The stars were out in Las Vegas at the weekend as the 4^th annual Global Poker Awards celebrated all that is good in the game of poker by handing out over 25 awards in Sin City. First-time winners such as Cherish Andrews, Angela Jordison and Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau all took home trophies, while Phil Ivey wasn’t in town to pick up a highly ironic category.

Dream Team on Presenting Duties Once Again

The ‘dream team’ of Jeff Platt and Drea Renee took to the microphones in the PokerGO Studio at ARIA in Las Vegas as the show got underway in style. Perhaps the biggest news of the night was in the GPI Breakout Player of the Year category, as Angela Jordison reigned supreme. Joined in the venue by many friends, her table was cheering as Jordison celebrated an emotional victory.

Speaking with Renee during the event, she told her fellow female trailblazer that she never saw herself travelling across the country. Her transformation from a local PLO cash game player to an international hit in NLHE MTTs is one of the success stories of any year, let alone the last 12 months.

The only player who won two awards on the night enjoyed some friendly friction with the co-host Jeff Platt, who as ever was in sparkling form. Poking fun right back at Platt about his diminutive figure, Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau accepted the awards for Best Vlogger and Poker Personality, thanking his friend group for their support and even having a few friendly jibes at them to boot.

Although Yau won the Best Vlogger award, he didn’t manage to claim the award for Best Content in regard to video content. That was won by the hilarious Gregory Liow, a.k.a. ‘Greg Goes All In’, with this video about a poker vlogger who “doesn’t understand that the voice over is done in post”.

A Comeback and Pure Comedy

There were some amusing awards handed out to the great and good in Las Vegas on the night but perhaps the one that got the biggest laugh was unintentional in its conception. Put Phil Ivey up for any award and such is the public’s love for the enigmatic player that they’d vote for him in their droves, but even Platt had to laugh about Ivey winning the award for Comeback Player after an all-encompassing poker career few could hold a candle to won perhaps its oddest accolade. Ivey has definitely been more present at the tournament tables in the past year, but it’s hard to call it a comeback.

There was a touching moment in the award being handed out for Best Broadcaster. Platt joked that he’d lost again, this time to James Hartigan, but after the British poker presenting legend accepted the award, Platt turned admirer. Hartigan’s speech was itself perfectly pitched – just like his work for PokerStars – as he both thanked his co-host Joe Stapleton and lauded his executive producer Francine Watson, who he recommended for a gong in a a year’s time. Platt’s words to Hartigan as he departed the stage were touching, as the American paid tribute to the inspirational pioneer in the sense of presenting the game.

Joe Stapleton was at his effervescent best, providing two of the laugh-out-loud moments of the show. First, he accepted last year’s trophy for Best Podcast, having left it at the venue a year ago after a trip the restroom led to some ‘confusion’, then he produced a spit-take inducing moment when he decided to ‘make it rain’ with his winnings from a recent poker event… a pocket full of pennies!

World Poker Tour Celebrate Epic Tournament Win

The Global Poker Award for Best Event is always one that is fiercely competed for and this year was no different, with the WSOP Main Event joined by the European Poker tour stop in Barcelona on the list of nominees. It was neither of those revered events that won the day, however, as the World Poker Tour’s impressive WPT World Championship, held in December, swept the board.

The entire WPT team in Vegas got up to accept the award and in his speech, CEO Adam Pliska said that he was grateful to “the players” for supporting the event and saving the guarantee! Pliska dedicated the win to a number of great supporting players in his team and said that over the course of two decades of the World Poker Tour being in operation, the people he had worked with were the inspiration behind the poker brand’s achievements.

With Stephen Chidwick winning the Toughest Opponent gong, ahead of players such as Brian Altman, Stephen Song and Alex Foxen, the British poker star may not have been in the PokerGO Studio but was given a rousing reception in absentia. Others were in attendance to accept their awards, with GPI Player of the Year Stephen Song and GPI Female Player of the Year Cherish Andrews both overjoyed to leave the show with their trophies.

You can watch the 4^th Annual Global Poker Awards here on PokerGO, presented by Jeff Platt and Drea Renee, with all the results from a star-studded night in Las Vegas below.