former #33 player in the world will get the opportunity to right the ship this week in Monte Carlo as he is expected to play big buy-in events at the EPT Grand Final Festival.

CB = Career Best GPI Ranking

Cover photo courtesy of Neil Stoddart – PokerStars/European Poker Tour