FLORENT ESTEGASSY

31 YEARS OLD, PROFESSIONAL POKER PLAYER

A regular at the biggest cash-game events in Paris, Florent enjoys playing in tournaments at the largest international festivals. With two great performances at WPTDeepStacks Paris 2020 under his belt, he joins us to take a look back at his experience at the Palais des Congrès!

WPT
"First of all, what a pleasure to see the WPT back here! It had been so long. It takes me back ten years with the famous Grand Prix de Paris at the Aviation Club de France. It had been three or four years since we'd had a tournament of this magnitude... We missed it so much! Seeing great French and foreign players, big buy-ins, fields of several hundred players and especially great prizes, what a thrill."

THE PALAIS DES CONGRÈS
"It was grandiose. All poker tournaments should be played in spaces like this, as prestigious and as spacious. I place a lot of importance on my playing comfort, I like to have space, have a view of the outside, be comfortable. It was a full house!

You could also take a break from playing with the many restaurants and bars in the area, it was so nice. I really hope this will become the norm in France, it was really a great experience! It's a change from the casino and gaming club setting, where it often feels a bit cramped."

THE GAME
"What more could you ask for? Ultra-competent staff, like Olivier Franceschi and Thomas Gimie, to supervise an army of very good dealers. Big buy-in and big-prize tournaments, including the €2,500 High Roller. It'd been a long time since we had a range like this in Paris. I really have to hand it to Club Pierre Charron, because it was so well organized, from top to bottom.

Me and my friends talked about it and we were all really happy to be there. There was also a warm atmosphere, you could feel that all the players were happy to be part of this event. Plus I made a lot of money [laughs]!" [Florent finished 4th in the Main Event with €69,000 and 9th in the High Roller with €13,500].

THE CLUB PIERRE CHARRON
"The Parisian players had high expectations of them and they really delivered. You might say that they've made their mark! To be honest, a lot of us were surprised that the WPT would choose a club that wasn't yet open to host its festival, but now we have a better understanding of why. In any case, it's clearly positioning itself to become the leading gaming club in Paris. So the players' expectations were huge for the opening, and at the moment we're not disappointed! Anyway, I can't wait for all the gaming clubs to reopen, I'm starting to lose my poker face [laughs]!"

BRUNO FITOUSSI

Bruno Fitoussi is the only Frenchman to be part of the very exclusive circle of WPT Honors since 2017. He tells us about the unprecedented success of this last (very) big live tournament in Paris.

What do you remember about the WPT 2020 in Paris?
I have unforgettable memories of it, for lots of reasons: firstly because it was the last international tournament I took part in, a year ago. Then because it was in Paris, in a room far removed from a club or a casino, which was a big first for an event of this size, with dozens of tables properly aligned as they are at the biggest international events, and lots of tournaments being played at the same time. I also had the pleasure of commenting on it, along with my associates Comanche and ShiShi, as well as participating in a special Club Poker Radio show with ElkY. Everything went perfectly, even though the epidemic was just beginning, and we have to praise the extraordinary work of all the Club Pierre Charron and World Poker Tour teams for what they did.

As someone who's been involved in the growth of the WPT, how do you see the future of this franchise?
The WPT is a major and world-famous poker brand. The number of events is continually growing, in every country around the world. The Main Event, WPT Deepstack and WPT500 trilogy is a perfect formula, as it offers accessibility for all budgets and player levels. I am of course personally very attached to the WPT brand, especially because the World Poker Tour was the first major international tournament held in Paris at the time at the ACF, but also because I was lucky enough to be inducted into the WPT Honors with my friend Mike Sexton, who recently passed away. The WPT holds a lot of memories for me. I can't wait to play in a WPT again – my last final table was at a WPT in Marrakesh in September 2019! I know there's a WPT in Sochi as we speak, but unfortunately I can't go to Russia to take part.

Do you think live poker will be able to regain its "old" vitality, and under what conditions?
Live poker should have no problem getting back on its feet. If I take my case alone (but I can easily extrapolate because I talk to gambling friends from all over the world), I can't wait to get back to casinos and clubs to play in tournaments and cash games. At the WSOP in Las Vegas, of course, but not just there. Of course, we'll have to wait until the airlines are running again and we can travel under good conditions, with all the peripheral activities of poker: the cash games, hotels and restaurants, player parties, etc. I think that if we want to be able to play again quickly and with peace of mind, we'll all have to get vaccinated!

HERMANCE BLUM

Vice President of WPT Europe, Hermance Blum is the woman behind all of the World Poker Tour's recent successes in Europe. She has fond memories of the 2020 edition of the WPT in Paris...

What do you remember about the 2020 edition of WPTDeepStacks in Paris?
This is actually the last tournament that we managed to finish from top to bottom before the pandemic happened! We'd been very reactive on this matter in terms of introducing hand sanitizer at the venue, although we couldn't anticipate just how big it would become. The next WPT, in Amsterdam, started, but was canceled on day one. We finished in Paris on a high, as it was the biggest WPTDeepStacks held outside of a Main Tour, and the work done by all the teams was incredible.

What do you think of this "outside the walls" organization?
It was a real feat to organize this in a large room without any casino equipment and to turn it into a great poker event, which remains one of the best tournaments held in Paris recently. It was a difficult challenge, and quite sincerely, despite all the respect I have for all my partners, the Club Pierre Charron team showed unique boldness and expertise. All the planets were aligned: in Paris, in my hometown; the team with Ziad, Pascal, Laurent, Gregory: we were completely confident in them, because we were in good hands; the "Paris Loves WPT" campaign was really a return to our roots and really made me happy.

As someone who's involved in the growth of the WPT, how do you see the future of this franchise?
This is a pivotal moment. We were lucky enough to be the first to go online, and this was planned well before the pandemic. This allowed us to hold on, switching our tour to online. The World Online Championships at partypoker.com were a big success. We're rethinking the live tour, with new ideas, perhaps less frequent but bigger tournaments. We'll be working with our partners on this. We've got momentum, and because of our temperament we're optimistic. There's no question of being discouraged!

Do you think live poker will be able to regain its "old" vitality, and under what conditions?
Yes, I hope so, even though I get the impression that we'll move towards a standardization of sanitary rules, and that it will be difficult to go back to the way things were before. In terms of attendance, with the ideas we're developing we're even looking to have more players! Some regions of the world may have better responses than others, and we'll have to see how the players feel and how much they want to travel. Will they want to come back to this life of rash decisions, leaving overnight on a train or plane to let themselves be carried by their desires?