GPIPoY: How Montreal Could Put The Race Into Overdrive

A total of 15 of the Top 25 players on the GPI Player of the Year Race are in Montreal, looking to shake things up:

KID POKER LEADS LATE

Daniel Negreanu (GPI#1) retains his lead atop the GPI Player of the Year standings. Negreanu decided to skip WPT Montreal this weekend, choosing to take some time off before closing the year playing the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond in Las Vegas and EPT Prague. The public misconception is that Kid Poker has all but wrapped up the Player of the Year race and although Negreanu does hold a comfortable lead at the moment, one big score from a any of the contenders and Negreanu’s lead would certainly shrink.

Time will tell if Negreanu’s self-imposed break from poker – right in the middle of a heated race – was a wise move. Last season, Negreanu played Jacksonville and Montreal prior to the Five Diamond and Prague, that certainly is A LOT of poker in a short period of time … Negreanu is certainly banking on quality and not quantity when it comes to results this time around.

Negreanu, Ole Schemion, Philipp Gruissem and Paul Volpe are four of the 10 members of the Top 25 who decided to skip Montreal.

MONTREAL MAYHEM

It was an impressive crop of superstars who were competing during Day 1 play over the weekend in Montreal. Out of the bunch, Bryn Kenney (GPI#7) and Marvin Rettenmaier (GPI#3) missed the biggest opportunities to close down on Negreanu at #1 in the PoY race. Each player is in the thick of the race and a good result would certainly have helped them with the end of the year looming. Neither player was able to survive the Day 1 action.

Within the PoY Top 10, four players are still alive and kicking in Montreal. #3 ranked Michael Watson starts Day 2 play with a small stack, as does #9 Scott Seiver. Things are different for #6 Shannon Shorr and #10 Ravi Raghavan, who both enter Monday’s play with healthy chip stacks and are very much in contention.

#20 Byron Kaverman has quietly put together a very strong end to his 2013 season. Kaverman has contended and cashed in three straight events on the World Poker Tour, an incredible feat. Kaverman finished 20th at the Grand Prix de Paris, 45th in Jacksonville and 13th at WPT Caribbean. The young American enters Day 2 play in Montreal with a ton of chips at over 156K.

Although it would take a small miracle in order for him to win 2013 GPI Player of the Year, Kaverman is an early candidate for a player to watch in 2014.

Jonathan Duhamel, David Peters, Stephen O’Dwyer, Jason Koon, Joe Kuether and Matt Salsberg are other members for the PoY Top 25 still in contention in Montreal. WPT Jacksonville winners Jared Jaffee and Noah Schwartz were both eliminated during Day 1 play.

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