Global Poker Index Ranking; GPI Player of the Year; 2019 Flaghunter Ranking; WSOP 2019 Money List; WSOP 2019 Number of Cashes; Short Deck Poker All Time Money List; All Rankings; Poker Database. PokerDB; Calendar & Events; Festivals & Results; Poker Players; Tours & Circuits; Poker Venues; News & More. News; Poker Beginners Guide; Frequently. Romain Lewis, aka rLewis. He is without contest one the best players of his (young) generation. Having started playing the live poker tables from the age of 18, Romain Lewis has established an incredible record in not even four years, a highlight of which was his.
I have been traveling some lately -- as usual. I went to Vienna not too long ago for the EPT, and I've also recently been to Morocco, although not to play but rather for a television show being produced there called La Maison du Bluff.
It's a French show, a 'reality' show being produced by PokerStars. A bunch of candidates are chosen for the show, perhaps half being online qualifiers and the other half going through some other selection process. They all live in the same house for five weeks, I believe, during which time they have to do various challenges that cause them to win or lose chips.
When I was there they had a memory challenge where players were shown flops for just a moment and then asked questions, that sort of thing. Then every weekend they take those chips to use in an elimination match where a couple are knocked out.
It's kind of like Survivor or Big Brother, but with poker. They can't leave, and they don't have access to the internet or anything like that. They are just in the house for 24 hours, seven days a week. What happens is some have poker experience and some less so, and they end up spending a lot of time exchanging strategies and everyone is learning more about the game.
Of course they then have to play each other on the weekends, so they might become friends and help each other with strategy during the week, but they have to go against each other when they play the elimination matches. It's a cool combination of poker and Survivor-type shows, which have a lot of overlap with strategy.
This season they were in a pretty big mansion there in Morocco. They've shot the show in Marbella, Spain before, as well as in Portugal, always finding nice locations for the show which is now in its fourth season.
I was there for just three days as a coach. ElkY was there, too, a couple of weeks before me. I though I might lose my Quebec accent while I was there, because everyone else had the French accent! But I kept it okay.
There were probably 50-60 people there involved with producing the show -- it was a huge operation, and really fascinating to see. It's a great idea and the show is pretty popular, as there is a lot of interest in both poker and reality TV in France.
Jonathan Duhamel is a member of Team PokerStars Pro
Club Poker Maison Du Bluff Va
After going about five months without cashing in a live tournament, I finally put an end to the streak at the France Poker Series High Roller event in Evian. It was a beautiful destination up in the mountains and it drew a lot of players from Germany and Switzerland as well as France. I ended up finishing fifth and got a chance to play for a long time with ElkY, who came in fourth and Eugene Katchalov, who unfortunately busted right before the final table.
As much as I love playing, I've been spending a lot of time working on a few exciting poker-related projects. I recently began co-hosting a radio talk show called Docteur Poker. It is an hour long and airs every Friday night at midnight on RMCSport, one of the biggest radio stations in France. In the booth with me are Benjamin Bruneteaux, one of my frequent French TV commentary partners, Olympic fencing champion (and poker fanatic!) Hugues Obry, and top soccer journalist Daniel Riolo. We're having a great time doing the show and are thrilled for the opportunity to expose such a wide audience to the game we love.
I'm also about to film the third series of Le Maison du Bluff in Portugal. It's a reality show for French TV with a really fun concept. It's a mix of Survivor and Big Brother, except instead of having to win physical challenges to earn rewards or advance further in the game, the contestants have to play poker. Aside from the regular weekly episodes, people can also go online and watch the action in the house through live cameras 24 hours a day. The cast is a mix of French celebrities, athletes, and regular people who qualified online. My role is not only doing the commentary while they're playing, but to coach them as well. The final player standing on the show wins a sponsorship contract worth €100,000 and another €50,000 in prize money is given away over the course of the show.
In past editions of Le Maison du Bluff, a clear divide always emerged between the good players and the total novices. However, without fail, there was always one player who started of totally clueless and ended up getting really good. It's great that we can show people that with study and practice, anyone can play. The way the show works is that every week, players have the opportunity to win enough chips to stay in the game. In every episode, people bust out and leave the house, but in an interesting twist, each week a new online qualifier moves in. So, as more and more players are eliminated, the new online qualifiers have fewer opponents to face. It becomes increasingly valuable to join the game the later it gets because you'll be that much closer to the final. We also have some really cool guest coaches planned for the contestants including Jonathan Duhamel, Gabriel Nassif and ElkY.
Club Poker Maison Du Bluff Ma
I'm really excited for the shoot. The show is getting bigger and bigger every year and I think this series will be our best yet.
Club Poker Maison Du Bluff Maine
Julien Brecard is a member of Team PokerStars Pro