Interview with Winamax Team Pro Adrien Delmas
Adrien Delmas joined the Winamax Team Pro stable in January 2018 after winning his way through the Top Shark Academy. This seven-week long competition involved both poker and theory tests, making candidates prove their mettle against both their fellow candidates and established Winamax team Pros.
At the end of the competition, Delmas emerged triumphant and joined the Winamax Team for a year with a €50,000 package to play certain events throughout the year including both the High Roller and the Main Event here at the Winamax SISMIX.
Delmas had impressed on the live felt, even before he won the Top Shark Academy. In 2014, aged just 19, he finished 4th in the Winamax Poker Open Dublin Main Event for €28,569. Then, in 2016, he finished third 3rd in the Winamax SISMIX High Roller for 155,000 MAD ($15,835).
Finally, last year he took down the Winamax Poker Open Dublin High Roller for €35,370, and he is now back in Marrakech for the Winamax SISMIX five months after becoming a Winamax Team Pro.
"I've definitely got more action at the table because I'm a Team Pro," he said when we asked him how it had been. "Players definitely want to play against me and outplay me. I have to come up with other ways to exploit and play my best against them."
Delmas says that he is proud to wear a brand that he really likes, and one that he had been looking to be a part of since he turned 18.
"It definitely was a goal to become a Winamax Team Pro, for sure, but I wasn't expecting it. There are a lot of players sponsored by Winamax, and I didn't think there was enough space [for me]. I competed in the Top Shark to win, and [Winamax Team Pro manager] Stephane Matheu told me that by then I was next on the list to be recruited by Winamax, so they were pretty happy to have me."
"I just play my best; that's the way I play poker - play the best and we'll see. It's not something I can control!"
Delmas says that his goal in the next three years is to win a WSOP bracelet.
"I just want to win some big events, an EPT or something like that, maybe High Rollers. I want to play a lot of high buy-in tournaments, online or live. That's my main goal - win a bracelet."
The Winamax SISMIX may feel like a vacation to some, with the pool parties and clubbing late into the night, but Delmas says that he enjoys playing here.
"It's so much fun to play a six-max tournament. It's awesome. I love it. It's a small tournament, but there's a big prize at the end of it. It's still a lot of money! If I play, it's to win. Definitely. It would be nice to win."