While no official announcement has been made, it appears that PokerStars Team Pros Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier and Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis are preparing for a kickboxing match sometime before the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. Veldhuis confirmed rumors of the fight on his Twitter account Thursday, saying, “I’m fighting (kickboxing) Elky in Las Vegas this summer. Last week of May right before WSOP probably. This all because of a side bet!”
It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen two poker players slug it out in the ring. In early 2009, Theo Jorgensen defeated Full Tilt Poker pro Gus Hansen in a boxing match during the European Poker Tour’s Scandinavian Open. After three rounds, the judges ruled in favor of Jorgensen, who earned $35,000 out of Hansen’s pocket for the victory.
Later that year during the WSOP, PokerStars pro Liv Boeree tangled with reporter Melissa Castello in a charity boxing match. Boeree won the three-round duel by unanimous decision and all proceeds were donated to each fighter’s charity of choice. $1,000 went to the Marie Curie Cancer Test in the name of Boeree and $500 went to the Hemophilia Foundation of Southern California in the name of Castello.
A fight between Grospellier and Veldhuis would pit two former Starcraft experts against one another. In fact, it was through the popular strategy game that the two formed a friendship. Grospellier urged Veldhuis to give online poker a try and in a short period of time, two poker legends were born.
Grospellier, from France, began his poker career by hyper-tabling sit and gos and has since become one of the most accomplished tournament players around. He won the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event in the Bahamas for $2 million and followed that up with a victory in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Festa al Lago for $1,411,000. He was honored as the Season 7 WPT Player of the Year.
Veldhuis took the initial $10 he was given by Grospellier and built his online bankroll through the years by working his way up the cash game limits. Like Grospellier, Veldhuis used his gaming talents to multi-table dozens of tables at a time. His biggest live cash came at the 2009 WSOP, where he took seventh in the $40,000 No Limit Hold’em Anniversary Event won by Vitaly Lunkin.
Veldhuis has made television appearances on GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” and Fox’s “PokerStars Big Game,” spawning the reputation of a maniac at the tables in the process.
As soon as Veldhuis confirmed the kickboxing match on Twitter, he began receiving questions from numerous poker pros, including PokerStars team members Vanessa Selbst and Daniel Negreanu. The latter joked about Veldhuis’ new Twitter profile pic that features him posing with boxing gloves, saying, “Your profile pic: really dude? I guess I’m supposed to be all scared, but I can’t stop laughing!”
The news also generated discussion on the TwoPlusTwo forums, where members seem to think Veldhuis is the clear favorite over his friend. One poster from the Netherlands said, “I’ll take Lex for sure. Don’t know about Elky, but I know Lex has been training for a long time in one of the best gyms in the Netherlands. And we have a lot of those here!”
Another member agreed, saying, “Just look at Veldhuis. Wouldn’t want to face him in any fight. Looks like a sicko. So Veldhuis will win I think.”
Veldhuis noted that he’ll be updating his blog with more details of the fight in the near future. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily as more unfolds.
