The Global Poker Index (GPI) European Poker Awards took place last night in Deauville, France with Ole Schemion and Barny Boatman picking up the most prestigious awards of the night. German pro Schemion won the overall European Live Poker Player of the Year title after a phenomenal twelve months that has seen Schemion top the GPI world player rankings, win over $1.6m and have four outright tournament victories. Schemion has carried on where he left off in 2014 too with final tables in both the Super High Roller and High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. On current form, the scarily young 21-year-old Schemion has to be classed as the best tournament player in the world right now.
The most popular winner of the evening was The Hendon Mob’s Barny Boatman, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Boatman’s first recorded live tournament cash came all the way back in the dark ages of 1998 but the loveable Brit hit a career highlight last summer when he won his first WSOP bracelet in a $1500 NLHE event in Las Vegas. The $546k score was the biggest of his career and, as he said to me in an exclusive interview, the win was ‘magical’. You can read that fascinating interview with Barny and his brother Ross Boatman RIGHT HERE.
Another noteworthy award winner was the Full Tilt Poker Galway Festival, winner of the European Poker Event of the Year. The groundbreaking event encompassed over 50 poker tournaments, a day out at Galway Races and a hugely ambitious €1m guarantee on the €1k main event. It was eventually won Scottish player Alan Gold for €187k.
Stay tuned to PokerPlayer.co.uk for an exclusive interview with UKIPT President Kirsty Thompson later this week talking the future of the UKIPT.
Other major award winners on the night were:
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