"There Will Be No Rematch With Lex" - Interview with Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier

During EPT London, Tobias Frey had the chance to meet with Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier of Team PokerStars. In this interview, the French poker pro speaks about his heads-up matches against Viktor Blom, his crazy prop bets and a possible StarCraft II comeback.

Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier

PokerStrategy.com: Not long ago, you and Team PokerStars defeated The Professionals. You personally beat Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom 3:0 – how did you prepare for this match?

ElkY: I spoke to some of my teammates who already played Viktor several times before. Additionally, I watched his SuperStar Showdowns, which helped me to prepare to play against him.

The biggest advantage for me was probably the sample size of hands we played, since he is much more experienced and better at heads-up than I am..

PokerStrategy.com: What is it that makes Isildur1 so strong?

ElkY: He is not afraid of taking risks that involve losing huge sums of money and he is a very experienced heads-up player.

Blom is able to adjust very quickly to the game of his opponent and to change his style of play accordingly. I think that right now, Isildur1 is one of the best heads-up players in the world.

PokerStrategy.com: Nonetheless you clearly won your match easily.

ElkY: I was running really hot and my strategy worked out perfectly. He made a lot of checkraises and played his draws aggressively but missed them most of the time.

I varied my own game with 3-bets and bluffs and was perfectly satisfied with how that worked out. To be honest, I'm quite proud of beating Isildur1 – it's a great achievement.

"I'm still friends with Lex, there probably won't be a rematch"

No rematch with Lex

PokerStrategy.com: You're famous for your crazy prop bets. One of them made you learn Russian after losing a wager against Eugene Katchalov and another made you fight Lex Veldhuis in a boxing ring. What is so fascinating about these bets for you? Is it the money, the fun, or the mere excitement of it?

ElkY: I think it's probably a combination of all these aspects. It's not so much about the money, but more about proving something to yourself and pushing your limits.

The prop bet with Eugene for example, was not about money at all, even though it was really hard to learn Russian. It's a very complicated language and I would have rather learned German instead.

Even after fighting Lex at kickboxing, we're still friends even though there probably won't be a re-match. Because of all my obligations with poker, I just don't have the time to do all the necessary preparations for something like this again. Lex could do it – he's got enough time (laughs). I'm open for new prop bets though, even if most of them are made up spontaneously.

PokerStrategy.com: Before starting your poker career you have been very successful doing e-sports and were a high class StarCraft player. What do you think about the game's sequel... and can we look forward to your comeback in e-sports?

ElkY: I spent a lot of time playing StarCraft II in the beginning, but the game is very time-consuming. For the time being I'd rather watch other people play than play myself. Of course, playing with friends for an hour or two is a lot of fun – it's still a great game.

I'm really sorry to say this, but I'm pretty sure there won't be a comeback in e-sports for me. There are so many great players in StarCraft II and I would have to invest too much time to get back to my old level.

PokerStrategy.com: What are the similarities between poker and e-sports?

ElkY: StarCraft and poker are games where you have to deal with incomplete information. All the indications you get in either game are incomplete: you never know what cards your opponents have and in StarCraft you don't know what your opponent's base looks like. And of course it's very important to adjust to your opponents' game.

The poker community is so much bigger today compared to the early days. In the old days, there were maybe 20 people in e-sports that could make a living from gaming. This number should be higher today, but in fact, I think that there are not more than 50 to 100 players who can do this. This is not much if you compare it to the poker world- where you find so many players making a living from the game.

"I'm sure I will be playing One Drop again"

ElkY at EPT Berlin

PokerStrategy.com: Let's talk about the World Series of Poker. You played the $1 Million One Drop event in 2012 but couldn't make it in the money. Do you feel any pressure about that and are you planning to play the event again?

ElkY: Of course I felt a lot of pressure when playing the event. (But) at least it was for a good cause. The whole atmosphere was unique and it was a lot of fun – even though I was really disappointed to bust so early in the tournament.

This year they will have a smaller One Drop event with a buy-in of $111,111. I'll be playing this tournament, as well as the big One Drop next year.

PokerStrategy.com: The new WSOP schedule came up with some exciting innovations like turbo events and re-entries, what are your thoughts on it?

ElkY: I do like the new tournament schedule even though I'm not a big fan of re-entries tournaments. In these tournaments, poker pros have a bigger advantage because much of the time, many amateurs can't afford to buy-in. From my point of view it would be better to offer more events than just making some of them re-entries.

PokerStrategy.com: Besides that, there is a new rule for the ladies' event – men have to buy-in with $10,000 while women only have to pay $1,000. In the past, several male players could be seen playing this event – sometimes even dressed up as women.

ElkY: I like the new provision since I think it respects the female players. The event is intended for female players and if you can't exclude men from playing it you should make it as unattractive as possible. If men want to play poker tournaments in women's clothing they are free to do that – but please don't do it in the Ladies Event.

PokerStrategy.com: Thank you for this interview, Elky!

by tobiasfrey