Jason Mercier Officially Best Tournament Poker Player In World

The Global Poker Index (GPI) was created to determine the best live poker tournament players in the world today.
Each week the top players are awarded points and are ranked on the GPI list according to their tournament results over a range of factors such as buy-ins and most recent results, including finishing percentage factors.
This week globalpokerindex.com released their latest rankings for the period ending August 30th, 2011, and not surprisingly some of the most recognisable names in poker made it into the top ten.
Leading the way in pole position is Jason Mercier who has already earned an impressive $6,722,744 from live tournaments during his career. The 24 year-old from Florida is also one of the most consistent winners in the game today, having earned $2,752,423 in 2008, $1,354,026 in 2009, $1,064,908 in 2010, and $1,551,387 already in 2011, including a WSOP bracelet in the $5k PLO six-handed event.
In 2nd place is Las Vegas pro Erik Seidel, who has earned a staggering $16,616,082 since his first cash back in 1988. Around half that amount has come over the past four years, with $2,200,333 won in 2008, $469,682 in 2009, $536,615 in 2010, but with an incredible run in 2011 producing $6,261,068 in winnings so far for the 51 year-old.
In 3rd place is top ranked online gamer turned poker pro Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. The 30 year-old Frenchman is already up $8,437,747 since his first cash in 2005. Elky’s recent results would also be the envy of most other players, having won $3,686,476 in 2008, $1,642,560 in 2009, $478,250 in 2010 and $2,087,762 in 2011, including a WSOP bracelet in the $10k Seven Card Stud Championship.
In 4th place is another 2011 WSOP braclet winner in the guise of Eugene Katchalov. Career earnings of $6,943,449 are testament to the prowess of this 30 year-old Ukranian born pro, with $2,514,282 of that amount coming in 2011. Furthermore, his recent 3rd place finish at the EPT Barcelona for $453,812 hasn’t even been taken into account yet on the recent GPI list.
Just about making into 10th spot on this week’s list was Canadian pro Daniel Negreanu. The 37 year-old has earned $12,832,391 since 1997, with $1,301,853 won in 2008, $1,224,895 in 2009, $683,825 in 2010 and $1,534,367 so far in 2011.
To see further details and view the entire list of 300 players, visit the officialGPI website here.