Global Poker Index: Mike McDonald Tops Canadians and Matt Salsberg Joins Top 300
Martin Harris
Lane Anderson
Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player’s results over six half-year periods. For a look at the entire list, visit the official GPI website. Here’s a look at the rankings as of March 16, 2016.
GPI Top 10 Canadians
| Canadian Rank | Global Rank | Player | Total Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 |
 | Mike McDonald | 3,457.52 |
| 2 | 28 |
| Jonathan Duhamel | 3,302.12 |
| 3 | 31 |
| Sam Greenwood | 3,249.79 |
| 4 | 34 |
| Mike Leah | 3,178.56 |
| 5 | 45 |
| Ari Engel | 2,959.25 |
| 6 | 52 |
| Daniel Dvoress | 2,887.59 |
| 7 | 55 |
| Sam Chartier | 2,833.46 |
| 8 | 89 |
| Mike Watson | 2,499.13 |
| 9 | 93 |
| Ami Barer | 2,488.50 |
| 10 | 96 |
| Andrew Chen | 2,472.93 |
Again, there was very little change in Team Canada this week. The roster remains the same except for the neck-and-neck race between Ami Barer and Mike Watson. They both lost points this week, but Watson lost less, giving him the thin edge and the No. 8 spot.
Mike McDonald continues to lead the Canadians but he hasn't logged a result since European Poker Tour Dublin in February, so whoever on this list makes a major, deep run soon will find themselves climbing the ranks.
GPI 300 Top 10
| Rank | Player | GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve O’Dwyer | 4,430.60 | - |
| 2 | Byron Kaverman | 4,220.10 | - |
| 3 | Bryn Kenney | 4,064.73 | - |
| 4 | Jason Mercier | 4,034.73 | - |
| 5 | Connor Drinan | 4,006.82 | +2 |
| 6 | Dominik Nitsche | 3,961.988 | - |
| 7 | Nick Petrangelo | 3,961.986 | -2 |
| 8 | Fedor Holz | 3,742.39 | +6 |
| 9 | Stephen Chidwick | 3,742.04 | +1 |
| 10 | Anthony Zinno | 3,742.02 | -2 |
Steve O’Dwyer makes it 10 weeks as the world’s top-ranked tournament player according to the GPI following a relatively quiet week at the top of the rankings. The top four spots all stayed the same this week, with Connor Drinan — on the heels of an eighth-place finish in the World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship — improving two spots to No. 5 (a career-high).
There’s a virtual tie for No. 6 this week between Dominik Nitsche and Nick Petrangelo (note how we had to take it to a third decimal place with those two). And the next three players are also essentially even with Fedor Holz, Stephen Chidwick, and Anthony Zinno all within half a GPI point of each other.
Sitting just outside the top 10 this week are David Peters (No. 11), Sean Winter (No. 12), and Erik Seidel (No. 13).
Welcome to the GPI Top 300
| Rank | Player | Total Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 208 | Robbie Wazwaz | 1,907.93 | |
| 228 | Anthony Spinella | 1,851.48 | |
| 239 |
| Matt Salsberg | 1,822.92 |
| 252 | Mark Darner | 1,787.14 | |
| 263 | Aleksandr Gofman | 1,765.62 | |
| 278 | Griffin Paul | 1,722.49 | |
| 279 | Loni Harwood | 1,722.18 | |
| 284 | Derek Wolters | 1,714.52 | |
| 286 | Walid Bou Habib | 1,706.70 | |
| 299 | Kyle Bowker | 1,688.85 | |
| 300 | Terry Fan | 1,685.83 |
Looking down at the other end of this week’s GPI top 300, there are 11 new names on this week’s list with Robbie Wazwaz the top-ranked among them. A cash in the 2016 Chicago Poker Classic Championship (where he finished 20th) gave Wazwaz enough points to jump from No. 337 all of the way to No. 208, his highest ranking to date.
Other players among this group who are also hitting career peaks, rankings-wise, include Anthony Spinella (at No. 228), Derek Wolters (at No. 284), and Terry Fan (at No. 300).
The one new Canadian in the top 300 is Matt Salsberg who earned his way by winning a side event at the L.A. Poker Classic and then finishing 12th in World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship.
Biggest Gains
| Rank | Player | Total GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 278 | Griffin Paul | 1,722.49 | +222 |
| 228 | Anthony Spinella | 1,851.48 | +184 |
| 263 | Aleksandr Gofman | 1,765.62 | +178 |
| 123 | Stefan Schillhabel | 2,273.68 | +161 |
| 252 | Mark Darner | 1,787.14 | +135 |
Griffin Paul almost reached a career-high this week after leaping from No. 500 to No. 278, just five spots shy of his previous best ranking of No. 273 last October. That made him the biggest gainer of the week among the top 300 players, the move facilitated by his fifth-place showing in that aforementioned WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship.
The winner of that event, Stefan Schillhabel, also benefited in terms of GPI points, and as a result he traveled upward from No. 284 to No. 123 this week. That’s a career-high for Schillhabel as well who just made his GPI top 300 debut a month ago.
Biggest Drops
| Rank | Player | Total GPI Score | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 | Oliver Price | 2,156.42 | -45 |
| 233 | Eddy Sabat | 1,840.43 | -45 |
| 294 | Pascal Hartmann | 1,694.12 | -43 |
| 221 | Toby Lewis | 1,878.87 | -41 |
| 273 | Noah Bronstein | 1,735.63 | -38 |
Finally, looking only at those players who stayed in the top 300, Oliver Price fell the furthest after going from No. 105 to No. 150 this week.
What to Expect Next Week
The World Series of Poker Circuit Los Angeles (at the Bicycle), the Hollywood Poker Open in St. Louis (at the Hollywood), and the Foxwoods Poker Classic in Mashantucket, Connecticut highlight the current tournament festival schedule as far as the United States is concerned.
Over in Europe the partypoker WPT Vienna is underway, as is the Norwegian Championships (in Dublin).
And in Morocco the 2016 Marrakech Poker Open Main Event gets started tomorrow, with start-to-finish coverage right here on PokerNews.
To view both the 2015 Player of the Year and GPI overall rankings in their entirety, visit the official GPI website. While you’re at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.
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