Cherish Andrews, Stephen Song Are Global Poker Index Players of the Year

Posted on: January 5, 2023, 08:56h. 

Last updated on: January 5, 2023, 09:25h.

Erik Gibbs Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Gaming Business, Global Gaming.

Last year was a good year for several international poker stars, but perhaps most of all for Cherish Andrews and Stephen Song. The two ended the year in exceptional style, culminating in a Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (POY) award for each.

Cherish Andrews
Poker player Cherish Andrews contemplates a hand at the tables. She had a strong run in 2022, allowing her to capture the Global Poker Index Female Player of the Year award. (Image: Card Player Magazine)

Both players had successful years before turning up the heat in the final stretch. The GPI races were tight, but strong performances in December pushed Andrews and Song ahead, and allowed them to punch their tickets to the top.

Poker fans can expect to see the two winners receive their awards at the fourth Global Poker Awards ceremony. The PokerGO Studio at the Aria in Las Vegas will host that event, but the date hasn’t yet been revealed.

Andrews Beats Expectations

For several years, the GPI Female POY was repetitive, as Kristen Foxen (née Bricknell) took the title from 2017-2019. She then moved over for Alexis Gavin in 2020 and Nadya Magnus in 2021.

Andrews, who earned her first live tournament cash in 2008, didn’t even appear on the list until 2021. She moved up the charts through the year before settling in at 19th in the final standings.

This year has been much better. Andrews was in second place behind Angela Jordison as the December tournaments began, but quickly moved ahead.

Jordison was in front with 2,483 points when Andrews found her spark and hit paydirt in three tournaments. Among these were a $259,200 payday for second place at the $10,100 NLHE High Roller in the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship, and $131,912 for taking down the $1,100 NLHE WPT event.

Those wins came on back-to-back days and followed a $78,045 cash for sixth place at the $3,000 NLHE WPT event. With those results, she leapfrogged over Jordison in the GPI points leaderboard, beating her by about 200 points.

Andrews has now earned more than $1.48 million in live poker events, $758,513 of that coming in 2022, according to Hendon Mob.

For her part, Foxen continues to perform extremely well at the tables. She finished seventh last year and fifth this year.

A Song and a Dance

Song has appeared on the GPI charts longer than Andrews and has consistently moved up the rankings. He made it as high as 25 last year. But his performances at the tables this year set him apart.

Likely, most poker followers would not have paid any attention to Song when 2022 began. But he didn’t stay under the radar for long. When his name began appearing repeatedly on winners’ lists, it was hard not to notice.

Last year, Song won more than $2.2 million as he cashed in 44 live events. He claimed two first-place finishes – one in October at the Wynn Fall Classic, and another in December at the WPT World Championship.

The race for the GPI POY award was extremely close, with Song battling Adam Hendrix, Jeremy Ausmus, and Chad Eveslage. Between the four, the final separation in points was just 69.

Song also had another close race in the GPI Mid-Major POY contest. For that, he was up against Jordison. But his final push in December ensured he took that title as well. Since his first cash, Song has earned more than $5.5 million at live events.

Elsewhere, Stephen Chidwick took the Card Player POY award. In qualifying events last year, he picked up more than $6 million in tournaments that saw him take first place on numerous occasions.

Chidwick joins Daniel Negreanu as the only two players to win the Card Player POY award twice. However, Chidwick, with more than $44 million in lifetime earnings, will always be known as the first English player to win the award. He accomplished that feat in 2019.