GPI Rewind: The 2017-2021 Player of the Year

4 months of 2026 are behind us, and the International Poker Index Participant of the Yr standings are taking form. Though there’s plenty of poker nonetheless to be performed earlier than the 2026 GPI Participant of the Yr emerges, PokerNews thought it could have a look again in historical past at a number of the earlier POY champions, and what outcomes it took to see them climb to the highest of the standings.

Final month, we regarded again on the winners from 2012 to 2016. At the moment, we’re specializing in the years 2017 to 2021. Stellar names reminiscent of Adrian Mateos and Alex Foxen secured titles, whereas a world pandemic and the reside poker shutdown reshuffled the pack.

2017: Mateos Pips Kenney to the Put up

2017 GPI Participant of the Yr Prime 10

The 2017 GPI Participant of the Yr race went right down to the wire, with famous person Spaniard Adrian Mateos edging out Bryn Kenney. When all outcomes have been accounted for and tallied up, Mateos was topped POY by a mere 26.65 rating factors.

Mateos kicked off 2017 with a deep run within the $5,300 PokerStars Caribbean Journey (PCA) Predominant Occasion, the place he reached the ultimate two tables. A fourth-place end in a World Poker Tour WPT L.A. Poker Traditional aspect occasion adopted in February earlier than a runner-up end in a $25,000 Aria Excessive Curler earned him $186,000 in March.

Additionally in March, Mateos cashed thrice on the PokerStars Championship Panama earlier than he returned to the US for the Seminole Laborious Rock Poker Showdown. Right here, he was the runner-up within the $50,000 Tremendous Excessive Curler and walked away wth $413,567.

Solely a month later, the Spaniard raked in a €908,000 prize after successful a €50,000 aspect occasion on the PokerStars Championship in Monte-Carlo. Extra six-figure scores adopted all year long, together with one price $336,656. That sum stemmed from Mateos’ victory within the $10,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Heads-Up Championship on the World Sequence of Poker (WSOP). Along with the cash, Mateos gained his third bracelet, changing into the youngest-ever participant to win three bracelets at solely 22 years outdated.

In October, Mateos headed to Macau for the Triton Poker Tremendous Excessive Curler Sequence. Whereas right here, he completed fourth within the Predominant Occasion for HK$6,950,000 ($890,084).

One other eight $100,000+ prizes got here Mateos’ means earlier than the tip of 2017, they usually proved sufficient to disclaim Kenney the POY title.

2018: Foxen Breaks By way of 4,000 Factors Barrier

2018 GPI Participant of the Yr Prime 10

Alex Foxen racked up 24 cashes throughout 2018, which included 5 victories. The primary of these wins got here in February on the WPT L.A. Poker Traditional, when he took down the $25,000 Excessive Curler for $424,625. A visit to Macau lower than a month later noticed Foxen triumph within the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau Tremendous Excessive Curler for the equal of $963,880.

Foxen’s third victory got here in June on the Venetian in Las Vegas. The previous tight finish walked away with $239,000 after besting a 178-strong discipline within the $5,000 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) occasion.

Whereas Foxen had a disappointing 2018 WSOP – he solely cashed twice – he bought again to successful methods on the 2018 Seminole Laborious Rock Poker Open, taking down a $2,650 buy-in occasion for $208,452, defeating his spouse Kristen Foxen heads-up.

A fortnight later, Foxen completed third in a €50,000 Excessive Curler and fourth in a €25,000 Excessive Curler at EPT Barcelona and padded his bankroll with a mixed €582,230.

In October, Foxen completed second within the £5,300 partypoker MILLIONS occasion in the UK, banking £720,000 ($937,706) after a heads-up take care of champion Ioannis Angelou-Konstas.

Foxen completed 2018 strongly with three top-four finishes on the WPT 5 Diamond World Poker Traditional in Las Vegas, together with a win in a $5,200 aspect occasion price $246,768. He then capped off a stellar 12 months with a large $2,160,000 rating, his reward for a runner-up end within the $300,000 Tremendous Excessive Curler Bowl on the PokerGO Studio.

2019: Foxen Goes Again-to-Again

2019 GPI Participant of the Yr Prime 10

In 2019, Foxen turned the primary participant to be topped the GPI POY in consecutive years. After ending 2018 in sizzling type, Foxen carried that momentum into 2019. Three cashes, together with a win, on the PCA noticed Foxen begin January with $904,040 in prize cash!

A visit to the Seminole Laborious Rock Poker Showdown in April noticed Foxen come away with a $180,000 and $545,000 rating earlier than he banked €155,440 and €610,550 at EPT Monte Carlo throughout the identical month.

Foxen cashed 10 instances on the 2018 WSOP, together with a formidable Fortieth-place end within the Predominant Occasion that yielded $211,945.

His first victory of 2019 got here within the $20,000 Excessive Curler occasion on the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble in Florida in October, the place Foxen earned $182,440. Foxen gained once more earlier than the tip of the 12 months, though he left it late. After cashing 5 instances on the WPT 5 Diamond World Poker Traditional in December, Foxen gained the $10,400 Predominant Occasion for $1,694,995; he completed second in that very event in 2017.

2020: COVID-19 Performs Havoc With the Rankings

2020 GPI Participant of the Yr Prime 10

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic precipitated havoc with the GPI rankings in 2020, as most governments locked down their residents, resulting in reside poker going into an unprecedented hiatus. Nonetheless, earlier than doorways slammed shut, Georgia’s Giorgiy Skhulukhiya gained an occasion after which took benefit of relaxed guidelines in Russia within the latter a part of the 12 months to money in additional occasions.

Skhulukhiya gained a $5,000 Predominant Occasion on the Benefit Poker Western in Cyprus in January for $220,643 earlier than a few cashes in Belarus in February. He additionally completed sixteenth within the €3,300 WPT Germany Predominant Occasion in February earlier than the pandemic gripped the world.

Reside poker returned, for some, in August. Sochi, Russia, opened its doorways, and Skhulukhiya racked up one other 12 cashes between August 6 and December 22. The biggest of those outcomes was a victory within the Sochi Poker Pageant Tremendous Excessive Curler, which got here with a prime prize of $50,571.

Skhulukhiya gained $353,163 in 2020, the lowest-ever haul for a GPI Participant of the Yr, and an undesirable report unlikely to ever be damaged.

2021: Reside Poker Returns, Imsirovic Comes Out On Prime

2021 GPI Participant of the Yr Prime 10

Reside poker returned, albeit with restrictions, in the course of the first few months of 2021, and Ali Imsirovic wasted no time in getting again to the tables. By the tip of the 12 months, Imsirovic had cashed for $6,094,964, which was and stays his greatest 12 months within the reside poker realm.

Imsirovic gained two PokerGO Tour occasions in Las Vegas in February, totaling $530,170. Each of these occasions solely had 14 entrants, however you may solely beat what’s in entrance of you.

Extra six-figure scores got here Imsirovic’s means in April, once more on the PokerGO Tour. He gained two $25,000 occasions and completed second in a $10,000 occasion, for mixed prizes totaling $721,300.

The Bosnian then gained a $10,000 occasion on the Venetian Las Vegas for one more $200,200 in Could earlier than taking down a $10,000 PokerGO Tour occasion in June for a further $217,800. One other two victories on the PokerGO Tour in July, plus a fifth-place end, got here with $545,500.

Between August and October, Imsirovic gained 4 extra PokerGO Tour occasions and reached the ultimate desk of 4 others. $529,000 was the most important rating these outcomes produced.

Imsirovic bagged himself a WSOP Circuit ring in a $5,200 on-line occasion in October, earlier than persevering with his PokerGO Tour domination with one other win and two ultimate tables in November. He then gained $278,840 for a sixth-place end in a $50,000 Excessive Curler occasion on the delayed 2021 WSOP in Las Vegas, a consequence price $278,840.

As 2021 drew to a detailed, Imsirovic gained a $25,500 Excessive Curler on the WPT Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open for $695,355 to cap off a formidable 12 months.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the UK, and has labored within the poker business since 2008, and labored for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he turned the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from reside reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his position of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.