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Home / Poker / Online qualifier Alan Goasdoue wins record-breaking FPS Paris Main Event

The 23-year-old won €287K for his victory in the enormous FPS Paris Main Event, a tournament that smashed records in France.


Alan Goasdoue is known as “HappyBustDay” on PokerStars. That name is obviously meant as a tongue-in-cheek expression of goodwill to his opponents rather than a general gripe about his own bad luck, because as far as we’ve seen, he’s a man who knows very little about being eliminated from tournaments.

First, the 23-year-old French player qualified for the €1,100 France Poker Series (FPS) Main Event on PokerStars. Then he won a package for the European Poker Tour (EPT) Paris stop, too.

He flew over from Malta, where he lives among a flourishing poker community, and entered the FPS. The tournament was enormous–the biggest ever on the FPS, with more than 2,000 entries and almost €2 million in the prize pool–and played for four straight days…without busting.

Next, he found himself heads-up with the chip lead against his fellow Frenchman Jean-Luc Labryga, who had led the chip counts for much of the tournament. The two got it all in, pocket nines versus ace-eight suited, and a nine on the turn left Labryga drawing dead.

The final hand: Alan Goasdoue vs Jean-Luc Labryga

The final hand: Alan Goasdoue vs Jean-Luc Labryga

Now, Goasdoue is the champion of one of the largest poker tournaments in France’s history and has earned himself €287,830, by far the biggest score of his young career.

“I feel really good and still very focused,” he tells us after taking his winner’s photo, surrounded by friends. “I feel very grateful. It’s my very first live final table!”

What makes his victory even sweeter is that Goasdoue entered the final day and the final table as the shortest stack. 

“It really was a great outcome,” he continues. “I doubled up very quickly and kept grinding it up while others were busting. Once everyone had the same stack size, it was easier for me because I know what I’m doing. I knew what I needed to do.”

He certainly did. He needed to wish them all a HappyBustDay.

Goasdoue celebrates with friends

Goasdoue celebrates with friends

“I knew it was what I wanted to do”

Like so many professional players, Goasdoue began to play poker while at university. The thing is, he was already in love with the game before heading off to study. “I wasn’t really studying anything,” he says. “It was just for something to do! I’d already discovered poker and I knew it was what I wanted to do.”

He turned pro three years ago at the tender age of 20 and has been grinding his way up the stakes ever since, to the point where he now plays an average buy-in of $200. He believes moving to Malta from France has helped his poker development. “There’s a great poker community,” he says.

Prior to today’s six-figure score, Goasdoue’s biggest result was a $29K cash online. He also made the final table of the PokerStars Winter Series Main Event in January 2022, finishing ninth for $18K.

Alan Goasdoue doesn't even know what a 'HappyBustDay' is

Alan Goasdoue doesn’t even know what a ‘HappyBustDay’ is

But they both pale in comparison to the haul, and the trophy, he’s picked up today.

“I’ve been waiting a year and a half for this kind of result,” he says. “Now I’m going to take a breath and plan what I can do next. It’s a really big score for me so I want to plan, and we’ll see.”

Surely the plan for a man who doesn’t bust tournaments is an easy one: play another one. 

And unfortunately for everyone else, Goasdoue already has his seat booked in the EPT Paris Main Event. 

€1,100 FPS PARIS MAIN EVENT

Dates: February 16-20, 2023
Entries: 2,071 (including 649 re-entries)
Prize pool: €1,988,160

1. Alan Goasdoue (France) – €287,830
2. Jean-Luc Labryga (France) – €179,950
3. Elias Fisz (Netherlands) – €128,530
4. Roger Taieb (France) – €98,870
5. Christopher Dowling (Ireland) – €76,050
6. Oleksii Natoptanyi (Ukraine) – €58,490
7. Thibault Reverdito (France) – €44,990
8. Vasyle Zabrodskyy (Ukraine) – €34,610

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