Jonathan Duhamel’s GPI Player of the Year Lead Cut Down

Jonathan Duhamel has seen his lead at the top of the Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year standings cut even further this week as dynamic Dan Smith closed to within 61.26 points of the French-Canadian.

Las Vegas pro Smith enjoyed an amazing European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final in Monte Carlo, taking down three €5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em events for a $688,486 total.

However, despite Smith’s final success from Monaco – in a Six-Max event – now being included on his PoY ranking score, he couldn’t quite overtake Duhamel, although the one-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner is now looking over his shoulder for the first time since award’s introduction 12 weeks ago.

Dan Smith Second After Monte Carlo Hat-Trick

Smith had climbed an incredible 153 places on the previous rankings list as a result of his first two wins at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort, before moving up two more spots to now hold 534.42 points against Duhamel’s 595.68 – meaning the 2010 WSOP main event champion’s lead has continued to shrink following his last cash, a 13th place in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Stars $9,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Championship Bounty, back on March 9.

Meanwhile, there were three newcomers to the top 10 as Vegas-based Justin Bonomo (ninth on 374.75 points), Florida’s Noah Schwartz (sixth on 444.21) and Russian Leonid Bilokur (10th on 374.38) replaced Italian Sergio Castelluccio, and Vegas duo Steve O’Dwyer and Jason Koon.

Bonomo – who took down the €100,000 buy-in Super High Roller event in Monte Carlo for $2,165,217 and also finished fourth in the €25,000 buy-in High Roller for $351,188 – climbed 48 spots, while Bilokur moved up 28 places and Schwartz enjoyed a nine-place improvement.

GPI Player of the Year Top 10

1. Jonathan Duhamel (Canada) – 595.68 (no change)

2. Dan Smith (USA) – 534.42 (up two places)

3. Andrew Badecker (USA) – 511.97 (down one place)

4. Sam Chartier (Canada) – 478.70 (up one place)

5. Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier (France) – 454.83 (down two places)

6. Noah Schwartz (USA) – 444.21 (up nine places)

7. Martin Jacobson (Sweden) – 412.22 (no change)

8. Vyacheslav Igin (Russia) – 382.19 (down two places)

9. Justin Bonomo (USA) – 374.75 (up 48 places)

10. Leonid Bilokur (Russia) – 374.38 (up 28 places)