This week in Paris, France, the 12th annual European Poker Awards were handed out at the Aviation Club, in a ceremony that featured some of the biggest names in poker. Among the big winners on the night were Marvin Rettenmaier (The Player of the Year winner) and Gus Hansen who was honored with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. In all, 18 awards were handed out, including the first of their kind Player of the year by Country, which saw nine players walk away with an EPA trophy.

Player of the Year winners by country:

* Winner of French Player of the Year: Bertrand Grospellier

* Winner of German Player of the Year: Marvin Rettenmaier

* Winner of UK Player of the Year: Roberto Romanello

* Winner of Belgian Player of the Year: Davidi Kitai

* Winner of Irish Player of the Year: Dermot Blain

* Winner of Finnish Player of the Year: Juha Helppi

* Winner of Italian Player of the Year: Andrea Dato

* Winner of Austrian Player of the Year: Ivo Donev

* Winner of Spanish Player of the Year: Cesar Garcia

Another nine awards were handed out, with eight of them still a mystery right up until the name was read on stage by Kara Scott –who hosted the event and won an award herself. Here is a look at the other winners at the 2012 EPA Ceremony:

* Rookie of the Year: Ole Schemion

* Best Tournament Performance of the Year: Davidi Kitai

* Europe’s Leading Lady: Lucille Cailly

* Internet Player of the Year: Jens Kyllönen

* Poker Staff Person of the Year: Simon Trumper

* Rob Gardner Memorial Award for Poker Personality of the Year: Kara Scott

* Best Tournament of the Year: EPT Barcelona

* GPI Player of the Year: Marvin Rettenmaier

* Lifetime Achievement Award: Gus Hansen (presented by Jesse May)

This is the first year that the GPI has played such an instrumental role in the European Poker Awards, and with the success and media attention the 2012 EPA Ceremony received it seems like a very good partnership. Alex Dreyfuss purchased the GPI from Pinnacle Entertainment (Pinnacle won the auction for the Federated Sports + Gaming assets, which included the Heartland Poker Tour, Epic Poker League and the GPI) and has really positioned the GPI as the #1 tournament ranking sites, even though the GPI is less than two years old.

Recently the GPI inked a deal with poker media free agent Marco Valerio (formerly of QuadJacks) which has brought some added attention to the website. The GPI not only tracks the Player of the year, but also uses a three year rolling average to determine the best players in the game right now.

 

 

 

Tags: Aviation Club, Belgian Player, Bertrand Grospellier, Entertai, Finnish Player, French Player, German Player, Gus Hansen, Instrumental Role, Internet Player, Irish Player, Italian Player, Lady Lucille, Lifetime Achievement Award, Person Of The Year, Rettenmaier, Romanello, Simon Trumper, Tournament Performance, Week In Paris

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2013 at 7:34 am and is filed under Live Poker News, World Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.