Poker Pierre Neuville
Pierre Neuville (born 2 January 1943) is a professional poker player from Belgium, known as the Serial PokerStars Qualifier, most notably for his record 23 consecutive EPT Main Event qualifications. Neuville is the oldest PokerStars Team Pro and one of the November Nine in the 2015 World Series of Poker finishing 7th.
- GPI/THM INITIATIVES. Global Poker Index – GPI Global Poker Awards. The Hendon Mob Championship – THMC. Global Poker League.
- WPT Career Highlights Value Rank; Career Earnings: $22,758: 5,419: Cashes: 2: 3,746: Final Tables: 1: 553: Titles: 0: 16,513.
- Over the past decade, poker has transitioned into a young person’s game, with 20-somethings dominating the pro scene. Of course, this isn’t to say that there aren’t still some older players grinding on the felt, including 72-year-old Pierre Neuville, who’s officially now the oldest guy ever to make the WSOP November Nine.
Thor Hansen and Pierre Neuville have about 100 years of poker experience between them.
They are the grand seigneurs of European poker that, up until recently, had completely different stories.
Then, like most of our lives have or will, their stories took an unexpected turn. Both found themselves fighting death.
They won, and poker helped them through. This is the amazing story of two of Europe’s poker godfathers and the spirit of poker.
By Dirk Oetzmann
A couple of years ago Pierre Neuville was close to death after undergoing six operations, two of which went wrong.
The Godfather of Norwegian poker, Thor Hansen, has been battling cancer for much longer now than the doctors said he would live. Neuville remembers the dark times, immobile and stuck in a hospital bed:
“I said to my wife, if I ever get out of here alive, I will stop working and live as a poker player full time.
'Until then, she didn’t know that I had ever played poker. She thought I was delirious and imagining someone I had seen on TV.”
Little did she know that Neuville had played in the 1960s to finance his studies but then stopped to pursue a business career. Only a few months later, Pierre made the last two tables of the PCA main event before being taken out by eventual winner Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.
'I know I am very, very sick. But I’m a strong guy, I can take a lot.'
He's now in the Top 10 of the EPT all-time leaderboard.
'I'm Not Even Supposed to Be Alive Anymore'
For his amazing consistency and achievements in poker, Neuville was awarded the PokerListings “Living Legends” award last year.
Hansen, also nominated last year, is among the Top 3 in voting for this year's award.
Somehow he's also beem strong enough to make his way to EPT100 in Barcelona this past week, despite his circumstances. We asked him first about how he feels.
Pierre Neuville - Wikipedia
“I have several tumors in my body. I’ve had chemo for over 24 months. The doctors said I have a couple of months to live.
'That was two years ago. Seeing it like that, I’m doing pretty well.”
Hansen’s condition is not one that can be cured, however, and he knows that treatment can only do so much.
“I know I am very, very sick. But I’m a strong guy, I can take a lot. I’m not even supposed to be alive anymore, but here I am playing the main event.”
In a lot of industries the old are often pushed out and forgotten in favor of the new. The poker world doesn’t - and should never - forget quickly.
Hansen has been nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame this year, although he finds it a small consolation.
“I can’t say the Hall of Fame means a lot to me. I am the first non-American to be nominated, which is a compliment, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really mean much.”
Poker as a Way Back to Life
Hansen has also been nominated for the PokerListings Living Legend Award in both years of its existence. Neuville was the first to win the award last year.
“To me, it was an honor to receive the award,' Neuville said. 'It means I got the recognition of some competent body in the poker industry, which PokerListings is.
'It also reminds me why we play. I never started playing poker because of the money, although I do have an eye on my bankroll, of course.
'I will never be nominated (for the Hall of Fame) because I don’t play cash games. I don't fulfilll several of the conditions.”
'Poker players have very strong minds.'
'These awards value the game,' Hansen says. 'It is not important that there is no money on it. I’m aware that I’ve been nominated twice, and I do appreciate it. If I win, there is a really good chance I will come to Malta and pick the award up myself.
'Of course, it depends on how I feel and if I need to go into treatment or not.”
Without overstating the meaning of poker, both in general and in the lives of Neuville and Hansen, it's fair to say that poker helped them find their way back to life.
Poker didn’t save Pierre’s life but it gave him something to look forward to. And poker seems to be the one thing that keeps Thor going, no matter what.
If that doesn't exemplify the true spirit of poker, we're not sure what does.
'Poker Players Have Very Strong Minds'
Nobody beats death. Nobody gets out of here alive. Question is, how do you deal with it? As poker players we might even be better equipped to deal with it than most.
'A bad beat is not really a bad beat, it’s just the game.'
“Poker players have very strong minds,' Hansen says. 'They take a lot of bad beats, but they can handle it.
'No matter what sickness you have, it’s your strength of the mind that helps and good poker players have that.”
“In fact,' Neuville adds, 'bad beats don’t hurt that much anymore. A bad beat is not really a bad beat, it’s just the game.
'I have just written about how not to suffer from bad beats anymore. I know that some players suffer terribly, and I want to make it easier for them.”
Hansen has a slightly different view.
“I’m the opposite. I like bad beats. You don’t get them that often, and you like to see that you get it in with the best hand, so a bad beat means you’ve done it right.
'I really don’t mind bad beats at all.”
Listening to these pioneers of European poker makes you feel that you're catching a glimpse of two long journeys that gave the travelers a certain level of wisdom.
There are loads of stories, good and bad, along these journeys but all have a lesson in them if we're paying attention.
It's up to us, the poker fans and media, to capture these stories and learn from them before they disappear.
| Pierre Neuville | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Montigny-le-Tilleul, Belgium |
| Born | 2 January 1943 (age 77) Montigny-le-Tilleul, Belgium |
| World Series of Poker | |
| Bracelet(s) | None |
| Money finish(es) | 19 |
| Highest ITM Main Event finish | 7th, 2015 |
| European Poker Tour | |
| Title(s) | None |
Pierre Neuville (born 2 January 1943) is a professional poker player from Belgium, known as the Serial PokerStars Qualifier, most notably for his record 23 consecutive EPT Main Event qualifications. Neuville is the oldest PokerStars Team Pro and one of the November Nine in the 2015 World Series of Poker finishing 7th.[1][2]
Early life[edit]
Neuville was born in 1943 in Montigny-le-Tilleul, Belgium. He discovered poker in 1957 and played throughout his 6 years at Universite Libre de Bruxelles, which he attended in 1963-1969.
Pierre Neuville Poker
In 1969 he designed a board game, called Eddy Merckx, after the famous cyclist, and started a toy company, which he sold to American toy giant Hasbro in 1982. Neuville stayed on as Vice President with Hasbro for another ten years.
In 1993 Neuville took a new direction. He started a personal consulting service and some of his famous clients over the 15 years until his retirement in 2008 included Belgian table-tennis player Jean-Michel Saive, golf star Gary Player, and Hollywood actor Kevin Costner.
Poker career[edit]
His first recorded cash dates back to November 2007 and the Belgian Poker Championship, where he won €5,022 for his 31st-place finish. In January 2008 Neuville played the Main Event in the European Poker TourPokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where he finished 18th out of 1,136 entrants and started his bankroll with the $48,000 prize money. Since then he has cashed in 39 EPT events,[3] and has made 15 final tables. In fact, Neuville set an unprecedented record by qualifying for the EPT Main Event 23 consecutive times. This earned him the title of 'Online Qualifier of the Year' in 2012 and a new nickname on PokerStars: ‘the Serial PokerStars Qualifier’. He still plays online with his nickname 'Zoutechamp' and is presently the oldest PokerStars Team Pro.
In his acceptance speech for the Lifetime Achievement Award (European Poker Awards, March 2015)[4] Neuville vowed, “The best is still to come!” Indeed, the 72-year-old Belgian followed this up with his best performance yet in the World Series of Poker Main Event and made the 2015 November Nine, where he started fourth in chips.[5]
Biggest cashes[edit]
Pierre Neuville’s biggest cashes include runner-up finishes in WSOP and EPT Main Events:
$385,041 in WSOP 2014 Event #24
$384,245 in EPT Season 6 Vilamoura, 2009
$290,693 in EPT Season 8 Copenhagen, 2012
As one of the WSOP 2015 November Nine, he was guaranteed at least 9th place prize money of $1,001,020. Despite entering the Final Table 4th in chips, he exited in 7th Place after being knocked out by Joe McKeehen. Neuville received $1,203,293 for his efforts.[6]
Poker Rankings[edit]
As of 2015 Pierre Neuville has amassed more than $3,300,000 in live poker tournament earnings and ranks 2nd in the Belgian all-time money list.[7] He holds a world record for qualifying online for EPT Main Events 23 consecutive times.[8] Neuville also tops the all time Belgium ranking by number of live cashes.
References[edit]
- ^WSOP: Pierre Neuville
- ^Pierre Leads Main Event
- ^Pierre Neuville
- ^EPT Awards
- ^WSOP 2015 November Niners
- ^November Nine: Pierre Neuville
- ^RankingHero Database
- ^PokerListings Pierre Neuville