Seat 5, Anthony Lerust, 24, from Amiens, France; living in Albufeira, Portugal, 1,295,000 chips
Anthony ‘Laplume’ Lerust was born in the north of France but moved to the south to “live my dreams and share my passion for rap music, hip hop and poker with my friends there”. Living in Albi, he became a member of the ‘Skarkuteur’ team of players, also including the French pro Anthony Cierco. Success eluded him however so last September he moved with his best friend Pierre Morin to the Algarve in Portugal. Lerust plays regularly on PokerStars.com and PokerStars.fr, enjoying deep runs in lots of the regular tourneys such as the Sunday Special, Le Classico, Night On Stars and The Big€50. He recently final-tabled a €1K FCOOP side event and finished fourth in the PokerStars Quarter Million. Lerust is a talented online grinder who, according to media, has been able to adapt to swings of live poker. His family are following him back home in Picardy “especially my mother” and his friends sent him the following message: ‘Anthony, il est temps d’envoyer des bassines’ (‘Anthony it's time to turn on the power!’)
In November 2013, Lerust finished 45th in the FPS Paris Main Event for €2,800 but today’s final table at EPT Deauville is his best result so far. His agent and a couple of friends from the Toulouse area have come to Deauville to play the FPS and will be railing at the final. He said: “I’m very happy to be in Normandy. Deauville is a stunning little town and the atmosphere is fantastic. With this prize money, you will definitely see me again, as I intend to play all EPTs in 2014.’