Meet the PokerStars Protégés

In PokerStars' Protégé promotion, four PS Team Pros had to choose a protégé they're going to mentor and train for the upcoming WCOOP tournaments, including the $10 million guaranteed WCOOP Main Event. The most successful protégé wins a package to the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. The Pros have made their decision, it's time to meet the players they picked!

Andre Akkari,  Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Vanessa Selbst and Eugene Katchalov were the four Team Pros who had to pick their favorite candidate, and try to make them the most successful player they can. The candidates had to take part in special Protégé tournaments, where the top 2 finishers got the chance to send in their application video, where they explain why they should be chosen. The top 8 finishers were selected by the Pros, and the final 4 was decided in a vote on social media.

Meet the Protégés:

Rob Glenister (Protégé of Vanessa Selbst)

Glenister is a 29 year old small stakes player from the UK, who plays in a band called "Tim Clark and the Underscores", and has been playing poker for 5 years. According to him, he is "doing this for everyone with $10 in their account and a dream", and his weakness is extracting maximum value from spots, but he has stated that he likes to mix up his game and often tries out new ideas, which is something that Vanessa is very familiar with.

Arseny Shurapchikov (Protégé of Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier)

Shurapchikov is a 23 old from Moscow, who has been playing poker for 7 years, mostly to relax after he finishes his day job as a sewage cleaner. Shurapchikov said that he is strong at the start of tournaments and he can play various game formats, but the latter stages of events can get difficult for him. Lucky for him, his mentor, ElkY, already has 2 WCOOP bracelets and countless deep runs, so he can teach Arseny a thing or two about the late stages and final tables of big tournaments. 

Olga Ermolcheva (Protégé of Eugune Katchalov)

Ermolcheva is a player from Kyiv, Ukraine who has been playing for about three years. She's delighted to be tutored by Eugene Katchalov, who she rates as one of the best players in the world. Ermolcheva stated that many opponents underestimate her at the tables, but she has a tendency to get a little tilted after losing a big pot in a live setting. This didn't stop her from winning a side event at EPT Barcelona for €25,400. 

Allan Justino (Protégé of Andre Akkari)

Justino is the youngest player amongst the protégés, the Brazilian player is 20 years old and has been playing poker for several years. He's very dedicated to the game, but according to him, he has to become more aggressive in key spots, which is something Andre Akkari can certainly help him with.

If you want to know more about the four protégés, you have two chances to get to know them better, as they are staging two Google hangouts this week, on Friday at 14:00 (ET) and on Saturday at 10:00 (ET)