Friday, 29th March 2024 06:19
Home / Spraggy wins Best Streamer, Poker in the Ears Best Podcast at GPI Awards 2022

The third annual Global Poker Index (GPI) Awards took place on Saturday night (Feb 19), with members of Team PokerStars taking down two coveted trophies.

Benjamin ‘Spraggy’ Spragg was named Best Streamer, beating his fellow nominees Lex Veldhuis, Kevin Martin, and Jonathan ‘apestyles’ Van Fleet to claim his first GPI award.

PokerStars’ legendary commentary duo James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton were also winners on the night, taking home the Best Podcast gong for Poker in the Ears.

The awards returned to the PokerGo Studio inside the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas following a 23-month hiatus due to the pandemic.

“Thanks to Lex Veldhuis for not wanting to travel,” Spraggy said in his acceptance speech. “Finally GPI had to give [the award] to someone else.”

Spraggy went on to thank his wife, moderators and everyone who watches his stream, as well as everyone at PokerStars, saying: “They’ve been great from day one [and have] always given me support and resources to do my thing.”

After joining Team PokerStars in 2015, Spraggy has risen through the Twitch Poker ranks to become one of the most successful and entertaining streamers today.

You can watch Spraggy on Twitch here.


Check out: The oral history of the Fintan and Spraggy stream


When Poker in the Ears was announced as Best Podcast, Stapleton was on hand to collect the award.

“This is quite unexpected, but I did write something,” said Stapleton. “The people at PokerStars trust us and give us resources to do our thing. [We] all get to share in this.”

Poker in the Ears sprung to life in 2015 and has since put out 239 episodes featuring the best players in the game, as well as special celebrity guests including Jon Hamm, Hank Azaria, Michael Cera, and Paul Schrader.

You can listen to every episode of Poker in the Ears here.

Take a look at the full list of winners from the GPI Awards 2022 below.

GPI Awards 2022 full winners list:

Male Player of the Year: Ali Imsirovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Female Player of the Year: Nadya Magnus (Russia)

Mid-Major Player of the Year: David Mzareulov (Azerbaijan)

PokerGO Tour Player of the Year: Ali Imsirovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

GPI Breakout Player: Johan Guilbert (France)

Final Table Performance of the Year: Adam Friedman (United States)

Fans Choice: Best Hand: Doug Polk (United States)

Fans Choice: Best Trophy: Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup Poker

ICON: Mike Sexton

Industry Person of the Year: Matt Savage (United States)

Tournament Director of the Year: Paul Campbell – Aria (United States)

2022 Charitable Initiative Award: Veronica Brill (United States)

Best Event of the Year: World Series of Poker – Main Event

Twitter Personality of the Year: Jamie Kerstetter (United States)

Hendon Mob Award: Kevin Mathers (United States)

Best Live Tournament Reporter: Christian Zetzsche (Germany)

Best Media Content – Video: Remko Rinkema (Netherlands)

Best Media Content – Written: Lance Bradley (Canada)

Best Streamer: Benjamin Spragg (United Kingdom)

Best Vlogger: Brad Owen (United States)

Best Photo: Enrique Malfavon (United States)

Best Podcast: Poker in the Ears (James Hartigan, James Stapleton)

Best Broadcaster: Jeff Platt (United States)

Learn with Pokerstars Learn, practice with the pokerstars app