This stunning choice marks the top of an annual custom that started again in 2017 and served because the poker group’s premier recognition platform exterior of main event accolades.
GPI founder Dan Fleyshman launched the International Poker Awards to honour contributions to the fashionable poker group that had grown up within the digital age — the type of classes that common individuals might goal at.
Classes included “Poker Persona of the Yr,” “Greatest Streamer,” “Breakout Participant,” and “Trade Individual of the Yr,” with nominations and winners decided by a mix of fan voting and knowledgeable panels.
Yearly since 2017 the awards could be introduced in plush environment on the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas and broadcast globally, drawing participation from main operators, poker media shops, and content material creators.
The 2025 ceremony was held on February 22, that includes over 35 classes and was hosted by Jeff Platt and Drea Renee. Now it seems like that may have been the finale.
The GPI cited quite a few causes for discontinuing the favored awards ceremony, however chief of all was the prices.
The world has turn into a costlier place because the pandemic ended. This contains venue rent, manufacturing prices and broadcast bills.
And though the International Poker Awards had been in style on-line, in-person attendance had fallen
GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu famous in an interview across the 2025 awards that conversations with occasion organizers revealed “no person confirmed up” to the ceremony.
Some steered that shifting consumption patterns, such because the speedy progress of short-form digital content material and on-demand streaming, has devalued the standard awards format, however absolutely that’s not the case for a distinct segment as distinctive as poker.
Thanks for galvanizing our group with this effort through the years. It was an honor to have MC’ed the ceremony. We recognize you a lot!
— Maria Ho (@MariaHo) November 13, 2025
Eric Danis, President of the International Poker Index and The Hendon Mob Poker Database, mentioned:
“We’re a really small group and the awards course of as a complete takes two members of our group out of the day-to-day operations for 2 months yearly.
“In the event you had informed a youthful me that I’d be a part of a group organizing awards ceremonies in France, Monte Carlo, Malta, the Sundown Strip simply blocks away from The Viper Room and Whisky a Go Go, and eventually Las Vegas, I wouldn’t have believed you.
“We’re actually going to overlook placing on an important present, however we now have different initiatives which have taken precedence over the awards.”
The poker group has at all times applauded those that go the additional mile however the GPI said that the present poker panorama has made it troublesome to maintain the occasion at that degree financially any longer.
