The best of the poker world gathered on Saturday at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas for the fifth edition of the GPI/THM's Global Poker Awards. From standout player performances to excellence on the industry side of the poker world, 2023's greatest were honored for their contributions to and achievements in poker.
In the lead-up to the ceremony, Global Poker Index announced several special award winners:
Doyle Brunson -- Poker Icon Award. Brunson, who passed away last year at age 89, was honored posthumously with the GPA's annual Poker Icon award. PokerGO's Mori Eskandani accepted the award on Brunson's behalf.
Casey Kastle - The Hendon Mob Award. Kastle became the first player ever to cash in poker tournaments in 50 different countries and currently leads the GPI's lifetime Flaghunter leaderboard with 51 flags, one ahead of Lars Jurgens and Miroslaw Klys.
Nadya Magnus - Global Poker Award for Charitable Community Initiative. Magnus, a prior GPI Female Player of the Year winner, has continued her standout efforts in donating tournament seats to deserving players who might otherwise never get the chance to play in a major event. Many of Magnus's gifts have gone to female players, who continue to be vastly underrepresented throughout the poker world.
GGPoker "Game of Gold" -- GPI Order of Merit. This previously announced award honors the breakthrough content wherein Game of Gold captivated audienses with its unique poker-meets-reality-TV format.
Fans Choice for Best Hand - Craziest Pre-Flop Action of ALL-TIME at @tritonpoker Series London
Bert "@Girafganger" Stevens -- 2023 Streamer of the Year. Stevens topped Kevin “kevinmartin” Martin, Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg, and Lex “LexVeldhuis” Veldhuis to claim this honor.
Those seven awards joined three other GPI award winners that were previously announced for outstanding play at the tables: Bin Weng as the overall 2023 GPI Player of the Year, Kristen Foxen as the 2023 Female Player of the Year was the first awa, and Nick Pupillo as the 2023 GPI Mid-Major Player of the Year. Foxen's fourth Female GPI POY trophy presentation opened the GPA ceremony. Additionally, PokerGO Tour Player of the Year Isaac Haxton was also honored officially at tonight's GPA gala.
No individual double winners in Global Poker Awards
The evening's ceremony, with Jeff Platt as the emcee and Drea Renee as the live interviewer of several nominees, charged through the announcing of 20 new award winners, including Doyle Brunson's posthumous Poker Icon honor, in addition to those previously announced. The night's awards, though, were well distributed.
No individual nominee received more than one GPA honor, though Marle Spragg and Caitlin Comeskey, who along with Alexander “Wolfgang Poker” Seibt received three finalist nominations each, both captured GPA awards this evening. An excited Comeskey gave her trophy its first marks of wear-and-tear by accidentally dropping or knocking it to the floor; that's the resulting damage as shown in the feature photo above.
Double-finalist Greg "Greg Goes All In" Liow also snagged one individual GPA award in the Best Poker Personality, though he made two trips to the podium, also collecting the Best Trophy award, earned by the Asian Poker Tour's Taipei Lion trophy. Other winners of note included perennial nominee Stephen Chidwick in Toughest Opponent category, which was voted on by elite tourney players, Daniel Sepiol for Best Final-Table Performance (at the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas), and Jaman Burton for Best Poker Vlogger.
World Poker Tour, PokerStars emerge as gala's largest winners
Instead, it was the business entities who rode highest during the fifth edition of the GPAs. Besides Sepiol's win, World Poker Tour (WPT) earned honors for Best Mid-Major Circuit/Tour for its standout WPT Prime series at Wynn Las Vegas and Best Stand-Alone Series for the Wynn Millions, and WPT president Adam Pliska earned another trophy as Best Industry Person.
Global giant PokerStars also made the winner's list more than once. The PokerStars Live stream earned the GPA award in the Best Stream category, while Toby Stone, the prominent lead tourney director of the Stars-sponsored European Poker Tour, picked up the Best Tournament Director award.
Humor, sombreness in measured doses
In addition to the honoring of 2023's best in poker, the GPAs also included both comedic and somber moments. Besides the impromptu comedy -- Comeskey, Liow, and others -- attendees and online viewers were treated to an examination of the dreaded "Platt Curse", as explored by intrepid video reporter Ben Ludlow. The curse shows no signs of breaking any time soon, viewers learned, and it may also have supernatural origins.
The ceremony offered solemness as well. Besides the annual video showing well-known poker figures who dies during 2023, Eskandani's acceptance of Brunson's Poker Icon award also included a video of Brunson, late in his life, commenting on why he loved poker so much and what the game had meant to him throughout the years.
The complete list of the newly announced winners at the 5th Global Poker Awards, in order of presentation (winner in bold/italic):
BEST MID-MAJOR CIRCUIT/TOUR
- WPT Prime (WPTP)
- Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP)
- RUNGOOD Poker Series (RGPS)
- World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC)
FANS CHOICE FOR TOUGHEST OPPONENT (Voted on by the Top 100 players on the GPI as of January 3, 2024)
- Stephen Chidwick
- Alex Foxen
- Isaac Haxton
- Jason Koon
BEST MEDIA CONTENT: WRITTEN
- The Tales of Billy Baxter: The Final Days of Stu Ungar (David Hill for WPT.com)
- The Truth Detective: A Poker Player’s Guide to a Complex World (Alex O’Brien)
- He Played At An Elite Level For Seven Decades: Doyle Brunson Remembered During
WSOP By His Peers (Connor Richards for PokerNews) - PokerGO might have just saved televised poker (Brad Willis for Poker.org)
BEST TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR
- Toby Stone
- Jack Effel
- Ray Pulford
- Matt Savage
BEST MEDIA CONTENT: VIDEO
- PokerGO: Doyle Brunson Celebration of Life
- Caitlin Comeskey: A love letter to the million dollar game @HCLPokerShow
- Phil Galfond, Matti Harju: What Makes Phil Ivey the GOAT? [Untold Stories] (Phil
Galfond, Matti Harju) - Marle Spragg: ICM
BEST VLOGGER
- Jaman Burton “TheDrawingDeadVlog”
- Corey Eyring “corey_eyring”
- Daniel Negreanu “dnegspoker”
- Brad Owen “BradOwenPoker”
- Alexander Seibt “Wolfgang_Poker”
BEST X/TWITTER PERSONALITY
- Marle Spragg
- Caitlin Comeskey
- Will Jaffe
- Jamie Kerstetter
BEST FINAL TABLE PERFORMANCE
- Daniel Sepiol, WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
- Padraig O’Neill, EPT Prague
- Erik Seidel, WSOP Paradise Super High Roller
- Daniel Weinman, WSOP Main Event
BEST PODCAST
- The Chip Race Poker Podcast (David K Lappin, Dara O’Kearney for Unibet Poker)
- Only Friends Podcast (Matt Berkey, Melissa Schubert, Landon Tice and friends)
- Poker in the Ears (James Hartigan, Joseph Stapleton for PokerStars)
- Thinking Poker (Andrew Brokos, Carlos Welch)
BEST STAND-ALONE FESTIVAL/SERIES
- Wynn Millions Poker Series
- Irish Poker Open
- Malta Poker Festival
- Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
BEST MEDIA CONTENT: PHOTO
- Rachel Kay Winter: “Schulman Cool”
- Matthew Berglund: “Inconsolable”
- Hayley Hochstetler: “Weinman Wins”
- Danny Maxwell: “On the Bubble”
BEST SHORT-FORM CONTENT CREATOR
- Caitlin Comeskey
- Gregory Liow “Greg Goes All In”
- Marle Spragg
- Alexander Seibt “Wolfgang Poker”
GPI BREAKOUT PLAYER
- Jans Arends
- William Kopp
- Samuel Laskowitz
- Santosh Suvarna
FANS CHOICE: BEST LIVE STREAM
- PokerStars Live
- Hustler Casino Live
- Poker at the Lodge
- PokerGO
- Triton Poker
BEST EVENT
- World Series of Poker Main Event
- Irish Poker Open Main Event
- WPT Prime Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
- WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas
FANS CHOICE: BEST TROPHY
- Asian Poker Tour Taipei Lion Trophy
- Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup
- NAPT Las Vegas Main Event Trophy
- Poker Dream Malaysia Dragon Trophy
- World Series of Poker Main Event Bracelet
BEST INDUSTRY PERSON
- Adam Pliska
- Ryan Beauregard
- Mori Eskandani
- Francine Watson
FANS CHOICE: POKER PERSONALITY
- Gregory Liow “Greg Goes All In”
- Seth Moeller “SethyPoker”
- Jonathan Rand “Slow Poker”
- Alexander Seibt “Wolfgang Poker”
BEST BROADCASTER
- Ali Nejad
- Henry Kilbane
- Jeffrey Platt
- Nick Schulman
You can watch the 2024 Global Poker Awards below.
(All images courtesy: PokerGO/Global Poker Index)
