Bertrand “Elky” Grospeillier made a living as a professional vide game player in South Korea, and picked up online poker as a hobby. Now, years later, he was playing in the 2009 NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.
It was Huck Seed and Sammy Farha at the featured table, and Vanessa Rousso and Bertrand “Elky” Grospeillier at a second table in the semi final round. In this hand Elky tried to hold on to his chip lead.
With:
big slick, he raised it to $13k. Rousso certainly could have raised him back with Ladies:
but she just called.
The Flop came down:
and Rousso checked her option, as did Elky.
The Turn hit:
and now Vanessa fired out $20k, hoping to get some cash from Elky. It worked as he made the call.
The River hit:
and this time both player checked it down, with Elky showing his hand to his opponent. Many times pros will show their hand for a very specific reason – rarely are they just being friendly.
Elky knew his opponent was a talented poker player, and he was sending her a message; that should could have gotten a lot more money from him pre flop had she but raised. Perhaps he intended to get her to play bigger pots as she was a notorious small ball poker player.
