Global Poker Index: Adrian Mateos Wins 2017 GPI Player of the Year

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Jan 04, 2018 4 min read

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player's results over six half-year periods. For a look at the entire list, visit the official GPI website.

Below we share the overall GPI rankings as of January 3, but first let's take a look at the final results of the 2017 Global Poker Index Player of the Year. It was something of a photo finish, with Adrian Mateos claiming the title by less than a single cash over runner-up Bryn Kenney.

2017 GPI Player of the Year

Kenney held the lead for more than four months during the second half of the year before Mateos took over the No. 1 position in mid-December.

Four cashes and three final tables during the PokerStars Championship Prague series helped push the 23-year-old Spaniard ahead of Kenney. That brought the total number of cashes for Mateos up to 37 for the year, good for $5,881,228 worth of winnings. Incidentally, Kenney finished atop the 2017 Money List with $8,505,898, a little better than 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Scott Blumstein's total of $8,174,347.

Stephen Chidwick (No. 3), Koray Aldemir (No. 4), and Stefan Schillhabel (No. 5) rounded out the 2017 GPI POY top five, while 2016 GPI POY winner David Peters finished in 13th position.

The GPI has also announced numerous other player-of-the-year honors based on performances during the calendar year:

Mateos ends Germany's five-year European POY streak, while the Norwegian Aylar Lie ends Liv Boeree's run of three straight years as Female European POY.

Pete Chen's whopping 59 cashes helped the player from Taiwan claim both Asia/Pacific and Greater China POY honors. Kristen Bicknell of Canada earned more than $550,000 in cashes for the year, placing her just outside the top 50 currently in the overall GPI rankings and enabling her to earn the Female POY title.

Kenney's big year netted him the U.S. POY title, and Felipe Ramos picked up 29 cashes for more than $760K to be 2017's Latin American POY.

GPI 300 Top 10

Catching up on the overall GPI world rankings, Mateos continues to be the top-ranked tournament player in the world for a sixth week in a row, with Kenney at No. 2 again for the sixth-straight week after Mateos grabbed the lead away from the New Yorker.

A quiet last week of the year kept the rest of the rankings looking much the same as it has over recent weeks, with Stephen Chidwick (No. 3), Dan Smith (No. 4), and David Peters (No. 5) all remaining near the top.

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

Even with the tournament circuit largely taking a holiday break, there was enough shuffling up and down the rankings to see 16 players move up to join the overall GPI Top 300. Andrey Pateychuk is the highest-ranked of this group after having moved up from No. 307 to No. 232

Biggest Gains

Pateychuk's upward move this week was one of the biggest among those currently ranked in the Top 300, exceeded only by moves made by Eduards Kudrjavcevs (from No. 359 to No. 263) and Tim Reilly (from No. 339 to No. 256).

Biggest Drops

Finally, considering only players remaining within the GPI Top 300, Esther Taylor slipped the furthest over the last seven days, going from No. 155 to No. 252 in the rankings. Daniel Negreanu also took a tumble out of the top 100, going from No. 73 to No. 147.

To view the GPI overall rankings in their entirety, visit the official GPI website. While you're at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

• Tags Global Poker Index Adrian Mateos Bryn Kenney Kristen Bicknell Felipe Ramos Pete Chen Aylar Lie
• Related Players Felipe RamosBryn KenneyAylar LieAdrian MateosPete Chen