Dan Smith Tops Marvin Rettenmaier for 2012 Global Poker Index Player of the Year

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Dan Smith

After a photo finish at December'sPrague Poker Festival, Dan Smith edged out Marvin Rettenmaier to become the 2012 Global Poker Index Player of the Year, presented by PokerNews.

The final standings of 2012, released on Tuesday, revealed that Smith finished with 1,158 GPI POY points while Rettenmaier ended the year with 1,077. Rettenmaier closed the gap to 20 points in December with his victory at the European Poker Tour Prague High Roller, but Smith countered by winning a $5,000 no-limit hold'em side event a day later to clinch the GPI's inaugural Player of the Year honor.

Smith enjoyed one of the most productive years in poker history, winning six events on the live tournament circuit and cashing for nearly $3.8 million. His biggest score came at the 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship $100,000 Challenge, where Smith bested a tough field of 22 to earn $1,012,000. He then won three $5,000 buy-in side events at the Monte-Carlo?Casino EPT Grand Final in four days.

Rettenmaier occupied the top spot in the GPI Player of the Year for one week following his victory at the World Poker Tour Merit Cyprus Classic. That win made Marvin the first-ever back-to-back champion on the WPT, after closing the tour's 10th season by winning the WPT World Championship at Bellagio in May. In all, Rettenmaier won four live events and earned $2,507,480 while traveling the poker tournament circuit in 2012.

Here's a look at the GPI POY qualifying scores for Smith and Rettenmaier during their impressive runs last year:

1. Dan Smith

Tournament SeriesEventPlacePrize
Aussie MillionsAUD$100,000 No-Limit Hold'em1 of 22AUD$1,012,000
EPT Berlin�5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event90 of 745�7,500
EPT Grand Final�5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max Turbo1 of 101�152,980
EPT Grand Final�5,000 No-Limit Hold'em1 of 175�250,500
EPT Grand Final�5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max1 of 98�118,000
World Series of Poker$5,000 No-Limit Hold'em (Event #50)3 of 1,001$368,943
EPT Barcelona�50,000 No-Limit Hold'em Super High Roller1 of 55�962,925
EPT Barcelona�10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Heads-Up4 of 31�38,000
Partouche Poker Tour�8,500 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event7 of 489�178,496
EPT Sanremo�2,000 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry17 of 450�8,900
EPT Prague�5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max1 of 42�68,120

2. Marvin Rettenmaier

Tournament SeriesEventPlacePrize
WPT Vienna�9,700 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller5 of 26�25,670
EPT Berlin�10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 8-Max Re-Entry3 of 66�85,800
EPT Grand Final�2,000 No-Limit Hold'em1 of 214�118,300
WPT World Championship$25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Championship1 of 152$1,196,858
World Series of Poker$5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed Max (Event #6)5 of 409$68,151
World Series of Poker$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em (Event #43)42 of 2,770$12,415
World Series of Poker$10,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Six Handed (Event #57)31 of 474$24,951
World Series of Poker$10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event648 of 6,958$19,227
WPT Merit Cyprus Classic$4,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event1 of 329$287,784
World Series of Poker Europe�10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Mixed Max (Event #5)6 of 96�42,094
EPT Prague�10,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller 8-Max1 of 108�365,300

While Smith and Rettenmaier stole the spotlight in the last quarter of the year, other pros enjoyed success in 2012. Jonathan Duhamel, Phil Ivey and David Baker all stood atop the standings at one point during the year. In fact, Duhamel occupied the top spot for the first 16 weeks before Ivey claimed the lead during the World Series of Poker. Ivey finished the year outside of the top 10 (20th), while Duhamel landed in eighth.

2012 Global Poker Index Player of the Year Standings

PlacePlayerTotal Score
1Dan Smith1158.27
2Marvin Rettenmaier1077.09
3Bertrand Grospellier913.35
4Kyle Julius906.02
5Andrew Lichtenberger889.57
6Joseph Cheong848.91
7Phil Hellmuth846.83
8Jonathan Duhamel812.46
9Jason Mercier810.89
10Stephen O'Dwyer800.00

The Global Poker Index Player of the Year, presented by PokerNews, honored the player who had the strongest performance in live tournaments during the calendar year, according to the USA Today Global Poker Index point system.

For the full GPI Player of the Year standings, head on over to GlobalPokerIndex.com.

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