The GPI has made tweaks to their ranking system for the new year — primarily by expanding the tournaments that count to include events with buy-ins as low as $1,000.

UPDATE: These changes will apply retroactively for the multiyear GPI, and they started on Jan 1 for the new 2013 POY.

Calling the Global Poker Index the Nate Silver of Poker is probably stretching a bit, but as CardPlayer, Bluff, and all the others release their final tallies of tournament prowess, GPI relies on arguably the most evolved algorithm … and with that, here’s a look at the 20 players who had the best 2012s, even if you didn’t see them on ESPN or FoxSports:

POY 2012			PLAYER	TEAM	SCORE
#1	—		Dan Smith		1158.27
#2	—		Marvin Guido Rettenmaier	PartyPoker	1077.09
#3	—		Bertrand Grospellier	Pokerstars	913.35
#4	—		Kyle Julius		906.02
#5	—		Andrew Lichtenberger		889.57
#6	—		Joseph Cheong		848.91
#7	—		Phil Hellmuth		846.83
#8	—		Jonathan Duhamel	Pokerstars	812.46
#9	—		Jason Mercier	Pokerstars	810.89
#10	—		Stephen O’Dwyer		800.00
#11	—		Justin Bonomo		798.34
#12	—		David Baker		790.71
#13	—		Mohsin Charania		788.15
#14	—		Daniel Negreanu	Pokerstars	768.40
#15	—		Roberto Romanello		752.61
#16	—		Michael Watson		739.40
#17	—		David Sands		736.20
#18	—		Christopher Brammer		723.78
#19	—		John Juanda		714.42
#20	—		Phil Ivey	Ivey Poker	713.44