The Global Poker Index Awards take place in Las Vegas on Friday

Many of poker’s biggest stars will arrive at the Aria in Las Vegas on Friday night for the fourth edition of the Global Poker Index Awards. While many players already know they’ve won, there are plenty of nominees who will hold their breath as names are announced, speeches made and trophies collected.

The Global Poker Awards are taking place tonight and are free to stream. (Image: GPI)

PokerGO, the subscription-based poker streaming service, broadcasts the GPI ceremony for free. The stream begins at 8:30 p.m. ET. The two will be hosted by Jeff Platt and Drea Renee and will honor Stephen Song who won his first GPI Player of the Year which he ended with a scorching hot December.

It will also be available on his YouTube channel afterwards.

Song will be joined by Player of the Year Cherish Andrews, who enjoyed a breakthrough year both live and online by winning her first World Series of Poker bracelet.

They join more than 70 other regional players honored as the best player in their home countries, including Stephen Chidwick for Great Britain, WSOP Main Event Champion Espen Jorstad for Norway, Mike Watson for Canada and Paul Phua for Malaysia.

But there will be plenty of mystery and drama as nominees in more than two dozen categories wait and see if enough poker players and fans who voted made them GPI award winners.

And the nominees are…

Awards categories range from Industry Leaders to Best Poker Streamers to Comeback Player of the Year. There are also awards for Best Tournament Series, Best Final Table Performance, Breakout Player and even Twitter Personality and Vlogger.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the nominees.

The Comeback Player nominees include Alex Keating, Taylor von Kriegenbergh, Daniel Weinman and none other than Phil Ivey, whose reappearance in tournaments and live streaming cash games has been like watching a dangerous old friend ditch a returns from self-imposed exile.

The nominees for Best Final Table Performance are Song for winning the WPT Prime, Jorstad for his steady and precise way of delivering the end of the WSOP Main Event, Dan Cates for dressing up in the WSOP Poker Players Championship back-to-back Plastic and Daniel Negreanu for his defecating at the Super High Rollers Bowl VII.

Nominees for “Best Industry Person” are Ryan Beauregard, who runs poker operations at The Wynn, Jack Effel, VP of the WSOP, Mori Eskandani of PokerGO, and Tana Karn, the man behind the RunGood poker series, which also won best mid-major series was nominated.

The nominees for Best Tournament Director are Aria’s Paul Campbell, Matt Savage, longtime director of the World Poker Tour, Ray Pulford, tournament director at the Wynn, and Toby Stone, tournament director of PokerStars.

The best media content for a photo honors some of the poker industry’s unsung heroes, the photographers. The nominees are Antonio Abrego, Hayley Hochstetler, Alec Rome and Spencer Sembrat.

The Players Choice for Toughest Opponent nominees are Song, Chidwick, Brian Altman and two-time GPI Player of the Year Alex Foxen.

And the nominees for GPI Breakout Player of the Year are Angela Jordison, who was achingly close to winning Player of the Year, Jorstad for obvious reasons, Alejandro “PapoMC” Lococo, Argentinian rapper and PokerStars Ambassador Punnat Punsri, who appeared on the exploding high-stakes tournament scene in 2022, and Ethan “Rampage” Yau, who just a few years ago was playing at the smallest stakes.

Yau is also nominated for Best Vlogger. Visit GPI page to see all nominees. And good luck to everyone!

Written by

Bob Pajich

Bob Pajich is a poker news reporter, creative writer and poker player who has never come across suited connectors he didn’t like. Tips, corrections, complaints and kudos should go to CardsChatBob@gmail.com.