ElkY on top in Madrid

French PokerStars pro, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier defeated a star-studded field to capture this years €25,000 EPT Grand Final High Roller event. Outlasting a 58-player big name pros, including WSOP champion Jonathan Duhamel, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, Johnny Lodden and Tom Dwan, the title was ElkY’s second EPT High Roller victory, with this one earning the Frenchman a cool €525,000.

But one of the biggest stories of the tournament was the first ever live meeting between Tom Dwan and recently outted internet sensation Victor ‘Isildur’ Blom, who actually lead the event in the early stages.

ElkY has not had the best of luck in this tournament in previous years, bubbling the final table on his two previous attempts. And heading into the final table as one of the short stacks things didn’t look great for Grospellier. But after winning some key hands, the Frenchman managed to build a stack and from there he never really looked back.

Going into heads-up ElkY was actually 3-to-1 chip underdog to PCA finalist Benny Spindler, but the online SNG and tournament specialist soon erased the deficit.

The end came when Elky was dealt 9h-4h and with the fell 9c-4d-2c-Jc-9s. All of the chips eneded up in the middle and Spindler turned over Kc-9d for trips he was crushed by ElkY’s full-house and Grospellier was the champion.

The win now means that Grospellier has amassed over $7 million in live tournament earnings, making him the most succesful French poker player ever.

Here’s how the final table finished up:

1 Bertrand Grospellier €525,000
2 Benny Spindler €316,000
3 Juha Helppi €185,000
4 David Sands €135,000
5 Vanessa Rousso €100,000
6 Alex Repik €72,000
7 Galen Hall €57,500
8 Peter Jetten €45,000