Erik Seidel has taken over the top spot of the latest edition of Epic Poker's Global Poker Index, which lists the world's best tournament poker players according to a sophisticated points system.

Seidel, who has cashed for more than $6.5 million in 2011 alone, headlines the 300-name list in front of last week's number one, Jason Mercier, followed by Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Sorel Mizzi, Fabrice Soullier, Tom "KingOfCards" Marchese, Scott Seiver, Shawn Buchanan and Juha Helppi.

Following a great WSOPE run, in which Buchanan cashed four times in as many tries for a combined $580,000, the Canadian is however poised to rise rapidly through the ranks once the list is updated to include his latest results.

Whether or not his remarkable scores from Cannes will be enough to award him a top spot will depend on how some of his strongest competitors fare in the upcoming tournaments, including the EPT San Remo, which started today.

Here, players like Mercier, Grospellier and Katchalov are all expected to play, as is Buchanan himself alongside current leader Erik Seidel.

The updated list also welcomed a number of new names into the top-300, most notably Martins Adeniya, Joao Barbosa, Humberto Brenes, and Juan Maceiro Lapido.

All of the above players earned their way into the ranking during the EPT London two weeks ago, while another newcomer, Dermot Blain, found his way into the list thanks to his fifth-place finish at the WSOPE Main Event final table worth €275,000.

Meanwhile, the biggest high-jumper was Salvatore Bonavena, who made two cashes at the EPT London and the Poker Grand Prix in Italy to jump a full 165 spots to 103rd place.

The biggest drop, in turn, was taken by Tomer Berda, who fell 118 places from 158th place to 276th.

Other notables dwindles according to a compilation from Pokernews.com included David "Chino" Rheem, Joseph Cheong, Vanessa Rousso and Kevin MacPhee.

For the full update of the most recent Global Poker Index, see the official GPI website.