Bertrand “Elky” Grospillier is the Winner of the WPT 2008 Festa al Lago

Elky goes on a super aggressive tear and runs over all players to win the 2008 Festa al Lago

Bertrand “Elky” Grospillier is the winner of the WPT 2008 Festa al Lago, and he did it playing fearless poker during the whole tournament but this was highlighted at the final table were he continuously punished his opponents with hyper aggressive play and pushing his chip stack in the middle time and time again. His willingness to risk large sums of his chip stack with any two cards made Elky the official executioner of the table as he eliminated all five opponents to win the tournament.

William Mietz was the first player eliminated from the final table. Meitz had been playing against Gropellier for several hours prior to the final table and commented on Elky’s play as “super aggressive”. Mietz tried to push back on what proved to be his last hand, when he pushed all in holding K - 10 and the board was paired and nine high. Elky had no problem calling him even though he only held ace high but with no help for Mietz on the turn or river Mietz was sent to the rail with a $186,510 payday and Elky extended his chip lead over the rest of the field.

Next to face Grospellier was another internet professional Adam “Roothlus” Levy who became well known to poker fans for his live paly earlier this summer with his deep run into a WSOP tournament. Levy is a long time and respected internet professional who also has a flair for aggressive poker. Levy had been folding most of his hands and pushing all in with others for the last few days, and when he looked down at A - 9 he decided to push all his chips in again but this time he got a quick call by the QQ of Elky. The queens held up as Levy walks away with a $266,445 payday and Grospellier increases his chip lead once again now holding over 10,000,000 chips (more than half in play).

Elky went on a chip stealing tear picking up pot after pot with preflop raises, even trying to put his opponents on tilt by showing a 2 - 3 after winning a pot uncontested with a pre flop raise.

Canadian Nedad Medic decided it was time to take a stand when he was dealt pocket sixes and the action was on him, Nedad decided to push all 1.28 million in chips to the middle. Elky looked down at K - J and made the call. The board came J - 9 - 3 - 2 - 5 and Nedad was eliminated in fourth place earning $373,010 in prize money.

Elky seemed unbeatable and now with Nedad’s chips adding to his stack he now held a three to one chip lead over the table. With the blinds increasing and his opponents on short stacks Elky puts on even more pressure by moving all in the first two hands after the elimination of Nedad Medic. The play of Grospellier made it crystal clear for the remaining players Odie Dardon and Nam Le of what they would have to push all in against Elky in order to stay in this tournament. And that they did as both players managed to double up after getting all their chips in the middle.

What was once an insurmountable chip lead Elky now only had a 1.5 to 1 lead over the table and two opponents that now had some confidence. Odie Dardon started to make a few questionable river calls and bluffed away a couple of million chips and was back down to 3 million in chips and Elky was back to his aggressive style and moved Dardon all in after a raise and re-raise with only a 10 -2. Dardon held A - J and looked like a sure double up but when the board showed a deuce Dardon was sent to the rail with a $506,245 dollar payday.

Down to heads up play and Elky held a massive 15,000,000 in chips to Nam Le’s 925,000. Nam was quick to double up on the very first hand of play holding a A -J and the second hand of heads up play as his pocket deuces held up. This brought Nam’s chip stack to almost 4 million and hopes of a good heads up battle would ensue, but this was not the case.

On the very next hand, Grospellier raised to 700,000 from the big blind position after Nam had called. Nam feeling like he was being bullied pushed all in holding A - Q and got a quick call from Elky holding pocket tens. The race was on but the very first card on the flop was a ten giving Elky a set and Nam needed runner runner to stay alive. The board didn’t bring anything for Nam and Grospellier exploded into celebration.

Nam Le earned a $943,215 payday and moved into the tenth place on the overall WPT money list with $3,084,273. Elky earned his second live win and fisrt WPT cash, and a $1,411,015 payday is a great start.

This proved to be a excellent WPT event and many Canadian professionals found their wat into the money, the top Canadian was Nedad Medic earning a nice $373,010 payday with his fourth place finish.