Global Poker Awards – Who is Nominated and Why?

Best Streamer Award

In the previous editions of this award section, Lex Veldhuis (2x), Benjamin Spragg, Kevin Martin, and Bert Stevens won the titles. It is no surprise that Lex Veldhuis was among the final four nominees each year. He has been reigning in the online streaming field for several years now, and the quality of what he brings to the table is from another world. We call him the ‘Messi’ from online streaming, and thus it does surprise us that he isn’t walking away with the main trophy every single year.

If there is one contestant who reaches the same level of entertainment and community engagement, it’s Bert ‘Girafganger7’ Stevens. However, he hasn’t been streaming any online poker for the past six months. Does it mean he deleted OBS from his PC? We don’t think so! Although with Giraf, you will never know. Consider him as the Conor McGregor from online streaming, retiring multiple times throughout his career.

Now, I have some thoughts about who should be on this list. Poker players are all human beings, really! So it’s completely natural that viewers all have their preferences. But why not give the upcoming streamers a chance here? After all, the GPA awards are a real achievement that actually means something in the poker industry. It will give them a boost like never before and will give them an appreciation for all the hours they have put in.

Take for example ‘RobinPoker’, Ian Simpson, Aaron Barone, ‘Tom_Poker_NL‘, Matt Staples, Felix Schneiders, Courtney Gee, or Arlie Shaban—all of these streamers have put in an extraordinary amount of hours. And let’s not forget—the smaller your audience, the lower your profits are from a streaming perspective. This eventually makes it happen that such streamers also depend on themselves when it comes to Social Media and editing their work.

We’d love to see another category added for the next year in this regard called ‘Best Upcoming Streamer’, equal to the ‘Golden Boy Award’ in football.

Best Event Award

The award for Best Event is always, and every year, a very simple choice. The European Poker Tour and World Series of Poker are events which never need to be excluded from this category. They are the backbone of the entire poker industry, and should always be awarded for it.

The Irish Poker Open is one of these events which we absolutely adore to see in this list of nominees. The event is known for being one of the most enlightening events in Europe for many years already, and ever since JP McCann and Paul O’Reilly took over the ownership of the event back in 2016 (RIP Liam Flood), the event got boosted to another dimension. Ask any poker player who regularly plays events in Europe between €500 and €2000 buy-ins what their thoughts are about this event, and all will come at you with the same answer—Legendary!

The ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational is the newcomer in this category. Let’s be honest here: Yes, I was present at the event myself, and yes, I believe that this event was really impressive inside out. But was it really that outstanding to be nominated for this award? Fully YES! This event was absolutely epic. Name one event which has given $5M in prize money just like that. Not even mentioning the McLaren GTS card and other added tickets for the WPT World Championship Main Event. We believe that this event has opened up an entirely new direction for live poker, despite that it was only available for players from the US and Canada.

The nominees are all perfectly justifiable. But where on earth is Triton Poker?

Best Stand-Alone Festival/Series

All four events mentioned here are events which have deserved their fame obviously of being nominated for Best Stand-Alone Festival/Series. Not all the events are known all over the world, which makes it a little bit spicy for most poker fans, which is completely understandable. The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open made its name for being one of these events where stars are born. So many top poker players in the world have kickstarted their poker careers at the Seminole events in the past, and besides that, the event is always so well attended. Impressive. The Wynn Millions Poker Series is being held at one of Las Vegas’ most glamourous locations, and above that, is all that Las Vegas stands for.

The Irish Poker Open is also nominated for this category and it’s fully deserved. Guided by its rich history, and in the good hands of two founders with experience, knowledge, and good characteristics, it is certainly an event you would want to be part of. Memories are made every single day in people’s lives, but surely once you have visited this event, the memory goes on eternally. Now, the Malta Poker Festival. It is perhaps not the event poker fans from the US had expected in this category, but we can assure you that this event has exceeded every single expectation in 2024. The island of Malta is already a magical place to be, and with the Malta Poker Festival being held twice a year, there is plenty of poker being played on this island.

There are numerous other events which could have been part of the final four, but which events? There are so many live events in the world right now, that it’s impossible to satisfy all poker fans. Many events overlap each other, many events are trying to put their competitor events check-mate, and many events keep being brought to the poker world we all love. In our opinion, it does not matter which events are part of the final four in this category, as long as there is some variety throughout the years visible!

Image credits: GPI/THM