Bertrand Grospellier Closes Gap on Erik Seidel for GPI Top Spot

There wasn’t a lot of movement at the top of this week’s Global Poker Index (GPI) with the top 10 remaining as was – although Frenchman Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier did close the gap on leader Erik Seidel to just 26.49 points.

American Erik Seidel now sits on 2,560.94 points, while Bertrand Grospellier has 2,534.45. Grospellier’s charge for the top spot comes as a result of his 56th place main event finish at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona in November of last year dropping from Period 2 – in which it was not one of his top three results so wasn’t counted – into Period 3 to give him a few extra points in the process.

The top 10 is completed by American Jason Mercier (third on 2,398.58 points), Ukraine’s Eugene Katchalov (fourth on 2,378.13), Canadian Shawn Buchanan (fifth on 2,219.40), States star Samuel Stein (sixth on 2,178.26), Englishman Sam Trickett (seventh on 2,121.17), Canuck Sorel Mizzi (eighth on 2,106.72), Frenchman Fabrice Soulier (ninth on 2,024.88), and another American in Matt Waxman (10th on 2,003.46).

All the above players, bar Waxman, play in Epic Poker events, so organisers will be thrilled to see the top 10 filled with stars of their tournaments, especially after the recent announcement of a GPI information deal with USA Today Sports Media Group.

While the top 10 remained unchanged, four new entries in the top 300 were recorded as Belgian Kenny Hallaert made his debut on the list after securing wins from two side tournaments at last month’s PokerStars.com EPT Loutraki.

Hallaert came in at 263rd on 1,075.77, while the other newcomers are Lebanon’s Georges Yaazbeck (193rd on 1,196.52), Jan Bendik (251st on 1,099.12), of Slovakia, and Canada’s Chris McClung (284th on 1,050.14).

The quartet dropping out of the top 300 are Dutchman Paul Berende, Canada’s Matt Jarvis, American Kyle Loman and Belgium’s Kevin Vandersmissen.

That might be bad news for those four, but Rupert Elder (1,382.16 points) can be satisfied with his latest ranking as he rocketed up 107 places to 117th with his 13th place at the main event at the EPT Loutraki adding points to his Period 1 calculations.

Finland’s Markus Ristola (1,189.35) was the next biggest mover as he climbed 95 spots to 199th, while American duo Micah Raskin (1,304.59) and Darryll Fish (1,235.32) – following 15th and sixth place finishes at the main event from last month’s World Poker Tour (WPT) Jacksonville – now sit at 149th and 178th to show respective gains of 90 and 65 spots.

Also making significant moves were Germany’s Dominik Nitsche (up 66 places to 112th on 1,406.64 points), American Kevin MacPhee (up 43 to 75th on 1,524.53), Englishman Surrinder Sunar (up 35 to 184th on 1,212.16), Mike Beasley (up 33 to 207th on 1,178.78), of the USA, Sweden’s Per Linde (up 32 to 242nd on 1,312.50), France’s Jean-Philippe Rohr (up 32 to 260th on 1,080.76), and Canada’s Sam Chartier (up 31 to 203rd on 1,181.27).

It wasn’t such a good week for Lucien Cohen, though, as the Frenchman dropped a massive 74 places to 253rd on 1,118.82 points.

Cohen’s eighth place from a €2,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Poker event from May’s France Poker Masters dropped into Period 1, thus prompting his huge fall.

Also seeing noteworthy drops were French duo Nicolas Levi (down 68 to 253rd on 1,097.77 points) and Eric Haik (down 65 to 264th on 1,075.75), Italian Cristiano Guerra (down 65 to 259th on 1,081.20), yet another French player in Youcef Benzerfa (down 47 to 288th on 1,044.57), Ukrainian Andrey Danilyuk (down 35 to 196th on 1,192.63), American Nick Schulman (down 32 to 101st on 1,435.96), Russian pair Konstantin Puchkov (down 31 to 103rd on 1,427.11) and Alex Kostritsyn (down 29 to 191st on 1,427.11), Finland’s Kimmo Matias Kurko (down 30 to 235th on 1,135.68), and States star Bryn Kenney (down 26 to 39th on 1,706.25).

Lebanese player Nicolas Chouity just managed to stay inside the top 300 in bottom spot after falling 42 places to stand at 1,021.92 points.

While this week’s standings have been fairly stable, next week should see some major moves as the early weeks of this summer’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) will drop into Period 2.

Expect the likes of Katchalov, at fourth, to take a hit, as will Stein (at sixth), Waxman (at 10th), England’s Jake Cody (at 17th) and American Allen Bari (at 27th).

They all managed six-figure successes from the first WSOP week, so will lose points as these scores move from Period 1 into Period 2.

Check back here for the latest developments on the Global Poker Index.

The top 10 in the GPI 300

1. Erik Seidel (USA) – 2,560.94

2. Bertrand Grospellier (France) – 2,534.45

3. Jason Mercier (USA) – 2,398.58

4. Eugene Katchalov (Ukraine) – 2,378.13

5. Shawn Buchanan (Canada) – 2,219.40

6. Samuel Stein (USA) – 2,178.26

7. Sam Trickett (UK) – 2,121.17

8. Sorel Mizzi (Canada) – 2,106.72

9. Fabrice Soulier (France) – 2,024.88

10. Matt Waxman (USA) – 2,003.46