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WSOP 2022 Poker Hall Of Fame Nominee: Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier

Winning a World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet is on every poker player’s list. And several of them achieve it too. But if there’s something only a few manage to achieve is making it to the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame.

Every year, the series inducts a member into the coveted Poker Hall of Fame. This year, the WSOP has announced a list of 10 nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame. In this article, we will talk about one of the nominees – Bertrand Grospellier. We will speak about his victories, poker journey, his contributions to the field and what led to his nomination.

Who is Bertrand Grospellier?

Bertrand Grospellier is a professional poker player born on 8th February 1981 in Melun town of France. Apart from being a poker player, he is also well-known in the esports circle. Prior to taking up poker professionally, he played esports games like StarCraft: Brood War, Warcraft III, and Hearthstone. 

Also popularly known as ElkY—his StarCraft username, Grospellier was one of the top ranking StarCraft players across the globe. He was the runner-up at the World Cyber Games in 2001. The same year he moved to South Korea to build his career in the game and participated in thousands of competitions. In 2002, he quickly picked up the newly released game called WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos. He even took the runner-up spot at the televised Ongamenet WarCraft Retail League. Eventually, he retired from esports and took up poker professionally in 2005.

Why is Bertrand Grospellier Nominated?

After starting his professional poker career in 2005, he participated in WSOP 2006. Since then he has cashed at 47 events at the WSOP. He also final-tabled six events and has two WSOP bracelets to his credit. The 41-year-old grabbed his first title at the WSOP 2011 in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship event for $331,639. His second bracelet came at the WSOP 2019 Europe in the €550 Colossus No-Limit Hold’em for €191,172.

Additionally, he has a strong online poker presence too. He became the first player to achieve the PokerStars Supernova and Supernova Elite status. He earned 100,000 player points on PokerStars in just two weeks and then went on to collect another 1,000,000 points in the next four and a half months. This French player also has two World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) bracelets, both of which he won in the same edition, i.e, WCOOP 2009, just three days apart. First, he nailed the $530 No-Limit Hold’em (1R1A) event for $232,730, and then clinched the $215 No-Limit Hold’em title for $263,323, three days later.

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He also played at the World Poker Tour (WPT), successfully cashing five times and making it to the final table twice, along with clinching one title in $15,000 Festa al Lago for $1,411,015 at the 2008 WPT series. 

But he did not stop there, ‘ElkY’ went on to win $2,000,000 by nailing the European Poker Tour (EPT) PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure in 2008. At EPT this pro player has made it to two final tables and cashed 18 times. 

His titles at all the three acclaimed events, made him one of the only nine players to be in the Triple Crown club (winner in EPT, WSOP and WPT). Additionally, this Frenchman also holds a Guinness World Record for most Single Table Sit & Goes (SnG) played in one hour. He played 62 times in an hour in a $6.50 buy-in SnG event, making a profit of $23.60.

According to Hendon Mob, Grospellier has a total of $14,851,209 in total live earnings, apart from his online earnings. His best live cash (as of July 2022) stands at $2,278,657, which he earned by finishing second in the $111,111 No-Limit Hold’em – High Roller for One Drop event at WSOP 2017. He ranks first in France All Time Money List and 56th in the global All-Time Money list.

‘ElkY’ returned to the esports scene in November 2015, by joining Team Liquid as a Hearthstone player. Currently he plays poker as well as esports. He represents Team Liquid in esports and is the ambassador of popular poker site GGPoker. 

All the stats in this article are updated as of 7th July 2022!

ElkY is an active member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, which is a charitable group consisting of 54 famous elite athletes. The club created by a Monaco-based international organization, Peace and Sport is committed to serving peace in the world through sports. 

Grospellier, who got married to his long-time girlfriend just six weeks ago, has cashed in two events at the ongoing edition of WSOP, and is currently grinding in the Main Event Day 2abc.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier (@elkypoker)

To know if ‘ElkY’ makes it to this year’s Hall of Fame, stay tuned to Gutshot Magazine.

About WSOP Poker Hall of Fame:

The WSOP Poker Hall of Fame is one of the most prestigious and coveted titles in the world of poker. Every year the WSOP inducts one or two members into the Poker Hall of Fame, who have made a mark in the poker universe. This year the WSOP has released a list of 10 nominees, one of whom will be selected by a voting among the 32 living members of the Poker Hall of Fame. The result will be announced alongside the WSOP 2022 Main Event on 10th July 2022. 

For more news and updates about WSOP, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Telegram.

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