Online Poker

I like Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier, not least because he competed as a cyberathlete playing Starcraft before he began playing online poker. He seems to be improving all the time, and his performance in the PokerStars World Championship Of Online Poker (or WCOOP) is proof of this. After winning Event 38 the other day and taking $232,730 for the effort, he has now gone on to also win Event 43 for $263,323.

It has been a good year for ElkY, who took first place in the high roller event of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January, and who has continued to place highly in quite a few other major events in 2009. He came third in the Seventh Annual Five Star World Poker Classic Championship Event, and last year he won the World Poker Tour Player of the Year award.

The point I'd like to make about this Team PokerStars Pro is that he comes off as something of a journeyman heading toward a major title. Sure, being WPT Player of the Year is an exceptional achievement, but he has yet to win a WSOP bracelet. He was only the third person to win titles in both the EPT and the WPT, but the first two players to do that have now also won WSOP bracelets. Roland de Wolfe was in a similar position a few years ago, and he went on to win his first WSOP bracelet this year. What's notable is that de Wolfe seemed to participate in a lot more tournaments in the years after taking the EPT and WPT events, which brings us back to Grospellier...

Grospellier has also increased his tournament activity, and I think this is a sign of preparation to make a bigger mark on the world of tournament poker. Unfortunately, this could be quite some time away, as ElkY tends to do best in No Limit Hold 'Em tourneys, which are often the most competitive WSOP events. Nevertheless, if he keeps performing as well as he has in the smaller tournament series, I think he'll become an incredibly dominant player in the next few years. Don't get me wrong, he's already a big name in poker, he has just yet to develop the formidable reputation of poker's biggest stars. A WSOP bracelet would be a good start toward earning that rep, and I think he's looking to cultivate that image.

Please leave a comment if you have any thoughts on other professional poker players who you think are working their way towards poker tournament dominance. Also, remember that you can play with Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier at PokerStars if you like, as he is a member of Team PokerStars Pro.