GPI Update: Dan ‘King Dan’ Smith Continues to Rule the GPI Charts; Tops GPI POY Leaderboard

With several major tournament series dotting poker rooms all across the globe, the more notable among them being EPT Barcelona that wrapped up last week and the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open that winds up today, there has been some movements in the GPI rankings.

Looking at just the top ten ranks, we see some minor changes in the middle and lower levels of the GPI rankings. Stephen Chidwick is the sole new entrant in GPI Top 10 this week.

True to his moniker – ‘King Dan’, Dan Smith maintains his top position on the GPI charts for another week, reaching the pole position on the GPI POY leaderboard.

In addition, Smith’s current 4,112.52 score on the GPI ranking`s, is the highest in Global Poker Index history. He is one of only three players to have ever scored over 4,000 points – Ole Schemion and Daniel Negreanu (GPI #3) are the other two players to have accomplished this feat.

In our player profile we present American Oliver Busquet, who recently defeated poker phenom Dan Colman to win the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller Event for € 896,434.

Read on for the whole story…

The Climbers

The most significant movement in the GPI top ten comes from Mexico’s Stephen Chidwick, who returns to top 10 from his last week’s 12^th rank to take No 8 this week.

Another climber this week is Jason Mercier who moves up two spots to settle at No 4 this week.

The Dippers

Erik Seidel is the one who loses out on his position in the top ten rankings on account of Chidwick’s entry.

Other downward movements in top ten happen only on account of players moving up the ladder. Like Scott Seiver and Byron Kaverman drops one rank each due to Mercier’s upward movement, Alex Bilokur and Davidi Kitai each move one rank upwards by default to accommodate Chidwick in the GPI Top 10.

GPI Player Profile of the Week

Oliver Busquet
Country: USA

Profile: Born in 1981 at New York, USA, Olivier Busquet is one of the more all rounded poker pros today. A man of many talents, Busquet`s first taste of tournament`s was actually in chess which he picked up at an early age of six, under his father`s tutelage.

Busquet`s talents were not limited to mind games alone, and once in high school, his athletic talents saw him make the New York City basketball team where he scored over 1,000 points in his high school career. He excelled in track events too, and became a league champion in both the 800m and 1600m events.

Busquet graduated from Trinity High School and his academic and athletic record got him through the prestigious Cornell University. He graduated with a degree in Philosophy and his love for numbers, saw him make a mark on Wall Street.

Olivier discovered poker much later in life when a school friend introduced him to the game. “I never really played and walked into a room with young 20 year-old, confident kids and was intimated. I ended up losing money and that piqued my interest a bit,” said Busquet in an interview.

The experience was enough to get Busquet hooked to poker and it was not long before he started playing online. Working hard on his game, Busquet soon earned the reputation of a top pro, and notched up over $2 million in heads-up cash games.

In 2008, Busquet hit the live tournament scene when he took second place finish in a $300 NLHE tournament for a $7,863 score, at the East Coast Poker Championships at Turning Stone Casino and Resort.

Tournament success however was not far, as 2009 saw Busquet make three WSOP cashes but the big breakthrough came at WPT Borgata. Olivier topped the 1,018-player field at Borgata, overcoming a 20:1 heads-up chip deficit against Jeremy Brown to win his first major live tournament. Busquet pocketed his career best score of $925,514 in the event.

Busquet has been busy these past few years since his WPT Borgata win, making seven other final tables along with 23 tournament cashes. Busquet has over $2 million in tournament cashes today.

The happily married Busquet is an active charity worker and hopes to strike a balance between the “real” and poker world!

Live Best Cash: $1,188,996

All Time Money: $5,875,066