Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier Conquers the Caribbean

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier recently earned $2 million for taking down the 2008 European Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). The win was doubly sweet for Grospellier, a member of Team PokerStars and the first team member to win an EPT main event.

The PCA shattered live-tournament records this year by attracting 1,136 contestants, making it the largest non-World Series of Poker tournament with a buy-in of more than $5,000. The PCA has emerged as perhaps the largest single showcase of online poker talent. This year, more than 650 of the entrants qualified on PokerStars.com, and it was only fitting that Grospellier, who is known for playing up to 20 tables at a time and was the first player to achieve both Supernova and Supernova Elite status on PokerStars, won the event.

Before he began his career as a professional poker player, Grospellier was a professional video gamer in South Korea, a nation where gamers are treated like rock stars. His nickname, ElkY, is the handle that he used when he played for huge audiences in Asia. Grospellier was a Starcraft specialist, a game that requires more than 200 decisions per minute, and the multitasking skills and ability to perform under extreme pressure that he mastered at Starcraft have helped him excel quickly in the poker world.

Grospellier hails from France, but he moved to South Korea in 2001 to pursue his calling as a professional gamer. The 27-year-old, fluent in French, Korean, and English, is himself a symbol of online poker's international explosion.

Card Player caught up with ElkY soon after his big Caribbean score.

Lizzy Harrison: You are not only a professional poker player, but you also spent many years as a professional Starcraft player. What skills are applicable in both games?

Bertrand Grospellier: Dedication, patience, humility, and the ability to stay focused for many hours. When I was a Starcraft pro gamer, I used to practice for as long as eight hours at a time. Obviously, that helped me a lot when it came to online poker. A competitive nature is also important; that means always trying to play your A-game. It means you have to always reconsider your strategies so that you can find the leaks in your game before your opponents can exploit them. Another skill is multitasking. Playing Starcraft puts you in situations where you have to manage many things at the same time and have to make more than 200 decisions per minute. I quickly used this ability at the poker tables to play 12 to 20 tables at the same time. Performing well under pressure is also a key aspect of both games, since huge crowds, sometimes up to 20,000 people for the big finals, watched me play Starcraft. That can be related to the big amount of money that top poker players are playing for as they make each decision.

LH: Why do you think former professional gamers, like yourself, Guillaume Patry, and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Daniel Schreiber, are now poker players?

BG: I think that being roommates was a factor; we all helped each other a lot! To make significant progress in poker, it helps to have people to share thoughts and play hands with. And as I mentioned in the previous answer, we all developed the qualities that are so essential to success in poker.

LH: When you started playing video games, what did you play and what prompted you to move halfway around the globe to pursue this unique job?

BG: I started playing computer games at the age of 3 when my brother, who was 10 years older, needed a partner. I have never stopped since then. I have always loved playing and trying to improve when I discover a new video game. The point when I really got into it was when I first got an Internet connection and was able to compete against other human players. This brought out the competitiveness in me. I seriously played Duke Nukem, Total Annihilation, and, obviously, Starcraft. Video games were always a passion for me, and when I love something, I try my best to go as far as I can with it. It was a natural move for me to go to South Korea, because gaming is elevated to a completely different level there. When I had the opportunity to compete with the very best, and make a good living out of what I loved to do, I didn't hesitate at all.

LH: What is the pro video-game culture and life like in Korea?

BG: It is completely amazing; you would not believe it! Pro gamers in Korea are viewed in the same way that rock stars or professional athletes are viewed in the United States. There are leagues, and the finals are played in stadiums with 20,000 seats! There are two or three television channels that exist only to broadcast Starcraft matches. I used to have 25,000 members on my Internet fan club page, but the top Korean player had more than 300,000 at his prime! That is more than many of the famous movie stars there. The biggest telecommunication companies in Korea invest a lot of money to sponsor pro teams, as much as $7 million or $8 million per year. It's getting more and more professional, with top teams having psychologists, coaches, and so on.

LH: How did you adjust to being a professional gaming star, and are you still considered a professional video gamer? If not, do you think you ever will be again?

BG: Being a gaming star in South Korea was definitely a really interesting experience, and I loved every part of it, even though I had to be careful sometimes. I remember one time, after a big television final game, my roommate Guillaume Patry and I were on our way home. We went to get on the subway, and soon we were literally cornered by a crowd of fans who had been watching the game. We had to sign autographs nonstop for one hour with barely any space to breathe! I don't consider myself a professional video gamer anymore, because I just don't have the time to practice it enough. As for doing it again, I can't tell you for sure right now, but it is always an option. I live my life to do things that give me pleasure. If for some random reason poker isn't fun for me anymore at a certain point, why not go back to video games, or even do something completely different? But don't worry, I don't see any reason right now that would make me stop loving poker! It's such a fantastic game.

LH: How does your past as a professional gamer help you as a poker player?

BG: Being able to give your maximum while you are under pressure is a must in poker, and my previous
experience as a pro gamer clearly helped me do that.

LH: Were you a winning poker player right from the beginning?

BG: Not exactly. I didn't even listen to my friends' advice about the game; it was really only a hobby at the beginning. I barely knew the rules and lost a bit for the first two months. But then I started to learn about and study the game. Then I began to spend more time playing.

LH: How would you describe your style at the tables?

BG: I am very loose-aggressive, but there are no predefined rules. I try to exploit the leaks in my opponents' games and I try to be as unpredictable as possible. Hence, I mix it up a lot - especially these days, since the fields are getting much tougher and I'm getting much better known. I don't think it's profitable to stick to the style that I like the most. I have to constantly mix it up to confuse my opponents. I am able to adapt very well to the table dynamics.

LH: How did you perfect your poker game?

BG: Only by thinking, playing, and sharing ideas with others. I also use a very good forum where others, ex-pro gamers, share ideas about hands and poker strategies, www.liquidpoker.net. Recently we started a new site similar to this one for the French poker community, www.tlpokerfr.com. I have my blog there; I post and discuss hands in French to help all of the people who read it do the same things and become better players. You can learn the basics from books, but if you are really looking to improve, discussion and deep thinking is the only way to go. Practice is, of course, also one of the keys to success. Playing more than 3 million hands on PokerStars, throughout my career, has surely been a huge asset to my game.

LH: What is the strongest aspect of your game, and what areas are you looking to improve?

BG: I think that the strongest aspect of my game is that it is continuously evolving. I never take anything for granted. At the moment, I really want to improve my live game. I want to be able to have better reads on my opponents. I also want to be in finer shape, which means that I would like to play more sports and live a healthier lifestyle.

LH: You just had a huge score; what was it like to win the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and $2 million as a member of Team PokerStars?

BG: It was a real dream come true! This tournament was second on my short list of events that I really wanted to win, just after the main event of the World Series of Poker. That is because there are so many talented young guns at the PCA, and they make it very tough. It surely means a lot more to me to defeat all of those Internet players because I'm one of them myself! Also, the location, the atmosphere, and everything else about the tournament made it a blast. I'm really proud to be the first PokerStars team member to win an EPT main event, and to confirm the hopes that I know PokerStars had for me, since they have supported me for so long.

LH: How did you become involved with PokerStars?

BG: First, I started playing poker on PokerStars, essentially because they have the best interface by far. The software has been designed to make multitabling easier. The other fact to mention is that they gave me an invitation to a big tournament that they organize. They invited me, and other professional gamers, to their first Pro-Gamer Challenge in January of 2005. I won my seat to the EPT Deauville with that victory! After that, PokerStars helped me here and there, and finally I became a member of their team after winning six seats to the main event of the 2006 WSOP. Since PokerStars is the leader in the online poker world, it was really a blast to join their team.

LH: More than half of the field qualified for this tournament online; did that change the dynamics at all?

BG: Yes, the players were making fewer bad moves. As a matter of fact, I had to be much more focused at the table because the players were really A+. I think, overall, it was a much more aggressive game. This is because a lot of Internet qualifiers and big players are just clearly playing to win it all. I had to adapt because sometimes it was a bit too much. I wasn't always the most aggressive player at the table, but the big stack that I was able to keep, basically from day one through the end of the tournament, helped me a lot.

LH: Would you say that was actually an advantage for you, since you have so much experience playing online?

BG: Not at all! In fact, it was to the contrary. Almost all the people who were there had already played with me online and knew who I was. But I didn't know their real names or faces, just their online screen names. So, when I was sitting at a table with them, and they didn't introduce themselves to me with their online names, I didn't know who they were. Therefore, they had lots information on me, whereas most of them were unknown to me.

LH: How rewarding was it to win a European Poker Tour event after coming close a few times?

BG: It was a real deliverance. I was so close to victory at the EPT Copenhagen! I always knew that I could make it, but sometimes the cards did not agree with me. Now I finally have the title that I was looking for. When I finished second in the other EPT, I was satisfied to have made some good money. But at the end, I had still lost, like every other player but one. The feeling of winning it all, and beating everybody, is just so much better.

LH: By day two of the PCA, you had risen to the top in chip count. What style helps you to successfully accumulate chips in these huge-field, big buy-in events?

BG: As usual, I tried to mix up my game. I used my tight-aggressive image when I needed it to make moves and steals. I am always aggressive when I have the option. I think that I was able to use my image really well. I also made different people at the table view me in different ways. I was able to pick my moves really well, and the great structure of the EPT PCA also helped a lot.

LH: What was the competition at the final table like?

BG: Very, very tough! David Pham and Joe Elpayaa were clearly tough opponents. I was pretty lucky to have position on Pham. Elpayaa just had a bad run of cards from the start of the final table and that made him less dangerous! I had good opportunities, and luck was there at the right time; heaven was in the Bahamas.

LH: Once you became the big stack at the final table, how did you adjust your play?

BG: I was able to take more risks and to put a lot more pressure on my opponents, but I always had in mind that I had to keep my stack safe. We were all pretty deep, and I thought that, besides David Pham, the other players were playing conservatively. I did not want to double anyone up by being too reckless and giving them a big edge.

LH: You were the first player to reach both Supernova and Supernova Elite status on PokerStars; can you tell our readers what games you were playing at this point in your career?

BG: Cash games; no-limit $5-$10, $10-$20, and $25-$50. I also played in all of the big buy-in sit-and-gos, heads up or ninehanded.

LH: How did you make the transition to live poker?

BG: I qualified for some live events by playing satellites organized by PokerStars; there are always plenty of them running. I realized that in live poker, you get much more time to make decisions and you should use it. I'm still playing really fast, I think, but I'm trying to pick up every detail that happens at the table. I always try to be very attentive. At first, I was playing live poker just like online poker, and looked only at my opponents' betting patterns. Now, I really pay attention and try to use everything to my advantage.

LH: Your first cash in a poker tournament came during the 37th-annual World Series of Poker. Was that the first time you had played live?

BG: Not exactly. I had already had some live poker experience. I played with friends and in some smaller tournaments.

LH: How different is live poker from online poker?

BG: Live poker is a different game; it is based much more on the psychological aspects. People sometimes make very bad plays that I could not imagine seeing on the Internet. When you play live, the ranges of your opponents' hands are much, much wider. Also, though it was not very true in the Bahamas, live players are usually more worried about their "tournament life." It may be because of the big buy-ins or the fact that they don't want to look bad busting out too early. That is a concept that I totally disapprove of.

LH: What changes did you have to make to your game in order to succeed in live tournaments?

BG: I had to improve my ability to be patient. In live poker, you barely play 30 hands per hour. When I play poker on the Internet, I can play 500 to 1,500 hands per hour. As you can imagine, I really needed to learn how to be much more patient because of my background.

LH: What is the best part of being sponsored by PokerStars?

BG: I was able to become friends with champions like Joe Hachem and Greg Raymer. It always helps a lot to be able to share your points of view on certain aspects of the game with other top players.

LH: How much do you play online now, and which games can you usually be found in?

BG: It frankly depends on the live tournament schedules. Between tournaments, I can usually put in 15 hours per day multitabling without that many pauses. But just before, during, and just after a live tournament, I usually try to take some spare time for myself. This is because I need to evacuate all of the pressure that accumulates during the tournament. Before the PCA, I didn't play much online because I was enjoying the holidays with my family. I guess it worked for me, so I am planning on having more family holidays soon! I'm trying to play poker only when I can give 100 percent of myself.

LH: What is next for you? Do you have another industry switch in mind?

BG: Not for now. Poker brings me everything that I need right now. The freedom that it gives me is also going to be hard to match if I ever do decide to switch industries again.

LH: Where do you see your poker career taking you?

BG: I have had such a good start to 2008 that I am definitely going to play more tournaments so that I can perform well in the Card Player Player of the Year race. I'm still going to try to improve my game all the time. I think the next step for me would be some WSOP bracelets, obviously, and maybe some poker shows on television.

LH: Do you have an ultimate goal?

BG: I want to make my family and friends proud of me, and I never want to have any regrets.

Stars Treats Players Like Stars
At brick-and-mortar casinos, loyal players are often comped with free rooms, free buffets, or free play. At PokerStars, however, being a loyal, frequent player could earn you Aston Martins or 60-inch plasma-screen TVs. PokerStars certainly treats its players well, and for those who log lots of hours at the virtual tables, there are a variety of VIP programs.

The two highest levels are Supernova and Supernova Elite. Players achieve Supernova status by accumulating 100,000 VIP Player Points in one year, and they become Supernova Elite when they earn 1 million VIP PPs in that same period. VIP Player Points are awarded each time a player earns an FPP [Frequent Player Point], and they are doled out to players in both tournaments and cash games. Supernova and Supernova Elite players get all kinds of perks, like entries to freerolls, the ability to use their FPPs for live tournament entries, and luxuries like the cars and TVs mentioned above. Grospellier was the first player to achieve both Supernova and Supernova Elite status on PokerStars.

Team PokerStars
Team PokerStars is truly one of the most exclusive teams of poker players out there, and PokerStars has expanded its team's roster of talent by leaps and bounds over the past year. That expansion included the recruitment of one of the most popular poker stars of all time, Daniel Negreanu, as well as a huge helping of noteworthy European pros to cater to the growing European poker market. Combine that with the star power of three recent World Series of Poker main-event champions (two of whom won their seats into the main event through PokerStars), and you have a truly unstoppable poker army.

Negreanu's move to Team PokerStars was especially noteworthy, considering it meant that he'd be leaving his own poker site, FullContactPoker, to do so. But one of the most recognizable poker players teaming up with the most populated poker site on the planet was a no-brainer.

As far as the Euro-centric recruitments go, one of the more recent acquisitions was the young Italian online poker prodigy Dario Minieri. Minieri became known early on for becoming the first player to buy a car with his player points (a Porsche that he didn't have a license to drive, yet). Also recently recruited was Katja Thater, who won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2007.

Longtime members of the team include recent main-event champions Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, and Chris Moneymaker. PokerStars also picked up a number of the final-table players from the 2007 main event, including Hevad Khan, Raymond Rahme, and Tuan Lam. The team also includes Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Rousso, Isabelle Mercier, Humberto Brenes, and Tom McEvoy.