ElkY overcomes huge deficit to win first WSOP bracelet

(PRESS RELEASE) -- Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier has become the fourth person to win the live ‘Triple Crown’, which comprises European Poker Tour (EPT), World Poker Tour (WPT) and World Series of Poker* (WSOP) titles, after he took down Event 21 – the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship – in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the WSOP in Las Vegas.

ElkY won $331,639 for his first-place finish in the event, and follows in the footsteps of British pro Jake Cody, who also became a Triple Crown winner at this World Series when he took down Event 2 – the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship. The other two Triple Crown winners have been Roland de Wolfe and Gavin Griffin.

Shortly after his win, an elated ElkY Tweeted to the world: “Soooo sick, finally did it after five years of the WSOP!! Thanks so much for the support and best wishes!”

WSOP bracelet

ElkY has waited nearly three years to get his hands on the Triple Crown. He won an EPT title at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January 2008 for $2,000,000, and followed up with a World Poker Tour win in Las Vegas later that year for another $1.4 million. Since then, ElkY has continued to crush live tournaments across the world, racking up a total of nearly $8 million in cashes.

Despite a handful of cashes at the WSOP in Las Vegas, ElkY had never made a final table until today. He almost final-tabled the $10,000 2-7 Lowball Championship last weekend, when he came 11th for $27,928, but the French pro finally got his hands on a gold bracelet after defeating Steve Landfish in an epic heads-up battle that lasted nearly four hours.

At one point ElkY was a 24:1 chip underdog at heads-up, but he battled back over several hours as the chip lead see-sawed back and forth, before he eventually triumphed just before 3am in the Rio Casino, Las Vegas.

Several other Team PokerStars Pros went close in the event. Chad Brown finished sixth for $57,917, while Ville Wahlbeck and Jason Mercier fell just short of the final table, coming 13th and 14th respectively.

ElkY’s Triple Crown

· January 2008 – PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event – $2,000,000

· October 2008 – WPT Festa Al Lago – $1,411,015

· June 2011 – WSOP Seven Card Stud Championship – $331,639

Other key wins

· January 2009 – PokerStars Caribbean Adventure High Roller – $433,500

· May 2011 – EPT Grand Final High Roller – €525,000

· May 2011 – EPT Grand Final High Roller Turbo – €153,000