Former Starcraft king turned tournament crusher/PokerStars pro, the many-hued Grospellier has been a fixture on the poker circuit - and in the winner's circle - from the second he found the game.
With over $10 million in career earnings ElkY's firmly in the top 20 poker earners of all-time, and despite a comparatively limited number of huge scores lately he shows no sign of giving up his spot anytime soon.
Also one of the most fun-loving pros on tour, our colleague at PokerListings France Fred Guillemot caught up with him at a recent tour stop for a round with the always-popular Proust Questionnaire.
Results below; find out more on the classic Proust Questionnaire right here.
PokerListings.com: If you were an animal, what would you be?
Bertrand Grospellier: A lion.
PL: If you were a country...
BG: The United States.
PL: If you were a city...
BG: Hong Kong.
PL: If you were a poker tournament...
BG: The WSOP Main Event.
PL: If you were a poker card...
BG: The ace of spades.
PL: If you were a movie...
BG: The Dark Knight.
PL: If you were a sport...
BG: Tennis.
PL: Besides poker, what's your favorite addiction?
BG: (smiling) Caffeine.
PL: If you were a fictional character...
BG: Batman.
PL: What's your favorite song?
BG: At the moment, it's Follow Me by Muse, probably because it's their latest single. I just love that band.
PL: What's your favorite sound?
BG: The sound it makes when people fold on the Internet.
PL: And the one you hate?
BG: “Raise!” (laughs)
PL: What's your favorite quality in a woman?
BG: Loyalty, I guess.
PL: And in a man?
BG: The same.
PL: What's your main fault?
BG: Oh, I have a lot of these... I guess I have a hard time being mild, I'm always at 100% for everything. It can be a good thing, but more often than not it's not.
PL: Which fault do you forgive most easily?
BG: Excessive self-confidence.
PL: What's your favorite word?
BG: “Love.”
PL: And what's the one you hate?
BG: “Impossible.”
PL: Which superpower would you like to have?
BG: I think being able to stop time would be nice.
PL: What's your biggest fear?
BG: I used to be very scared of heights, before my jump in Macau, but I'm better now.
I managed to do it because my coach was there, and I was pumped. Plus the guys from PokerStars in Asia pushed me because they'd told the media that I was going to do it, so everyone was there to see me.
I was petrified, but actually, once you're falling, even head-first, it's far less scary. It’s psychological, because it is obviously safe, nothing can really happen.
PL: What do you hate the most?
BG: Lack of honor and values.
PL: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
BG: Honestly, I'd like to change a lot of things. But I think it's all my experiences and decisions that have made me who I am today, so I'm not sure I want to change that.
BG: You know, I don't want some sort of butterfly effect, where you just change one little thing and everything's different.
PL: If you hadn't become a poker player, what would you have liked to do?
BG: Formula 1 driver, or actor. That's what I wanted to do when I was young. Or chemist.
PL: If God exists, what would you like Him to tell you when you die?
BG: “Congratulations!”
PL: What would you like to be reborn as?
BG: I love cats, so a cat I think.
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