The Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year 2018 winners are in. Along with it was an official announcement of the new GPI POY award system. In order to win the GPI POY per country, a player must not only top the country ranking but also have a minimum of 1000 points accrued for the year. With that, here’s the GPI POY 2018 overall race winner and all the POY winners from the Asia – Pacific region.
GPI 2018 POY Overall
Topping the overall GPI 2018 POY ranking was USA’s William Foxen with 4,095.52 points. This was a big jump for Foxen who finished 12th in 2017 and over 1000 points less. In 2018, he won five events however his largest point-generating tournament was at the partypoker MILLIONS Dusk Till Dawn – NLH Millions UK Main Event #2 where he finished 2nd out of 1,015 for 539.35 points. To cap off the year, he earned US$2,160,000 at the Super High Roller Bowl – $300K No Limit Hold’em event for his best live cash. He finished 2nd out of 36 entries.
GPI 2018 POY Asia: Michael Soyza
Two Malaysian players ran incredibly hot in 2018 and both reached the top of the GPI 2018 POY Asia standings. Winning the race by a fairly big margin was Christopher Michael Soyza with 3,389,65 points. This also recognized him as the GPI 2018 POY for Malaysia. Ivan Seng Yee Leow came in 2nd with 2,782.33 points.
Soyza’s stellar year was filled with deep runs and victories all over the world. In total he had 6 triumphs with four of them generating GPI points. He won the APPT Main Event in Korea, the DeepStack Championship Series – No Limit Hold’em Mid-States Poker event in Las Vegas, the APPT Manila – No Limit Hold’em High Roller Shot Clock and BB Ante, and the a No Limit Hold’em event at EPT Barcelona. Among his numerous near victories was a 3rd place finish at the WSOPE – $100K Leon’s High Roller event for $592,594. This was was his largest score and his second payout of over half a million dollars.
GPI 2018 POY Australia
From the land down-under, Michael Addamo ruled the charts. Every year since 2015, he has climbed up the Australia GPI POY ranking going from 10th to 4th to 3rd and now to the summit. This year saw him achieve a milestone. He strapped his first-ever WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas at the No Limit Hold’em – The Marathon event. He overcame a field of 1,637 entries to generate 536.91 points. In late-October, Addamo captured a partner gold for his other wrist by winning the WSOPE No Limit Hold’em High Roller event in Rozvadov. In addition to gaining a nice chunk of GPI points of 459.43, he also scored his largest live career payout of €848,702.
GPI 2018 POY winners from Asia – Pacific region
Here’s a list of GPI 2018 POY winners in Asia – Pacific by country:
Malaysia – Christopher Michael Soyza – 3,389.65 points
Australia – Michael Addamo – 3,366.69 points
Hong Kong – Yan Shing “Anson” Tsang – 2,693.08 points
China – Yang Zhang – 2,487.80 points
Israel – Timur Margolin – 2398.30 points
Thailand – Phachara Wongwichit – 2,305.61 points
Taiwan – Pete Yen Han Chen – 2,233.94 points
Philippines – Mike Takayama – 2,080.62 points
Japan – Takao Shimizu – 2,078.51 points
Vietnam – Thai Ha – 1,833.04 points
India – Nipun Java – 1,782.47 points
New Zealand – Honglin Jiang – 1702.06 points
Korea – Sean Yu – 1,493.81 points
Singapore – Alex Xiang Wei Lee – 1,323.79 points
Article by Tricia David
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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