Newest member of the poker's Triple Crown club: Bertrand Grospellier

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier came back from a little bit more than one big blind to win his first World Series of Poker bracelet Tuesday night. The French poker pro defeated Steven Landfish heads-up after a nearly four hour dual to win the title and $331,639.

Landfish was the only player eliminated at the final table by Grospellier on his way to the victory. Grospellier’s performance is made all that more impressive by the fact that prior to Sunday he’d never played Stud poker.

“As my friend pushed me to play he said I had a really good memory for the cards so I can analyze the cards and the combination,” said Grospellier. “I think I caught up quickly and all the poker games are all similar. It’s about reading your opponents and adapting to the situation. Of course I have a lack of experience but sometimes I think it (helped) me because I was playing really aggressive and getting my opponents to fold in some spots where they’re not supposed to fold.”

Grospellier can now lay claim to poker’s version of the Triple Crown: an European Poker Tour title, a World Poker Tour title and a WSOP bracelet. Grospellier won EPT’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the WPT’s Festa al Lago in 2008.

“This is definitely right up there because one of the first big tournaments I played was the World Series of Poker, back in 2005. The Main Event,” said Grospellier. “I’ve played so many World Series of Poker events and never really came that close for a bracelet. My closest spot was in 2007 at the final so I’ve been waiting for this for five years.”

The 12 players that started the day wasted little time getting down to a final table. In the first 90 minutes of play Jason Mercier, Ville Wahlbeck, Christopher George, Sorel Mizzi, Men Nguyen and Nick Schulman all busted. The remaining eight players then moved their chips to the ESPN main stage final table with John Hennigan holding a slight chiplead over the rest of the field.

The move was a temporary one for Chris Tryba. On the very first hand after the move Tryba and Maxwell Troy got into a hand. Getting the last of his chips in after sixth street Tryba had a pair of kings to Troy’s two pair, jacks and threes. Tryba was unable to pair any of his cards and Troy completed a meaningless flush to send Tryba home in eighth spot for $38,812.

Next to go was Kevin Tang who was all-in on sixth street holding Q 5 8 7 K 4 against the 9 9 J 7 K 2 of Steve Landfish. Seventh street gave Tang a second 8 but not enough to beat the pocket nines of Landfish. Tang collected $47,032 for his second career WSOP cash.

Over the next 20 minutes Troy went to work by eliminating both Chad Brown, in sixth, and Alexander Kostritsyn, in fifth spot. The back-to-back eliminations gave Troy the momentum as the surviving four players headed to dinner he sat second behind only Landfish. On the first hand back Landfish eliminated a shortstacked John Hennigan in fourth to extend his lead. That’s when Grosepellier turned it up a notch as he vaulted to the front of the pack. Over the span of 40 minutes Grospellier went from 800,000 chips to 2,400,000. The momentum seemed unstoppable.

“I caught a lot of hands obviously and I was getting really good value from my hands. I really ran pretty good,” said Grospellier.

Showing 2 A T J Grospellier was facing a single bet from Landfish after seventh street had been dealt. The two had put a total of 16 bets into the pot on previous streets and Grospellier folded. The pot moved Landfish into the lead where he stayed the rest of the night. Minutes later  Troy, who had eliminated three of the first four players from the the final table, was eliminated by Landfish in third for $128,341.

Heads-up play lasted just over four hours as the two players went back and forth for the chip lead. Almost three hours into the match Grospellier was down to just 150,000 chips. He battled back to even, took the chip lead again and eventually got Landfish to break. The final hand began with Landfish holding just 300,000 in chips. With all the chips in the pot Grospellier made a pair of fives on fourth street and added running sixes to make a full house. Landfish only had a pair of fours and was out in second place for $204,924.

Final Table Payouts

1. Bertrand Grospellier - $331,639
2. Steven Landfish - $204,924
3. Maxwell Troy – $128,341
4. John Hennigan - $92,928
5. Alexander Kostritsyn – $72,627
6. Chad Brown – $57,917
7. Kevin Tang – $47,032
8. Chris Tryba – $38,812

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