Nominees Announced for GPI European Poker Awards Nominees Announced for GPI European Poker Awards

For the past 14 years, the European Poker Awards has been a way that the poker industry has been recognizing its players and leaders. This year is no different as the categories and nominees were announced ahead of the glamorous awards ceremony that will be taking place in Monte Carlo on May 3.

Independent voting juries and expert award nomination panels decide who walks home with all but one of the coveted awards.

The award that the jury and panel have no sway over is the The Player of the Year Award which is based exclusively on the Global Poker Index’s (GPI) Euro Player of the Year leaderboard. The award is broken down to award both a female and male player.

Announced ahead of the rest of the awards, it has been confirm that the winners are Brit and London Royals Team Manager Liv Boeree and German Fedor Holz. They will both be picking up their awards in May. Congratulations to them both!

For everyone else, the waiting game is on as the nominees for the other categories will not find out if they have won until the ceremony in May. Here we take a look at who is nominated and for each award.

Nominations and Categories

Breakout Player of the Year

  • Charles Carrel
  • Dzmitry Urbanovich
  • Fedor Holz
  • Rainer Kempe

Media Person of the Year

  • Frank Op de Woerd
  • Lee Davy
  • Neil Stoddart
  • Remko Rinkema

Industry Person of the Year

  • Edgar Stuchly
  • Hermance Blum
  • Luca Vivaldi
  • Rob Yong
  • Thomas Lamatsch

Tournament Performance of the Year

  • Adrian Mateos Wins the 2015 EPT Grand Final Main Event
  • Barny Boatman wins second career WSOP bracelet at WSOP Europe
  • Fedor Holz Wins WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas
  • Mustapha Kanit wins EPT Barcelona 10K High Roller

Event of the Year (buyin up to €2,000)

  • Estrellas Poker Tour Barcelona (August)
  • Norwegian Championships Norway Cup (November)
  • PokerListings Battle of Malta (November)
  • WPT500 at Dusk Till Dawn (November)

Event of the Year (category buy-in over €2,000)

  • EPT Barcelona Main Event
  • EPT Grand Final Main Event
  • EPT Prague Main Event
  • WSOP Europe Main Event

Poker Innovation or Initiative of the Year

  • Norwegian Championship broadcast (sports style)
  • PokerStars Play Along App – Interactive Poker on TV
  • PokerStars using superstars (athletes) for global campaign
  • WSOP Europe remote Twitch broadcasts

Moment of the Year

  • Dzmitry Urbanovich wins Crazy Pineapple tourney at EPT Malta – 4th win of series
  • Epic hand between Mateos and Lodden at EPT Grand Final (Negreanu on stream `We’re seeing some high-level poker`)
  • John Gale returns from three years off (because of brain tumor) to win WSOP bracelet #2
  • Pierre Neuville qualifies for the WSOP November Nine – after declaring he wasn’t done (at 2014 Euro Awards)

Poker Media Content of the Year

  • 'The Future of Poker in the Post-Boom Era’, Sam Grafton blog
  • 'The Thrill of Victory, The Agony of Defeat’ Neil Stoddart’s picture captures Montury consoling Messina at EPT Malta
  • Devilfish: A Friend with a Heart of Gold, PokerNews article (Jesse May, Mickey May)
  • Remko Report, PokerNews Podcast, August 2015 – Eli Elezra talks time in Israli Army and high stakes with legends

If you are looking for more information on the awards you can go to the Awards website.