Roger Hairabedian Crowned Top French Poker Player Once More

Despite changes to the way in which Live Poker awards points as part of their French player of the year promotion, Roger Hairabedian has still succeeded in picking up the honour for the second consecutive year.
One more Corsican Jean Paul Pasqualini put up the fiercest challenge for the title but in the end was unable to best the 1572 points collected throughout the year by his chief rival Hairabedian.
The impressive 2010 poker achievements of Roger Hairabedian include 20 tournament cashes for $590,288 in winnings, the majority of which were final tables, including a victory at the Mazagan Poker Million No. 10 this month.
The 55 year-old pro known as ‘Terminator’was born in Marseille in 1955 and was a member of the French judo team for 7 years between 1975 and 1982, eventually becoming the European champion in 1981.
After succumbing to a career ending knee injury, Hairabedian took up poker in 1985 aged 30 and soon found success as a professional player. Following the start of the poker boom Roger Hairabedian switched from draw poker to NL tournaments and in 1999 cashed in his first event.
Since then Hairabedian has gone on to cash in at 59 tournaments accumulating $1,814,000 along the way, with his highest score ever coming in 2008 at the €10,000 Grand Prix De Paris for $653,163.
Roger is also considered an ambassador of poker in France, but is not currently sponsored by any online sites possibly due to his links to Moroccan casino Es Saadi.