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Benjamin Pollak: Things to Know About French Poker Star

Benjamin Pollak: Things to Know About French Poker Star

The modern industry of poker is enticing for many card games enthusiasts. High roller events, big cashers, and fame motivate beginners in this game to spend hours playing in online and live poker rooms. A star of poker, Benjamin Pollak, was a newbie in poker not so long ago as well.

Photo sorces: partypokerlive.com

Read our poker news article to learn more about this famous personality of the poker world. Learn how did Pollak become the 2nd on the French all-time money list and 59th on the global money list.

From magic shows to high-roller events: Pollak’s poker career

The future star of French poker was born on the 23rd of April, 1983 in Paris. Before becoming a professional poker player, Benjamin Pollak had a passion for cards and wanted to become a magician. Young Pollak performed with his magic shows at birthday parties, weddings, and at the local holiday centers. That’s where the nickname MagicDeal, under which the cardplayer plays in online poker rooms, comes from.

Benjamin was studying engineering at the School of Network and Telecommunications in 2005 when he discovered a new enticing hobby – poker. He played his first live poker table in December 2007 at the Aviation Club of France. Pollak competed in €500 buy-in NHL Bronze Championship and came first, winning €12.13k. The star of poker, Benjamin Pollak, won his first six-digit cash prize at the Main Event of Haussmann Trophies in 2010 in Paris, when ranked first and earned €100k.

The poker pro also enjoys playing in virtual poker rooms and won over $400k at the online poker tournaments of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Pollack’s favorite poker player is Phil Ivey.

Benjamin Pollak’s best cashers from live events

Poker star Benjamin Pollak is best known for winning $3.5 million at the final table of the WSOP World Championship in 2017 when he obtained third place.

Although Benjamin Pollak is yet to earn a WSOP bracelet, he has already made it to three final tables of the WSOP World and two Main Events of WSOP Europe. Benjamin first entered WSOP live tournament in July 2010 in Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, US, and brought back home over $11k in prize money. In 2013, the future star of poker played at his first final table of the series, finishing at 27th place with $285.4k of prize money. In 2018, MagicDeal was at the 42nd place of WSOP NLH Main Event and earned over $189k from that game.

Pollak has also participated in the European variant of the series and won more than €460k in 2017 at the high-roller event of the WSOP Europe in King’s Resort in the Czech Republic.

In his career in poker, Benjamin Pollak has played at the final table of the World Poker Tour twice. In early 2011, MagicDeal made it to the final event WTP for the first time. The championship was held at the King’s Casino in Prague. Pollak won almost $140k, obtaining a fourth place. In 2013 MagicDeal participated in the WPT championship again, reaching the final table in Casino Barcelona. At that time, he finished at second place and gathered $162.8k.

As for European Poker Tour, the biggest win of Benjamin Pollak was in August 2014, when he won €219k in the fifth place of €10.3k high roller event in Barcelona. In February 2015, poker pro has competed at the final table of EPT and finished at the fourth place, winning over €187k. The other major win of Pollak in the EPT high-stakes event came in 2019 in Monte Carlo. From that game player received over €700k.

Biggest winnings of Benjamin Pollak

TournamentEventYearPlacePrize sum
WSOP 48th annual World Championship$10k NLH Main Event20173rd$3.5m
PokerStars EPT Barcelona€50k Single day high-roller20181st€979k
PokerStars and Monte Carlo Casino EPT€25k EPT high-roller20191st€705.84k
PokerStars Championship Barcelona€10.3k high-roller20173rd€688.7k
WSOP Europe€25k NLH high-roller20172nd€460.62k

Although the exact net worth of Benjamin Pollak is unknown, his total earnings from poker games have exceeded $12.9 million. This makes Pollak the second biggest poker player in his homeland, France, after Bertrand Grospellier.

In the last two years, MagicDeal hasn’t won any major poker tournament. However, as of September 2020, the poker star enjoys a partnership with partypoker and is very active in online poker rooms.

Personal life of Benjamin Pollak

Benjamin currently lives in London, UK. As the poker sports news informs, there is little to nothing known about a player’s personal life. Nevertheless, there is info about Benjamin Pollak on social networks, as he has accounts on several major platforms. On Twitter, the player regularly posts updates on his participation in online tournaments and shares his thoughts on different subjects. Instagram page of Benjamin Pollak is also very active, player posts there on the monthly basis.

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