David Peters Wins 2016 GPI Player of the Year

Fedor Holz spent the majority of 2016 in first place of the GPI Player of the Year standings and just days before the end of the year David Peters unseated Holz following Peters’ third place finish in EPT Prague Main Event. Holz looked to have the title locked up, holding a significant lead over the field during most of the year, but Peters went on an end of the year heater to claim the title.

It’s the first POY title for Peters after he logged seven cashes since November. He tweeted as much after an Aria High Roller win over Erik Seidel. 

Peters earned 482.29 points from his final table to take a 21.5-point lead over Holz. Peters final tabled the $25,000 Bellagio High Roller earlier in December and won the High Roller event in Macau at the ACOP for 372.66 POY points. Peters also racked up $680,370 in Aria High Roller events over a November weekend that didn’t qualify for POY points. 

Peters’ year began with a fifth place finish in the $100,000 Super High Roller event at the PCA for 259 POY points. He picked up some serious cash over the next three months but didn’t add to his POY score unitl March with a fourth place finish at a $25,000 Aria HR event. 

Then a two-week span in the summer saw Peters win another Aria $25,000 event, earn his first World Series of Poker bracelet and then final table the Bellagio Cup – totaling 715 POY points and $894,063.

Until Peters crushed the end of 2016, it was the year of Fedor as he crossed the $20 million career earnings mark, won his first WSOP bracelet, finished runner-up in the SuperHigh Roller Bowl, cashed for over $5.6 million at the Aria alone. Holz spoke to PokerCentral about his amazing year in an upcoming piece.

Final Top 20 2016 GPI Player of the Year Standings

1. David Peters – 3,666.31
2. Fedor Holz – 3,644.80
3. Justin Bonomo – 3,479.70
4. Chance Kornuth – 3,336.54
5. Adrian Mateos – 3,316.07
6. Ari Engel – 3,290.43
7. Paul Volpe – 3,192.88
8. Nick Petrangelo – 3,176.03
9. Ankush Mandavia – 3,138.97
10. Sam Panzica – 3,114.66
11. Charlie Carrel – 3,088.76
12. Bryn Kenney – 3,002.78
13. Ivan Luca – 2,992.47
14. Jason Mercier – 2,983.71
15. Jack Salter – 2,941.18
16. Jason Koon – 2,927.38
17. David Yan – 2,927.22
18. Connor Drinan – 2,926.70
19. Dietrich Fast – 2,907.40
20. Ranier Kempe – 2,905.46