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The GPI European Poker Awards ceremony was held on 22 January at the Elysee Biarritz in Paris, France. Titles were awarded in a total of nine categories.
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Marvin Rettenmaier
The most prestigious award, European Player of the Year, went to Marvin Rettenmaier. This was no surprise: this year Epic Poker League’s Global poker Index (GPI) was used to determine the winner. As of 31 December, 2012, Rettenmaier held the top position, which predestined him for the coveted title.
The awards did not run short of excitement with bags of swag from online gaming companies like PartyBingo.com [4] were given to each contestant. Though for instance, players like Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom, Jens ‘Jeans89’ Kyllönen, Chris ‘moorman1’ Moorman and Ilari ‘Ziigmund’ Sahamies competed for the Internet Player of the Year title. Eventually, it was Kyllönen who took it down.
The Rookie of the Year title went to Ole Schemion: the German showed off an excellent performance in 2012, winning the PPT Grand Final for $1,474,671 and the Master Classics of Poker ($368,895), to name a few of his successes. His total live tournament winnings for the year reached $2,070,614.
Europe's Leading Lady is Lucille Cailly and the Best Tournament Performance is Davidi Kitai’s for his victory in EPT Berlin ($930,816). The Best European Event of the Year was EPT Barcelona, while the award for Poker Staff Person of the Year went to Dusk Till Dawn Live Poker Director Simon Trumper. The Rob Gardner Memorial Award for the Poker Personality of the Year was handed to Kara Scott.
Lucille Cailly and Davidi Kitai
For his lifetime achievement, Gus Hansen was awarded, who currently boasts $11,210,072 in total live tournament winnings.
Nominees and awardees of the European Poker Awards are:
European Player of the Year:
Marvin Rettenmaier (D)
Rookie of the Year:
Gaëlle Baumann (F)
Lucille Cailly (F)
Aubin Cazals (F)
Ole Schemion (D)
Best Tournament Performance:
Davidi Kitai (B): EPT Berlin victory, $930,816
Rocco Palumbo (I): WSOP Event #44 $1,000 NLHE victory, $464,464
Marvin Rettenmaier (D): WPT World Championship victory, $1,196,858
Ole Schemion (D): PPT Grand Finale victory, $1,474,671
Sam Trickett (UK): WSOP Event #55 $1,000,000 Big One runner-up, $10,112,001
Europe's Leading Lady:
Gaëlle Baumann (F)
Liv Boeree (UK)
Lucille Cailly (F)
Elisabeth Hille (N)
Internet Player of the Year:
Viktor Blom (S )
Jens Kyllönen (FIN)
Chris Moorman (UK)
Ilari Sahamies (FIN)
Poker Staff Person of the Year:
Dave Brannan (UK): Living It Loving It Group Director
Nicolas Fraioli (F): Aviation Club de France Tournament Director
Neil Johnson (UK): PokerStars Live Poker Consultant
Simon Trumper (UK): Dusk Till Dawn Live Poker Director
Rob Gardner Memorial Award for the Poker Personality of the Year:
Neil Channing (UK)
Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier (F)
Tony Guoga (LT)
Gus Hansen (DK)
Marvin Rettenmaier (D)
Kara Scott (UK)
Best European Event of the Year:
EPT Barcelona
Irish Poker Open
Prague Poker Festival
WSOPE Cannes
Lifetime Achievement Award:
Gus Hansen