Abhinav Iyer Defends GPI POY India Title; Ali Imsirovic, Nadya Magnus & David Mzareulov Named Other POY Winners

Global Poker Index recently announced the names of the three GPI Player of the Year (POY) Winners of 2021 while naming the top-ranked players across 56 countries. The GPI uses a points formula, taking the cost of buy-ins, the number of entries, and the eventual finishing position of the players in tournaments held throughout the year to allocate points.

India’s first solo bracelet champion and the 2019 GPI POY India, Abhinav Iyer, has defended his title for a second consecutive time. Iyer accumulated 1,646.17 points to top the 2021 GPI India POY standings.

The 2021 PokerGO Tour Player of the Year Ali Imsirovic accumulated 3,478.55 points to claim the bragging rights of topping the overall GPI POY standings. Two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Nadya Magnus (2,435.43 points) won the female POY, denying Kristen Bicknell the title for the fourth consecutive year. The GPI also introduced its Mid-stakes POY for events of buy-in of $2,500 or less. David Mzareulov (2,361.21 points) was announced as the first-time Mid-Stakes GPI POY.

All three players will be awarded trophies at the Global Poker Awards ceremony at the PokerGO Studio in ARIA, Las Vegas, on February 18, 2022.

Abhinav Iyer Wins 2021 GPI India POY Title

Taking the bastion from the 2018 GPI India POY Vikram ‘Lungi’ Kumar, Chennai-born Abhinav Iyer topped the GPI POY India standings in 2019. The GPI POY race was called off in 2020 because of the pandemic. The POY race returned last year, and Iyer collected 1,646.17 points to win the GPI India POY title for a second consecutive time.

Last year, Iyer registered 11 live finishes, including seven ITM finishes at the 2021 WSOP and two final table scores. He posted another 10 cashes in the GGPoker-hosted 2021 WSOP Online.

Abhinav Iyer’s top live finishes in 2021:

> 60th in WSOP Event #67 Main Event for $113,000

> 12th in WSOP Event #56: $NLHE 6-Handed for $41,181

> 2nd in Venetian DeepStack Near Year’s Extravaganza Poker Series Event #14 NLHE MonsterStack for $26,159

> 8th in WPT Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Event #31: $1,100 NLHE Deep Stack Turbo for $4,255

Iyer yet again ran past the two-time WSOP bracelet winner Nipun Java (1,190.54 points), who had finished #2 to Iyer in the 2019 GPI POY India race as well. Vasu Amarapu (966.96 points) came third.

2021 GPI India POY Standings

Imsirovic, Magnus & Mzareulov Rule the GPI POY Leaderboard

On January 3, GPI and The Hendon Mob had announced the categories for the upcoming Global Poker Awards. A total of 26 awards are to be presented at the ceremony, including categories like the GPI Breakout POY, Final Table Performance, Best Vlogger, etc.

The recent WPT Rock’ N’ Roll Poker Open champion and the PokerGO Tour Player of the Year, Ali Imsirovic, topped the over POY standings. The 26-year-old Bosnian player who lives in Vancouver, Washington, topped the GPI leaderboard with 3,478.55 points, charging ahead of Colorado-based fly fisherman and three-time WSOP champion Chance Kornuth (3,225.11 points) and Shannon Shorr (3,136.45 points).

Incidentally, this is Ali Imsirovic’s second standout accomplishment of 2021. He also won the first-ever PokerGO Tour POY title, landing an incredible 14 high rollers and winning over $6 Million.

The Female GPI title for 2021 went to the two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Nadya Magnus, who collected 2,435.43 points. Though Magnus, famous for her appearance on the PokerStars Big Game, failed to pull out a title win in 2021, she made four top-10 finishes, earning a collective $426,161. In doing so, Magnus denied Kristen Bicknell the title for the first time in five years, since 2017. The up-and-coming Chicago-based player Kyna England (2,097.27) and Katie Lindsay (1,861.73 points) round out the top three names on the 2021 GPI Female POY leaderboard.

Magnus tweeted the news.

This tweet aged well… https://t.co/gM5ffCHTy1

— Nadya Magnus (@NadyaKGB) January 5, 2022

David Mzareulov was adjudged the first GPI Mid-stakes POY for topping the GPI leaderboard that took into account tournaments with buy-ins of $2,500 or less. Mzareulov won two titles last year, with ten top-10 finishes and 28 cashes to earn 2,361.21 points. He finished 33.56 points ahead of Logan Hewett and edged past the competition in the last two days of 2021 with a deep run in a Mid-States Poker Tour event.

2021 GPI POY Leaderboard Standings