After strumming along nicely with only Bryn Kenney for company, GGPoker has decided that there’s room for growth on the ambassadorial balance sheet.
Daniel Negreanu joined from PokerStars in November, Felipe Ramos joined a month later, and in the past few days, Bertrand’ ElkY’ Grospellier has also joined the team. To say the leap from party to GGPoker happened quickly is an understatement. ElkY welcomed Kevin Hart to Team partypoker on April 11, and five days later he was sitting down in the tattooists’ chair having ‘GGPoker’ inked into his nether regions.
It’s the first time an online poker room has flexed a set of biceps bulky enough to shove PokerStars and partypoker out of the way since the world of online poker received an axe to the head in 2011.
In a marketing video posted on Twitter celebrating ElkY’s appointment, the French star declared that GGPoker’s software is the best in the business, waxing lyrical on its many features including the ability to stake and be staked using the client.
Why ElkY?
At no time in the past decade has ElkY been without an employer telling you that there’s something about the man that online poker rooms love, and GGPoker is picking ElkY up during a mini-renaissance.
In October he topped a 2,738 entrant field to win his second World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) €550 No-Limit Hold ’em Colossus for €190,375.
That was ElkY’s first win in 7-years, followed up with three major final table appearances, including runner-up in a €50,000 NLHE Super High Roller at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague for €501,590 and runner-up in the $1,100 NLHE MILLIONS Mini at the partypoker MILLIONS UK for $93,000.
ElkY sits on top of the French All-Time Money List for live tournament poker with $14.7m. He is also a member of the Triple Crown, winning the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event for $2m, and a World Poker Tour (WPT) title for $1.4m, both in 2008, before winning the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship at the 2011 WSOP for $331,639.
But it’s not ElkY’s prowess on the poker table that ensures online poker rooms keep hiring him. There’s more to him than that. A plus for anyone hiring him is his Esports experience, and his ability to gather a decent following on Twitch – an area that’s going to be ElkY’s focus.
“I expect my career to go to the next level,” said Elky before going on to call GGPoker, “the biggest online poker site in the world.”
Bold claims on both accounts.
More than a third of the world’s population is enforcing some form of lockdown. Life as we know it will never be the same again. The novel coronavirus is squeezing small businesses into urns. The only people to escape the massacre are the igloo makers in Antarctica.
ElkY’s appointment shows that you can find success even in these most tragic of times. Luck plays a part, for sure, but so does street smarts and savviness. While some ruminate, others rumble. While some become faded wallpaper, others become a brand new lick of paint.
The world is suffering, right now, but it’s not suffering that leads to hopelessness. It’s suffering that you think is out of your control, and people like ElkY rarely feel out of control.