Poker Central team receives eight nominations, including broadcasting team Ali Nejad and Nick Schulman, who will battle for Poker Broadcaster of the Year
Doug Polk receives most individual nominations: Video Blogger of the Year, Tournament Performance for his One Drop High Roller victory, Biggest Influencer in Poker
Polk will face Cary Katz, Daniel Negreanu and Matt Savage in the inaugural presentation of the Biggest Influencer trophy
Twelve American Poker Awards winners up for trophies again this year
LAS VEGAS, NV – February 8, 2018 – A record 102 Nomination Panel members, comprised of industry leaders, accomplished poker players and media members, sent in their ballots over the past week to determine the 54 finalists for the 4th Annual American Poker Awards, presented by PokerStars, at the Andaz West Hollywood in Los Angeles on February 22nd.
Poker Central leads the way with eight direct nominations, although the poker powerhouse was indirectly involved is several other nominations. The Poker Central team receive nominations for Tom Dwan’s return to poker on American soil on Poker After Dark (Moment), Super High Roller Bowl and Poker Masters Event #1 (Event), Ali Nejad and Nick Schulman (Broadcaster), Dead Money: A Super High Roller Bowl Story (Content), PokerCentral Podcast (Pod) and Cary Katz (Influencer).
Doug Polk received the most individual nominations with three. Polk is nominated in three very distinct categories – for his work as a video blogger, for his efforts on the felt (WSOP One Drop High Roller) and for his influence in the game.
The very first presentation of Poker’s Biggest Influencer certainly reveals four formidable candidates. Polk will battle Poker Central founder Cary Katz, poker superstar who also plays at 해외배팅사이트, and All-Time Money list leader, Daniel Negreanu and tournament director extraordinaire Matt Savage, who won an American Poker Award for the second straight year last February, earning the Jury Prize for his contributions to poker.
While most nominees are up for their first American Poker Award – presented by PokerStars, many previous winners will have a chance to add to their APA trophy collection:
Vanessa Selbst (Moment), WSOP Main Event and the Super High Roller Bowl (Event), WSOP Circuit (Mid-Major), Lance Bradley (Journalist, Content), Joseph Stapleton (Broadcaster), Joe Ingram (Podcast, Video Blogger), Daniel Negreanu (Video Blogger, Influencer), Jason Somerville (Streamer), Matt Savage (Industry, Influencer), Sean McCormack and Adam Pliska (Industry)
If you haven’t registered for the American Poker Awards yet and wish to be part of the festivities, please register here, seating is limited to 120 seats.
4th GPI ANNUAL AMERICAN POKER AWARDS NOMINEES
BREAKOUT PLAYER
- Dejuante “DJ” Alexander
- Michael Del Vecchio
- William Alex Foxen
- Artur Papazyan
TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCE
- Scott Blumstein (WSOP Main Event)
- Darren Elias (WPT Fallsview)
- Bryn Kenney (PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo Super High Roller)
- Doug Polk (WSOP One Drop High Roller)
MOMENT OF THE YEAR
- 70-year-old John Smith makes back-to-back WSOP 10K Heads-Up finals
- Ema Zajmovic becomes first female player to win open event on World Poker Tour
- Vanessa Selbst’s Full House loses to Gaelle Baumann’s Quads early in the WSOP Main Event
- Tom Dwan makes his return to America, stars on Poker After Dark reboot on PokerGo
EVENT OF THE YEAR
- Super High Roller Bowl (ARIA Las Vegas)
- partypoker MILLIONS North America (Playground Poker Club Montreal)
- Poker Masters Event #1 (ARIA Las Vegas)
- World Series of Poker Main Event (Rio Las Vegas)
MID-MAJOR CIRCUIT
- Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT)
- RUNGOOD Poker Series
- WPTDeepStacks (WPTDS)
- World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC)
JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
- Drew Amato
- Lance Bradley
- BJ Nemeth
- Steve Ruddock
- Jessica Welman
BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR
- Nick Schulman
- Joseph Stapleton
- Lon McEachern
- Ali Nejad
MEDIA CONTENT
- Adrian Moreno in tears after Little One for One Drop win; days after losing his friend (Drew Amato, photo for WSOP.com)
- Dead Money: A Super High Roller Bowl Story (PokerCentral documentary)
- Poker Brat: The Phill Hellmuth Story (Phil Hellmuth, published by D&B Publishing)
- Resilience Defined: Sheddy Siddiqui Raising his Two Boys #ForCathy (Lance Bradley, article for PocketFives)
PODCAST
- PokerCentral Podcast (Brent Hanks, Will O’Connor, Remko Rinkema)
- PokerNews Podcast (Brent Harrington, Sarah Herring, Matt Parvis)
- Poker Life Podcast (Joe Ingram)
- TwoPlusTwo Podcast (Terrence Chan, Ross Henry, Adam Schwartz)
VIDEO BLOGGER
- Joe Ingram
- Daniel Negreanu
- Andrew Neeme
- Doug Polk
POKER STREAMER
- Jeff Gross
- Bill Perkins
- Jason Somerville
- Jaime Staples
- Parker Talbot
INDUSTRY PERSON
- Tony Burns
- Sean McCormack
- Adam Pliska
- Matt Savage
POKER’S BIGGEST INFLUENCER
- Cary Katz
- Daniel Negreanu
- Doug Polk
- Matt Savage
OTHER TROPHIES TO BE PRESENTED AT THE AWARDS
- 2017 GPI American Player of the Year: Bryn Kenney
- 2017 GPI Female Player of the Year: Kristen Bicknell
- Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poker
- Charitable Initiative
- Jury Prize
- PocketFives Legacy Award
- People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year – Public voting is still open, VOTE HERE
