The Global Poker Index released its nominees for the 3rd Annual American Poker Awards with long-time pros Jason Mercier and Mike Sexton among the early front runners.
Mercier put on a one-of-a-kind performance at the 2016 WSOP winning two bracelets, getting engaged at the table and cashing 11 times.
Meanwhile Sexton, who has been host of the World Poker Tour for 14 years, finally skipped the commentating booth and won his first WPT ever in Montreal, which got him nominations for Best Moment and Best Tournament Performance.
Sexton is a triple threat in this year’s AMAs because he also released a new book Life’s a Gamble, which is nominated for Best Media Content.
PokerListings’ Ungar Documentary Gets Nod
PokerListings picked up its first American Poker Award nomination for a special Stu Ungar video documentary that was released last fall.
"Stu Ungar’s Last Chance Gone Wrong", which is nominated in the Best Media Content Category, details Ungar’s incredible run in the 1997 WSOP Main Event, just one year before his death.
You can watch the entire thing, for free, right here.
Some of the other pieces up for Best Media include Lance Bradley’s heart-wrenching piece about Bob Brundige’s life-changing journey to the WSOP and Jason Somerville’s Twitch coverage of the 2016 Aussie Millions.
The always hotly-contested Breakout Performance of the Year will come down to Ari Engel, Maurice Hawkins, Ankush, Mandavia and Sam Soverel this year.
Podcast of the Year, which is a new category for this year, saw Daniel Negreanu’s Full Contact Poker, Joey Ingram’s Poker Life Podcast, PokerNews podcast and TwoPlusTwo podcast all get nods.
There are a total of 10 categories in this year’s awards, which are schedule to take place Feb. 23, 2017, in LA.
You can check out a complete list of the nominations below:
TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
›› Kristen Bicknell, WSOP No Limit Hold’em Bounty
›› Ari Engel, Aussie Millions Main Event
›› Maurice Hawkins, WSOP Circuit Cherokee Main Event
›› Mike Sexton, WPT Montreal
MOMENT OF THE YEAR
›› Griffin Benger’s AA vs William Kassouf’s KK showdown in the WSOP Main Event
›› Jason Mercier goes on historic one-week heater at the World Series of Poker
›› David Peters, needing 3rd at EPT Prague to take GPI PoY from Fedor Holz, does exactly that
›› Mike Sexton mounts incredible comeback to win first WPT title in Montreal
BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
›› Ari Engel
›› Maurice Hawkins
›› Ankush Mandavia
›› Sam Soverel
EVENT OF THE YEAR
›› Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, FL
›› Super High Roller Bowl, ARIA, Las Vegas
›› WSOP Main Event, Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas
›› WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Bellagio, Las Vegas
MID-MAJOR CIRCUIT OF THE YEAR
›› Heartland Poker Tour
›› Mid-States Poker Tour
›› WPTDeepStacks
›› WSOP Circuit
INDUSTRY PERSON OF THE YEAR
›› Tony Burns, Seminole Hard Rock Tournament Director
›› Jack Effel, WSOP VP Intl’ Poker Operations & WSOP Director)
›› Sean McCormack, ARIA Director of Poker Operations
›› Matt Savage, WPT Executive Tour Director & TDA Founder)
MEDIA PERSON OF THE YEAR
›› Lance Bradley
›› Sarah Herring
›› Joseph Stapleton
›› David Tuchman
PODCAST OF THE YEAR
›› Full Contact Poker (Daniel Negreanu)
›› Poker Life Podcast (Joe Ingram)
›› PokerNews Podcast (Herring, Parvis, Peters, Rinkema, Ryan)
›› TwoPlusTwo Podcast (Terrence Chan, Ross Henry, Adam Schwartz)
MEDIA CONTENT OF THE YEAR
›› Bob, Charlie and a Life-Changing WSOP Main Event Journey (Lance Bradley, PocketFives)
›› Life’s a Gamble (Mike Sexton)
›› Stu Ungar’s Last Chance Gone Wrong (Matthew Showell, PokerListings)
›› Twitch coverage of the Aussie Millions (Jason Somerville)
TWITCH STREAMER OF THE YEAR
›› Kevin Martin “KevinMartin987”
›› Jason Somerville “jcarverpoker”
›› Jaime Staples “PokerStaples”
›› Parker Talbot “tonkaaaP”
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