Las Vegas-based poker pro Stephen Song has officially been declared the winner of the Global Poker Index (GPI) overall Player of the Year and Mid-Major POY awards for 2022. Song finished the GPI's POY race with 3,543.72 points on the year, including a triumph in December's WPT Prime Championship at the Wynn in Las Vegas that pushed him into the lead in the chase.
Song's total, as calculated by the GPI, just edged out fellow Americans Adam Hendrix (3,526.48 POY points) and Jeremy Ausmus (3,497.47) to grab the title. Another American pro, WPT 2022 POY honoree Chad Eveslage, finished fourth, while Columbia's Farid Jattin finished fifth and was the highest non-American player in the rankings. Less than 100 POY points spanned all five of the top finishers, making it the closest such race in the honor's history.
Song also claims Mid-Major honor
Connecticut native Song, a veteran grinder on several regional tours, earned most of his GPI POY points in events with buy-ins under $2,500. The WPT Prime Championship in December, with a $1,000 buy-in, was one such example. As a result, Song also claimed the GPI's 2022 Mid-Major Player of the Year honor. Song's mid-major points total of 2,580.18 was another narrow winner, edging out fellow American Angela Jordison's 2,539.93 total for the top spot after Jordison narrowly missed a top-two finish (taking fifth instead) in the final points-qualifying tourney of 2022. France's Julien Alexan Sitbon finished third in the mid-major race, with Americans Jared Ingles and Donovan Dean rounding out the top five.
Song will receive his GPI awards at the next 2023 Global Poker Awards ceremony, which will be held in March at the PokerGO Studio, adjacent to the Aria casino in Las Vegas.
Andrews tops Jordison for Ladies POY title
The GPI's Ladies Player of the Year award for 2022 also featured a close race, where Cherish Andrews' breakout year was just enough to hold off Jordison. Andrews' total of 2,835.14 ended up a couple of hundred points ahead of Jordison's 2,612.37 tally.
Three-time GPI Ladies POY Kristen Foxen finished third, and the Canadian pro was the highest-finishing non-American. Germany's Jessica Vierling took fourth while American Christina Gollins placed fifth.
As with Song, Andrews will collect her Ladies POY trophy at March's Global Poker Awards ceremony in Las Vegas.
Seventy-nine national Players of the Year also honored
The Global Poker Index also announced its list of "national" POY winners for 79 countries. The GPI designates a national POY honoree for any country in which its highest-finishing player amasses 1,000 or more POY points. Song, the overall POY champion, also won the United States national honor. The list of national honorees (below) is peppered with many of the game's most known modern-era pros. National POY winners for 2022 include Jose “Nacho” Barbero, David Mzareulov, Mikita Bodyakovsky, Davidi Kitai, Yuri Martins Dzivielevski, Mike Watson, Henrik Hecklen, Koray Aldemir, Yuval Bronshtein, Paul Phua, Espen Uhlen Jorstad, Anton Wigg, Stephen Chidwick, Tony Tran, and many others.
Here's the complete list of the 79 national POY honorees:
Algeria: Omar Lakhdari - 2,011.04
Argentina: Jose “Nacho” Barbero - 2,661.64
Armenia: Aren Bezhanyan - 1,820.39
Australia: Yita Choong - 2,507.16
Austria: Daniel Rezaei - 2,295.40
Azerbaijan: David Mzareulov - 2,114.36
Belarus: Mikita Bodyakovsky - 3,006.73
Belgium: Davidi Kitai - 2,481.23
Brazil: Yuri Martins Dzivielevski - 3,017.11
Bulgaria: Simeon Spasov - 2,529.47
Canada: Mike Watson - 3,429.44
Chile: Nick Yunis - 1,951.72
China: Sen Mu - 1,535.99
Colombia: Farid Jattin - 3,466.67
Croatia: Sverko Gregor - 2,047.97
Cyprus: Yiannis Liperis - 2,357.79
Czechia: Roman Hrabec - 2,399.92
Denmark: Henrik Hecklen - 2,868.66
Dominican Republic: Francis Cruz - 1,708.51
Ecuador: Pablo Valdivieso - 1,124.16
Egypt: John Adel Fouad Basta - 1,135.21
Estonia: David Comeron Carrasco - 1,641.45
Finland: Toni Kauka - 1,612.08
France: Julien Sitbon - 3,024.71
Georgia: Giorgiy Skhuluhiya - 1,919.03
Germany: Koray Aldemir - 2,435.11
Greece: Symeon Alexandridis - 2,473.96
Hong Kong: Daniel Chi Tang - 2,966.24
Hungary: Laszlo Bujtas - 2,266.40
India: Ankit Ahuja - 2,150.10
Iran: Milad Oghabian Langar - 2,005.09
Ireland: Stephen Kehoe - 2,168.90
Israel: Yuval Bronshtein - 2,677.03
Italy: Michael Rossitto - 2,265.29
Japan: Tamon Nakamura - 2,199.77
Jordan: Sultan Khair - 1,130.17
Kazakhstan: Dauren Zhaparov - 1,063.70
Kyrgyzstan: Kubanychbek Abakirov - 1,328.94
Latvia: Aleksejs Ponakovs - 2,059.70
Lebanon: Gabriel Akiki - 2,087.83
Lithuania: Vladas Tamasauskas - 1,670.71
Luxembourg: Felix Michel Weis - 1,235.12
Malaysia: Paul Phua - 2,836.28
Malta: Igor D’Ursel - 1,281.14
Mexico: Jose Andres Guzman - 1,610.50
Moldova: Pavel Plesuv - 2,608.77
Montenegro: Vlado Banicevic - 1,245.43
Morocco: Mehdi Chaoui - 2,682.46
North Macedonia: Ilija Savevski - 1,642.47
Netherlands: David Hu - 2,459.16
Norway: Espen Uhlen Jorstad - 2,566.63
Panama: Jorge Hou Huang - 1,452.63
Philippines: David Erquiaga - 2,436.25
Poland: Jakub Michalak 2,568.61
Portugal: Pedro Marques 2,310.53
Puerto Rico: Ricardo Velasco 1,258.24
Romania: Danut Chisu - 2,466.86
Russia: Artur Martirosyan - 2,604.27
Serbia: Aleksandar Tomovic - 2,033.32
Singapore: Andy Xueyan Li - 1,393.82
Slovakia: Marek Blasko - 1,694.23
Slovenia: Rok Gostisa - 2,134.00
South Africa: Ahmed Karrim - 1,780.44
South Korea: Jinho “YellOw” Hong - 2,908.87
Spain: Sergio Aido - 2,763.94
Sweden: Anton Wigg - 2,795.90
Switzerland: Alexandre Vuilleumier - 2,473.19
Taiwan: Pete Chen - 2,124.18
Thailand: Punnat Punsri - 3,172.78
Tunisia: Maher Nouira - 2,224.54
Turkey: Koray Korkmaz - 2,601.06
Ukraine: Andrey Lyubovetskiy - 3,069.49
United Arab Emirates: Basel Khabazeh - 2,054.47
United Kingdom: Stephen Chidwick - 3,323.61
USA: Stephen Song - 3,543.72
Uruguay: Francisco Benitez - 2,241.00
Uzbekistan: Aleksandr Pak - 1,474.98
Venezuela: Dorian Rios Pavon - 2,109.42
Vietnam: Tony Tran - 2,370.73
Featured image source: World Poker Tour
