As we enter the last quarter of the year, it's time to take a look at how the Global Poker Index world rankings are looking, as well as who is in with a chance of winning 2024 Player of the Year honors come the end of it.
September was a massive month with EPT Barcelona and the Poker Masters at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, and some of the biggest and best poker players out there were in action.
The Global Poker Index Rankings have been updated and once again it's Jesse Lonis atop the pile for the 20th straight week as the world's #1 poker player.
Three top-ten finishes at EPT Barcelona last month included a fourth-place finish in the €100,000 Super High Roller, won by Kayhan Mokri.
Lonis cashed for €457,400 ($506,276) in this event, his second-largest cash of the year behind his runner-up finish in the WSOP Event #92: $50,000 High Roller for $1,358,633.
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Meanwhile, Spaniard Adrian Mateos made it nine weeks as the world's #2 ranked poker player. Mateos started the year ranked 30th in the world, and was last ranked #1 in April 2018, but has enjoyed success in 2024 including two Triton Poker Super High Roller Series titles in Jeju and Montenegro.
More recently, Mateos won a title and cashed four times for over $1 million combined at the Super High Roller Bowl Cyprus festival.
And while Mateos opted out of playing at EPT Barcelona, one player who didn't was Canadian Mike Watson. He was ranked outside the GPI Top 10 prior to this year's WSOP, and had never ranked higher than second.
However, a Triple Crown-securing bracelet and a September that saw him win the EPT $10,000 High Roller title has resulted in him rising four places to third in the world behind Mateos and Lonis.
The only movement in this month's GPI Top 10 sees Thailand's Punnat Punsri leapfrog Danny Tang and Isaac Haxton. Punsri had slipped out of the Top 10 in mid-September for the first time since July, during which he reached a career-best fourth in the world.
However, a fifth-place finish in the APT Taipei Poker Classic Super High Roller has seen him return. Punsri cashed for NT$5,793,950 ($183,482) at a final table that also featured Ethan "Rampage" Yau who finished sixth.
Stephen Song's EPT Barcelona Main Event victory has seen him soar into the Top 10 in September. Having started the month 26th in the world his €1,290,386 victory over a field of 1,975 has earned him enough points to sit sixth in the world.
However, he's not the biggest mover inside the Top 10 since the September rankings, with the Poker Masters seeing Spencer Champlin move up 30 places to 70th in the world after his victory in the opening event of the festival.
Meanwhile, Daniel Sepiol has reached a new career-high of 20th in the world after also cashing at the Poker Masters.
There have been no changes in the 2024 Player of the Year rankings, with Adrian Mateos still leading from David Coleman. Coleman hasn't been outside of the top five in the POY rankings all year having enjoyed a stellar start to the year.
Coming into 2024 ranked outside the GPI top 200, he hit the ground running and had secured four titles at the PokerGO Studio before the end of April. A WPT Alpha8 Trifecta title followed and he now sits second in the Player of the Year rankings, and fourth in the world — the highest he's ever been ranked.
Still the number one ranked female poker player, Kristen Foxen continues to lead both the GPI and 2024 Player of the Year rankings. Foxen is currently in action at the WSOP Europe, making Day 2 of the €25,000 NLH GGMillion€ but failing to cash.
The current #2 ranked female poker player is Cherish Andrews ahead of Victoria Livschitz and recent EPT Barcelona Main Event final tablist Rania Nasreddine, who moved up from seventh courtesy of her fourth-place finish.
Meanwhile, recent Life Outside Poker guest Maria Konnikova has re-entered the Top 10 and sits seventh in the world after three cashes in Barcelona, including a fifth-place finish in the €3,000 Mystery Bounty event.
