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Annual American Poker Awards Open For Nominations, Feature New Categories

January 24, 2017
Annual American Poker Awards Open For Nominations, Feature New Categories

The third iteration of the California. A select group of 85 or so people made up of players, media and representatives from the poker industry are no tasked with coming up with four finalists in a number of APA categories.

As in past years, there will be a poker conference in the afternoon followed by a cocktail reception and sit-down dinner before the APA’s, which are sponsored by PokerStars.

The winners we already know

We already know who a few of the winners will be, as several categories are based on Global Poker Index player rankings from 2016:

  • GPI Player of the Year – David Peters
  • GPI Female Player of the year – Cate Hall
  • 2016 GPI World Series of Poker Player of the Year – Jason Mercier

Other awards are narrowed down by the nomination before being voted on by a handpicked jury. Still other awards are solely at the discretion of the jury.

Last year’s jury was composed of: Alex Dreyfus, Eric Danis, Donnie Peters, Brad Willis, Craig Lumpp, Faraz Jaka, Lance Bradley, Maria Ho, and Scott Ball.

The 2014 APA jury was composed of: Alex Dreyfus, Eric Danis, Donnie Peters, John Caldwell, Jen Mastrud, Moshin Charania, Kathy Raymond, and Adam Small.

A look at the 2017 APA categories

Here are the awards for 2017

Returning categories

In addition to the Player of the Year awards, there are nine returning categories:

  • Breakout Performance of the Year: The Breakout category is for a player who won their first major tournament in 2016.
  • Industry Person of the Year: This category celebrates tournament directors and industry people.
  • Media Content of the Year: This category is for a specific piece of content, which could be, among other things, a column, a picture, a podcast, or a twitch stream.
  • Media Person of the Year: With the addition of podcast and streamer of the year (more on this below) the Media Person of the Year category is for writers and reporters.
  • Moment of the Year: The Moment of the Year category is for an event that captured the poker community’s attention.
  • Tournament Performance of the Year: The Tournament Performance of the Year celebrates a big, historic victory.
  • Charitable Initiative of the Year: This category will not go through the nomination process. The APA’s will select a group of deserving charitable initiatives and chooser a winner on the night of the APA’s.
  • Lifetime Achievement: The APA Jury will choose recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • Jury Prize: As the named suggests, the jury selects the winner of the Jury Prize (last year it was Kevin Mathers).

New categories

There are also six new categories:

  • Event of the Year: Similar to the Tournament Moment of the Year, the  Event of the Year is designed to reward a moment from 2016 that left an indelible imprint on poker.
  • Mid-Major Circuit of the Year: This category is meant for the smaller events and poker tours that are the lifeblood of the poker tournament scene.
  • Twitch Streamer of the Year: A breakaway from the media category, the Streamer of the Year category will reward the best Twitch stream from 2016. This could conceivably be a one-time event or a person’s channel. The APA jury will determine the finalists and winner in this category.
  • Podcast of the Year: Another breakaway media category, Podcast of the Year is for the people who week after week put out poker-related content.
  • PocketFives Legacy Award: The P5’s Legacy Award will go to “an online poker legend who has also made significant contributions on the live tournament circuit.”
  • Hendon Mob Award: The Hendon Mob Award will go to the player who accumulated the most results on the poker tournament circuit in 2016.

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Previous APA winners

Winners list from the 2015 American Poker Awards

  • Media Person Of The Year: Donnie Peters, Editor-In-Chief, Pokernews.Com
  • Tournament Performance Of The Year: Anthony Zinno, WPT L.A. Poker Classic
  • Moment Of The Year: Daniel Negreanu Busts 11th In WSOP Main Event
  • Breakout Performance Of The Year: Joshua Beckley
  • Event Of The Year (Buy-In Up To $2,000): WSOP Colossus, Rio All-Suites Hotel And Casino, Las Vegas
  • Event Of The Year (Buy-In Over $2,000): WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, Hollywood, Fl
  • Industry Person Of The Year: Matt Savage, TDA Founder, WPT Executive Director
  • Charitable Initiative Of The Year: Charity Series Of Poker, Matt Stout
  • Poker Presenter Of The Year: Kara Scott
  • Poker Innovation Or Initiative Of The Year: WSOP Online Bracelet Event
  • Media Content Of The Year: Joe Giron’s Elimination Photo Of Daniel Negreanu In WSOP Main Event
  • Jury Award: Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers
  • Lifetime Achievement Award: Mike Sexton
  • 2015 GPI Player Of The Year: Byron Kaverman
  • 2015 GPI Female Player Of The Year: Kelly Minkin

Winners list from the 2014 American Poker Awards

  • Poker’s Best Ambassador: Daniel Negreanu
  • Breakout Player Of The Year: Brandon Shack-Harris
  • Industry Person Of The Year: WPT President Adam Pliska
  • Media Person Of The Year: Online Poker Report’s Chris Grove
  • Tournament Performance Of The Year: Mark Newhouse In WSOP Main Event
  • Media Content Of The Year: Brad Willis For PokerStars Blog’s “WSOP 2014: Stages / Never Stop Fighting”
  • Event Of The Year (Buy-In Over $2,000): World Series Of Poker Main Event
  • Event Of The Year (Buy-In Under $2,000): WSOP Monster Stack
  • Charitable Initiative Of The Year: “All In” For Kids Poker Tournament Presented By Chop & WPT Foundation
  • Innovation Of The Year: Twitch For Live Streaming Poker
  • Lifetime Achievement Award: World Poker Tour Founder Steve Lipscomb
  • GPI Player Of The Year: Dan Colman
  • GPI Female Player Of The Year: Vanessa Selbst