November 17 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 result over six half-year periods. There was very little change at the top this week, but that won’t be the case next week. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

The Top 10 as of November 14, 2011

replaced Scott Seiver in the No. 10 spot. Seiver’s win at the WPT Championship in May fell from Period 1 to Period 2, resulting in a drop of 18 spots. Failla’s 15th-place finish in the WPT Championship fell into Period 2, as well, however, not only did that result improve his Period 2 calculations, but Failla’s Period 1 was hardly affected bcause he had several similar scores to replace it.

Welcome to the GPI

New Additions

PlayerTotal GPI ScoreGPI Rank

Nico Fierro	1,168.72	211th
Ronny Kaiser	1,145.22	231st
Tom McCormick	1,133.99	235th
Anton Wigg	1,071.36	265th
Paul Berende	1,069.74	269th
Ruben Visser	1,046.70	284th
Nick Yunis	1,045.39	285th
Jean-Philippe Rohr	1,032.22	293rd
Markus Ristola	1,029.39	294th
Mihails Morozovs	1,026.89	296th

The ten who fell from the GPI this week are Chance Kornuth, Heinz Kamutzki, Jan Bendik, Justin Smith, Kyle Bowker, Kyle Loman, Mark Radoja, Maurizio Sepede, Ray Henson, and Stephane Benadiba.

Ups and Downs

The biggest rise of the week belonged to Scott Baumstein. On the heels of his fourth-place finish at the WPT Amneville Main Event, he took first place in a “10,000 No-Limit Holdem High Roller tournament at the Master Classics of Poker 2011 to vault 175 spots up the GPI. Adrien Allain, WPT Amneville Main Event winner, also had a big increase in his score, rising 173 spots on the GPI.

Biggest Gains

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank From Last Week

63rd	Hafiz Khan	1,577.69	+50
71st	Adrien Allain	1,532.26	+173
83rd	Scott Baumstein	1,510.33	+175
85th	Govert Metaal	1,507.30	+59
93rd	Arnaud Mattern	1,473.79	+74
128th	Ty Reiman	1,342.95	+38
177th	Andrew Chen	1,226.30	+46
179th	Marc Inizan	1,219.42	+102
180th	Jonathan Jaffe	1,218.75	+54
240th	Micah Raskin	1,123.61	+40
255th	Josh Bergman	1,084.37	+38

Ville Haavisto plummeted 142 spots down the list. A combination of two aging scores resulted in his drop. First, a fourth-place finish in a PLO event at the EPT Grand Final in May fell into Period 2. Also, his lone career six-figure score (a runner-up performance at the Master Classics of Poker 2010) dropped from Period 2 to Period 3.

Both Farzad Bonyadi and Galen Hall slid more than 100 spots each, as well. Their respective second and third place finishes the WPT Championship fell from Period 1 to Period 2.

Biggest Drops

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank From Last Week

111th	Rob Akery	1,412.91	-56
173rd	Galen Hall	1,244.04	-104
188th	George Lind	1,205.54	-61
200th	Eric Haik	1,187.15	-80
206th	Phil Laak	1,173.77	-64
210th	Steven Kelly	1,168.86	-65
220th	Nichlas Mattsson	1,157.60	-114
268th	Tyler Kenney	1,070.97	-79
291st	Farzad Bonyadi	1,034.60	-113
297th	Ville Haavisto	1,026.85	-142

What’s In Store?

A change at the top of the GPI is a high possibility as Erik Seidel’s score is going to dip next week. His victory in the $100,000 Super High Roller Event at the Five Star World Poker Classic is going to drop into Period 2 next week. As a result, his Period 1 tally is going to take a substantial hit and shockingly, he does not have a seven-figure (or even a six-figure) score to take its place. Perhaps he is human after all.

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

Comments

September 29 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 calculates a player’s best three results over six half-year periods. That first sentence is imperative to remember because, arguably, the best player in the game slipped from the GPI this week. We’ll get into that later. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

The Top 10 as of September 26, 2011

4	Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier	2,486.00	0
5	Sorel Mizzi	2,348.58	0
6	Fabrice Soulier	2,234.25	0
7	Tom Marchese	2,146.22	0
8	Scott Seiver	2,056.29	0
9	Juha Helppi	2,004.50	+11
10	Shawn Buchanan	1,986.96	0

New to the top ten this week is Finnish pro Juha Helppi. With his 15th-place finish in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, Helppi boasts very solid Period 1 results. Helppi replaced Daniel Negreanu in the No. 9 spot, and with a loss of points this week, Negreanu slipped to No. 11. A fifth-place showing in the £10,000 High-Roller Heads-Up Tournament at the 2010 WSOPE had previously been a part of his Period 2 standings, but now falls into Period 3.

Another slight change in the top ten is that Erik Seidel’s lead over Jason Mercier increased from a tiny .07 to about 20. An eighth-place result in a £5,000 PLO Event from the 2008 WSOPE dropped from Mercier’s Period 6 calculations and was replaced by a lesser finish.

Welcome to the GPI

There are ten new additions to the GPI this week. Among them is 2011 WSOP November Niner Matt Giannetti, who is fresh off a win at the 2011 WPT Malta. Also joining the GPI is 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Oleksii Kovalchuk. With a ninth-place result in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, Kovalchuk has a very strong Period 1 to counter his other periods, with only one score in Period 2 to round out his entire GPI total.

New Additions

PlayerTotal GPI ScoreGPI Rank

Ville Haavisto	1,279.56	152nd
Oleksii Kovalchuk	1,189.40	196th
Matt Giannetti	1,144.48	223rd
Ilan Boujenah	1,138.38	228th
Simon Ravnsbaek	1,105.91	247th
Matt Perrins	1,075.41	275th
Eddy Sabat	1,061.67	284th
Mustapha Kanit	1,040.83	296th
Jonathan Karamalikis	1,037.19	299th
Sebastian Ruthenberg	1,036.84	300th

The ten that fell from the GPI this week are Chris Tryba, Darren Woods, Govert Metaal, Jonathan Jaffe, Kristijonas Andrulis, Martin Kabrhel, Russell Carson, Zach Clark, Ronald Lee, and Phil Ivey.

Wait, what? Yes, you read that correctly. Phil Ivey is no longer in the top 300 of the GPI. Clearly, nobody is going to argue that Phil Ivey isn’t among the top 300 tournament players, but the fact is, is that the GPI requires players to actively and consistently post results. As unlikely as it seems, Ivey has no Period 1 scores. None. His last GPI-counting tournament cash, in fact, came in December 2010.

It isn’t that Ivey has been running cold lately. He simply has not been playing, for obvious reasons. In addition, his two WSOPE cashes from 2010 fell out of Period 2. Only one of those cashes was picked up into his Period 3 calculations, since his 2010 WSOP bracelet win and third-place WPT Bellagio Cup VI result already are counted in Period 3. When Ivey gets back on the tournament circuit, it won’t be long before he vaults back up the GPI.

Ups and Downs

The biggest rise of the week belonged to Frederik Jensen. Even though his 34th-place finish in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event isn’t what you would call amazing, it offset his Period 1 results when his 14th-place finish at the the 2011 WPT Vienna dropped into Period 2. With the boost to his Period 2 results without losing ground in Period 1, Jensen saw a nice rise up the GPI ladder.

Biggest Gains

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank From Last Week

32nd	Sam Trickett	1,761.84	+54
36th	Roger Hairabedian	1,703.76	+54
75th	Ludovic Lacay	1,550.15	+127
96th	Alexander Dovzhenko	1,465.66	+113
111th	Giuseppe Pantaleo	1,397.63	+114
116th	Eric Haik	1,383.07	+73
137th	Stephane Benadiba	1,321.26	+62
138th	Salman Behbehani	1,321.03	+75
143rd	Tristan Clemencon	1,305.35	+74
144th	Dmitry Vitkind	1,302.27	+105
164th	Frederik Jensen	1,250.59	+126

Italian Nicolo Calia suffered the biggest hit this week. His third-place result in the High Roller event at the 2011 WPT Vienna fell from Period 1 to Period 2, leaving Calia with just one Period 1 score. Also falling was Yevgeniy Timoshenko. His drop was result of his cashes in the WSOPE Main Events from both 2009 and 2010 falling into lesser Periods.

Biggest Drops

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank From Last Week

190th	Marc Inizan	1,206.17	-74
202nd	Saar Wilf	1,168.04	-74
206th	Yevgeniy Timoshenko	1,161.04	-83
235th	Maurizio Sepede	1,121.58	-50
242nd	Kevin Eyster	1,111.68	-56
253rd	Men Nguyen	1,099.17	-57
267th	Luca Pagano	1,084.62	-77
276th	Nicolo Calia	1,072.76	-134
278th	Bolivar Palacios	1,070.04	-72
282nd	Dragan Galic	1,064.39	-105

What’s In Store?

This week is the calm before the storm because October will provide plenty of action overseas. The 2011 EPT London is set to kick off on Friday. The following Friday will see the 2011 WSOPE begin, as well.

Which players are due for a fall next week? Unless she scores big in London and Cannes in October, Vanessa Selbst is going to drop fast from her current No. 24 spot on the GPI. Her last two six-figure scores are going to fall into previous periods. Next week, her fourth-place finish at the 2010 EPT London £20,000 High Roller Event will slip from Period 2 to Period 3. The following week (most likely, but not for sure because of the cutoff date), her win at the 2011 NAPT Mohegan will drop from Period 1 to Period 2.

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

Comments