Awards back after pandemic pause

The Global Poker Index and The Hendon Mob have announced the nominees for the 3rd Global Poker Awards, which honor the best and brightest from the poker world in 2021. The ceremony to unveil the winners will be on February 18 at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, streamed live by PokerGO.

There is an extra shine on the awards this go-around, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the live poker world for most of 2020 (and portions of 2021), resulting in the cancellation of the awards last year.

second annual ceremony got in just under the wire before the pandemic shutdowns

The Global Poker Awards debuted in 2019, celebrating players, contributors, and industry stars from 2018. The second annual ceremony got in just under the wire before the pandemic shutdowns in 2020. Prior to the advent of the Global Poker Awards, there were two separate sets of poker honors: the European Poker Awards, which dated back to 2001, and the American Poker Awards, which first honored players from 2014.

The Global Poker Index combined both just a few years ago to the dismay of many, especially those in the European Poker community, who often felt overshadowed by their American counterparts.

WSOP featured heavily

There are too many nominees to discuss here – you can see all the categories and nominees on the Global Poker Awards page – but we would be remiss if we didn’t point out some of the highlights. The “Best Final Table Performance,” as one could guess, is focused entirely on the World Series of Poker. Koray Aldemir, no surprise, is a nominee after winning the Main Event, as are Jeremy Ausmus (Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller) and Daniel “Jungleman” Cates ($50,000 Poker Players Championship). Though Aldemir might be the favorite because he won the Main Event, Adam Friedman could be one to watch, as he won the $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Six-Max title for the third year in a row.

“Breakout Player” features a couple women that have been featured here at VegasSlotsOnline News (VSO): Kyna England and Vanessa Cade. Nominated along with them are Johan Guilbert and PokerGO Tour star Christopher Brewer.

The WSOP Main Event is of course nominated in the “Best Event” category. It is up against the Seminole Hard Rock Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Opening Event, hosted by one of the hottest venues in poker the last few years, as well as two Wynn events: Wynn Millions and Wynn Mystery Bounty from Summer 2021.

it’s nice that a physical award other than the WSOP bracelet receives recognition

Arguably the oddest category is “Best Trophy,” though it’s nice that a physical award other than the WSOP bracelet receives recognition. The nominees for this category are the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, MSPT South Dakota State Championship trophy, the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship trophy, and the WPTDeepStacks Gold Coast trophy.

Fans can still vote for one award through January 26: “Poker Personality.” The four finalists are Johan Guilbert, Jonathan Little, Masato Yokosawa, and Greg Liow.

David Lappin, local boy does good

While there are many more categories we have not discussed, there is one to which we must devote extra time: “Best Podcast.” None other than VSO’s very own David Lappin has been nominated, along with Dara O’Kearney, for “The Chip Race Poker Podcast,” sponsored by Unibet Poker. Believe it or not (I sure didn’t), David and Dara won this category before, in 2018.

no hype necessary”

David tends to wax prolific about poker, but he didn’t want to toot his own horn, so I’m doing it for him. In fact, when I said I was going to hype him up, he replied in our VSO Slack channel, “lol no hype necessary.” Well, sorry, my friend. While I don’t always follow the references you make to 13th century dirges and often have to change some of your Irish slang so global audiences will understand a sentence, your pieces are always entertaining and sometimes informative. Oh, and decent podcast to listen to while mowing the lawn.

David also informed us that he also made the “long list” for “Best Media Content: Written” for one of his VegasSlotsOnline News articles, falling just short of the finals. In his great modesty, he couldn’t remember exactly which piece it was, but believes may have been one of his articles about Dan Bilzerian and Vanessa Kade. Regardless of which one it was, the real tragedy is that I won’t get mentioned in an acceptance speech as the editor.