Byron Kaverman Collects 2015 Player of the Year Award
March 2, 2016 1:31 pmOn February 25th, the 2nd Annual American Poker Awards took place at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, and while poker fans only discovered most of the winners on the evening, two of the fifteen accolades handed out were already predetermined according to GPI points accumulated throughout 2015. These included the GPI Female Poker Player of the Year award won by Kelly Minkin, and the GPI Player of the Year award collected by Byron Kaverman.
Byron Kaverman’s live tournament career only really got started in 2011, and while he has enjoyed continued success ever since, 2015 proved to be an outstanding year for the young pro who almost doubled his life-time earnings to $6,757,855 last year.
Kaverman won a total of $3,481,463 in 2015, edging out players such as Anthony Zinno, Steve O’Dwyer, and Nick Petrangelo to claim the AGA accolade. Competition from his poker playing peers also helped spur him on to greater heights, and as Kaverman explains:
“It was a pretty rewarding feeling. It was fun competing with guys like Anthony and Steve. We all wanted to win, and they had tremendous years as well. They probably did better than I did, money-wise. We were all friendly about it, and it made for a cool competition.”
While Kaverman racked up some impressive results throughout the whole of 2015, including winning the $10k WSOP NLHE Six Handed Championship for $657,351, he says it was in late August that he really determined to give the Global Poker Index rankings his best shot. It was then that Kaverman attended the EPT Barcelona in Spain, and racked up three tournament cashes for $194,424. These results helped propel him to number three in the GPI rankings, and provided him with the incentive to aim for the top spot.
While demanding constant travels, Kaverman’s efforts were well rewarded, though, and his victory in October at the €10,300 EPT Malta High Roller for €430,800 ($475,355) helped seal him the deal. Nevertheless, Kaverman doesn’t envision going to quite so extreme lengths this year, and as he recently commented:
“I went from Vegas to Prague to Florida and back to Vegas. I wouldn’t say burned out, but I was definitely pretty tired when it came to mid-December. It’s definitely not something I’m going to be going for this year.”