And the European Poker Awards Nominees Are…

The end of February brought the 2^nd Annual American Poker Awards in Los Angeles, where the festivities saw special honors go to Mike Sexton and Kevin Mathers, and others who took home awards included Daniel Negreanu, Kara Scott, Matt Stout, Joshua Beckley, Matt Savage, and Anthony Zinno. The night was a memorable one, especially for those in attendance.

Now, the industry prepares to head to Europe to honor more members of and events in the poker community. The 14^th GPI European Poker Awards is set for May 3 at the Monte Carlo Bay Casino and Resort in Monaco. All of the awards represent poker events and players that took place in 2015 in European countries.

The European Poker Tour Grand Final will be running from April 26 to May 6, but on May 3, players not in a tournament can join many others from the poker industry for a two-hour standing cocktail at the Blue Gin Bar at 8:00pm, where Joe Stapleton will host the ceremony.

Some Winners are Already Known

There is not much sense in trying to be mysterious about two of the awards that will be given at the European Poker Awards. They were determined by the Global Poker Index standings at the end of 2015, and those numbers are set in stone.

Fedor Holz will receive the award for being the 2015 GPI European Player of the Year, and Liv Boeree will be honored as the 2015 GPI European Female Player of the Year. And yes, she won the same award for 2014 as well, making her one of the very few people to win back-to-back awards in the same category.

Categories Up for Voting

The nominees for the nine major categories were chosen by 62 members of the poker community who selected their picks for each category. Those with the most votes made it to the final four, and an independent but secret jury will then choose the winners prior to the May 3 ceremony.

One of the nine categories has five nominees because there was a tie in the preliminary voting, so five people are up for the “Industry Person of the Year” award.

Here are the nominees:

Breakout Player of the Year:   

Charles Carrel

Dzmitry Urbanovich

Fedor Holz

Rainer Kempe

Event Low Buyin (below €2,000):

Estrellas Poker Tour Barcelona

Norwegian Championships Norway Cup

PokerListings Battle of Malta

WPT500 at Dusk Till Dawn

Event High Buyin (€2,000 and more):

EPT Barcelona Main Event

EPT Grand Final Main Event

EPT Prague Main Event

WSOP Europe Main Event

Industry Person: 

Edgar Stuchly

Hermance Blum

Luca Vivaldi

Rob Yong

Thomas Lamatsch

Very honoured to feature in the nominees list for industry person of the year @gpi #europeanpokerawards ! Recognition starts here, thank you

— Hermance Blum (@HermanceBlum) April 4, 2016

Innovation/Initiative:

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

Media Content:

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

Media Person:

Frank Op de Woerd

Lee Davy

Neil Stoddart

Remko Rinkema

I’m honoured to be nominated for media person at the European Poker Awards, especially since it’s with one of my best friends @webjoker.

— Remko Rinkema (@RemkoMedia) April 4, 2016

Moment:

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)

so happy to be nominee @gpi awards "Pierre Neuville qualifies for the WSOP Nov Nine – he wasn’t done (at 2014 Euro Awards) "@PokerStarsEPT

— Pierre Neuville (@pierre_neuville) April 4, 2016

Tournament Performance:

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

So, what are your thoughts? Who was left out? And who will win? We want to know!