As we enter the final week of the year 2015, it is time to take a look back at some of the great moments of the past year and some of the less popular times.
The tournament poker world, always something that brings joy to many and seemingly heartbreak to more, was a bustling one is 2015. In the current state of the game, it seemed that there was a high dollar buy in event every weekend, forcing the top professionals in the world (and amateurs looking to make their big score) into decisions as to where to play. It also pushed the issue that, perhaps for the first time, there are too many tournaments out there and not enough players to go around.
The start of the year kicked off with the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and its wealth of tournament action. Steve O’Dwyer, who has basically turned the international circuit into his own playground (it is rare that O’Dwyer enters North America, let alone the United States, for an event), won the Super High Roller tournament to kick off his year on the right foot. Kevin Schulz earned the title of the PCA Main Event, an official stop on the European Poker Tour, for his first major tournament score. Wrapping up the month, Aaron Mermelstein earned the victory at the World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open for his first major championship.
At the start of February, the Aussie Millions wrapped up with Manny Stavropoulos taking down the Main Event championship and Richard Yong topping the $100,000 Challenge field. The EPT and the WPT were back in action as Ognyan Dimov won the EPT Deauville Main Event and Brian Altman topped Mark Dube to take down the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open title. In what would eventually prove to be a historic moment, Anthony Zinno also won on the main WPT circuit, picking up the championship of the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic in the middle of February and, at the start of March, became only the third man to win back-to-back tournaments (joining Marvin Rettenmaier and Darren Elias) when he captured the WPT L. A. Poker Classic.
Perhaps the biggest story out of March in tournament poker (with wins by Taylor Paur and Randee Sundar on the WPT and Jean Montury at the EPT Malta on the major tours) was the inaugural Global Poker Masters. Gathering the top eight countries in the world, Alexandre Dreyfus and the Global Poker Index attempted to put on a world-class tournament product that would held to lend credence to their “sportification” of poker. While the jury might still be out on that, the competition resulted in a stunning victory by Team Italy over Team Russia for the first ever Global Poker Masters championship.
Over the next couple of months, the major circuits would wrap up their respective seasons in preparation for the 46th World Series of Poker. On the WPT, Asher Coniff – who got into the $15,000 tournament through an online satellite – would become the WPT World Champion (a term that may not be used for some time) in defeating WPT champion Tony Dunst and former World Champion Carlos Mortensen for the title at the Borgata in Atlantic City. The WPT would then in early May kick off their Season XIII schedule with a stop at the WPT Canadian Spring Championship, as Sheraz Nasir took the title home. On the EPT in May, the book was closed on their Season 11 schedule when former WSOP Europe Main Event champion Adrian Mateos picked up the second leg of poker’s Triple Crown in winning the EPT Grand Final.
The 46th Annual World Series of Poker brought its usual array of newcomers capturing the gold and top pros reaching for the brass ring again. “Gentleman” John Gale was arguably the most welcome returnee to the winner’s circle, but other pros such as Robert Mizrachi, Max Pescatori, Shaun Deeb, Brian Hastings, Phil Galfond, Daniel Alaei, Eli Elezra, Daniel Idema, Jeff Madsen, Jason Mercier, Jonathan Duhamel and Sam Greenwood picked up WSOP bracelets. Further adding to his legend, Phil Hellmuth was also a part of the bracelet parade, earning his 14th WSOP bracelet in defeating eventual $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship winner and overall WSOP Player of the Year Mike Gorodinsky in the $10,000 Razz World Championship.
July would see Zinno add to his outstanding resume for 2015 as he won the $25,000 High Roller Pot Limit Omaha World Championship, defeating a final table that included Christian Harder, Juha Helppi, Ismael Bojang and Deeb. There were some nervous moments for the WSOP Championship Event as the first of the multiple Day Ones was less than impressive. When the final numbers were counted up, however, a solid field of 6420 players (slightly less than 2014 but slightly more than 2013) was entered in the books. In what turned out to be a steamrolling effort, Joe McKeehen would emerge as the newest World Champion, crushing his “November Nine” opposition with little resistance.
August brought a mixture of good news and bad for the tournament poker world. The third running of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship – which in the past had set high guarantees that it met in 2013 and missed (by $2.5 million) in 2014 – once again came up short, but this time only by $601,050 of their $5 million guarantee. As Omar Zazay captured the title of the Seminole Hard Rock later in the month, the legendary John Juanda – who would be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame alongside Jennifer Harman three months later – earned his first tournament cash in over a year when he won the inaugural event for Season 12 of the EPT in Barcelona at the end of the month.
In what was perhaps one of the most stunning tournament moments of the year, Mike Shariati – who at one time during heads up play was down by almost an 11:1 margin – fought back against veteran pro Freddy Deeb to win the WPT Legends of Poker. David Paredes (WPT Borgata Poker Open) and Aaron Mermelstein (quietly winning his second WPT event at the inaugural Maryland Live! Main Event) were big winners, but other tournaments weren’t so successful; the legendary Binion’s in Las Vegas dropped all guarantees from its 2015 Binion’s Poker Open due to low turnout and, in Florida, state gaming officials investigated a tournament at Hialeah Park that was rife with errors (the investigation is still ongoing).
October brought the return of the WSOP Europe after a two-year hiatus and it was almost as if the poker world welcomed back an old friend. In a schedule that was primarily dominated by European pros (Dietrich Fast won the largest ever tournament on European soil, the 2144 entry €500 “Oktoberfest,” while Barny Boatman took his second piece of WSOP gold with a win in the €500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament), the United States’ Kevin MacPhee would emerge as the WSOP Europe Championship Event winner. Perhaps piling on a little bit, it was another North American player, Jonathan Duhamel, who captured the €25,000 High Roller bracelet.
As the end of the tournament schedule for 2015 approached, it became obvious that the race for the major Player of the Year awards would come down to two men. In fact, the two men – Anthony Zinno and Byron Kaverman – would actually split the awards between each other. Zinno would close out the CardPlayer Player of the Year award after taking the lead following the WSOP, while Kaverman withstood a late run from Zinno, Jason Mercier and Steve O’Dwyer to capture the Global Poker Index Player of the Year crown.
The major tours would close out their action early in December. On the EPT, Hossein Ensan would earn his first major championship in winning the EPT Prague (his third EPT Main Event final table of 2015). Meanwhile, Javier Gomez would win the WPT Prague the week prior to the EPT stop and, in their traditional year-end stop at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Kevin Eyster would win his second WPT championship in picking up the win at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
So what will 2016 hold? It will start quickly as, within the first week, the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will take place. Later in the year, Dreyfus and the GPI will take on the arduous task of further “sportifying” poker with their latest creation, the Global Poker League, and the EPT and WPT will have their closing events of their current schedules (instead of the WPT World Championship, the WPT this year will have a Champions’ Invitational, with only those who have won WPT events eligible to play; the EPT will have their traditional Grand Final in Monte Carlo once again). It will all come to a head in the heat of the summer as the 47th WSOP hits the stage, but then again…does tournament poker ever take a rest?
