Global Poker Index: David Peters Takes Over Lead As GPI Revises System
Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player's results over six half-year periods. For a look at the entire list, visit the official GPI website. Here's a look at the rankings as of January 11.
2017 GPI Player of the Year
As we're still less than two weeks into the new year, the Global Poker Index is waiting for more results to start tracking the race for 2017 Global Poker Index Player of the Year. As happens each January, results from the 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas series and the 2017 Aussie Millions will have the greatest impact on who jumps out to a fast start in the race to succeed 2016 Global Poker Index Player of the Year David Peters.
We expect the first report of POY rankings to come from the GPI next week.
GPI 300 Top 10
While Peters grabbed the GPI-related headlines to conclude 2016, he gets top-billing to start the new year as well as he slides into the top spot in the overall rankings, his first time ever at No. 1 in the overall GPI. Just as he overtook Fedor Holz in December to win the POY, Peters also ends the record 30-week reign atop the overall rankings enjoyed by Holz.
It should be noted that with the new year the GPI has made some changes to the scoring system used to determine its overall rankings. The new system corresponds more directly to the system being used for the GPI POY and World Series of Poker POY.
To summarize, the revised system puts less emphasis on high buy-in, small-field events while increasing the reward for lower buy-in, large-field tournaments. Tournaments with less than 32 entrants will not be counted toward the overall rankings (up from a previous minimum of 21), while sub-$1,500 buy-in tournaments will be awarding more points to cashers than before.
Here's a look at the newest update and the current GPI top 10. We'll leave off the column indicating the change from last week (adding it back next week), although keep reading down below for some notes about who has dropped from the top thanks to the revised system:
| Rank | Player | GPI Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Peters | 3514.40 |
| 2 | Nick Petrangelo | 3191.72 |
| 3 | Ari Engel | 3114.12 |
| 4 | Adrian Mateos | 3092.53 |
| 5 | Bryn Kenney | 3087.11 |
| 6 | Jack Salter | 3020.51 |
| 7 | Andjelko Andrejevic | 2969.53 |
| 8 | Connor Drinan | 2961.91 |
| 9 | Ankush Mandavia | 2954.99 |
| 10 | Rainer Kempe | 2940.88 |
Some of those in this week's top 10 �� Peters, Nick Petrangelo, Adrian Mateos, and Bryn Kenney �� were in the top 10 a week ago as well under the old system. But there are several new names in the top group, including Ari Engel, Jack Salter, Andjelko Andrejevic, Connor Drinan, Ankush Mandavia, and Rainer Kempe, all of whom were within the top 25 last week.
Falling out of the top 10 is Fedor Holz (currently No. 13), Jake Schindler (No. 15), Dan Smith (No. 22), Steve O'Dwyer (No. 23), Erik Seidel (No. 28), and Tom Marchese (No. 29).
Welcome to the GPI Top 300
The revised system caused a huge number of significant changes up and down the GPI top 300, with no less than 40 new players entering the list while 40 others dropped out. We'll only highlight the 10 highest-ranked players of this group in this week's "Welcome" list:
| Rank | Player | Total Score |
|---|---|---|
| 121 | Benjamin Winsor | 2049.44 |
| 145 | Lance Garcia | 1974.57 |
| 172 | Michael Gagliano | 1920.05 |
| 181 | Richard Dubini | 1897.61 |
| 185 | Ryan Van Sanford | 1889.41 |
| 186 | Tony Dunst | 1888.02 |
| 190 | David Jackson | 1883.59 |
| 206 | Bart Lybaert | 1859.88 |
| 210 | Mark Dube | 1857.39 |
| 211 | Peter Eichhardt | 1853.45 |
British player Benjamin Winsor is the highest-ranked of the newcomers to the GPI top 300 at No. 121, a good example of how the new system is rewarding players of smaller buy-in events.
While Winsor had been a top 300 player before, his previous peak had been No. 224 (in April 2016) and he was just outside the list at No. 306 a week ago. In 2016 Winsor earned nearly $410,000 from 16 recorded cashes, the majority of which came in events with buy-ins in the ��500-��2,000 range, with most (not all) of those counting toward his GPI points total.
Biggest Gains and Drops
Given the introduction of the revised rankings, we'll also forgo chronicling the "Biggest Gains" and "Biggest Drops" as usual this week, as those changes aren't reflective of player performance but rather the introduction of the new system.
We will share, however, that among players in the GPI top 300, Joshua Turner who went from No. 436 to No. 281 enjoyed the largest leap upwards, while Isaac Haxton dropped the most after falling from No. 43 to No. 235.
What to Expect Next Week
The last few days of the PokerStars Championship Bahamas are still to play out, including the finish of both the $5,300 Main Event and the $25,000 High Roller. You can follow live updates from both of those events right here on PokerNews.
Also in action is the 2017 Aussie Millions Poker Championship that got started yesterday with the first preliminary events. PokerNews will be on hand in Melbourne later in the month to cover the Main Event and several of the high roller "Challenges" there as well.
To view the GPI overall rankings in their entirety, visit the official GPI website. While you're at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.
