It’s that time of year again, when the UK’s top players and industry organizers from the live and online poker industry are honored for their hard work and perseverance. It’s the 2014 British Poker Awards, and the nominees have been announced. While the exact date, time and setting for the event has yet to be determined, voting has been opened to the British poker community.
There will be 13 categories to vote on this year, and a total of 1 awards going out. A few changes to the roster were made in 2014. Last year, the BPA doled out a Best Online Tournament Player award, as well as a Best Online Cash Game Player award. This year, those categories have been combined to create a single, new award for Best Online Poker Player. The ceremony will also forgo the Best Poker Software award, replacing it with a new Best Breakout Player award.
Awards will also be given in the following categories that appeared in last year’s rendition: Best UK Tournament, Best Card Room, Best Live Poker Player, Best International Poker Player, Best Performance of the Year, Poker Personality of the Year, Best Poker Training Site, Best Poker League, Best Social Media User and Best Poker Blogger. Four new categories have been thrown into the mix as well, including Players’ Player of the Year, Hand of the Year, Best Tournament Director and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Best Tournament Director and Lifetime Achievement awards will be decided by a panel of peers selected by the event’s sponsors. The Player’s Player of the Year will be voted upon last, with BPA winners casting their votes.
The UK live and online poker community is invited to visit the British Poker Awards website at www.thebritishpokerawards.com and begin casting their votes.
Some of the more notable nominees include Chris Moorman, Simon Deadman, Tom Hall and Oliver Price, each of which have been nominated in two player categories. Chris “Moorman1” Moorman has been nominated for both Best Live Tournament Player and Best Online Poker Player. Deadman, Hall and Price are all on the Best Live Tournament Player list, as well as the Breakout Player of the Year list of nominees.
As for the international player award, the nominees include American poker pro and winner of the 2014 WSOP Big One for One Drop ($15.3mm), Dan Colman; 2x WSOP bracelet winner (twice this year) Davidi Katai of Belgium; the world’s all round favorite poker player and 6x WSOP / 2x WPT titlist Daniel Negreanu of Canada; another American poker pro, Doug “WGCRider” Polk, who earned $3.48 million this year alone in live events; 2014 Aria Super High Roller winner Ole Schemion of Germany; and the only woman to ever be ranked #1 on the Global Poker Index (currently #10), Vanessa Selbst of the USA.
Also of notable interest is Neil Channing, who has won a British Poker Award the last four year’s running. Channing is best known for his contributions to the game of poker, but he also accounts for over $3 million in tournament cashes. This time around, Channing is up for Best Social Media User. Sam Grafton is the only member to appear on the nominations list in three different categories this year, including Poker Personality of the Year, Best Blogger and Best Social Media User.