The Top of the Rankings Hold Steady; Event Aging Shakes Up the Rest

With Easter and Passover comes a break in the busy spring tournament schedule.  With the lull, new results were reported for a mere four Global Poker Index ranked players. But that does not mean the Index is without some big changes this week. Players felt the effects of several events aging this week, including the NAPT Mohegan Sun which proved particularly detrimental to a two time champion there.

Mercier Sets a Record; Soulier and Selbst Exit the Top Ten

Jason Mercier (GPI#1 0) holds on to the top spot for the 9^th week in a row breaking the eight week record set by Erik Seidel (GPI#6 0) in October and November of 2011. Mercier already held the record for most weeks at GPI#1 and now adds the most consecutive weeks at Number One to his resume. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (GPI#2 0) was one of only four GPI ranked players to record a new result this week, cashing in the France Poker Series Snowfest €2,700 NLHE High Roller Event. However, that cash does not count toward his overall Global Poker Index score since it is not one of his four highest scores in the past six months, so it is excluded by the cap. In fact, ElkY loses 51 points this week due to the effects of his 5^th place finish last October in the £10,000 No Limit Hold’em – Six Max High Roller Turbo at the EPT/UK & Ireland Poker Tour – London aging into Period 2. That loss helps Mercier extend his lead over GPI#2 to 197 points while there is a mere 43 point margin between Grospellier and Shawn Buchanan who holds on to GPI#3 this week.  Eugene Katchalov (GPI#4 0) and David “Doc” Sands (GPI#5 0) round out the Top Five.

The two players in the Top Twenty hardest hit by aging this week are Fabrice Soulier (GPI#13 -6) and Vanessa Selbst (GPI#17 -8). Soulier loses 174 points mainly due to the effects of his cash at EPT Berlin’s €5,000 NLHE Main Event aging into Period 3. Selbst won the NAPT Mohegan Sun NLHE Main Event in back-to-back years, an incredible accomplishment that now hurts her Global Poker Index ranking. That 2010 win ages into Period 5 this week and the win in 2011 ages into Period 3. She also has a third cash aging into Period 4 this week, her 4^th place finish in the EPT London £20,000 NLHE High Roller Event. The net effect of these three results moving into lower weighted Periods is a 149 point loss and an exit from the Top Ten for the first time since the end of 2011.

Limited New Results Create Limited Ranking Changes

Only three GPI ranked players had new results count toward their overall score this week, Andrew Teng (GPI#245), Mike Leah (GPI#242)  and Micah Raskin (GPI#146).  Leah and Raskin both cashed at the Foxwoods Poker Classic $2,325 NLHE Championship Event. Leah’s 11^th place is enough to see his return to the rankings this week for the first time since March 5^th of this year. Raskin’s 20^th place nudges him up eleven spots in the rankings.

Andrew Teng final tabled the Palm Beach Big Game £1,000 NLHE in London but that was not enough to counteract the effects of two aging results, a 7^th place in the 2011 EPT Berlin €2,000 NLHE aging into Period 3 and a final table in the EPT London £1,500 NLHE aging into Period 4. The net effect is a 55 point loss and a 15 spot drop in the Index.

Wigg and Kastle Benefit From Aging, Gruissem, Hellmuth and Smith Head in the Other Direction

Like Vanessa Selbst, Anton Wigg (GPI#126 +46) also has multiple events aging this week but in his case it boosts him 144 points, giving him the largest point gain and second largest jump in rank of any player in the Index this week. Wigg sees four results age this week, including a cash in the 2011 WSOP Europe €2,500 NLHE 6-Max Event and a final table at the EPT/UK and Ireland Poker Tour £1,000 NLHE Event aging into Period 2. Wigg has a surplus of results in Period 1 so still has the maximum four results now counting toward his Period 1 score. He also previously did not have the full complement of four results counting in Period 2 so the two scores aging into that Period help his Period 2 score. Combined with the effects of a cash at EPT Berlin aging into Period 3 and another at EPT London aging into Period 6, Wigg soars in the rankings.

Casey Kastle (GPI#133 +51) only has one result aging this week, his 9^th place finish in the 2011 WSOP Europe €2,500 NLHE 6-Max Event. Like Wigg, this result aging into Period 2 helps Kastle get the biggest boost in rank of any player in the GPI this week. Kastle also had a surplus of results in Period 1 being excluded by the cap while not having the full complement of four results counting toward his Period 2 score, increasing his overall Global Poker Index score by 122 points, second only to Wigg.

On the flip side, Phillip Gruissem (GPI#50 -21) nearly exits the Top Fifty this week, plummeting 21 spots in the rankings and losing 219 points, the most of any Global Poker Index ranked player. Gruissem stormed onto the European poker scene in 2011, recording six final tables with two wins and no results less than a 4^th place finish. This week, his 3^rd place in the EPT Berlin €10,000 8-Max Event ages into Period 3 and his win at the EPT London £20,000 NLHE High Roller Event ages into Period 2. While Gruissem’s results are stellar, the aging leaves him with only three results now counting in Period 1, the highest weighted Period. The net effect gives him the dubious honor of the biggest point drop in the Index.

Phil Hellmuth (GPI#92 -39) is not far behind Grusseim with a 205 point loss that nearly causes him to exit the Top One Hundred. Hellmuth came in 7^th in the €2,500 NLHE 6-Max at World Series of Poker Europe in October and with that result now aging into Period 2 Hellmuth is left with only one result counting toward his Period 1 score. Dan Smith’s 4^th place in the 2011 EPT London £10,000 NLHE 6-Max High Roller Turbo Event ages into Period 2 this week, knocking out another Period 2 score and leaving him with only one result counting in the crucial Period 1, causing him to lose 196 points and plummet to GPI#166.

The biggest drop in rank this week belongs to Marton Czuczor (GPI#288) who drops 78 spots. Czuczor recorded a 6^th place in the 2011 WSOP Europe €2,500 NLHE 6-Max Event but has since put up no new results. With the aging of that final table into Period 2, Czuczor gets hit hard this week.

New and Returning to the Global Poker Index This Week

Only two players make their first appearance on the GPI this week, Brent Hanks (GPI#299) and Robert Cezarescu (GPI#286).

Along with Mike Leah, six other players return to the Global Poker Index this week, including three big name veterans. Five-time bracelet winner, Allen Cunningham (GPI#297) returns for the first time since January 9^th of this year; two-time bracelet winner , Brandon Cantu (GPI#296) also returns for the first time since January 9^th; and two-time bracelet winner David Pham (GPI#298) is back this week after exiting the Index in late March. Also returning this week are Yorane Kerignard (GPI#294), Markus Ristola (GPI#295) and Connor Drinan (GPI#300).

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Erik Seidel
Tom Marchese
Will Reynolds