Bertrand Grospellier (; born 8 February 1981 in Melun), also known as ElkY , is a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player and former '' StarCraft: Brood War'' and '' Warcraft III''

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

player. He has won a World Poker Tour (WPT), a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and a European Poker Tour (EPT) title, giving him the Triple Crown. He is a partypoker Pro and he currently resides in Prague, Czech Republic. ElkY is ranked #77 on the

Global Poker Index The Global Poker Index (GPI) is a leaderboard index that ranks over 450,000 live tournament poker players in the world. The GPI poker rankings are updated on a weekly basis. Players’ performances are assessed by their finishing positions in pok ...

(info from 8 July 2014). In November 2015 ElkY returned to the esports scene by joining Team Liquid as a ''

Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a free-to-play online digital collectible card game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthstone'' builds upon the existing lore of the ''Warcraft'' series by u ...

'' player.

''StarCraft'' and ''WarCraft III''

ElkY was one of the top ranked ''

StarCraft ''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance am ...

'' players in the world, having placed second in the World Cyber Games in 2001 and continuing his career in South Korea in the years subsequent including a fourth-place finish in an Ongamenet Starleague. By 2002, he picked up the newly released '' WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos'' and garnered success by finishing second in the televised Ongamenet WarCraft Retail League before retiring.

Accomplishments

*3rd - '' StarCraft: Brood War'', KBK Jeju, 2001 ( Seoul, South Korea) *2nd - ''StarCraft: Brood War'',

World Cyber Games 2001 The World Cyber Games 2001 was held in Seoul, South Korea from the December 5th to the 9th. Total prize money was $245,000. Official games *First-person shooter (FPS) ** Half-Life: Counter-Strike ** Quake III: Arena ** Unreal Tournament *Real ...

(Seoul, South Korea) *4th - ''StarCraft: Brood War'',

World Cyber Games 2002 The World Cyber Games 2002 was held in Daejeon, South Korea from the October 28th to the November 3rd. Total prize money was $300,000. Official games *First-person shooter (FPS) ** Half-Life: Counter-Strike ** Quake III: Arena ** Unreal Tourna ...

( Daejeon, South Korea) *4th - ''StarCraft: Brood War'', SKY 2 Ongamenet Starleague, 2002 (Seoul, South Korea) *2nd - '' WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos'', Ongamenet WarCraft Retail League, 2002 (Seoul, South Korea) *1st - ''StarCraft: Brood War'', Euro Cyber Games 2003 ( Paris, France) *Round 8 - ''StarCraft: Brood War'',

World Cyber Games 2003 The World Cyber Games 2003 was held in Seoul, South Korea from the October 12th to the 18th. Approximately 600,000 competitors participated and 562 players advanced to the Grand Final. Total prize money was $2,000,000. It was the third iteration o ...

(Seoul, South Korea) *Round 16 - ''StarCraft: Brood War'',

World Cyber Games 2004 The World Cyber Games 2004 was held in San Francisco, California, United States from the October 6–10. It was the first ever World Cyber Games to be held outside of Korea. Official games PC games * '' Counter-Strike: Condition Zero'' * ''FIFA ...

( San Francisco, California, United States)

Poker career

He has turned his attention to professional poker the last few years. ElkY was a member of Team PokerStars. He was the first person ever to reach "Supernova" and "Supernova Elite" statuses on PokerStars - having earned 100,000 and 1,000,000 player points in 2 weeks, and months, respectively.

Accomplishments

He set the Guinness World Record for most Single Table Sit & Goes played in one hour for a total of 62 at a $6.50 buy in with a profit of $23.60. As of February 2018, his total live tournament winnings exceed $13,500,000.

European Poker Tour

On Saturday, 20 January 2007, he finished second in the Copenhagen event on the European Poker Tour for 309,000 Euros. In January 2008, ElkY finished in 1st place winning $2,000,000 at the European Poker Tour's (EPT)

PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was an annual televised poker tournament. The event was first held in 2004 and was originally co-sponsored by PokerStars and the World Poker Tour. In 2008, the event moved from the WPT to the European Poker Tour. ...

. A year later, while being knocked out of the main event of the

on day 1, ElkY went on to take home the EPT5 $25,000 buy-in "High Roller" side event for $433,500.

World Poker Tour

In October 2008, ElkY added to his tournament haul by winning the World Poker Tour's Festa al Lago tournament, claiming a $1.4 million first prize. The win marked ElkY's first-ever cash on the WPT. He also became just the third person, along with

Roland De Wolfe Roland De Wolfe is an English professional poker player and a former writer for the poker magazine ''Inside Edge''. After winning first prize in an event at the 2004 Gutshot Poker Festival, De Wolfe went on to cash in the $1,000 No Limit even ...

and

Gavin Griffin Gavin Griffin (born August 28, 1981 in Darien, Illinois) is an American professional poker player. He attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Starting as an internet poker player he successfully made the transition to live pok ...

, to win a title on both the WPT and EPT. As a result of his success on the seventh season of the World Poker Tour, ElkY was awarded the distinction of "WPT Player of the Year."

World Championship of Online Poker

ElkY was disqualified from event 29 in the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for agreeing to go all-in blind with another player. This violated the tournament rule which states "Poker is an individual (not a team) game. Any action or chat intended to help another player is unethical and is prohibited." His winnings were forfeited and other places were moved up in the standings to replace his finish. Two other players ( Annette_15 and charder30) had also violated the same rule earlier. On 18 September 2009, ElkY won his first WCOOP bracelet in event 38. He added a second bracelet only three days later in Event 43 by besting a field of 9,220 entrants. His winnings for both events totaled nearly $500,000. Spring Championship of Online Poker Titles

World Series of Poker

ElkY won his first WSOP bracelet in the '2011 Seven Card Stud Championship', overcoming a field of 126 to collect $331,639 in prize money. This win made ElkY only the fourth player to win a WPT, EPT and WSOP title. ElkY won his second bracelet in the 2019 WSOPE winning the $550 Colossus No limit holdem event. An "E" following a year denotes bracelet(s) won at the World Series of Poker Europe

Charity

Today, ElkY is a member of the "Champions for Peace" club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

''Hearthstone''

In November 2015, Elky returned to the esports scene by joining Team Liquid as a ''

'' player.

References

External links

Team PokerStars profile

Blonde Poker interviewGlobal Gaming League interviewBertrand "ElkY" Grospellier ProfileBertrand "ElkY" Grospellier Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elky Sportspeople from Melun 1981 births Living people French esports players French poker players StarCraft players Warcraft III players Hearthstone players European Poker Tour winners World Poker Tour winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners