Busquet made his major live claim to fame when he won the 2009 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open, winning $925,514 against the largest field in WPT history. In May of 2010, Busquet finished second in the PokerStars EPT Grand Final high roller event for $794k. Although his main focus isn't online tournaments, he has won an additional $424k over the years to help bring his total lifetime winnings of over $2.4 million. Busquet was born August 22, 1981 to French immigrant parents in New York City and currently lives in Westchester County New York with his wife and two step-children.
Things you might not know:
Olivier Busquet increased his poker world profile tremendously when he stepped in to provide color commentary for the live streaming World Series of Poker Main Event coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com. He eloquence and insightful poker analysis demonstrated that Busquet has a bright future both on and off the poker tables. - Busquet started playing chess competitively at age 6.
- Busquet transitioned to track and basketball excellence in high school. Olivier ran a 4:30 mile when he was 14 and was league champion in both the 800m and the 1600m as a sophomore. In basketball, he was the second player in his high school’s history to score 1000 points and earned a place on the first team all NYC.
- Busquet's perfect math score in the SAT along with good results at the prestigious Trinity High School earned admission to Cornell University where he thought he would study mathematics but ended up graduating with a degree in philosophy.
- Busquet work at the Wall Street firm of SAC Capital, a large hedge fun in Connecticut for a few years.
- Busquet stated that his interest in poker first piqued in his early 20s after losing his money in his first poker game at a friend’s house.
- Busquet starting playing at Party Poker soon after but moved to Full Tilt Poker where he deposited $100 and started playing $1-$2 six max cash games.
- Busquet learned to play poker was by challenging players that were better than him and studying the high stakes No Limit forum on Twoplustwo.
- Busquet once played a 40 hour cash game session online.
- While Busquet excelled at the mathematical and strategic elements of poker, he initially struggled with issues like bankroll management, game selection, and emotional discipline which resulted in his losing his bankroll several times early in his career.
- Busquet took third in the 2009 WCOOP $25k buy-in heads up event #27 for $90k which included wins over Tom Dwan and Main Event champ Peter Eastgate.
- Busquet had to overcome a 20-1 chip disadvantage heads up to win his WPT title.
- Busquet made it to the quarterfinals in the 2011 National Heads-Up Championship where he lost to 2010 WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel.
- Busquet made an impressive debut on Poker After Dark. Despite losing money against a tough lineup that included Phil Laak, Howard Lederer, Eli Elezra, David Viffer, and others where he suffered a number of coolers, he made some big laydowns and proved you don't have to win to show you have serious poker skills.
"Poker is a unique and constantly evolving game and one of the main reasons I’ve managed to be consistently successful over the years is that I’ve been able to anticipate and adjust to the ever-changing dynamics within the game."
There are four Busquet videos; one providing a profile, two interviews after successful tournament runs and a portion of his Poker After Dark cash game episode:
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