Simon Wiciak unveiled as PokerStars Team Pro at EPT Paris

Barcelona champ Simon Wiciak made his PokerStars Team Pro debut at EPT Paris, where he spoke with us about the exciting announcement.

February 20, 2024

Poker

by Jack Stanton

watch_later

9 Minute Read

When he made an exceptional hero call to win EPT Barcelona 2023 – the second largest Main Event in the tour’s history – Simon Wiciak not only became a European Poker Tour champion but did so just two years into his live poker career.

His incredible poker journey now continues with a Red Spade patch proudly presented on his arm.

In front of a home crowd during Day 1A of the EPT Paris Main Event, Wiciak was unveiled as the newest member of PokerStars Team Pro. He’ll now represent the company as an ambassador across the EPT and France Poker Series (FPS) series, as well as in the biggest online series.

Wiciak’s Barcelona victory for €1,134,375 came after a dominating performance. The Frenchman held the chip lead for three days heading into the finale and rode that lead to the title, becoming the 12th French EPT winner.

Simon Wiciak was unbeatable in Barcelona

He might not have been well known prior to the victory, but Wiciak has built a solid reputation as an online player and already held the respect of the poker community before his win.

His competitive drive almost resulted in a professional football career, but Wiciak chose to pursue his studies instead and graduated with an engineering degree a few years later. By that time, however, his passion for poker had grown and before diving into full-time work he decided to give poker a good shot.

Needless to say, it went rather well.

Wiciak now joins Benjamin Bruneteaux, Julien Brécard and Domingo as PokerStars France Ambassadors. At EPT Paris, Victor Saumont spoke to Wiciak about what the announcement means to him, and his plans for the future.

Here’s their conversation.

JOINING TEAM PRO

How did you hear the good news about this Team Pro contract?

It was after EPT Cyprus. There was no contact immediately after my victory in Barcelona, but as there wasn’t really a France Team Pro team at the time, it wasn’t that surprising. But obviously, it’s really nice. It was really great news and a pleasure to be able to discuss the rest of my career with them.

Was it a goal for you to land a sponsorship contract?

To be honest, it wasn’t a goal at all. But it started to come to mind after my victory in Barcelona. This victory propels me to the top at that moment, and you begin to think about what’s next. You tell yourself that it would be good to continue playing the circuit and why not with a sponsor?

This was never a goal until I was told about it. For me, the basic objective was to do well at poker, to lead the way, and to get there little by little. After a victory like this, you reassess your level, you realize that you can bring something to the community. You must not be too modest or too humble and dare to have this objective of being a good representative for a brand. It wasn’t a goal to become a sponsored player, but it’s really nice when someone comes to offer it to you.

What is your relationship with PokerStars since you started as a player?

To be completely honest, when I started playing poker, I didn’t play too much on PokerStars as I was a complete amateur and I didn’t know the site well. But the more I progressed, the more I realised the greatness of PokerStars, especially thanks to other Team Pros from other countries who streamed their sessions.

When I started playing live poker I realised that I didn’t know who organised the tournaments. Little by little, I began to understand. And when I went to the PokerStars events, the magic happened. It was incredible and that’s when I really started to like PokerStars – it put stars in my eyes.

Wiciak makes Team Pro debut in Paris

Can you tell us a little about your upcoming program with PokerStars?

My program is very simple. I will play all the live PokerStars tournaments, the FPS and the EPT, and all the online Series with three main periods (Dec-January, April, and September). And afterwards, I will also play left and right, in addition to participating in streams with Benny & Yu or solo.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

So we’ll see you alongside Benny & Yu on stream?

You’ll see me from time to time. The plan is to launch my stream and switch the streams depending on how things are going. If a Benny & Yu Stream goes badly while I’m having a good session, we can switch to my stream to follow my deep runs. We will be able to react based on others’ streams, to offer interesting content for viewers based on how things are going at the tables for everyone.

Wiciak with his fellow French Ambassadors Benny, Yu and Domingo at EPT Paris

Are you worried about wearing a patch at tournaments and being a bit of a target?

Absolutely not. So far, my EPT victory has helped me more than harmed me. They don’t try to play at me more, they actually softplay me more often. They show me their hands, to say “Look, I didn’t bluff you!”. I think with the PokerStars patch it will be even better. You shouldn’t believe that people want to attack the guy who wears a logo more – actually, it often arouses a form of respect, and therefore, they don’t play at you hard.

This can make you make more mistakes, because you’ll say to yourself “I absolutely have to overplay my hand”, because he’s a pro, he’s going to do this or that. I don’t think I’ll be a target at all, I think it will be interesting in terms of respect at the table, but I don’t think people will overplay me.

WHAT IT MEANS TO SIMON WICIAK

What does this sponsorship contract mean for your loved ones/family?

To be honest, my girlfriend is very proud of me. My parents, my family, they told me “Bravo, congratulations!” “, but they all have a little difficulty understanding, even when I explain it to them in a little detail, it’s something quite strange for them. I think they will realise it as the interviews, coverages and videos progress.

For many of my relatives and friends who don’t know much about poker, it’s a bit obvious. It’s normal, you won the other day in Barcelona, they had better take you. People don’t realise how many good players there are and how few sponsorship places are available. For them, if you’ve shown yourself once or twice, well, you’re the new star.

So yes, of course, I have already won an EPT, it’s huge. But you have to understand that there are many other very good players, I’m just lucky to match with PokerStars, and those close to me are very happy for me, but I think that they don’t realise what an incredible feat it is to be able to be sponsored after just two years on the live circuit and a big performance. It’s still something superb. They are all happy about this news, but not more surprised than that.

Wiciak celebrates in Barcelona

Do you often think about your victory at the EPT Barcelona?

To be honest with you, I think about it often. Sometimes I’m on YouTube and bam! Your algorithm recommends something, I see that it’s a video about Barcelona, and I watch it again. And then, suddenly, it makes me want to watch more.

I say to myself, what did they say about me? For example the German or Brazilian community, so I’ll put on the coverage in Brazilian or the subtitles and I see what they said about me. Even if I don’t understand anything, I want to see the enthusiasm that the commenters had and read people’s messages in the chat. I select random messages and translate them. It’s funny, it makes me happy to rewatch moments that bring tears to my eyes every time, and at the same time, to find out what people think about them.

You see, from the beginning, when I see all this again, and when I think about it, there are only positive messages. Only kind and caring people, it’s really incredible. Every time I talk about it again, tears come to my eyes as it was so intense, so strong. It’s like a moment of happiness that cannot be erased and every time it gives you the emotions that it gave me during that moment, so it’s really incredible.