Frenchman Bruno “King” Fitoussi, born September 21, 1958 in Paris, can often be found playing in the biggest poker games in the world. But Fitoussi isn’t your regular high-stakes card shark. An architect by trade, Fitoussi was also a music producer before founding the consulting firm VIP Gaming, where he still holds a position as President. He also created the poker magazine 52, which can be found in casinos all over Europe.
The entrepreneur has said in interviews that he isn’t a professional poker player, but that is certainly debatable based on his results. Fitoussi first made his mark in the poker world by defeating legendary pro Amarillo Slim at the 2001 World Heads-Up Championship in Vienna, Austria. He earned $101,727 for his first title on the circuit, amplifying his love for the game that has continued into the next decade.
In 2004, Fitoussi was voted into the European Poker Hall of Fame, joining superstars like David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Carlos Mortensen, Marcel Luske, and Surinder Sunar. The honor not only rewarded his talent at the tables, but also his contributions to the emergence of Texas Hold’em in France, especially through the Aviation Club. Fitoussi helped bring in some of Europe’s top players to the famous poker club, including David Benyamine, Tony G, Ram Vaswani, Joe Beevers, and the Boatman brothers.
In 2005, Fitoussi made his first final table at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), finishing second in a $1,500 Seven Card Razz event for $70,275. He made another final table at the 2006 WSOP, taking fifth in a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event for $54,486.
Fitoussi’s biggest achievement came at the $50,000 HORSE World Championship at the 2007 WSOP, where he faced off against 147 of the best poker players in the game. After five days of play and a 14-hour final table, he came within a few hands of winning his first bracelet, finishing as the runner-up to Freddy Deeb for a cool $1,278,720. The tournament was aired by ESPN and put Fitoussi on the poker map, helping lead to his appearance on more television shows in the future.
Since then, Fitoussi has found a lot of success on the World Poker Tour (WPT). He took second place in a $5,000 event at the WPT Five Star World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in 2008, collecting $205,385. He then took 10th at the $25,000 WPT Championship in 2009 for $98,050, an event ultimately won by internet phenom Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko. In total, Fitoussi has more than $2.4 million in live tournament earnings.
Despite his success, Fitoussi still isn’t one of the more recognizable faces in the world of high-stakes poker. He isn’t flamboyant like Daniel Negreanu, obnoxious like Mike Matusow, or temperamental like Phil Hellmuth. His quiet, polite behavior on the felts hasn’t helped land him any sponsorship deals with major online sites, but the cool-headed “pro” seems to be just fine with that.
