My interest in poker began through television, when WPT broadcasts were shown when I was 16.
Watching poker in the evenings became a habit and shortly after, I also got my friends interested and that’s how the first home games formed after school in my friend’s garage.
The stakes ranged from €2-10 and if somebody bought in with bills, he was called a “highroller”. As I’m very competitive I started to learn about poker from the internet and by reading books about it. Soon after, they replaced the school books.
When I finally hit the magical age of 18 I had already gathered a decent amount of knowledge about poker and it was time to test my skills in the world of online poker and casinos. On my 18th birthday I obviously navigated to Casino Helsinki where I found the table of “big boys” and, despite having a small bankroll, I decided to give it a shot.
Among others there were Ilari Sahamies, Juha Helppi and Jens Kyllönen. From what I remember I lost €5,000 but the experience was valuable. Since, those gentlemen have become very familiar faces.
Online poker.
I remember the beginning of this roller coaster very clearly. Big games-> Big rises -> Broke.
Over and over again. When I was 18 I was already playing $10/20 and $25/50 blinds on a daily basis
but bankroll management was an unknown term to me. I learned my lesson through the hard way and I’m sure I’m not the only one. The same roller coaster continued for several years and at some point, I found tournament poker and during the early 2010s I travelled to many live events.
The success was varied but I gathered important experience and got to know some important people in the poker scene.
Nowadays my main games are Pot Limit Omaha cash games but I also play a lot of tournaments both live
and online.
