On 25th February 2016, 203 players from across the globe will be up for selection in the 12 teams of the Global Poker League. India’s Nipun Java who sits in 87th position on the GPI chart and tops the GPI India Rankings is also a part of the official list of draftable players released by GPI. All team managers will pick 3 players form the list on the draft day while 2 players will be included as wild card entries in each franchise. The GPL Draft will be hosted by Kara Scott and will feature Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Joe Stapleton & Eric Danis as Analysts during the show.
“I’m thrilled (again) to announce the next step in our quest to Sportify Poker, by releasing the list of the 203 poker players that have signed-up to be draftable for the first Global Poker League Draft, February 25th at SLS Beverly Hills and on Twitch.tv,” said Alex Dreyfus, CEO Mediarex. “With more than $550 Million of Lifetime Live Poker Winnings and more than $100 Million of Online Earnings, we are very proud to have the “Creme de la Creme” with more than 60 WSOP Bracelets and 30 WPT titles. The 12 managers are going to have hard-time to pick.”
With a combined live tournament winnings for $562,834,964, the pool of 203 players from 33 different countries will take part in the draft of first season of GPL. USA takes the major share of over 50% in the list of players while Germany, Canada, France, Italy, England, Russia are the other countries with major representation.
Nipun Java who finished 2015 in the pole position on GPI India Rakings will be representing India in the 2016 Global Poker League draft. “I feel blessed and proud to have made the top 100 in GPI in 2015, and be eligible for draft on GPL. It gives me immense satisfaction to have achieved this being an Indian living in the US, who has been playing poker professionally for less than 2 years,” Nipun Java told OPN. “I hope I can inspire other Indian professional poker players to achieve greater success in tournament poker. There is a lot of poker talent and aptitude in India, and I’m positive they would be a force to be reckoned with in the next few years. I believe the Global Poker League is a bold but necessary step in the direction of turning poker into a mainstream game with a global fan following. I wish them success in their attempt of evolving the poker ecosystem and hope to be a part of the process.”
Among the international players, all eyes will be on Byron Kaverman, Antonio Esfandiari, Jeff Madsen, Jonathan Duhamel, Jason Mercier, Brian Rast, Vanessa Selbst, and Kevin MacPhee. Chris Moorman tops the online earners while Esfandiari leads the live earners in the list of 203 players. Italy’s Mustapha Kanit, 2014 WSOP ME champion Martin Jacobson, Belgium’s Davidi Kitai, Germany’s young sensation Fedor Holz and winner of the first-ever Global Poker Masters with team Italy, Germany’s Dominik Nitsche are also the part of this list.
The complete list of players:
| Player | Nationality | GPI Rank | Live Earnings | Online Earnings |
| Byron Kaverman | USA | 1 | $6,757,855 | — |
| Anthony Zinno | USA | 3 | $5,337,383 | — |
| Kevin MacPhee | USA | 5 | $5,424,937 | $7,118,382 |
| Jason Mercier | USA | 6 | $16,356,296 | $2,001,750 |
| Fedor Holz | GER | 9 | $7,549,491 | — |
| Davidi Kitai | BEL | 10 | $6,757,706 | $448,657 |
| Dominik Nitsche | GER | 13 | $5,164,231 | $3,398,488 |
| Dzmitry Urbanovich | POL | 16 | $4,190,393 | — |
| Mike McDonald | CAN | 18 | $12,949,811 | $2,940,067 |
| Jonathan Duhamel | CAN | 21 | $17,592,802 | — |
| Thomas Marchese | USA | 24 | $12,404,012 | — |
| Benjamin Pollak | FRA | 25 | $2,613,573 | $327,067 |
| Mustapha Kanit | ITA | 31 | $5,497,875 | $4,203,118 |
| Sam Greenwood | CAN | 33 | $2,798,230 | $3,653,541 |
| Igor Yaroshevskyy | UKR | 34 | $1,695,666 | — |
| Darren Elias | USA | 35 | $3,505,319 | $3,646,815 |
| Jason Wheeler | USA | 36 | $2,298,881 | — |
| Brian Rast | USA | 38 | $16,313,290 | — |
| Dario Sammartino | ITA | 39 | $3,251,024 | — |
| Niall Farrell | SCO | 41 | $1,939,694 | $2,456,781 |
| Vladimir Troyanovskiy | RUS | 42 | $4,199,228 | — |
| Scott Clements | USA | 44 | $6,975,297 | $3,717,126 |
| Ankush Mandavia | USA | 45 | $2,316,280 | $2,773,923 |
| Mike Leah | CAN | 48 | $5,040,388 | $2,762,255 |
| Jared Jaffee | USA | 49 | $2,730,423 | — |
| Ismael Bojang | AUT | 51 | $1,870,754 | — |
| Hans Winzeler | USA | 53 | $2,009,527 | — |
| David Yan | NZL | 57 | $1,580,140 | $829,705 |
| Shannon Shorr | USA | 59 | $6,052,301 | — |
| Michael Wang | USA | 66 | $1,433,921 | $1,001,503 |
| Andrew Chen | CAN | 67 | $4,652,583 | $1,993,787 |
| Mohsin Charania | USA | 71 | $4,724,869 | — |
| Jeremy Ausmus | USA | 75 | $4,788,806 | — |
| Sylvain Loosli | FRA | 76 | $4,857,533 | — |
| Samuel Chartier | CAN | 77 | $2,455,530 | — |
| Jeff Madsen | USA | 80 | $5,147,837 | — |
| Brian Yoon | USA | 81 | $2,788,075 | — |
| Scott Davies | USA | 86 | $1,536,893 | — |
| Nipun Java | IND | 87 | $1,654,477 | — |
| Justin Bonomo | USA | 88 | $9,690,053 | — |
| Vladimir Dobrovolskiy | RUS | 90 | $803,830 | — |
| Christian Harder | USA | 99 | $3,616,452 | $3,239,083 |
| Kiryl Radzivonau | BLR | 103 | $1,534,334 | $868,103 |
| Jonathan Little | USA | 106 | $6,257,741 | $1,053,162 |
| Sorel Mizzi | CAN | 110 | $11,148,823 | — |
| Govert Metaal | NED | 115 | $2,117,699 | — |
| Andrey Pateychuk | RUS | 116 | $2,873,717 | — |
| Ben Yu | USA | 121 | $1,582,932 | $42,575 |
| Matthew Glantz | USA | 133 | $6,021,692 | — |
| Igor Kurganov | RUS | 137 | $10,218,893 | — |
| Jussi Nevanlinna | FIN | 140 | $1,843,978 | — |
| Ricardo Alvarado | USA | 143 | $434,651 | — |
| Oliver Price | ENG | 145 | $1,465,232 | — |
| Upeshka De Silva | USA | 149 | $1,010,803 | — |
| Aaron Mermelstein | USA | 150 | $1,326,382 | — |
| Dylan Wilkerson | USA | 151 | $1,791,157 | — |
| Sam Stein | USA | 153 | $4,601,497 | $1,611,926 |
| Jake Schwartz | USA | 154 | $985,822 | — |
| Erwann Pecheux | FRA | 155 | $1,169,511 | — |
| Allen Kessler | USA | 163 | $3,229,616 | — |
| Aleksandr Gofman | RUS | 169 | $873,576 | — |
| Justin Young | USA | 172 | $3,651,893 | — |
| Max Silver | USA | 175 | $2,358,622 | — |
| Alex Rocha | USA | 186 | $763,079 | — |
| Jose Carlos Garcia | POL | 189 | $1,183,077 | $1,973,897 |
| Bertrand Grospellier | FRA | 192 | $10,922,427 | — |
| Jeffrey Gross | USA | 193 | $2,450,671 | $522,393 |
| David Baker | USA | 197 | $3,767,257 | — |
| Christopher DeMaci | USA | 198 | $2,026,257 | — |
| Justin Liberto | USA | 204 | $1,833,347 | $147,690 |
| George Danzer | GER | 205 | $2,249,980 | — |
| Rep Porter | USA | 206 | $2,900,670 | — |
| Dani Stern | USA | 210 | $2,733,207 | $1,763,804 |
| David Vamplew | SCO | 215 | $3,599,940 | $1,970,537 |
| Justin Oliver | USA | 216 | $911,087 | — |
| Raiden Kan | HKG | 220 | $866,303 | — |
| Javier Zarco | ESP | 223 | $1,204,811 | — |
| Chance Kornuth | USA | 228 | $3,241,176 | $1,762,732 |
| Noah Bronstein | USA | 230 | $526,940 | — |
| Timothy Reilly | USA | 232 | $821,795 | $1,171,445 |
| Christopher Tryba | USA | 235 | $1,655,716 | — |
| Iliodoros Kamatakis | GRE | 239 | $623,682 | — |
| Walter Treccarichi | ITA | 249 | $819,052 | — |
| Thomas Butzhammer | GER | 250 | $1,124,432 | — |
| Tobias Peters | NED | 256 | $851,826 | — |
| Chris Hunichen | USA | 264 | $1,201,785 | $8,136,397 |
| Iaron Lightbourne | ENG | 266 | $1,208,280 | — |
| Benjamin Keeline | USA | 268 | $562,337 | — |
| Leo Wolpert | USA | 272 | $1,631,600 | $992,529 |
| Martin Jacobson | SWE | 273 | $15,045,724 | — |
| Matthew Salsberg | CAN | 277 | $1,948,129 | — |
| Joseph Ebanks | USA | 278 | $3,107,576 | — |
| John Holley | USA | 279 | $1,391,384 | — |
| Scott Baumstein | USA | 281 | $1,477,398 | — |
| David Paredes | USA | 309 | $2,270,126 | — |
| Felix Bleiker | SWI | 291 | $545,508 | — |
| Michael Laake | USA | 293 | $704,645 | — |
| Diogo Cardoso | POR | 294 | $532,175 | — |
| Joseph Couden | USA | 295 | $1,090,210 | — |
| Jordan Cristos | USA | 297 | $613,355 | $1,064,411 |
| David Tuthill | ENG | 300 | $1,448,234 | — |
| Seth Berger | USA | 301 | $1,005,125 | — |
| Jonathan Karamalikis | AUS | 304 | $2,567,014 | $5,812,977 |
| Isaac Baron | USA | 305 | $5,364,815 | — |
| Anton Wigg | SWE | 306 | $1,995,352 | $6,178,797 |
| Kitty Kuo | TAI | 308 | $1,091,426 | — |
| Noah Schwartz | USA | 316 | $5,264,152 | $780,358 |
| Eugene Katchalov | UKR | 317 | $8,669,109 | — |
| Yung Hwang | USA | 319 | $1,731,468 | — |
| Vanessa Selbst | USA | 321 | $11,728,256 | — |
| Ryan Van Sanford | USA | 323 | $840,175 | — |
| Chad Eveslage | USA | 325 | $667,597 | $3,304,103 |
| Matthew Affleck | USA | 333 | $1,782,928 | — |
| Manig Loeser | GER | 337 | $1,563,516 | — |
| Darren Rabinowitz | USA | 340 | $1,164,160 | $87,935 |
| Kelly Minkin | USA | 342 | $779,519 | — |
| Natasha Barbour | CAN | 347 | $688,855 | — |
| Christopher Klodnicki | USA | 353 | $8,286,614 | — |
| Rocco Palumbo | ITA | 354 | $1,693,398 | $3,373,454 |
| Timothy Adams | CAN | 355 | $2,546,978 | $1,403,178 |
| Iacopo Brandi | ITA | 356 | $337,148 | — |
| Xuan Liu | CAN | 359 | $1,649,190 | — |
| Mike Gorodinsky | USA | 361 | $2,616,750 | — |
| Konstantin Puchkov | RUS | 362 | $2,364,898 | — |
| Jake Cody | ENG | 363 | $4,132,822 | $697,494 |
| Dong Guo | CHN | 372 | $554,374 | — |
| Daniel Weinman | USA | 373 | $1,211,132 | — |
| Thiago Nishijima | BRA | 374 | $1,784,213 | — |
| Bryan Paris | USA | 380 | $705,804 | — |
| Nick Pupillo | USA | 381 | $635,441 | — |
| Justin Schwartz | USA | 384 | $1,123,924 | $3,042 |
| Jason Les | USA | 403 | $1,029,967 | — |
| Antonio Buonanno | ITA | 405 | $2,345,771 | — |
| Adam Owen | UK | 408 | $305,147 | — |
| Andrea Dato | ITA | 409 | $1,719,798 | — |
| Samuel Panzica | USA | 411 | $731,845 | — |
| Emil Patel | USA | 427 | $670,937 | — |
| Pieter de Korver | NED | 432 | $4,075,231 | — |
| Antonio Esfandiari | USA | 434 | $26,495,567 | — |
| Alexander Ivarsson | SWE | 438 | $391,513 | — |
| Ben Winsor | ENG | 450 | $622,568 | — |
| Jesse Sylvia | USA | 451 | $5,987,767 | — |
| Nikolay Fal | RUS | 468 | $224,411 | $635,168 |
| Li-Ta Hsu | TPE | 471 | $313,665 | — |
| Esther Taylor-Brady | USA | 481 | $556,610 | — |
| Diwei Bryan Huang | SIN | 486 | $854,703 | $335,550 |
| Alexandru Masek | USA | 492 | $1,306,752 | — |
| Joao Pires Simao | BRA | 493 | $508,033 | — |
| James Rann | ENG | 494 | $550,886 | $221,883 |
| Ray Henson | USA | 517 | $2,019,553 | — |
| Anthony Gregg | USA | 522 | $10,476,457 | — |
| Jared Griener | USA | 533 | $383,117 | — |
| Maxx Coleman | USA | 534 | $1,201,594 | — |
| Daniel Strelitz | USA | 538 | $1,038,680 | $1,412,310 |
| Jonas Lauck | GER | 540 | $1,137,266 | $733,646 |
| Valentin Vornicu | ROM | 558 | $482,454 | $178,360 |
| Shawn Buchanan | CAN | 566 | $5,902,874 | — |
| Dara O’Kearney | IRL | 571 | $747,503 | $1,884,206 |
| Nicolau Villa-Lobos | BRA | 573 | $1,160,434 | — |
| Jason Mo | USA | 589 | $1,806,754 | — |
| Phil Galfond | USA | 594 | $2,339,619 | — |
| Oleksandr Gnatenko | URK | 600 | $574,052 | $868,763 |
| Felipe “Mojave” Ramos | BRA | 606 | $969,051 | $701,286 |
| Sergey Lebedev | RUS | 612 | $1,087,222 | — |
| Kou Vang | USA | 616 | $892,601 | $82,883 |
| Terry Fan | TAI | 624 | $715,496 | — |
| Jerry Wong | USA | 641 | $1,299,996 | — |
| Olov Jansson | SWE | 645 | $153,367 | — |
| Keith Lehr | USA | 649 | $2,736,773 | — |
| Cate Hall | USA | 651 | $420,675 | — |
| Kenneth Aldridge | USA | 656 | $1,280,877 | $30,538 |
| Fabrizio Gonzalez Cataldi | ARG | 660 | $1,175,430 | — |
| Dmitry Vitkind | RUS | 672 | $1,290,923 | $628,228 |
| Jason Helder | USA | 703 | $1,717,441 | — |
| James Collopy | USA | 713 | $1,251,342 | — |
| David Nowling | USA | 720 | $184,692 | — |
| Matthew Schultz | USA | 733 | $406,720 | $584 |
| Gianluca Escobar | ITA | 747 | $243,329 | $923,354 |
| Aaron Overton | USA | 748 | $678,478 | — |
| William Foxen | USA | 757 | $183,920 | $552,446 |
| Brian Benhamou | FRA | 762 | $616,564 | — |
| Jonathan Roy | CAN | 765 | $2,087,523 | — |
| Peter Eichhardt | SWE | 769 | $820,570 | — |
| Carlos Chadha | USA | 785 | $471,832 | — |
| Chris Moorman | ENG | 793 | $4,107,768 | $12,963,272 |
| Guillaume Diaz | FRA | 795 | $372,351 | — |
| Weiyi Zhang | CHN | 823 | $253,446 | — |
| Andrey Kotelnikov | RUS | 834 | $200,126 | — |
| Phong ‘Turbo’ Nguyen | USA | 836 | $980,570 | — |
| Romain Lewis | FRA | 847 | $216,455 | — |
| William Reynolds | USA | 871 | $1,808,446 | $1,698,059 |
| Muhamet Perati | ALB | 875 | $416,232 | — |
| Clyde Tjauw For | NED | 885 | $517,335 | — |
| Fatima Moreira de Melo | NED | 891 | $440,228 | — |
| Gregory Marcus | USA | 906 | $329,253 | — |
| Mark Radoja | CAN | 908 | $1,906,952 | — |
| Dylan Hortin | USA | 915 | $651,514 | — |
| Phillip Mcallister | ENG | 944 | $540,467 | $2,052,592 |
| Joe Tehan | USA | 955 | $4,287,302 | — |
| Guy Taylor | ENG | 961 | $136,769 | $337,208 |
| Luis Ferreira | BRA | 972 | $456,789 | — |
| Petr Jelinek | CZE | 987 | $343,023 | — |
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