Another round-up from the World Series of Poker as Jean-Robert Bellande wins his first bracelet (in No-Limit Hold’em!), and online bracelets are doled out to Chance Kornuth and Ryan Tosoc.  

Jean-Robert Bellande walks into the room. A bat, the size of a seagull, flies around the rafters looking for the moon. Nobody cares. The big man is here. High fives, a few hugs, and I walk over, stretch my hand out and ask him for an interview.

“Not right now kid, I have a cash game waiting for me. Maybe later.”

I caught him a few days later, at the end of a long massage. I could still smell the frankincense, and as the sun died spectacularly across the Adriatic Coast, he opened up.