Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player’s results over six half-year periods. For a look at the entire list, visit the official GPI website. Here’s a look at the rankings as of December 16, 2015.

2015 GPI Player of the Year

Rank	Player	GPI Score	Change
1	Byron Kaverman	4736.90	-
2	Anthony Zinno	4649.05	-
3	Steve O’Dwyer	4640.17	+1
4	Nicholas Petrangelo	4406.04	-1
5	Dzmitry Urbanovich	4233.71	+1
6	Jason Mercier	4175.44	-1
7	Connor Drinan	3996.08	-
8	Dominik Nitsche	3848.66	-
9	Fedor Holz	3834.30	-
10	Scott Seiver	3834.10	-

There are only a couple of weeks left in 2015, which means the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race is now coming down to the wire with only a few chances left for players to improve their positions.

Byron Kaverman came up short in his effort to earn any points while at the just completed European Poker Tour Prague festival, but nonetheless retains the top spot in the POY standings for a seventh-straight week as he continues to maintain a small lead over Anthony Zinno who had been at No. 1 from July through October.

Meanwhile Steve O’Dwyer moved up to No. 3 in this week’s rankings after winning the €50,000 Super High Roller at EPT Prague, topping a 46-entry field to earn a €746,543 payday. O’Dwyer also cashed in the €25,500 Single-Day High Roller won by Rainer Kempe (taking 11th); however, only the top 13 cashes by a player count toward the POY total, so O’Dwyer will need to earn a larger cash in order to improve his total before the year closes out.

Worth noting, the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic is well underway at the Bellagio, where 91 players remain from the 639-entry field to start today’s Day 4. Looking at players in the current GPI POY top 10, both Fedor Holz (No. 9) and Scott Seiver (No. 10) are returning to healthy stacks today in that event.

There’s also the WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas event coming Dec. 18-20, and depending on who gets involved in that $100,000 buy-in tournament (and how big the field turns out to be), that, too, could have an affect on the POY finish.

GPI 300 Top 10

Rank	Player	GPI Score	Change
1	Byron Kaverman	4308.16	-
2	Anthony Zinno	4155.82	+1
3	Jason Mercier	4071.96	-1
4	Steve O’Dwyer	3990.01	-
5	Nicholas Petrangelo	3789.29	+2
6	Bryn Kenney	3678.41	-
7	Kevin MacPhee	3657.01	+1
8	Martin Finger	3655.92	+1
9	Stephen Chidwick	3628.48	+7
10	Jonathan Duhamel	3589.22	+3

Kaverman also stayed on top again for a 12th-straight week in the overall GPI rankings, with Zinno and Jason Mercier swapping positions to allow Zinno to slide back into the No. 2 position overall.

Down at the bottom of the overall top 10, two new players jumped onto the list this week. Stephen Chidwick moved up from No. 16 to No. 9 after picking up three cashes at EPT Prague including winning a €2,200 side event. And while Jonathan Duhamel just picked up a small cash in a prelim at the WPT Five Diamond, that didn’t affect his moving up from No. 13 to No. 10 as others’ totals were adjusted around him due to the aging factor.

Chidwick’s previous highest GPI ranking has been No. 3 (in June 2015), while Duhamel’s previous peak was at No. 5 (in July 2012).

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

Rank	Player	Total Score
207	Piotr Franczak	1909.35
216	Matthias De Meulder	1885.35
228	Sam Stein	1837.29
232	Roman Korenev	1835.08
242	Nick Yunis	1819.37
244	Jean-Noel Thorel	1811.14
246	Leo Wolpert	1810.90
247	Arie Ori Miller	1803.41
248	Raiden Kan	1799.77
261	Daniel Buckley	1776.32
265	Hui Chen-Kuo	1768.71
275	Stefan Ivanov	1750.69
280	Ricardo Alvarado	1743.43
286	Vyacheslav Stoyanov	1737.05
289	Fernando Brito	1733.30
295	Ryan Tepen	1723.38
296	Lance Garcia	1723.04
300	Ben Palmer	1714.45

There are lots of tournaments and series playing all over the world this month, as reflected by the large influx of newcomers to the overall top 300 as no less than 18 players have jumped onto the list.

The highest-ranked among this large group is Piotr Franczak who made a huge move up from No. 495 to No. 207 after cashing three times at EPT Prague including one final table and a ninth-place finish in the €25,500 Single-Day High Roller.

Biggest Gains

Rank	Player	Total GPI Score	Change
228	Sam Stein	1837.29	+643
275	Stefan Ivanov	1750.69	+339
207	Piotr Franczak	1909.35	+288
244	Jean-Noel Thorel	1811.14	+250
242	Nick Yunis	1819.37	+181

That leap by Franczak was in fact only the third-biggest of the week among players currently in the overall top 300.

Stefan Ivanov went all of the way from No. 614 to No. 275 after picking up three cashes in Prague including a victory in a €550 NLHE Hyperturbo Bounty side event. And Sam Stein was the week’s biggest gainer after catapulting from No. 871 to No. 228 thanks to winning the $10,400 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the WPT Five Diamond, then taking third in the $5,200 NLHE tournament just a couple of days later.

Biggest Drops

Rank	Player	Total GPI Score	Change
268	Andrey Zaichenko	1762.43	-112
287	Doug Polk	1734.79	-80
235	Dylan Linde	1833.05	-74
285	Antonio Esfandiari	1737.70	-69
238	Kevin Eyster	1831.79	-67

Finally, there are five familiar names among those dropping the most this week while remaining in the top 300, with Andrey Zaichenko having fallen the furthest after going from No. 156 to No. 268.

What to Expect Next Week

As noted, the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic festival continues at the Bellagio with its Main Event coming to a conclusion this weekend and the WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas coming soon afterwards. The Seminole Hard Rock Winter Poker Open is also coming to a close over the next few days, as is the France Poker Series Enghien festival and the Dutch Poker Open Series in Breda, Netherlands.

To view both the 2015 Player of the Year and GPI overall rankings in their entirety, visit the official GPI website. While you’re at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

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