The GPI European Poker Awards: the winners!
It’s the unmissable annual event in the small world of poker. For its twelfth edition, the GPI European Poker awards ceremony took place at the Elysée Biarritz in Paris, where the best European players were honored.
Presented by the Global Poker Index (GPI), the Aviation Club de France and Poker52 Europa, the event welcomed over two hundred guests. All the most prominent figures in European poker were present, and the hostess for the evening was the elegant and media-savvy Kara Scott, TV presenter and poker player. It was also an opportunity for me to bump into Alexis Laipsker, Pokerstar’s communications man, or Winamax’s Michel Abecassis in charming company with Gaëlle Baumann. Poker 52’s Bruno Benveniste is in top form.Before dinner, Kara Scott invited Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of the Global Poker Index (GPI), to join her in presenting the GPI Player of the Year awards. The 2012 winners took to the stage: Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (France); Marvin Rettenmaier (Germany); Roberto Romanello (Great Britain); Davidi Kitai (Belgium); Dermot Blain (Ireland); Juha Helppi (Finland); Andrea Dato (Italy); Ivo Donev (Austria); Cesar Garcia (Spain). The afternoon before the ceremony, the nine-member jury met at the Aviation Club de France to vote by secret ballot and choose the winners in each category from among the nominees. Chaired by Nic Szeremeta and including professionals from all over Europe such as Stefan Gollubits (CAPT manager), Juha Helppi (Finnish player), Jérôme Schmidt (editor-in-chief of Poker52 and Poker52 Europa), Barry Carter (poker journalist), Joe Beevers (Hendon Mob), Alexandre Dreyfus (CEO Global Poker Index), Michael Michelin (Pokerstrategy France group BU manager) and Jesse May (poker TV commentator), the jury deliberated for several hours to determine the 2012 winners.
Here are the prizes awarded at the 12th GPI European Poker Awards:
The 2012 Revelation of the Year award was presented by Elky to Ole Schemion .
The prize for the best tournament performance of 2012 was awarded by Bruno Benveniste to Davidi Kitai.
The 2012 European Player of the Year award was presented by Neil Barrett to Lucille Cailly.
The 2012 Internet Player of the Year award was presented by Juha Helppi to Jens Kyllönen.
The 2012 Casino Employee of the Year award was presented by Lucille Denos to Simon Trumper.
The Rob Gardner Memorial Award for Poker Personality of the Year 2012 was presented by Edgar Stuchly to Kara Scott.
The 2012 European Event of the Year award was presented by Sabine Hazoumé to EPT Barcelona (Sylvie Belanger, Casino Barcelona and Edgar Stuchly, EPT President)
The 2012 European Player of the Year award, based on the European GPI rankings, was presented by Alexandre Dreyfus to Germany’s Marvin Rettenmaier, the undisputed leader of the rankings.
Finally, to round off this magical ceremony, the Lifetime Achievement award was presented by Jesse May to Gus Hansen in recognition of his incredible professional poker career.
A wonderful evening with the finest European poker players.
Julien Tissot
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Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
