Elky Wins EPT Title at PokerStars EventThe PokerStars Caribbean Adventure continues to grow in success each year. 2008 marked the first time this event was part of the European Poker Tour (EPT) series. With a whopping 1,136 players in this $7800+$200 buy-in tournament this shattered the previous record number of entrants, 706 in last years Grand Finale, making this the largest event in EPT history.

The event was equally as successful for PokerStars as it was for the EPT. For the second year in a row they witnessed one of their own sponsored players take down the championship title. In 2007 it was the online poker prodigy Dario Minieri, this year it is world class gamer and PokerStars high stakes regular Bertrand Grospellier, who is better known by his online handle and gamer ID; ‘ElkY’.

ElkY not only had to make it through this massive field on his way to victory but he also had to clash with the 2007 player of the year: David “the Dragon” Pham along the way. With just four players left Pham was still a force at the table but ElkY managed to personally send “The Dragon” to the rail in 4th place. Here is the PokerStars account of that hand:

ElkY slays the Dragon: “It took five days before that headline was for real. Now it happens. ElkY raised to 400,000 preflop and Pham called in the big blind with Q5. The flop came KhQh5d. Both players checked. When the Jd came on the turn, Pham checked, ElkY bet 700,000, andand Pham raised all-in for 2,000,000 more. ElkY called with Ad2d and spiked his diamond on he river. Pham is out in fourth place, earning $600,000.”

The two PCA finalists were decided shortly after Pham’s elimination when eventual runner up, Hafiz Khan, sent Kris Kuykendall to the rail in 2nd place.

Once the finalists were decided the two players went on a prolonged break. When the players finally reconviened ElkY captured one million of his opponents chips on the first hand dealt and a short while later managed to win the rest.

Here is a video of the final hand:

Final Table Results:
1. Bertrand Grospellier, A.K.A. “ElkY” $2,000,000
2. Hafiz Khan $1,094,976
3. Kris Kuykendall$800,000
4. David Pham $600,000
5. Craig Hopkins $450,000
6. Joseph Elpayaa $300,000
7. Christian Harder $200,000
8. Richard Fohrenbach $150,000

More about ElkY:

Bertrand Grospellier: is a world renowned online gamer best known under his professional computer gamer ID, “ElkY”. He is one of the top ranked ‘Starcraft’ players in Korea. His PokerStars user name is also ElkY.

In 2006, Before ElkY was a member of Team PokerStars, he became the first player PokerStars player to earn 1 million base FPP points which made him also the first player to reach Supernova Elite status in the PokerStars VIP program.