Poker Triple Crown Winners

With Alex Gomes narrowing missing the poker triple crown after busting out in 7th place of the EPT Madrid, it's worth going back and taking a look at the four people who have achieved the triple crown (WSOP bracelet, EPT title and WPT title). The first man to achieve the triple crown was Gavin Griffin when he won the 2008 WPT Borgata Winter Open. Not only did Griffin earn $1,401,109, but he also did something that no other person in history had ever accomplished. The first two parts of his triple crown came in the 2007 EPT Grand Final (€1,825,010) and a 2004 WSOP $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament ($270,420). What's interesting about the '04 WSOP tourney was that this was both Griffin's first career live cash and title! Just a year after Griffin became the first to win a title within the three most prestigious poker organizations, Roland De Wolfe came along and equaled the feat in 2009 after winning a $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament ($246,616). The other parts to De Wolfe's triple crown came when he won the 2006 EPT Irish Open (€554,300) and the 2005 WPT Grand Prix de Paris (€479,680). The 2011 WSOP featured two different triple crown winners as both Jake Cody and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier both completed the rare feat. Cody started his journey to the triple crown by winning the 2010 EPT Deauville tournament along with €857,000 ($1,213,194). Cody's fast track to becoming a triple crown winner continued when he won the 2010 WPT London Main Event (£273,783 or $425,492), and the 2011 WSOP Heads-Up NLHE Championship ($851,192). The latest triple crown winner is Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, who grabbed the first two parts to the feat in 2008 when he won a Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure title ($2 million) and the WPT Championship Fiesta al Lago ($1,411,015). Interestingly enough though, it took ElkY a while before he was able to grab a WSOP bracelet since he'd came up empty in the world's biggest poker event five years in a row. However, he got the monkey off his back by winning the 2011 $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship ($331,639).