We’ve seen plenty of activity on the 2019 GPI Player of the Year Leaderboard. Players have been swapping places constantly, and it really is anyone’s game this year. There are 10 very talented players at the top of the leaderboard in 2019, each with an impressive number of large cashes behind them. As 2019 comes to a close, it will be very exciting to see where these talented players end up on this prestigious list.
What is the GPI?
The Global Poker Index is an international leaderboard that ranks nearly 500,000 tournament players. Players earn points every time they finish a poker tournament and, at the end of the year, the player with the most points is named Player of the Year.
When it comes to calculating the points, it isn’t just the position a player finishes in that determines how many GPI points they receive for a tournament. There is a very complicated system at work when it comes to how points are calculated for the Global Poker Index. It is a patent-pending formula that takes into consideration the age of the events, field difficulties, and field sizes.
2019 PotY Rankings
The current top ten players on the GPI Player of the Year leaderboard for 2019 are as follows:
| Ranking | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Sean Winter | 3,425.57 pts |
| #2 | Rainer Kempe | 3,402.80 pts |
| #3 | Stephen Chidwick | 3,385.95 pts |
| #4 | Sam Greenwood | 3,294.67 pts |
| #5 | Bryn Kenney | 3,254.17 pts |
| #6 | Shannon Shorr | 3,117.65 pts |
| #7 | Manig Loeser | 3,078.52 pts |
| #8 | Almed “Ali” Imsirovic | 3,040.60 pts |
| #9 | Daniel Chi Tang | 2,993.56 pts |
| #10 | James Romero | 2,993.02 pts |
Sean Winter
Sean Winter has had a great year so far, with 15 cashes and three first-place finishes. His biggest win of the year came in August, during the $5,250 No Limit Hold’em event at the SHR Poker Open. He netted a prize worth $698,175 and over 560 GPI points, which pushed him into the Number 1 spot.
For a few weeks, Winter was at the top of the GPI Player of the Year list but he’s now over 500 points away from Chidwick. He’ll need to earn another big win in order to keep himself in the running.
Rainer Kempe
Rainer Kempe is currently in 22nd place on Hendon Mob’s All Time Money List, having earned over $20 million in tournament prizes over the course of his career. Currently, he has 24 cashes under his belt in 2019, four of which are first-place finishes. The biggest of the bunch was his first-place win in the $50,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which earn him over $908,000.
Stephen Chidwick
This year, Stephen Chidwick has spent quite a bit of time in the #1 spot in the GPI rankings, at an impressive five weeks. He’s currently in the Top 10 of Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List with total career earnings of $32.1 million.
He recently found himself at the top of the GPI list after winning over £200,000 in the £25,000 PLO event of the British Poker Open. Even though Chidwick keeps losing his top spot, he always seems to find a way to get back to Number 1.
Sam Greenwood
Sam Greenwood has 16 wins to his name so far this year, landing him in fourth place. He started the year off on a high, landing his biggest win for 2019 with a $1.7 million prize at the $100,000 No Limit Hold’em event in the PCA.
Bryn Kenney
Earning a huge win worth $20.5 million, Bryn Kenney shot to the top of the All-Time Money List in August – but the event didn’t actually earn him any points in the Global Poker Index. Instead, it’s been his 12 other wins this year that have landed him in such a favorable position in the Player of the Year race.
Shannon Shorr
Shannon Shorr lands near the bottom of the Top 10 of the GPI Player of the Year Leaderboard this year, but he has an impressive record for 2019. He has cashed in over 20 events, nine of which were during the WSOP. In fact, he’s played in over 50 WSOP events over the course of his career. In 2013, he placed seventh on the GPI’s Poker Player of the Decade list – an impressive honor.
Manig Loeser
With 25 wins in 2019 so far, Loeser has had quite a good year, but he’s only managed to land one first-place prize. It came during the EPT Monte Carlo, where he earned over €600,000. The prize game with over 500 GPI points and, unless he lands another similarly huge payout, it’s unlikely that he’ll make it into the Top 5 this year.
Ali Imsirovic
Although he’s earned 28 cashes this year, none of Imsirovic’s wins have earned him enough points to break into the Top 5. He probably won’t see him in the Number 1 spot this yet but, if he continues cashing lots of tournaments in 2020, he could be a contender.
Daniel Chi Tang
Born in 1992, Daniel Chi Tang is the youngest player in the 2019 GPI PotY Top Ten. For a 27-year-old, he has had a very impressive tournament poker career so far and has what it takes to be a hugely successful player. So, while he only rounds out the Top 10 this year, we could see him take the Number 1 spot in coming years.
James Romero
Romero has cashed in an impressive 30 tournaments this year, making him the most prolific player on the list. He doesn’t have any first-place cashes in 2019, but he did come second in two of the three events he placed at the Paradise Poker Series in South Korea. His biggest cash of the year was also a second-place win, earning him over $250,000.
This is a very esteemed title among tournament poker players, and it is coveted by the best in business. Some of the biggest names have made it to the top of the list, including Erik Seidel, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst and Jason Mercier. So, we can’t wait to see who comes out on top this year.
