The World Series of Poker Academy, the exclusive educational provider for the World Series of Poker, played host to the single table “sudden-death playoff” tournament for nine players who were not eligible for the public voting to fill the final seat.

Andy Bloch, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Gus Hansen, Don Cheadle, Sorel Mizzi, Michael Mizrachi, Liv Boeree, Gavin Smith and Paul Wasicka fought an epic battle, but in the end only Grospellier was left standing.

He beat Michael ‘Grinder’ Mizrachi after the players went all-in pre-flop. ElkY had [10c], and the Grinder had . The board ran and ElkY took the win with a flush. Grospellier won the Golden Ticket and entry into the coveted WSOP Tournament of Champions All-Star event and a chance at the $1 million prize pool.

“I want to thank the WSOP Academy for giving me the chance to win my way into the TOC,” said ElkY after winning the WSOP Tournament of Champions playoff. “I feel like I am a deserving champion based on my record around the world, and I look forward to getting my WSOP bracelet soon.”

Living in Korea since 2001, Frenchman Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier is still one of the top ranking players of the game ‘Starcraft’. After a friend introduced Bertrand to poker, he earned a name as a prolific online player but moved on to live play taking home $6,065,016 in lifetime earnings. He holds notable winning titles from the 2008 European Poker Tour and the 2008 World Poker Tour, and the 2008 PCA main event where he racked in a cool $2 million.

The WSOP Tournament of Champions is the premier All-Star Event in all of poker. The freeroll poker invitational features 27 players; 20 selected by public voting, 5 automatic entries and 2 sponsor-exemption entries.  Entering the 2010 WSOP, there were 521 WSOP bracelet holders eligible for the vote, which began March 15 on www.WSOP.com/TOC and will remain open through June 15, 2010 at midnight ET.

The five automatic entries into the tournament are the three previous WSOP TOC winners [Annie Duke, Mike Matusow & Mike Sexton], the reigning WSOP champion [Joe Cada] and the reigning WSOP Europe champion [Barry Shulman].