Global Poker Index launches its mid-stakes rankings with the GPI Challenger Cup

The GPI Challenger Cup will crown 3 winners this year, with individual winners from North America, Europe and Asia earning an exclusive 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event package, and honors at the European Poker Awards and American Poker Awards. Additional prizes are set to be introduced in the future as well.

Based on GPI’s existing Player of the Year formula but limited only to tournaments whose buy-ins are less than US$2,000, the GPI Challenger Cup lets great players who spend most of their time playing at these lower buy-in ranges the chance to get due recognition for their achievements in the poker world on a level playing field. Points are counted from events at over 1,430 casinos worldwide - every venue in Global Poker Index and the Hendon Mob Database is included, and the Challenger Cup itself is a powerful tool to help casinos push their players to compete on a stage larger than their local poker room.

The Challenger Cup is a perfect compliment to GPI’s Top 300 rankings, and the perfect arena to enable talented players who may not frequent high buy-in events to stand shoulder to shoulder with poker’s elite in the public eye. A majority of all GPI-eligible events fall into the Challenger Cup’s domain – it’s the largest single cross-section of the live poker tournament ecosystem and one that deserves its own stage.

As GPI CEO Alex Dreyfus commented:"After recently announcing the launch of the American Poker Awards and Global Poker Masters, the GPI Challenger Cup is another new milestone that we wanted to bring poker players. This Cup is designed to reward consistent performance and results in this specific tournament buy-in range with more than just a title, but a real reward as well. This is just the latest of many more exciting announcements we’ll be bringing the poker community this year."

Dreyfus added, "We want the whole poker community, players and industry stakeholders, to work together to bring poker to another level. We need to build new avenues for competition, and create more recognition for players at every level, not only just the very top. The GPI Challenger Cup is built to do exactly this, and do so with the same impartial legitimacy that’s pushed GPI poker’s trusted ranking authority. There’s more surprises coming very soon too, so stay tuned."