Global Poker Index: Jason Mercier Dethrones Grospellier; Hellmuth Cracks Top 10

Posted at 10:00 2012-10-14 by Mickey Doft

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes a player's results over six half-year periods. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier's latest run atop the GPI lasted four weeks, but he's looking up at a familiar foe once again. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

The Top 10 as of October 8, 2012

Rank	Player	Total Score	Change in Rank from Last Week
1	Jason Mercier	2,956.35	+1
2	Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier	2,780.55	-1
3	Marvin Rettenmaier	2,567.86	+1
4	Steve O'Dwyer	2,561.56	+4
5	Andrew Lichtenberger	2,550.38	--
6	Philipp Gruissem	2,532.38	--
7	Michael Mizrachi	2,443.11	+2
8	Vanessa Selbst	2,419.96	-1
9	Phil Hellmuth	2,409.32	+20
10	Dan Smith	2,393.94	-7

Jason Mercier is back atop the GPI after his eighth-place finish (for €84,672/$110,467) in the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. That marks Mercier's first live six-figure score (U.S. dollars) of 2012.

Phil Hellmuth makes his debut in the top 10 this week following his World Series of Poker Europe Main Event win for €1,022,376. Mike Watson also enjoying seven-figure success in Cannes. He took down the €50,000 Majestic High Roller for €1,000,000 and though he came up just short of the top 10, he vaulted 29 places to the No. 15 position.

Welcome to the GPI

Seven players are new to this week's GPI, led by Nicolas Cardyn. He returns to the GPI in the No. 171 spot after his 11th-place showing worth €52,416 in the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event.

New Additions

Player	Total GPI Score	GPI Rank
Nicolas Cardyn	1,368.71	171st
Leo Fernandez	1,228.05	218th
Adam Levy	1,193.00	237th
Roman Romanovskyi	1,150.51	255th
Stephane Albertini	1,127.25	270th
Eric Sfez	1,122.09	272nd
Kevin Saul	1,094.43	292nd

Bernard Lee, Eddy Sabat, Fabian Quoss, Khiem Nguyen, Matthias De Meulder, Simeon Naydenov, and Ty Reiman all fell from the GPI this week.

Ups and Downs

The biggest rise of the week belonged to Marc-Andre Ladouceur. He took down a €5,000 No-Limit Hold'em side event at EPT San Remo for €132,400.

Biggest Gains

Rank	Player	Total Score	Change in Rank From Last Week
69th	Keven Stammen	1,757.09	+91
73rd	Chris Brammer	1,736.99	+98
74th	Elio Fox	1,736.18	+54
116th	Vadzim Kursevich	1,556.93	+45
152nd	Marc-Andre Ladouceur	1,444.36	+117
157th	Max Silver	1,426.29	+101
163rd	Liv Boeree	1,412.18	+88
220th	Joe Kuether	1,222.97	+72
233rd	Kent Lundmark	1,195.83	+34

Kevin Vandersmissen fell the furthest this week. His win in the Irish Open Main Event (worth €420,000) aged into Period 2.

Biggest Drops

Rank	Player	Total Score	Change in Rank From Last Week
109th	Olivier Busquet	1,589.01	-32
110th	Sam Trickett	1,580.78	-35
122nd	Igor Kurganov	1,538.39	-39
133rd	Matt Waxman	1,499.67	-35
190th	James Dempsey	1,316.27	-52
199th	Fabrizio Gonzalez	1,272.31	-34
229th	Koen De Visscher	1,207.75	-67
250th	Chino Rheem	1,163.35	-32
267th	Kevin Vandersmissen	1,137.45	-72
281st	Jake Bazeley	1,109.44	-50

What's In Store?

High-Roller specialist Philipp Gruissem (No. 6 on the GPI), is at yet another high-roller final table. With four six-figure scores comprising his Period 1, he has a chance to add a fifth with either a win or a runner-up showing. The fourth score came this week with his fourth-place finish in the €50,000 Majestic High Roller for €275,000.

Why didn't his No. 6 standing from last week improve? It would have, however his win in the £20,000 High-Roller event at last year's EPT London (worth £450,200/$703,657) aged into Period 3. He surely would have dipped from the top 10 but instead is set to become a fixture there for quite a while.

Gruissem is setting himself up quite nicely for when his oldest Period 1 scores age into Period 2 and it won't be long before he challenges Mercier and Grospellier at the top.

To look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you're at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

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