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Andrew Neeme Headlines Winners at 4th Annual American Poker Awards

The 4th Annual American Poker Awards were held Thursday night at the Andaz West Hollywood. Poker’s best and brightest came out to the celebration of the best of poker both on the felt and in the industry for 2017. Lynn Gilmartin was the host for the event and throughout the evening, 20 awards were presented.

Bicknell Exhibits Class With Award Acceptance

The night kicked off with the presentation of the Female Player of the Year award to Kristen Bicknell. She finished the year as the top-ranked woman on the Global Poker Index and unlike last year’s winner, she exhibited a lot of class in the award, stating that it was important that the GPI recognize the top female player in the industry.

Bicknell also stated that “It’s a really nice feeling knowing that maybe I can inspire women to get into the game and enjoy the game like I do.”

Andrew Neeme Wins Two Awards

Andrew Neeme has proven to be a very popular video blogger over the last two year and both the Jury and people have spoken in awarding him a pair of American Poker Awards. The first was Video Blogger of the Year. Neeme beat out Joe Ingram, Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu for the title.

Neeme wasn’t at the awards and sent an acceptance speech via Joe Ingram and ended up giving one of the funniest moments of the year. He stated that Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk should settled their feud with a “naked mud wrestling match in front of the Bellagio.”

Neeme later won the People’s Choice Award for Personality of the Year. This was an award voted on by the fans of poker. Ingram again accepted the award for Neeme.

Lon McEachern and Norman Chad Wins Lifetime Achievement Award

A special award presented by the Jury is the Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, ESPN’s Lon McEachern and Norman Chad were presented with the award. Only McEachern was in attendance and gave a very heartfelt speech after accepting the trophy.

He stated that the award was “validation” for him, especially considering that his wife passed away two-years ago from cancer. McEachern also went on to state that poker needs to be constantly moving forward and growing the game in order to keep the industry thriving.

Ari Engel, Matt Savage and Scott Blumstein Among Those Recognized

In total, there were 20 awards given throughout the evening. Among those receiving awards included Ari Engel for PocketFives Legacy Award, Jamie Staples for Poker Streamer of the Year, Matt Savage for Industry Person of the Year and Scott Blumstein for Tournament Performance of the Year.

A complete list of the awards and award recipients is below:

Female Player of the Year: Kristen Bicknell
GPI American Player of the Year – Bryn Kenney
Mid-Major Circuit of the Year – WPT Deepstacks
PocketFives Legacy Award – Ari Engel
Poker Streamer of the Year – Jamie Staples
Breakout Player of the Year – Art Papazyan
Video Blogger of the Year – Andrew Neeme
Poker Media Content of the Year – Dead Money: A Super High Roller Bowl Story (Poker Central documentary)
Industry Person of the Year – Matt Savage
Tournament Performance of the Year – Scott Blumstein WSOP Main Event Champion
Journalist of the Year – Lance Bradley
Moment of the Year – Ema Zajmovic 1st Female to Win WPT Open Event
Event of the Year – partypoker Millions NA PPC Montreal
People’s Choice Award for Poker Personality of the Year – Andrew Neeme
Poker Broadcaster of the Year – Nick Schulman
Biggest Influencer in Poker – Cary Katz
Podcast of the Year – Poker Central Podcast
Lifetime Achievement in Poker – Lon McEachern and Norman Chad
Charitable Initiative of the Year – One Step Closer Foundation
Jury Prize – Eric Danis

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