December 15 2011, Mickey Doft

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes a player’s results over six half-year periods. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier still holds down the fort at No. 1, but Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier, and Eugene Katchalov are all within striking distance. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

The Top 10 as of December 12, 2011

The new face in the top 10 this week is Matt Marafioti. After a runner-up showing in a $5,000 preliminary event at the 2011 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Marafioti finished 15th in the Main Event of the WPT Five Diamond. Sorel Mizzi returned to the top 10 after one of his aging Period 1 results from the 2011 WSOP gave his Period 2 results (which only had one result counting) a much-needed boost.

Welcome to the GPI

There were 17 new additions to the GPI this week. Topping the list in the No. 173 spot is James “Flushy” Dempsey. Dempsey is certainly ending 2011 in style as two final tables, including a win, have vaulted the Brit into the GPI. First, he finished third in a $5,000 preliminary event at the 2011 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Then came the Main Event, which he won.

New Additions

The 17 who fell from the GPI this week were Amnon Filippi, Chris Bjorin, James Calderaro, John Duthie, Michael Chow, Mihails Morozovs, Mike Sexton, Nicolas Chouity, Richard Lyndaker, Robert Suer, Seth Fischer, Steve Landfish, Tyler Kenney, Tyler Smith, Vadim Kursevich, Ville Haavisto, and Youcef Benzerfa.

Ups and Downs

The biggest rise of the week belonged to Andrew Lichtenberger. With his fourth-place finish in the 2011 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event over the weekend, Lichtenberger rocketed 152 places up the GPI.

Biggest Gains

Jesse Martin and Ali Eslami took the biggest tumbles down the GPI this week. Two of their 2011 WSOP cashes fell out of their Period 1 results, leaving just one cash to be counted in each of their Period 1s.

Biggest Drops

What’s In Store?

In addition to more 2011 WSOP scores aging, the Epic Poker League Main Event #3 kicked off on Wednesday and will be sure to have an effect on next week’s GPI.

To look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you’re at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

To stay on top of the GPI and other happenings in the poker world, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Follow Mickey Doft on Twitter – @mrdoft

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August 29 2011, Donnie Peters

Day 3 of the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker was completed on Sunday and only 21 players remain. Leading the way is Jeff Vertes with a big, 800,000-chip-plus lead. He holds 2.712 million in chips to James Carroll’s 1.9 million. David Daneshgar rounds out the top three with 1.85 million.

When the day began, Ken Aldridge led the way. Aldridge did very well to continue to build his stack throughout Day 3. In fact, he gathered enough chips, 1.541 million, to find himself finishing sixth overall moving into Day 4.

With 99 players coming back and the money line set at 81 places, that meant an unfortunate 18 players would go home empty-handed. The most unfortunate of them all was Joe Ressler who fell in 82nd place and earned the very unwanted title of “tournament bubble boy.” According to the WPT Live Update Team, Ressler was all-in with to Brent Hanks’ . Hanks went on to make a flush and cripple Ressler before eliminating him on the very next hand.

Some of the other notable players to fall prior to the money were Tom Braband, Jason DeWitt, Jon Friedberg, Hafiz Khan and Jeff Madsen. From there, there were plenty of eliminations en route to the end of the day including Greg Mueller (78th – $7,000), Owen Crowe (77th – $7,000), Dan O’Brien (69th – $7,300), Jamie Gold (67th – $7,300), Allen Cunningham (54th – $8,480), Amnon Filippi (41st – $9,250), J.C. Tran (39th – $9,250), Dwyte Pilgrim (33rd – $10,280) and Allen Kessler (28th – $10,280).

Former WPT champion Pilgrim fell at the hands of Carroll. With the blinds at 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante, Carroll raised to 28,000 from middle position and Pilgrim moved all-in for approximately 175,000. Action got back to Carroll and he made the call holding . Pilgrim was all-in and dominated with . The flop, turn and river ran out and Carroll finished with a Broadway straight to win the hand.

Kessler’s 28th-place elimination came at the hands of Tuan Nguyen. From under the gun with the blinds 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante, Kessler jammed all-in for 40,000. After Tyler Cornell called from middle position, Nguyen rereaised all-in for 157,000 from the cutoff seat. That knocked everyone out of the way and isolated Kessler.

When the hands were tabled, it was Kessler’s up against Nguyen’s . The flop came down to give Kessler some hope as he picked up the lead with a pair of eights, but the turn and river had other things in mind. Nguyen finished with a Broadway straight and Kessler was left felted.

Top 10 Chip Counts

The final 21 players will return on Monday at 1300 PDT (2100 BST) for Day 4 to continue play. Everyone left is guaranteed a payday of $14,315, but it’s the $758,085 first-place prize they’re all chasing. First things first though and in order to keep the shot alive, the players must first make the final table and that will be determined on Monday. Be sure to check back with PokerNews for the recap.

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