The Final Judging Panel consists of a group of eight people, representing both players and poker management.

Each year the jury is selected by the organizers and presided by Nic Szeremeta.

At the Final Judging Panel meeting which is held in private, the judges are provided with additional information about the nominees, and they deliberate in private to determine the awards winners. The categories are discussed and voted upon, one at a time.

The final voting is done by means of a “blind ballot”. The person with the most votes is the winner but the President does not announce his name – only that a winner has been selected. The name of the winner is then put in a sealed envelope, which is not opened until the awards presentation ceremony.

In the event of a tie between two or more nominees, the President announces who the tie is between, and invites the judges to discuss their choices further. The judges are then asked to vote again until a winner is selected.

The final judging will take place at the Aviation Club de France during the Euro Finals of Poker on January 25th 2012.

Nic Szeremeta Honorary President of the 11th edition of the European Poker Awards

Nic Szeremeta

Nic has been playing poker since the early 1960s and is a regular face on the European circuit.

Nic is the former secretary of the European Poker Players Association, former editor of Poker Europa magazine, a co-creator or the World Heads-Up Poker Championships, and perhaps most notably the creator of legendary poker show Late Night Poker.

He used to be one of the organizers of the EPA and has played a pivotal role in its success.

Kara Scott

Kara Scott

Kara Scott has been involved in the poker media since 2006 in a variety of roles including TV hosting duties for shows such as the EPT, WPT, High Stakes Poker and various Party Poker televised games. She is a player ambassador for Party Poker and also the sideline reporter for ESPN’s coverage of the World Series of Poker.

Jérôme Schmidt

Jérôme Schmidt

Jerome Schmidt is involved in poker editorial projects since 2004, whilst writing TV documentaries and books about poker. He launched Poker52, first french poker magazine, and Poker52 Europa as their chief-editor.

Barry Carter

Barry Carter

Barry Carter is a poker journalist from the UK, he writes for PokerStrategy.com and is the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker.

Leon Groenewoud

Leon Groenewoud

COO & Head of Events at the Montesino in Vienna and therefore in charge of all big tournaments in every belonging (since february 2009).
Before that he build up the biggest non-cash poker organisation in northern Germany, where people could play for little money, on professional tables and well trained dealers. This started in 2006.

Juha Helppi

Juha Helppi

Juha Helppi, 34 years.He is a well known professional player from Helsinki, Finland. He has been playing for a living for about 10 years and has been succesfull in cash games and big live tournaments.

Jan-Peter Jachtmann

Jan-Peter Jachtmann

PokerBlatt Magazine

Michael Michelin

Michael Michelin

Business unit manager of the PokerStrategy group for the French-speaking markets.

Jonathan Raab

Jonathan Raab

Jonathan  is Business Development Manager Live Events (Europe) for Pokerstars.

Introduction of jury members is in progress and will be completed soon…