The American Poker Awards announced the nominees for their third annual awards show. There are nine categories with four nominees in each – culled from a nomination panel earlier in 2017. Mike Sexton leads with three nominations for the ceremony held February 23 as the Sofitel Beverly Hills.
Tournament Performance of the Year
– Mike Sexton, WPT Montreal
-Kristen Bicknell, WSOP No Limit Hold’em Bounty
– Ari Engel, Aussie Millions Main Event
– Maurice Hawkins, WSOP Circuit Cherokee Main Event
Moment of the Year
– Griffin Benger’s AA vs William Kassouf’s KK showdown in WSOP Main Event
– Jason Mercier goes on historic one-week heater at the WSOP
-David Peters needing 3rd at EPT Prague to take GPI POY from Fedor Holz, does exactly that
– Mike Sexton mounts incredible comeback to win first WPT title in Montreal
Breakout Performance of the Year
– Ari Engel
– Maurice Hawkins
– Ankush Mandavia
– Sam Soverel
Event of the Year
– Super High Roller Bowl, ARIA, Las Vegas
– Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, SHR, Hollywood, FL
– WSOP Main Event, Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas
– WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic, Bellagio, Las Vegas
Mid-Major Circuit of the Year
– Heartland Poker Tour
– Mid-States Poker Tour
– WPTDeepStacks
– WSOP Circuit
Industry Person of the Year
– Tony Burns, Seminole Hard Rock Tournament Director
– Jack Effel, WSOP VP Int’l Poker Operations & WSOP Tournament Director
– Sean McCormack, ARIA Director of Poker Operations
– Matt Savage, WPT Executive Tour Director & TDA Founder
Media Person of the Year
– Lance Bradley
– Joseph Stapleton
– David Tuchman
– Sarah Herring
Podcast of the Year
– Full Contact Poker (Daniel Negreanu)
– PokerNews Podcast (Herring, Parvis, Peters, Rinkema, Ryan)
– Poker Life Podcast (Joe Ingram)
– TwoPlusTwo Podcast, (Terrence Chan, Ross, Henry, Adam Schwartz)
Media Content of the Year
– Bob, Charlie and a Life-Changing WSOP Main Event Journey (Lance Bradley, PocketFives)
– Stu Ungar’s Last Chance Gone Wrong (Matthew Showell, PokerListings)
– Life’s a Gamble (Mike Sexton)
– Twitch coverage of Aussie Millions (Jason Somerville)
Twitch Streamer of the Year*
– Jason Somerville “jcarverpoker”
– Jaime Staples “PokerStaples”
– Kevin Martin “KevinMartin987”
– Parker Talbot “tonkaaaP”
*Finalists for Twitch Streamer of the Year selected by Twitch, but APA Jury will select winner.