Poker news regularly reports about new stars emerging on the gaming scene of poker. With online poker rooms accessible from every part of the globe, anyone can become a poker professional. However, earning champion’s titles of the three biggest poker tournaments in the world, which is also called the Triple Crown title, isn’t a goal that everyone can achieve.
Bertrand Grospellier is the first French poker player who has earned the Triple Crown status. In his professional career, Bertrand has made it to over fifty final tables of poker championships and obtained first place 11 times, earning 2 WSOP bracelets, 3 EPT titles, and a WPT crown.
Read this Login Casino article to learn how did Bertrand Grospeillier become a champion of the World Poker Tour (WPT), World Series of Poker (WSOP), and European Poker Tour (EPT).
Bertrand’s path to Triple Crown status
The future star of poker was born on February 8, 1981, in Melun, France. From an early age, Bertrand became enticed with video games. He started playing at an age of 3. As for education, Bertrand Grospeillier finished the Lycée Stanislas de Nancy and then enrolled at the Henri Poincaré University, or Nancy 1, to get a degree in math science. However, he dropped out of school to work in a network games room in Paris. Later, the player moved to Seoul to pursue a career as a professional player of videogames, as esports is considered a national sport in South Korea.
Before becoming a renowned poker player, Bertrand Grospellier was a cybersports enthusiast. In the early 2000s, he was one of the best StarCraft gamers in the world, ranking as the second most successful StarCraft player during the World Cyber Games tournament in 2001 in Seoul, South Korea. Bertrand has also obtained a first place at the Euro Cyber Games 2003 in Paris. Moreover, Grospellier has competed in the WarCraft Retail League championship, playing popular at the time WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos game. In 2002, he has come in second during the tournament in Seoul.
In 2015, Bertrand briefly returned to the esports arena, playing the Hearthstone game as a part of Team Liquid.
ElkY’s career in online poker
In 2004, Bertrand turned his attention to poker and started playing in virtual poker rooms under the alias ElkY. Within a year he became well-known for playing at high stakes and multiple tables simultaneously at the PokerStars website. The star of poker, Bertrand Grospellier, has even set a world record, playing a total of 65 tables in one hour at the Sit-and-Go game. In 2006, ElkY reached Supernova status by earning 100k on PokerStars in just two weeks. A few months later a poker pro has become the first person to reach the Supernova Elite status by acquiring 1 million VIP player points.
2009 was a very successful year in Grospeillier’s online poker career, as he won two WCOOP titles, finishing at first place at the $530 NLH event with over $232k of prize money and the $215 NLH event, winning $263k. In 2011, ElkY has also become a SCOOP heads-up tournament champion, winning $112.5k.
Grospellier’s achievements in live tournaments
Live poker tournaments have brought Bertrand ever more fame than his achievements online. In 2005, Grospellier has earned his first live-event cash at the €500 buy-in NLH final event of the French Open in Deauville. ElkY finished in ninth place and won €2k. The next year he participated in the WSOP tournament for the first time, winning nearly $10.5k in the thirty-seventh place. The poker pro went on to win two World Series of Poker bracelets in 2011 and 2019. He also made his biggest cash during the WSOP $111 111 high-roller event, winning $2.278m and coming in second place.
ElkY has also competed at eight World Poker Tour tournaments, earning a total of $2.31 million. In 2008, the player became a WPT champion, winning the Festa Al Lago tournament at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. Bertrand Grospellier is also well known for playing at high stakes at the tournaments by European Poker Tour and has won three final tables of the series in 2008, 2011, and 2012.
In 2011, Grospellier became the first French Triple Crown Champion, earning first place at the three biggest live poke championships – WSOP, WPT, and EPT.
Tournaments that earned Grospellier a Triple Crown Status
| Poker series | Tournament | Year | Winnings |
| EPT PCA Paradise Island | $7.8k + 200 Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure | 2008 | $2 million |
| WPT | Festa Al Lago | 2008 | $1.41 million |
| EPT Madrid Grand Final | €25k + 500 NLH High Roller Turbo | 2011 | $799 220 |
| WSOP | $10k Seven Card Stud Championship | 2011 | $331 639 |
| EPT Berlin | €10k + 300 NLH 8 Max Re-Entry event | 2012 | $301 992 |
| WSOP Europe | €550 NLH The Colossus event | 2019 | $221 000 |
Since 2018, he was sponsored by Party Poker, terminating a contract in 2020 to sign a new partnership with GGPoker.
Poker star Bertrand Grospellier actively participates in major poker tournaments to this day. His last major tournament was WSOPE in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, where the player ranked 13th during €2k PLO 8-handed event. Grospellier has also confirmed that he will compete at the WSOP World tournament both online at the GGPoker platform and live in Las Vegas.
What is Bertrand Grospellier’s net worth?
The big cashers from the poker tournaments are the most attractive parts of the poker game, especially for the newcomers. And Grospellier has certainly succeeded in this field. Total winnings of the poker pro exceed $14.67 million, putting him on the top of the French All Time Money List. According to the poker sport news sources, the net worth of Bertrand Grospellier is estimated to be from $1 million to $8 million.
He made most of his life earnings playing live poker tables at major tournaments. The biggest winnings of Grospellier in live poker tournaments are listed in the table below.
| Tournament | Place | Year | Place | Prize money |
| WSOP $111k NLH high-roller | Las Vegas, USA | 2017 | 2nd | $2.278 million |
| EPT PCA Paradise Island $7.8k + 200 Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure | Paradise Island, Bahamas | 2008 | 1st | $2 million |
| WPT 6th Annual Festa Al Lago Classic | Las Vegas, USA | 2008 | 1st | $1.411 million |
| EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final €98.5k + 1.5k NLH super high-roller 8 max event | Monte Carlo, Monaco | 2013 | 3rd | $819 878 |
| EPT Madrid Grand Final €25k + 500 NLH high-roller turbo | Madrid, Spain | 2012 | 1st | $779 220 |
The social life of poker pro
Although very little is known about Bertrand Grospellier’s personal life, it doesn’t seem like he is a very private person. The poker star has appeared on several American TV shows, including High Stakes Poker in 2010 and Poker Night in America in 2015. ElkY also hosts live streams on Twitch and has accounts on almost every social media platform, including Twitter and Instagram. Bertrand Grospellier also has a personal website.
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