During the ceremony which took place on Tuesday, May 3rd, in Monaco, Global Poker Index has announced European Poker Awards winners. The list of nominees distributed in 12 different categories was made public in April and two nights ago the wait finally came to an end.
Player awards
Live Boeree and Fedor Holz were already guaranteed to receive their awards as the GPI Player of the Year and Female Player of the Year respectively, so there were no surprises there. Holz was also one of the nominees in the Breakout Player of the Year category but in the end that honor went to Dzmitry Urbanovich.
Adrian Mateos won the award for the Tournament Performance of the Year for his run in the 2015 EPT Grand Final Main Event.
When it comes to tournaments, European Poker Awards winners were Norwegian Championships Norway Cup in the category under €2,000 and EPT Barcelona Main Event in the category over €2,000.
Poker media awards
Several European Poker Awards winners came from the ranks of poker media people. Neil Stoddart, one of the PokerStars lead EPT photographers won the Jury Award, while Remko Rinkema was named the Media Person of the Year.
Congrats to EPT photographer @BigSlickNeil for scooping #EPA2015 Jury Prize for Special Achievement! pic.twitter.com/eBSjRcFMI4
— European Poker Tour (@PokerStarsEPT) May 4, 2016
Hailing from Netherlands, Rinkema spends most of his time traveling the world, covering some of the biggest poker events around the globe and has interviewed nearly all the big names in the industry. He is regular contributor for PokerNews, the biggest poker-related media outlet, so this award certainly went to a rightful owner.
In the category Media Content of the Year, the award went to Jesse and Mickey May for their piece on one and only Dave Ulliott: Devilfish: A Friend with a Heart of Gold.
Other European Poker Awards winners
The award for Poker Innovation or Initiative of the Year went to Norwegian Championship Broadcast, while Hermance Blum, General Manager of WPT Europe was named Industry Person of the Year.
Finally, the award for Moment of the Year went to John Gale for his astounding comeback into the poker world, winning his second WSOP bracelet. Gale spent three years away from poker tables, battling brain tumor. Although the battle is still going on, he’s been very active since winning his second gold bracelet and actually cashed in the EPT Grand Final Main Event just couple of days ago. John Gale’s total tournament earnings are just shy of $4 million.
A new year ahead
With the conclusion of this year’s ceremony, players and other people in the poker industry can now look forward to the next year. European Poker Awards are an important institution, primarily because they recognize the hard work and efforts of all those who work behind the scenes and make sure wheels on the big poker machine never stop turning.
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Bethany has been working in online gambling for over 13 years. She got her start in the industry as her first job after graduating from the Professional Writing Program at York University. Having written for many online gaming publications and worked with top casino operators, she has unique insight into the gambling market. Bethany maintains a personal interest in iGaming as she continues to play poker online as a hobby.