Global Poker Awards Nominations Will Honour Poker Legends in 2025

Cpvr · 2025-01-29T07:40:12+0000

Players, industry experts and creatives can look forward to an exciting awards ceremony in late February, as some of the biggest names in the game, including stars from PokerStake’s roster have received nominations for the 6thannual Global Poker Awards. With American content creator Caitlin Comeskey earning four nominations, a record in 2025, there will be winners and losers when the awards ceremony takes place at the PokerGO Studio on February 22.

Maximum Numbers for Big Names

While many have missed out on nominations, there are several players and creatives who have bagged multiple nods in different categories. It’s impossible to start anywhere but at the top of that list, with U.S. content creator Caitlin Comeskey gaining four award nominations for Best X/Twitter Personality, Best Short-Form Content Creator, Best Media Content: Short-Form Video, and Peoples’ Choice for Most Entertaining Player. Both Marle Spragg and Joe Stapleton with three nominations each.

The Hand of the Year category is a fascinating one, with Barny Boatman, who featured as one of the PokerStake stories of the year in 2024, up for a gong for his hero call with 19 players remaining in last year’s EPT Paris Main Event, which he won for over $1.3 million in February.

Boatman is up against PokerStake WSOP seller Daniel Negreanu, with the Canadian winning his seventh WSOP bracelet in last summer’s WSOP Poker Players Championship. Two Americans round out the category, with PokerStake player Stephen Song, the EPT Barcelona Main Event winner and Scott Stewart for his victory in the 2024 WPT World Championship Main Event.

Which Event Stuck in the Memory?

With so many big events taking place in 2024, the biggest events vied for position as the best out there for players. The World Series of Poker Main Event, which GGPoker send thousands of players to in 2024, is nominated in the Best Event category as are the Irish Open Main Event, the ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational at the Wynn Las Vegas and the aforementioned EPT Barcelona Main Event.

In the race to become the most respected poker player in the game, four players have been nominated as the best player in the world as voted for by their peers. English star Stephen Chidwick is joined on the list of four nominations by Americans Isaac Haxton and Jason Koon, with the Spanish poker professional Adrian Mateos also in the running. It’s a category that truly could go either way, and every player on that list will garner plenty of support from their fellow high stakes players.

This year sees four players nominated as the breakout player of the year too, in association with the Global Poker Index. Three Americans – Mark Egbert, Rania Nasreddine and Noel Rodriguez – are joined by Bulgaria’s Boris Angelov in the category, with a very close group looking tough to separate for the GPA counsel.

Quirky Categories Will Reward New Winners

With several unique categories such as Best Photo and Best Trophy, there are going to be awards going to first-time winners in February. There are some terrific series up for the award for Best Episodic Poker Series such as ‘Galfond’, ‘Inside the Mind of a Pro’ and two long-running shows, No Gamble, No Future on PokerGO and the PokerStars series The Big Game on Tour.

Across hundreds of poker events in 2024, the on-air talent has made watching WSOP, PokerGO Tour and other events highly memorable. All four presenters hail from the United States, with Ali Nejad, Jeff Platt, Nick Schulman and Joe ‘Stapes’ Stapleton going into battle on the night.

‘Stapes’ is also nominated for the best book category, where his epic graphic novel Trapped! is nominated alongside strategy books. If a comic graphic novel can win, it would certainly give more literary rather than strategy books a chance in future years. Stapes is also nominated alongside James Hartigan for the podcast Poker in the Ears, which is up against the PokerNewsPodcast, The Chip Race and the Thinking Poker Podast.

Here are all the runners and riders ahead of the Las Vegas awards ceremony on February 22 2025.

6th Annual Global Poker Awards Nominees in full:

GPI Breakout Player

Boris Anzhelov Angelov (Bulgaria)

Mark Travis Egbert (United States)

Rania Nasreddine (United States)

Noel Rodriguez (United States)

Best Final Table Performance

Barny Boatman (England), EPT Paris Main Event

Daniel Negreanu (Canada), WSOP Poker Players Championship

Stephen Song (United States), EPT Barcelona Main Event

Scott Stewart (United States), WPT World Championship

Players Choice for Toughest Opponent

Stephen Chidwick (England)

Isaac Haxton (United States)

Jason Koon (United States)

Adrian Mateos (Spain)

Best X/Twitter Personality

Barry Carter (England)

Caitlin Comeskey (United States)

Jamie Kerstetter (United States)

Marle Spragg (United States)

Best Streamer

Benjamin ‘Spraggy’ Spragg (England)

Bert ‘girafganger7’ Stevens (Belgium)

Jon ‘apestylespoker’ Van Fleet (United States)

Lex Veldhuis (Netherlands)

Best Vlogger

Corey Eyring (United States)

Daniel Negreanu (Canada)

Brad Owen (United States)

Alexander ‘Wolfgang Poker’ Seibt (United States)

Masato Yokosawa (Japan)

Best Short-Form Content Creator

Caitlin Comeskey (USA)

Nikki Limo (USA)

Gregory Liow – Greg Goes All In (Canada)

Marle Spragg – Marle Poker (USA)

Rising Star in Content Creation

Václav Dušek (Czech Republic)

Josh Kasen (United States)

Abby Merk (United States)

David Richards (United States)

Best Industry Person

Gregory Chochon (France)

Matt Savage (United States)

Francine Watson (England)

Andy Wong (Malaysia)

Best Tournament Director

Nick O’Hara (Rep. of Ireland)

Ray Pulford (United States)

Toby Stone (England)

Luca Vivaldi (Italy)

Best Director of Poker Operations

Ryan Beauregard (United States)

Federico Brunato (Italy)

Kerryjane Craigie (England)

Ben Erwin (United States)

Best Event

ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational, Wynn Las Vegas

EPT Barcelona Main Event, Casino Barcelona

Irish Open Main Event, Royal Dublin Society

World Series of Poker Main Event, Horseshoe Las Vegas

Best Mid-Major Tour/Circuit

Best Mid-Major Tour/CircuitBest Mid-Major Tour/Circuit

Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP)

RunGood Poker Series (RGPS)

WPT Prime (WPTP)

WSOP Circuit (WSOPC)

Best Stand-Alone Festival/Series

Irish Poker Open, Royal Dublin Society

Malta Poker Festival, Portomaso Casino

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood

Wynn Millions Poker Series, Wynn Las Vegas

Best Episodic Poker Series

GALFOND – Poker Docuseries

Inside the Mind of a Pro (Dans la tête d’un pro) by Winamax

No Gamble, No Future by PokerGO

The Big Game on Tour by PokerStars

Best On-Air Talent

Ali Nejad (United States)

Jeffrey Platt (United States)

Nick Schulman (United States)

Joseph Stapleton (United States)

Best Podcast

Poker in the Ears (James Hartigan & Joseph Stapleton for PokerStars)

PokerNews Podcast (Chad Holloway, Kyna England, Mike Holtz)

The Chip Race (David K Lappin, Dara O’Kearney for Unibet Poker)

Thinking Poker (Andrew Brokos, Carlos Welch)

Best Poker Book

Beyond GTO: Poker Exploits Simplified (Dara O’Kearney, Barry Carter)

On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything (Nate Silver for Penguin Press)

Poker Pioneer: The Autobiography of Tom McAvoy (Tom McAvoy, Brad Smith)

Trapped (Joseph Stapleton, Neil Gibson for Twister Comics)

Best Media Content: Written

A Further Investigation into the Existence of the BotFarm Corporation (Jonathan Raab for Poker Pro)

Cancer Fight Didn’t Stop John Bird from His Golden Passport Moment (Lance Bradley for WPT)

I’ve Lost All My Other Hobbies – Ari Engel opens up on poker and a torn heart (Paul Oresteen for PokerOrg)

Music Icon Steve Albini’s Death Puts Fabled 20-Year Poker Home Game on Pause (Connor Richards for PokerNews)

Best Media Content: Video

Behind the Swings: The Legend of Isuldur1 (Miikka Antonen, Phil Galfond, Matti Harju)

Davidi Kitai: Life of a Genius (La vie du Génie) (Winamax)

The Four Rules of the Poker Kings (Greg Clark, BBC Scotland)

The Ultimate Stack (POKER films)

Best Media Content: Short-Form Video

Jesse Fullen (United States) – Jack Binion reminisces about the World Series of Poker

Marle Spragg (United States) – That one dealer who runs a tight ship

Nikki Limo (United States) – What’s it like playing poker as a woman

Caitlin Comeskey, Abby Merk (United States) – Who tf is Jared Jaffee?

Best Media Content: Photo