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Viva la WSOP! Soulier wins $10K HORSE event, third bracelet for France24 June 2011The moniker “best poker player who’s never won a gold bracelet” is a bit unjust. It implies there’s a small clique of players who somehow are more deserving of a World Series of Poker victory than others. It also puts unnecessary pressure on the players who are thought of in this way. Just ask the players of the very recent past who found themselves in this category before finally shedding the proverbial poker monkey in 2010 – Gavin Smith, Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi, Frank Kassela, Chris Bell and others. But if the classification of great poker playing non-WSOP winners were to be applied, it would most certainly fit the $10,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. World Championship final table like a glove. Rising above the supremely-talented group of bridesmaids was the venerable Fabrice Soulier, from France. Perhaps more than anyone in the field, he's paid his dues at the poker table and away for the past decade. During that span, he's experienced more than his share of close calls and disappointments. Sure, the ride has been a one of a kind experience. But at the end of every WSOP tournament he's entered since his debut in 2000, there's been sorrow and the lingering sense of unfulfilled destiny. All that changed on Friday at 3:30 pm in front of a packed gallery of French supporters, rooting on their favorite poker player. Soulier returned to the final table for what was an unscheduled fourth day of play. All that stood in his way of victory was another tough, formidable foe, who was also seeking his breakthrough victory. Indeed, Canadian poker pro Shawn Buchanan could very well have had many of the same things written and said about his poker background. Both players fit the mold perfectly as poker pros who are well respected by their peers. Yet both remained bracelet-less -- at least until the final hand of the tournament when Soulier's two-pair scooped the last pot of the marathon during the Omaha High-Low Split round. With his victory, Soulier became the third French WSOP winner this year. The two previous champions were Bertrand Grospellier and Elie Payon. “We have a lot of good players now (in France), and more and more are coming," said Soulier. "Some of them we do not even know yet. But they are very good. I think this is the start of France being a big nation for poker.” As champion, Soulier received the coveted WSOP gold bracelet. He also collected a whopping $609,130 in prize money. Buchanan, the runner up collected $463,480 but remains bracelet-less -- at least until the next time when he shall inevitably use this experience as added motivation, making victory all the sweeter, once achieved. The other final table players -- in addition to Soulier and Buchanan -- were also quite worthy of a victory based on their reputations and accomplishments. This illustrious list included Andrey Zaichenko ($247,799), Daniel Ospina ($180,750), Tom Dwan ($134,480), Matthew Ashton ($101,813), Michael Binger and Jacobo Fernandez -- who finished third through eight respectively. Prior to moving to Las Vegas a few years ago, Soulier lived in Paris, France. Soulier is a 42-year-old professional poker player. Soulier was born in Avignon, France. He is fluent in both French and English. Soulier is a huge fan of cinema. His favorite movies are by directors Stanley Kubrick, Ingmar Bergman and Martin Scorcese. Prior to playing poker professionally, Soulier worked in film and television. He started out as an assistant director in cinema for a few years. Then, he began directing television shows, some of which became quite popular in France. Soulier was able to break into television easily because of his credible background in film. His programs won several awards in France. About 10 years ago, Soulier began taking poker more seriously. He found that he enjoyed playing poker more than the grind of working on various television projects. In fact, he said he became bored with working in TV. So, he decided to take one year off from his profession and see if he could make money playing poker. To his credit and surprise, he quickly became one of the top players in France. Soulier won considerable sums of money playing in casinos around Europe, as well as on the tournament circuit. Before turning pro, Soulier admits that he spent many nights playing poker and then had to return to the television studio the following morning in order to finish production. He says he finally realized he could not do both – work in television and play poker seriously. Soulier is one of the most successful players to come out of the Aviation Club, which is Paris’ most famous poker room. This marks the eighth consecutive year Soulier has attended the WSOP. He has cashed at least once every year. Soulier was cheered on to victory by a large contingent of French supporters. The crowd sang songs and created a very festive atmosphere, which is becoming increasingly common at the WSOP, particularly with players from abroad. With this victory, Soulier now has nearly $4 million in overall live tournament earnings. His first major victory took place at the Euro Finals of Poker, in 2001. He has ten major tournament wins, all of which have taken place in the last ten years. When final table play began, Dwan enjoyed a slight chip lead over Soulier. All the other players were behind by a 3 to 2 margin or more. Clearly, Dwan was the big draw at this final table. Fueled by his emerging status as a high-stakes icon, Dwan had more than half the crowd quietly rooting him on. However, Soulier’s gallery mushroomed to the point where the atmosphere resembled France playing in the World Cup. Once Dwan busted and all of his fans left disappointed, their seats were snapped up and filled by a much rowdier French contingent. Soulier’s soldiers remained loyal to the end. Meanwhile, Buchanan had his own smaller and quieter group of fellow-players mostly from the Vancouver area. The top 24 finishers collected prize money. Former gold bracelet winners who cashed in this tournament included: Max Pescatori (ninth), Ram Vaswani (12th), Chau Giang (15th), Frankie Odell (17th), Robert Williamson III (22nd) and Daniel Alaei (24th). With his 15th-place finish in this tournament, Giang now has 58 career cashes. This currently ranks in a tie for seventh place on the all-time rankings. Tournament summary provided by Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, reprinted by permission. |