How did you become involved in games and what part have they played in your personal development?

''I’ve dedicated 50 years of my life to playing games and I think it’s more appropriate to refer to a passionate vocation rather than career development.
The significant encounter occurred when I was very young.
At my parents’ house, it was traditional to spend weekends and other family get-togethers playing games together and having fun.
We played all the card games and board games, much to the delight of everyone there.
The passion began then, and at the age of 24, I naturally opened my first toy shop.
Two years later, at the age of 26, I invented my first successful game.
Then I climbed all the rungs of the business ladder dedicated to the sector, step by step, until I became vice-chairman of Hasbro MB, the world leader in games (with annual sales totalling USD 5 billion).
In short, there’s nothing more fulfilling than a life combining work, pleasure and passion.''

You’re getting ready to launch your own game, “PokerChamp”. What’s the story behind its creation?

''I always thought the apparent incompatibility between the principles of a board game and poker were rather suspect.
It’s true that if you’re playing as a family, you have to avoid some members getting bored and quitting the game. It’s essential that everyone plays and continues to play non-stop at a fun and exciting pace. Those are the basic conditions of a good game.
In contrast, a poker tournament consists of a battle where the goal is to put your opponent out and where the primary quality is total patience (especially during the first few hours where you have to pass 80% of the hands and wait five to six hours before anything serious starts to happen).
Therefore, it seemed impossible to make a board game out of poker.
A few poker games with chip cases were indeed launched in the 2000s, following the media coverage of poker on TV. Nearly every games’ manufacturer launched one on the market.
Sales were immediate and the entire worldwide board games market saw sales increase by 10% thanks to the “poker” impact (a sharp increase of several hundred million euros).
But this commercial epiphenomenon didn’t last because everyone knows that it's "difficult to play poker at home with the family".''

So what’s PokerChamp about then?

I decided to include all the rules of an excellent board game: intrigue, pace, creating interest, fun, conviviality and competition.
I also added the qualities behind a good game of poker: self-control, reflection, intuition, bluffing and logic.
To create the game of the century, I wanted to sprinkle it with the notion of fair play, positive values, generosity and courtesy.
Therefore, I wanted to take up the challenge of creating a poker game that would convey the best human and educational values as well as being fun and lively.

The story behind its invention?

''The challenge of the impossible.
When I showed my “specifications” to my former colleagues, who are board game specialists (or even poker champions), I always got the same answer: “Impossible, Pierre”.
When I insisted and said: “I’m going to make a poker game without stakes, where all the hands will be played, where you can speak when you want to, without waiting your turn, to give it pace. No-one will go out so that all the family stays together and there won’t be any chips in the box”. I saw my counterparts looking at me compassionately, undoubtedly saying to themselves: “Isn’t it about time we put him away?”
I’ve often experienced the despair of the inventor going round in circles.
But I had a creed: “Perhaps it’s impossible, but if anyone can make this work, it has to be me”.
With the extreme specialisation that has occurred in the various business lines over the past 20 years, there aren’t many “non-specialised” toymakers left who are acquainted with all the aspects of board games, seen from both the point of view of the inventor and that of the retailer, not to mention design and manufacturing. But it just so happens that, at the same time, I’m the only so-called poker “connoisseur”.
Instead of a few anticipated nights of Research and Development, it took me more than a year and 200 nights before I could really shout “Eureka!”
One night in October, after thousands of tests of every kind, I knew that I had finally found the magic formula for “family poker”.
I played furiously for more than 24 hours and made the final adjustments.
PokerChamp was finally ready.
Then, for three months, I focused on fine-tuning the design, presentation and manufacturing.
Luckily, as far as board games are concerned, I’ve filled every position, from the bottom to vice-chairman of the world leader. The doors had remained open, I had a lot of support and I was able to organise everything in record time.''

How will it be distributed? Where will people be able to buy it?

''Since dealing with the whole world right from the beginning involves a tremendous amount of work, I teamed up with Yves Kupfermunz, a highly competent and very active businessman and former banker. He’s in charge of organising and running our association on a daily basis.
We’re now launching the game in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, as well as online sales (www.pokerchamp.net).
Of course, I hope (and believe) that we receive the support of online rooms, allowing players – through their shops and loyalty programmes – to offer themselves (or others) the ideal gift, which will help future generations to play excellent poker.
I am indeed convinced that PokerChamp will serve as a trampoline for learning the traditional game of poker thanks to its undeniable didactic aspect.
 The world premier has just taken place at Namur Casino, the cradle of Belgian poker, in celebration of its first annual festival.
For this exceptional event in a casino, the management set up two tables to present PokerChamp. The game was so much fun that it generated a party atmosphere in the casino every day of the festival, right up until closing time.
Besides the actual presentation, I think it was also a world first to play a board game without money in a casino. An excellent test as regards the players, who couldn’t have been more traditional. And judging by the laughter, the enthusiasm and the excellent atmosphere which reigned around the PokerChamp game for five days, this launch was indeed a success.
The Casino also had the experience of being our first customer by offering the PokerChamp game to the players on the final tables. It was an absolute success.
I don’t know if we’ll repeat this elsewhere, but I think that all the casinos worldwide will become our privileged customers, in terms of offering the game as a gift to their customers in any case.''

In your opinion, why is this game as important in the development of poker as the appearance of hole cards or online poker? How can it revolutionise the image and approach to poker?

''Thanks to its educational and moral values, PokerChamp literally breaks away from the deep-rooted and residing negative image that everyone has of poker.
And beyond this intrinsic quality, it allows a bridge to be built between all those who have shown an interest in poker at some point without actually daring to make the move.
Thanks to PokerChamp, millions of families worldwide will finally be able to discover poker, by playing it together for continued pleasure and at no risk.''

Are you hanging on to a part of your childhood by continuing to play? Or eternity?

''I live like a young person. I play poker with young people; I thirst after the pleasures of life, just like young people.
I was terrified by the idea of knowing that it could all end soon.
When I perceived the success of PokerChamp, I had this vision of the entire earth and eternity: hundreds of millions of families who would play PokerChamp one day and children who would take on the SerialQualifier card.
I felt that my Poker game would never end. PokerChamp would perhaps survive me for centuries.
I had the impression of reaching eternity, and my anxiety of the beyond faded there and then into the infinite future of PokerChamp.''

What are you looking for in your quest as a poker player: performance? The winnings? The adrenalin? Going down in history?

''Quite simply the pleasure.
Of course, all the friendly smiles, shared throughout the European Poker Tour seasons, are a source of delight and have given me an unbelievably great feeling. I'm the oldest and yet, I’m the only one to have played the last 36 EPT without missing one and having achieved 12 convincing results. ''

What are the “secrets” to becoming the “Serial PokerStarsQualifier” that you are, thanks to your knowledge of the satellites leading to the big EPT tournaments?

''To set the record of 23 continuous SerialPokerStarsQualifier qualifications, I would say endurance and stubbornness.
It was very tough and I think that this record won’t be beaten in my lifetime.
As regards other tips, I wrote a whole series of them over six weeks in nine languages, published on Pokerlistings.''

You recently gave a magnificent performance in Copenhagen. Can we talk about that? How did the heads-up go?

''Very tough and very long, without a dinner break because my opponent didn't want one.
I was worn out and wanted to finish the round a bit too “quickly” around midnight, when I was leading; my usual patience should have allowed me to win.
I therefore found myself in the position where I had to leave the decision of the final flip to lady’s luck when I held A4 against my opponent A5.
Unfortunately, a 5 came on the river.''

Do you still have poker “dreams”? If so, which ones?

''Honestly, I could fill your whole magazine with my poker dreams...
I’ve just made the best one come true: not only allowing the whole world to play a fun game of poker at home, with family and friends, but also allowing future generations to progress even faster. As I’ve already said, the future “PokerChamp generation” will have the gift of being able to read their opponents’ hands, something you can’t imagine today.
I’m also going after my second Best Qualifier Award. In season 8 of the EPT, there are three of us in the final sprint.
I already finished first and second in the last two seasons. And in PokerChamp, it’s the one who wins two Awards who wins the game. So, I know what I still have to do.
Of course, there are other dreams, like lifting the indian curse which until now, has prevented me from winning an EPT. Twice I had the chance of playing in a heads - Up, without winning. And as we say: “Things always come in threes”...
I would also like to remain in the EPT’s all-time top 10 ranking.
But if I were to choose only one: a good game of PokerChamp with Chad Brown, Daniel Negreanu, Liv Boeree, Bertrand Elky and Guy Laliberté…''

For you, what’s the “ideal” game that unites people and generations?

''An easy question at last: poker, because it combines all the qualities.
I would give it the Nobel Peace Prize.
Every night when I play online with my friends from around the world, I think: “Yes, let’s continue to play together, everyone on earth, because it’s the only chance for universal conviviality and the disappearance of wars forever”.''