After taking nominations for the different awards that will be offered, officials with the Global Poker Index announced the final nominations for their Fourth Annual American Poker Awards.
There is a slew of familiar names that dot the different awards that are being offered. Joe Ingram, who for years has offered up his views on the poker world through his “Poker Life Podcast,” is up for a couple of awards this year (Podcast of the Year and Video Blogger of the Year), joined by Daniel Negreanu (Biggest Influencer and Video Blogger) and Matt Savage (Biggest Influencer and Industry Person). By far, however, the output from the stables of Poker Central dominated the nominations.
Poker Central topped everyone in the field with six nominations, ranging from their “made for television” events such as the Super High Roller Bowl and the Poker Masters to their broadcasting team of Ali Nejad and Nick Schulman. Even their financial backer, Cary Katz, was named one of “Poker’s Biggest Influencers,” an award which should garner a great deal of attention.
These awards will be voted on by a blue-ribbon committee the day of the 2018 American Poker Awards on February 22:
Breakout Player
DJ Alexander
Michael Del Vecchio
Alex Foxen
Art Papazyan
Tournament Performance of the Year
Scott Blumstein (WSOP Main Event)
Darren Elias (WPT Fallsview)
Bryn Kenney (PSC Monte Carlo Super High Roller)
Doug Polk (WSOP One Drop High Roller)
Moment of the Year
70-year old John Smith makes back-to-back WSOP $10K Heads-Up Final Table
Ema Zajmovic – First female player to win an open Main Event on the WPT
Vanessa Selbst and Gaelle Baumann – Selbst loses full house to Baumann’s quads during first round of WSOP Championship Event)
Tom Dwan Returns to the States of America on “Poker After Dark”
Event of the Year
Super High Roller Bowl
partypoker MILLIONS North America
Poker Masters Event #1
WSOP Championship Event
Mid-Major Circuit
Mid-States Poker Tour
RUNGOOD Poker Series
WPTDeepStacks
WSOP Circuit
Journalist of the Year
Drew Amato
Lance Bradley
Bj Nemeth
Steve Ruddock
Jessica Welman
Broadcaster of the Year
Nick Schulman
Joe Stapleton
Lon McEachern
Ali Nejad
Media Content of the Year
Adrian Moreno in Tears following Win in WSOP Little One for One Drop (Amato)
Dead Money: A Super High Roller Bowl Story (Poker Central)
Poker Brat: The Phil Hellmuth Story (Phil Hellmuth)
Resilience Defined: Sheddy Siddiqui Raising his Two Boys (Bradley)
Podcast of the Year
PokerCentral Podcast
PokerNews Podcast
Poker Life Podcast
TwoPlusTwo Podcast
Video Blogger of the Year
Joe Ingram
Daniel Negreanu
Andrew Neeme
Doug Polk
Poker Streamer of the Year
Jeff Gross
Bill Perkins
Jason Somerville
Jaime Staples
Parker Talbot
Industry Person of the Year
Tony Burns
Sean McCormick
Adam Pliska
Matt Savage
Poker’s Biggest Influencer
Cary Katz
Daniel Negreanu
Doug Polk
Matt Savage
There will be other awards handed out the night of the American Poker Awards that have already been determined:
2017 GPI American Player of the Year: Bryn Kenney
2017 GPI Female Player of the Year: Kristen Bicknell
Award for Lifetime Achievement
Award for Charitable Initiative
Jury Prize
PocketFives Legacy Award
People’s Choice Award – Poker Personality of the Year
The People’s Choice Award is being voted on at this time by the general public. Visit the dedicated page for this award and be sure to cast your vote. It is also the only vote that is handled by the voice of the poker community. Counting that award, there is a total of 20 awards that will be handed out during a very busy ceremony!
The 2018 American Poker Awards will be handed out on February 22 at Andaz in West Hollywood, CA, beginning at 7PM.