Bertrand “Elky†Grospellier has added another title to his resumé, that of WPT Festa Al Lago champion. Grospellier entered the six-man final table as the chip leader, but had to work hard to eliminate the smaller stacks and cling to his lead. After a tough heads-up battle in which he vanquished WPT superstar Nam Le, Grospellier captured the title. Bertrand Grospellier became the third player to have won both WPT and EPT titles, the other two being Roland de Wolfe, and Gavin Griffin, who also captured a WSOP title.
William Mietz was the first to fall at the hands of Grospellier. In his last hand of the day Mietz called Grospellier’s preflop raise to see the flop fall [9s][7s][4d]. Both players checked and the dealer brought the [9d] down on the turn. Mietz check-raised all-in and Grospellier made the call with just ace high [Ac][10s]. Mietz had been bluffing though, holding only [Kd][10h] and was in danger of going out. A third nine, the [9h], fell on the river to end William Mietz’s tournament. Mietz earned $186,510 for his sixth place finish.
Grospellier than set his sights on his next victim, Adam Levy. Levy moved all-in preflop with [Ac][9h] and Grospellier made the immediate call with his pocket queens. No help came for Levy as the board fell [Ks][3c][2d][Qh][7s] and he was heading for the exits in fifth place, having earned $266,445.
Nenad Medic would be the next to fall before Grospellier’s guns, doing so when he found himself in a coin flip situation, Medic’s pocket sixes versus Grospellier’s [Ks][Jd]. The flop would fall [Jc][9c][3d] to give Grospellier the lead with a pair of jacks. The turn of [2d] and the river of [5h] would not bring Medic the needed reversal of fortune and he was gone in fourth place, taking home $373,010.
Three-way action was intense, with Bertrand Grospellier losing his chip lead at one point only to retake the lead. With Nam Le in dire straits Grospellier made an all-in reraise over Osmin “Oddie†Dardon’s reraise. Dardon decided that Grospellier was just trying to make a move and pushed the rest of his chips into the middle. Dardon showed [As][Jc] and his instincts were proven right as Grospellier showed [10c][2c]. Unfortunately for the correct Dardon, the board fell [9s][4s][2s][9d][3h] to give the victory to Grospellier. Oddie Dardon would collect $506,245 for his third place finish.
Bertrand Grospellier than entered heads-up play with a more than 15:1 chip lead over Nam Le. However, Nam Le would not go down without a fight as he quickly doubled up twice in a row. However, three times was not a charm for Le as his [Ah][Qh] would lose in a race against Grospellier’s pocket tens, the board falling [10d][7s][6s][9h][Ks].
Nam Le earned $943,215 for his runner-up performance while Bertrand Grospellier captured $1,411,015 and a WPT title.
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