Azeddine Yessad: “A great event for poker!”

54 year old Azeddine Yessad, restaurateur from Grenoble and great amateur card player, has played poker for "some time now". His love affair with Texas Hold'em reached a peak a year ago in Divonne-les-Bains. He finds this version of poke simple and pleasant to play and it has led him to discover the world of casinos. One year later, he is back in Divonne for the Partouche Poker Tour Super Satellite. Calm, tranquil and patient as usual, Azeddine Yessad dreams about his beautiful victory. These are the words of a wise man:

Hello Azeddine, how have you been since your beautiful victory in the Super Satellite at Divonne?
Very well thank you. I am very happy that I experienced such a great moment. I mad it to the end out of 347 players; that is not bad [smiles]. That Super Satellite was a great event for poker and also for me. I came with about ten friends who suggested I register. Today, I do not regret it one bit. They were eliminated, some even came close to the end, but they will try again in Lyon on the 15th March.

How did you find that Super Satellite?
It was my first tournament and I have to say I am smitten! It was really very nice, comfortable and well organised from beginning to end. The breaks were good and important for the players. The Partouche Poker Tour team always took care of its players, particularly with the dinner buffet that was spectacular. I’ll say it again; it really was a great event for poker and for the players. I met people that I hadn’t seen for ages, and got to know others that I didn’t know before. We had a good laugh, ate well and played well…we really had a lot of fun.

And the level of play?
I found the level of play very high. There were some very tough players, particularly at the final table. For example I found Samir Chaib [his final opponent] very good. He played seriously until the end, except maybe for the last move where he thought I was bluffing, but I wasn’t…After that, he lost a bit of clarity due to tiredness. I on the other hand was exhausted [laughs].

At what moment did you think that this tournament could be yours?
There was not a particular moment. But I said to myself at one specific point that maybe I should concentrate. It is for sure this that helped me get to the end. I remember that I got up to speak to a player behind me and when I came back to the table, I saw that my hand was a queen and an eight of diamonds. But the croupier said to me “too late”, so I folded…the flop was dealt with 3 diamonds including a king and an ace. Three players went all in and I had the best hand. It was a reminder about fate…

Now it is Cannes and its mythical Palm Beach!
I like poker and what I want most is to have fun. I registered for Divonne to have fun and play cards, it was that simple. But it is true that when there were only 100 players left, I said “why not?”. Now I will go to Cannes with the same mentality. That is to say calmly, and then we will see if I play well.

Calmly ok, but there are 2,000,000 euros to be won! What would you do with this much money?
[Dreaming] It is true that it is a lot of money. I would give some of it to the associations that I have supported since I stared. Then I think I would use the rest to travel a lot.