Kenny ‘SpaceFCB’ Hallaert

A Belgian-born poker tournament director that also enjoys playing the game, Kenny has an impressive list of accolades considering that he isn’t even a full-time player. At the very top is the November Nine status he achieved in 2016, where he finished 6th in the WSOP Main Event for $1,464,258. The TV time he received and solid play that he showcased proved that while directing tournaments by day, he can definitely hold his own in them as well. You can catch his interview in the moments before the November Nine here.

No stranger to the WSOP, Hallaert has cashed at least once every summer since 2009. Making back to back Main Event runs with a 64th place finish in 2017 for $101,444 and a 123rd place finish in 2015 for $46,890, his WSOP track record speaks for itself. Though still chasing the WSOP bracelet, he has 4 EPT titles to his name – winning the 2009 EPT Monte Carlo €500 Shootout event, the 2011 EPT Loutraki €300 Turbo event, the €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em title in Loutraki that same year, and more recently the 2015 EPT Barcelona €300 Pot-Limit Razz Turbo event. He made the final table of an EPT Main Event back at EPT Deauville in 2010. In a line-up that also featured eventual WSOP Main Event winner Martin Jacobson, Kenny finished in 6th place for $210,962.

It might come as a surprise to many that as well as having earned over $3,200,000 in live tournament earnings, Hallaert has run up some big scores online as well. Playing under the screenname ‘SpaceFCB’ on PokerStars, he’s made more than $2,700,000 playing at this site alone. Interestingly, he describes his breakout moment in poker as ‘Winning the Sunday Warm Up on PokerStars in January 2009 for around $108,000’. Clearly, online poker is of equal significance to Hallaert, exemplified by his achievement of earning the prestigious Supernova Elite status a few years later – an annual reward that requires thousands of hours to be won. He continues to achieve success in the online world, recently shipping the PokerStars Super Tuesday for $57,000 amongst a highly-competitive field.

To learn more about Kenny, you can listen to his appearance on the PokerLife podcast.