Global Poker Index: Mercier Dethrones Seidel

February 17 2012

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes a player's results over six half-year periods. There was a change on top of the GPI this week as a new yet familiar face is once again on top of the mountain. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

The Top 10 as of February 13, 2012

Rank	Player	Total Score	Change in Rank from Last Week
1	Jason Mercier	3,003.82	+1
2	Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier	2,853.56	+1
3	Erik Seidel	2,789.21	-2
4	Eugene Katchalov	2,709.37	0
5	Shawn Buchanan	2,672.49	0
6	Will "The Thrill" Failla	2,429.74	+1
7	Matt Waxman	2,400.18	+1
8	Vanessa Selbst	2,371.85	+1
9	Mike "Timex" McDonald	2,377.53	+1
10	Matt Marafioti	2,295.53	+1

The inaugural Epic Poker League Main Event fell into Period 2, impacting both Erik Seidel (runner-up in that event) and Jason Mercier (third) in the standings.

In Mercier's case, he has enough high-quality scores remaining in Period 1. That, along with the points gained from his finish in the Epic Poker League, boosted his Period 2 results and helped increase his score this week. On the other hand, Seidel's Period 1 was left with just three cashes. As a result, he slipped to the No. 3 spot.

Welcome to the GPI

Only four new players are on the GPI this week with Vojtech Ruzicka coming in at No. 169, thanks to a win at the German Championship of Poker Main Event.

New Additions

Player	Total GPI Score	GPI Rank
Vojtech Ruzicka	1,1330.04	169th
Andrew Tend	1,084.22	290th
David Diaz	1,076.00	298th
Amnon Filippi	1,073.24	200th

Adam Levy, Brandon Meyers, Georges Yazbeck, and Nicolo Calia were the ones who fell off the GPI this week.

Ups and Downs

Several players saw nice gains this week. Andrea Dato vaulted up the standings following his third-place result at WPT Venice. Kevin MacPhee and Shaun Deeb took first and second, respectively, in the EPT Deauville Six-Max High Roller last weekend.

Biggest Gains

Rank	Player	Total Score	Change in Rank From Last Week
45th	Oleksii Kovalchuk	1,848.44	+12
98th	Simon Ravnsbaek	1,529.69	+97
102nd	Kevin MacPhee	1,518.33	+88
106th	Anton Wigg	1,495.70	+13
117th	Michael Tureniec	1,475.70	+21
119th	Shaun Deeb	1,474.31	+66
153rd	Andrea Dato	1,384.12	+130
156th	Ronny Kaiser	1,370.54	+132
165th	Ognjen Sekularac	1,349.99	+110

Justin Bonomo took the biggest plunge down the GPI this week. His 18th-place finish in the inaugural Epic Poker League Main Event dropped into Period 2, leaving him with only one Period 1 result. The same can be said for Chino Rheem, the winner of that tournament, who also dropped a fair amount this week.

Biggest Drops

Rank	Player	Total Score	Change in Rank From Last Week
136th	Dmitry Vitkind	1,430.05	-37
137th	Gavin Smith	1,424.40	-31
147th	Chino Rheem	1,397.33	-47
182nd	Hafiz Khan	1,288.75	-73
205th	Ted Lawson	1,238.14	-46
247th	Markus Ristola	1,143.97	-75
251st	Manuel Bevand	1,140.79	-52
261st	Nichlas Mattsson	1,127.59	-44
280th	Stephane Benadiba	1.093.39	-59
299th	Justin Bonomo	1,074.98	-83

What's In Store?

EPT Copenhagen, LAPT Grand Final Carnival Poker Festival, DeepStacks Poker Tour Seneca Niagara, and WSOPC Palm Beach are all due to start over the next few days, so expect results from those events to shake up the GPI for the next two weeks.

To look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you're at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

To stay on top of the GPI and other happenings in the poker world, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

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