Rainer Kempe and Stephen Chidwick are the frontrunners in the latest Player of the Year (POY) standings released by the Global Poker Index (GPI). Kempe went past Bryn Kenney to take over the No. 1 spot in the 2019 POY race. Turning to the overall rankings, Chidwick has knocked 2018 GPI Player of the Year Alex Foxen out of the top spot.
Foxen led the rankings for 37 consecutive weeks, joining a list of accomplished players who held the top spot for a long time. Some of the names on this list include Dan Smith (38 weeks), Ole Schemion (41 weeks), and Jason Mercier who currently holds the record for the longest reign at the top of the leaderboard at 63 weeks.
Chidwick, who also enjoyed a 25-week long period as the overall leader last year, is at it again after finally winning his first career WSOP bracelet in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller this summer.
Let us have a look and see who made it to the Top 10 in the latest GPI standings.
Latest 2019 GPI POY Top 10 List
Bryn Kenney held the number one spot in June after securing huge wins in May during the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro. He was unable to maintain the top spot in July as Rainer Kempe has had several cashes and final table finishes in Vegas that has helped him take over the top spot.
Kempe has cashed five times so far at the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Rio, including finishing 16^th in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout, as well as making the final table and finishing in 4^th place in Event #42: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack 8-Handed.
The German poker pro also finished 7^th in the $10,000 partypoker No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS Vegas tournament which was won by Tom Marchese. Kempe also scored three third-place finishes at the Aria Summer High Rollers.
Manig Loeser is third on the GPI POY list after cashing in six WSOP events this summer. He also had two cashes at Aria events and finished in 25^th place in the partypoker MILLIONS Vegas event. Following him in 4^th place is Florida native Sean Winter who earned massive points with his victories at the US Poker Open and the PSPC PokerStars Players Championship held earlier this year.
After making it to the Top 10 of the 2019 POY race last month, Alex Foxen has now climbed to the number 5 spot as he tries to defend his title. The American poker pro has cashed in eight events at the 2019 WSOP thus far, including a 12^th place finish in Event #8: $10,000 Short Deck No-Limit Hold’em. His girlfriend Kristen Bicknell is not far behind as she has taken the number 6 spot after cashing seven times at the 2019 WSOP.
Following Bicknell in 7^th place is Anthony Zinno, the only player in the GPI POY Top 10 who has won a bracelet this summer. Zinno claimed his second WSOP gold after taking down Event #60: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. This victory was good enough to propel him from number 27 all the way up to number 7. After his first-place victory in the Baccarat Crystal World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions, Ole Schemion still remains in the Top 10 and is currently holding on to the number 8 spot.
Rounding out the list are Ali Imsirovic (9^th place), who had a number of cashes at the WSOP including a runner-up finish in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty. Michael Soyza is ranked 10 after he earned a decent amount of points by cashing in at the WSOP and other poker tournaments taking place in Vegas.
Overall GPI Rankings
After winning his first-ever WSOP bracelet in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, Chidwick is now leading the overall GPI POY rankings. He ended Foxen’s 37 week reign at the top. Foxen is now in second place followed by Rainer Kempe. David Peters is ranked number 4 and in fifth place is Manig Loeser.
To have a look at the entire GPI POY list of players, you can check out the official rankings.