Bertrand Grospellier, who is known in the online poker world as “Elky,” controlled the final table of the World Poker Tour’s Festa al Lago event, eliminating every person and holding more than a 15:1 chip lead when play was heads-up. It was a feat not seen for quite some time on any major poker tournament, much less a featured event on the World Poker Tour.
According to the World Poker Tour, Grospellier became just the third person ever to score WPT and European Poker Tour titles. Gavin Griffin, a World Series of Poker bracelet holder, took down the Borgata Poker Classic during Season VI of the WPT and the 2007 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final. Roland de Wolfe won the EPT Dublin stop in 2006 and the WPT Grand Prix de Paris during Season IV. Griffin is the only one of the three to have a WSOP title.
Elky told WPT officials after the tournament concluded, “It feels great to be with [Griffin and de Wolfe]. It feels great to win this tournament because I came in with the chip lead and was the favorite.” Despite coming into heads-up play with over a 15:1 chip lead, two quick double ups by second place finisher Nam Le closed the gap. Grospellier commented, “I knew I was making the right plays, but if he doubled up on the last hand, it would have been very tough because he’s a very tough opponent and it’s very hard to get chips from him.”
Grospellier came into the day holding twice as many chips as the second place stack and, for most of the final table, maintained a healthy lead. However, at one point three-handed, he temporarily found himself not atop the leader board. Still, he maintained his composure and continued his aggressive style of play. He commented, “My opponents were catching cards. I was waiting for the right spot to get my chips back. I was never in trouble. I was always confident that I was making the best moves.”
He sent William Mietz home in sixth place holding ace-high against Mietz’s king-high. Adam “Roothlus” Levy was the next to go, trailing A-9 against Grospellier’s pocket queens. Nenad Medic lost a coin flip against Grospellier for all of his chips with pocket sixes against Elky’s K-J after the flop came jack-high. Oddie Dardon picked off a bluff by Grospellier, who held the “Doyle Brunson,” 10-2, against Dardon’s A-J. However, a deuce on the flop put Grospellier out in front for good in the hand and sent Dardon to the rails in third. Nam Le failed on his third attempt to double up against Grospellier heads-up, holding A-Q against Elky’s pocket tens.
After the smoke cleared at the final table, here’s how the final six stood:
1st: Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, $1,411,015
2nd: Nam Le, $943,215
3rd: Osmin “Oddie” Dardon, $506,245
4th: Nenad Medic, $373,010
5th: Adam “Roothlus” Levy, $266,445
6th: William Mietz, $186,510
Other notable in the money finishes at the Festa al Lago Main Event included:
8th: Michael DeMichele, $106,580
9th: Joe Sebok, $85,260
15th: Daniel Alaei, $53,290
16th: Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, $42,630
19th: Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, $42,630
20th: Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron, $42,630
24th: Sabyl Cohen-Landrum, $31,975
25th: Dutch Boyd, $31,975
33rd: Abe Mosseri, $26,645
34th: J.J. Liu, $26,645
44th: Doyle Brunson, $21,315
45th: David Chiu, $21,315
48th: Beth Shak, $21,315
T50th: Daniel Negreanu, $21,315
T50th: Jennifer Tilly, $21,315
The WPT now travels cross-country for the Foxwoods World Poker Finals. The Main Event kicks off on November 5th and runs until the 11th.
