According to Wikipedia, Pierre Garand, known by his stage name Garou, is a French Canadian singer from Sherbrooke, Quebec.
He is known for his work in the musical Notre-Dame de Paris (playing Quasimodo in both the original French and English casts) and the No. 1 hits "Belle", "Seul", "Sous le vent", and "La Rivière de notre enfance". He currently holds the SNEP record for most weeks at No. 1.
Now poker player can be added to his profile, as he just entered the €1,000,000 Big One for One Drop.
One of the accusations thrown at professional poker is that the characters have gone, that it's all about hoodies and headphones and that spending time at a table full of professional poker players is, well, not that much fun.
It's interesting to look around the room and notice that only three of the ~25 players who're currently in their seats are wearing headphones. What's more Rick Salomon has his pair round his neck while Haralabos Voulgaris and Dan Shak are adopting the one on, one off, headphone technique.
Kamer Alyanakyan is the only player on the list underneath that hasn't shown up yet but did register. Four more players have bought in, but haven't shown up yet and have no seat assigned as of now.
The pre-flop action is unknown but on a flop Haralabos Voulgaris (big blind) check-called a bet of 30,000 from Paul Phua (under-the-gun+1).
The hit the turn, Voulgaris decided to lead at the pot and he threw out a bet of 52,000, Phua mulled it over for a while before electing to raise the price of poker to 200,000 straight. Call from Voulgaris.
The rolled off on the river and with no further betting it was time for a showdown, Voulgaris opened for a missed combo draw and Phua showed to claim the pot.
Anatoly Gurtovoy raised to 50,000 from the button, and Guy Laliberté called from the big blind. Laliberté checked the flop, and Gurtovoy continued for 75,000. Laliberté called.
The came on the turn, and Laliberté checked again. Gurtovoy bet for 125,000, and Laliberté called.
The river was the , and Laliberté checked a third time. Gurtovoy bet another 125,000. Laliberté then raised to 425,000. Gurtovoy thought for only a few moments, then put out the chips to call.
Laliberté:
Gurtovoy:
Both players made one pair, but Gurtovoy won with his top pair.
As we mentioned earlier Pierre Garand is a singer by trade and he just combined his day job with his hobby in the second of back to back hands he played.
In the first he was in the small blind, he raised it up to 33,000 and Brandon Steven made up the extra from the big blind. Neither player liked the look of the flop but Garand bet 54,000 on the turn, call from Steven. The fell on fifth street and Garand's bet of 130,000 was enough to force Steven to fold.
Garand was in action on the very next hand, he raised on the button and Yaqi Sun defended from the big blind. The flop was checked to Garand and he bet 64,000. As Sun was considering his options Garand began signing, it was a very low volume but it sounded like a rendition of the popular Beatles hit 'When I'm 64'. He only had time for a couple of lines before Sun called and the peeled off on fourth street.
Another check from Sun was followed by another bet from Garand (111,000) and a call from Sun. The completed the board and once more Sun checked. Garand went deep into the tank and eventually he elected against firing a third barrel. It was a good decision as Sun opened for a turned flush, Garand showed pocket kings for a flopped set. "Very good check," said Mark Teltscher as the pot was pushed to Sun.
From the cutoff, Patrick Madden raised to 36,000 and action folded to Alfred Decarolis in the big blind. Decarolis bumped the action to 116,000 and Madden called.
Decarolis continued for 135,000 on and Madden was quick to raise to 275,000. Decarolis called.
Decarolis check-called another 525,000 on the turn and completed the board. Decarolis checked and Madden was quick to check behind.
was shown by Decarolis and Madden mucked.
"Good hand Al" said Madden.
"That's what you do with queens right?" commented Decarolis.