Bertrand Grospellier Parts Ways With PokerStars
January 27, 2018 12:46 pmBertrand Grospellier has just become the fourth high-profile pro this year to part ways with PokerStars, with the Frenchman’s departure from the site following the exits of Felipe Ramos, Vanessa Selbst and Jason Mercier.
The news was first announced on poker media outlet PokerFuse who credited the information to one of its unnamed industry sources. While as of yet unconfirmed by PokerStars, what is certain, however, is that Grospellier’s picture and bio are no longer to be found on the online card room’s website.
With a lack of clarity surrounding the news, poker experts have been speculating as to the cause of his departure, with one suggesting that it could be tied up with a general malaise amongst sponsored pros following ongoing tweaks to the site’s rewards program.
In other words, the focus of PokerStars on offering greater rewards to recreational players has resulted in its professional players seeing their own privileges dry up. This would certainly have had an even more exaggerated impact on Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier’s bottom line when one considers that he is one of the online and live game’s most accomplished pros, even becoming the first player to attain PokerStars’ Supernova Elite status in 2007.
Bertrand Grospellier’s leaving PokerStars will represent another blow for the prestige of the world’s biggest online poker room. After all, Grospellier is France’s number one ranked live tournament earner with 1 WSOP bracelet and $13,515,254 in live earnings to his name. Furthermore, following three years (2014-16) of mediocre results, 2017 proved to be Grospellier’s second best to date, helped not least by his runner-up finish at the $111,111 WSOP High Roller for One Drop for $2,278,657. This was also his highest score ever, beating his previous record set in 2008 following his victory at the 2008 PCA $8k event for $2 million.
It is therefore quite likely that Grospellier will quickly find himself snapped up by another major poker site soon, such as partypoker or French operator Winamax. In addition to his poker skills, Grospellier is also a prolific online gamer, especially in the fields of StarCraft and WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos players, and in 2015 was recruited to professional esports organization Team Liquid.