Tournament Schedule

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Mine did not go as smoothly as planned, but everything is fine now. I went on a last minute vacation to the Canary Islands to spend a few days with my good friends Jani and Mikko. We are staying at a beuatiful five star hotel, but my first room had no Internet, they moved me and now I am set. We all have been working extra hard on our golf games because we are so competitive with each other. The trash talking has been non stop and the way Mikko is talking, he is ready to take on Tiger Woods.

I have started to host some Bounty tournaments on Martins Poker. All the information is available on Martins Poker, click the link for all the details. The tournaments are €5 + €1 buy in with rebuys for the first 4 levels. If you knock me out, you receive €200 immediately into your account.

Here are the dates I will be playing:

Tuesday: March 25 at 20:00CET
Thursday: March 27 at 20:00CET

I look forward to seeing you all at the tables and good luck, your going to need it.

Exciting News

I just returned from a small little golf vacation with my good Finnish buddies Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Jani Vilmunen, and my accountant Tommi Majala at the beautiful Four Seasons in Nice, France. It was a great trip and my golf game took a big jump. I am now shooting from 92-96 consistently which is a lot more fun then shooting 114 like I was doing a few weeks ago.

While were on the way to the airport we were enjoying a few drinks and it was not long before we were in a heated debate over who was was the best at all the different games. Jani is not a big guy, and he was working on his third beer. Three beers for Jani is about nine beers for the average guy, so you can imagine that he is really feeling good and his confidence level is at an all time high. He was bragging about how he has not had a losing heads up PLO session in a long time. Ilari who also had about three beers was sober as could be and knew that it was the perfect time to challenge Jani to a match of some sort. I joined in the negotiations and we were trying to come up with some interesting HU battles for a large amount of money. We decided to call one of the most successful HU no limit players, our friend Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelpuro to see if he would be interested in gambling with his buddies. Sami is only 23 but he has established himself as an online legend and has a hard time finding opponents that will play him. The boys flew back to Finland that night and met Sami at the night club and got him to agree on a bet. It is going to be a team HU match, Ilari and myself vs Jani and Sami.

All matches will be played on Martins Poker with 200BB stacks.

I will play LarzLuzak in NL HU and Ilari will play Jani in HU PLO.

If one team wins both matches, then they are crowned Champions. If it is a split, then I will play Sami in a final tie breaker, the final match will be NL to decide the Champion.

Just when you thought that was an interesting heads up match, there is another one that is in the works that would be a dream come true. I made a little challenge to Doyle in the latest Card Player magazine, and it seems like Doyle has gladly accepted.

Since I am in Europe I have not yet seen the cover or read the article. It is my first ever CardPlayer cover and I am excited to see it. My new agent Chris is working on getting the match on TV. I will try and talk to Doyle and iron out the details. No matter who wins, it will be an amazing experience playing Doyle, one of the great legends of all time, heads up for over a million dollars. I am getting excited just thinking about it.

I have been playing a lot online the past few days on Martins Poker. I have been running really well in NL, but Ilari has been getting the best of me in PLO the past few days. I have been playing 50-100 to 200-400 Euros games.

Starting this Friday I will be playing in a few Bounty tournament on Martins Poker. The entry fee will be $5 Euros and the bounty on my head is $200 Euros. You can download Martins Poker by clicking on that link, unfortunately USA residents are not allowed to play on Martins Poker currently, hopefully that changes soon.

Maya has been putting some finishing touches on the loft and it really finally feels like home. I am still waiting on my computer chair to arrive, I have been playing online sitting on the kitchen chairs and it is not very comfortable.

I forgot to mention in my last blog that I bought a new car last time I was in Monaco. It has been awhile since I bought myself something really nice, so I decided to go big time and get the newest Range Rover, the SE Vogue. I sparred no expense and got all the top accessories and extras, needless to say, Mila will be having fun in the backseat with all the TV's and other gadgets.

I write soon with more details about the bounty tournaments on Martins Poker. And hopefully I have news about the match with Doyle as well. I am going to try and play a little tennis this afternoon or hit the gym. Hopefully I will see some of you on Martins Poker battling with me in the upcoming tournaments.

Good luck at the tables
-Patrik-

Back Home

I was visiting Vegas for a few days to play in the NBC Heads up and have a few meetings. I played the NBC Heads Up tournament this past weekend, and unfortunately I did not last too long. I was up against poker commentator Gabe Kaplan in the first round anhd started off well and built a nice chip lead. The levels are not long, and was forced to push the action faster than I would have liked. When I had a slight lead, we got it all in before the flop and I had JT and he had AJ. The flop was a good one for me, 89K, but I did not hit any of my outs and we were close to even. The blinds were 600-1200 when I looked down at 22 and pushed all in from the button and Gabe called with A5 with the 5 of diamonds, and the flop came A K Q all diamonds.

I had a great meeting on the golf course yesterday which could lead to a lot of interesting deals for me. I wish I could give you all the fun details, but you will have to wait a few weeks before I can public ally announce them. We discussed one interesting golf bet involving a few friends and it looks like it might even be on TV, which would be a lot of fun.

It is nice to be home in Monaco, it really feels like home now, because Maya and Mila are here, but the first few days have been rough for them, because they are struggling with the jetlag. Naturally, with all the travels I have been through, I do not feel any jetlag.

It was an adventurous trip from Las Vegas. We took a Southwest flight from LV to LAX, and naturally one of my bags did not make it. Thankfully my assistant made the flight with us to LA in case of a situation like this. He waited for the next flight from Vegas to arrive and rushed the bag across two terminals to us while we checked in for our American Airlines flight to London. Mila is a pro traveler, she has flown around the world a few times now and sits quietly and enjoys the flight.

I will be playing a lot of golf and tennis the next few days and have a big golf match with my buddy Jani in a a week or so. We are playing 18 holes for $100,000 and he has to beat me by 15 shots. We are playing from the club tees at the Four Seasons golf resort in the south of France. I think I have an edge and hopefully I can pull it out. I want to thank my favorite caddie and golf coach Joe, who has helped my game a ton the past few weeks.

I will be in Monaco for about six weeks before heading back to Vegas for Poker after Dark and the WPT Championships in the middle of April. Hopefully I can get a little action online in the meantime and make some money.

-Patrik-

Enjoying Europe

Life has been very busy the past few weeks. I played in a huge cash game in Vegas, partied at Carnival in Brazil, golfed in Rome, and finally had Phil Ivey try his best to hustle me on the golf course. Needless to say, it has been a fun few weeks.

I had been planning on going to Brazil for quite some time. Martins Poker is going to be the official sponsor of the WSOP Brazil and I was going to go there to do some promotional work. A few days before the flight, I became very ill and it looked like I was going to have to cancel the trip. I missed my first flight because I was too sick to fly. I got a phone call from a friend that he was coming to Vegas and he wanted to play some $1000-2000 PLO / NL game that with no cap. I told him I was supposed to be in Brazil, but since I was sick, I was still in Vegas. He told me that after the game, I could join him on his private jet, since he was headed to Brazil himself the day after the game.

One of the most amazing things I have ever seen in the Bellagio happened that night as well. One of the players in the $40-80 mix game right outside Bobbys Room just walked right into Bobby's Room and sat down at our table, pulled out a bunch of $5000 and $25,000 chips and played with us for about seven hours. He was straddling every hand and moving chips as fast as he could. He ended up winning over $200,000. I am not sure how many players have played a six hour session of $40-80 and a seven hour session of $1000-2000 NL and PLO in the same day.

I brought along my good friend Mikko down to Brazil. It was his first time in a private jet and we had a blast. This was my first visit to Brazil and Carnival was absolutely amazing. The acts were very impressive. Of course we found a golf course close by and got some holes in.

I flew into Nice, France a few days ago and was suppose to fly to Copenhagen for the EPT event. I have not played any poker since leaving Australia and ready to get back into action. But at the last minute I decided to skip the tournament and finish decorating my loft in Monaco. Maya and Mila are joining me in a few weeks and I want the place to be looking good for their arrival.
They are both doing well, Mila is a few days away from walking all on her own; it is really cute watching her trying so hard to balance and then fall down.

I went golfing with Martin de Knijff, Phil Ivey, Winky Wright, and my assistant Nick at Shadow Creek awhile back. Nick who is a 12-14 handicap, performed one of the worst golf hustling moves in the history of Shadow Creek. Now considering how many gamblers play there, that is no small feat. Nick had grand plans of winning his retirement in one day of golf with Ivey and when Nick asked Phil how much he wanted to play for, and Phil did not want to bet, Nick was heartbroken. Nick was on super tilt and decided to show Phil what he was missing. He almost drove the first green with a 345 yard drive and was 2 under par after five holes. He ended up shooting a 36 from the tips on the front nine. Needless to say, Phil Ivey will not be betting Nick on the golf course anytime soon. Phil still doesn't believe Nick is my assistant, he thinks I brought out a ringer to hustle him. Phil was trying as hard as he could to not score well himself. He played some of the worst golf he has ever played and I am sure next time we play, he will not want to give me any shots. I will not fall for his hustling, so don't worry about me.

Brandon Adams and I have been negotiating an interesting prop bet. It is a hybrid prop bet, $200,000 Tennis and Golf Match. If one of us can win an 18 hole golf match and 2 out of 3 set tennis match, he wins. If it is split, it is a push. At the moment, I am a big favorite in tennis and he is the big favorite in golf. I have heard that Brandon has been hitting tennis balls every day the past two weeks, but that's ok, because my golf game is getting better as well.

I have been enjoying the past few days in Rome, one of my favorite cities. I have just been going to the gym, golfing, and enjoying the amazing food of Italy.

I will be heading back to Vegas in a few days for the NBC Heads Up Championship which is a really fun and tough tournament. Hopefully I play well and run good and can have a good showing.

Good luck at the tables.

-Patrik-

Australia Trip Report

I made a New Years resolution to write my blog more often and more consistent. Well I am off to a bad start, but going to make up for it. We just got back from Melbourne a few days ago and I have been on a really weird sleep schedule ever since.

A friend of ours made arrangements for a private jet to take us from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. I had been in Vegas for a few days visiting Maya and Mila. When we were checking in at LAX, the nice lady at ticketing informed me that the tickets were not paid for. I could not believe that my travel agent could screw up so bad. It was painful paying for six people to fly first class from LA to Melbourne.

I skipped the $100,000 buy in tournament, because I could not pass up some high stakes golf. I am so frustrated with my golf swing, I am hitting worse now then I did the first day I ever hit a golf ball. So you can only imagine how much money I lost on the golf course. Lucky for me I finally started winningat Chinese Poker and recovered all my golf losses and even made some money.

The main event at the Aussie Millions is always a great tournament. I made it deep last year and was hoping to improve on my 13^th place finish. I did not even make it past day 1 which was frustrating. I arrived about three hours late which did not help the cause either. I was steaming from a few different things and did not want to start the tournament on the wrong foot. I have a lot of respect for the players who make a living playing only tournaments, it is a lot harder than people think.

I was invited again to play in the high stakes cash game that airs on Fox. I played very well and hit some big hands at the right time and booked a very nice win. I have said it before, but I love these TV cash games. Everyone opens their games up more and gambles.

The side action was great down in Australia too. We got a $500-1000 PLO and PLH game going with Tom “Durr” Dwan, Phil Laak, Tony G, and a few others mixed in. One of the more interesting hands was against Durr. We were playing with a $2000 live straddle, so Durr raised to $6000. I was to his immediate left and just called with KK. The flop came 8 6 5 and Durr bet $13,000 and I called. The turn was an off suit 2 and he checked. I bet $22,500 and Durr called. The river was a 10 and again Durr checked. I thought I had the best hand and I wanted him to call, so I only bet $65,000 into the $80,000 pot. He called and I was pretty shocked when he turned over 88 for a set. I am lucky that I did not lose more on this hand.

I made it to a few tennis matches with a few poker friends. My country mate Jarkko Niemenen had a great tournament and reached the quarterfinals before falling to Nadal. Jarkko just got done with his military service, and said he is in the best shape of his life

I also got to do a little tennis training. I have always been impressed with how many top poker players are also excellent tennis players. David Grey, David B, Gus H were all top junior players. I spent a lot of time with Brandon Adams in Melbourne and he turned out to be a very good tennis player too. We had a great hit and are in negotiations for our own tennis / golf bet.

Melbourne is a gorgeous city and Maya has been looking forward to coming here for a long time. It is nice being able to give Mila the opportunity to travel the world, even though she is too young to remember, I am sure it is a great experience for her. Mila also swam for the first time with Maya at the hotel pool. She was having so much fun it was hard getting her out of the water. The most fun thing I did on the trip was taking Mila to the Melbourne Zoo. She loved all the animals and she had the biggest smile on her face the entire time.

I am off to Brazil in a few days for some business meetings and a little vacation. After that I will be returning to Monaco and preparing for the EPT Copenhagen.

Good luck at the tables
-Patrik-

Happy New Year

Happy New Years and a Look Back at 2007

Maya and I just spent New Years Eve at Marco and Jennifer’s new place in Queensridge. We had a lot of fun and I spent a lot of time with Daniel Negreanu talking about my new favorite hobby. Daniel has been addicted for a long time, but I am on my way to being the biggest golf enthusiast out there. I have been thinking of splurging on a virtual reality golf simulator for Maya’s place, because it is so cold in Vegas during the winter. Daniel gave me a strong sales pitch and I was sold.

I have been living the dream the past few weeks. My daily routine is to wake up around ten, head to the golf course and hit the range. We usually play 12-18 holes, and the last three holes are brutal because it is around 35 degrees, but no one wants to quit because they want to try and get even. We then grab a nice meal at TPC and add up the bets on the day. We take a little break and then go to the gym and play racquetball and lift. I love golf so much, although I do not love the fact that I am already down $450,000 in golf bets, but hopefully I can get even soon. Phil Ivey and I are planning on golfing everyday in Australia, so I will definitely have some good stories to share when I get back.

I will always look back at 2007 as one of the most important years of my life. I started the year in Australia and had a solid result in the Aussie Millions. My bankroll got a nice boost with my tournament cash and booking a few wins in some high stakes cash games down under. I did not play a full tournament schedule this year, but I managed to make a few results and finished the year a winner in tournaments. I almost won my first bracelet at the WSOP in a Pot-Limit Omaha event. I finished the year strong at the Bellagio, at one point I won eight sessions in a row in Bobby’s Room. Overall it was a great year that I will always remember.

I traveled a lot this past year to play in tournaments and a few high stakes cash games that aired on TV. I really enjoy live cash games and especially when they are on TV. The TV cameras seem to do a great job of creating action. I had a lot of fun playing on Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker and will look forward to playing in them again this year.

There were a lot of big changes in my life away from poker this year as well. I made a big change in moving back to Europe and living in Monaco. I have a beautiful place and I have missed living in Europe the past few years.

By far the best part of this year was the birth of Mila. Watching her grow and spending time with her has brought me so much happiness and motivates me to succeed so that I can provide all the opportunities for her. Poker is my passion, but Mila and Maya are the two most important things in my life and they always will be.

I hope everyone had wonderful and safe Holidays. I will start the New Year in Australia for the Aussie Millions. I am going to try and catch a few tennis matches at the Australian Open while we are in town. Mila will be making the trip; she is already a world traveler. After Australia, Mila and Maya will join me in Monaco for a few months.

Good luck at the tables

-Patrik-

WPT Bellagio and Super High Stakes Poker

The $15,000 Five Diamond Bellagio WPT will always be one of my favorite tournaments. I arrived almost two hours late, and within forty minutes I built the initial 30,000 stack to 80,000. Since I missed all of level 1, I made things happen in level 2.

The first big pot was when I called a raise with the 8h 5h in the small blind. The flop came 2 2 4 with two hearts. I led out and the initial raiser raised to 9000 which left him with 18,000. He looked very strong when he raised me, so my plan was to call and if I did not improve, I would fold on the turn. The turn was an off suit 8 giving me top pair and I checked. My opponent all of a sudden looked very uncomfortable, he looked back to his cards, and it was pretty clear to me that my pair of eights was most likely the best hand at the moment. He went all in and I called. He had AK with no hearts, so he had four outs to beat me. The river was a blank and I won a nice sized pot.

Another interesting hand occurred around twenty minutes later in level 2. I was in the SB with pocket Jacks. The button limped and I raised to 800. The BB and the Button both called. The flop came 9 5 3 with two spades. I bet 2000 into the 2400 pot and was called by both players. The turn was the 9 of spades completing the flush and pairing the board. I had the Jack of spades, but I checked and the BB checked, the button bet 5000. I called and was surprised when the BB came along as well, I was wondering what he had. The river was the Ace of spades and I led out for 12,000. The BB folded and the button called with 8s 6s. He turned the flush, but I caught one of my outs on the river.

On one of the last hands of the night I was dealt AK on the button. A player in middle position raised it to 2000 and I re-raised to 7000 and he called. The flop was A J 4 and it was looking like a great way to finish the night. He checked and I bet 8000 and he went all in. I called of course, but was up against a set of Jacks. I doubled him up and left myself with 24,600 going into day 2. We started with 30,000 so it was not an ideal position to be in, but I was still alive and was ready to fight hard on day 2 to make a run at the title.

Day 1 finished around 9pm and I grabbed dinner with Maya and Gus Hansen. It also happened to be my birthday. I am not a huge fan of birthdays and was trying to sneak through the day without too much attention. Maya and I had a lot of fun relaxing and talking with Gus and some other friends. I was on the waiting list for the "Big Game" but it was getting late and I decided to go back to Maya's and get some rest for day 2.

Day 2 did not last long; I managed to win a pot early on by making a flush, increasing my stack to 36,000. I folded a whole round and was waiting for a hand. Nenad Medic raised in the cutoff and I called with 9c 7c. The flop was K T 2 and we both checked. The turn was a Jack giving me a eight outs for a straight. I bet 3500 on the turn and he called. The river was an 8 giving me the third nut straight. The pot was around 15,000 and I bet 10,000. He raised, which would put me all in. I pretty much knew I was beat, but I could not lay it down, since I was getting 6-1 odds to call. Nenad could be raising with a set or big two pairs as well, so I had to call. He had AQ, the nuts so I was out.

The tournament was not exactly over for me when I busted out. I had cross booked with one player before the tournament. And it happened that that player was the chip leader going into day 3, no other than Mr. Phil Ivey. I was sleeping after a long twenty hour session when Maya woke me up and told me that Phil was out. Cross booking is a great way to add a little more excitement to tournaments. I will cross book with any players in the world, the ideal scenario would be 6-10 players and we cross book 10-15% per person.

I have been playing a lot in Bobby’s Room this December. This tournament seems to bring all the high stakes players into town. Last week I played the biggest poker game I have ever played. It is hard to imagine that five years ago I was playing $1-2 PLO at Casino Helsinki and a few nights ago I was playing 2k-4k PLO against “Mr Omaha” himself. We played with a $200k cap, which was probably a little too small, but we were trying to keep things a little under control. I played twenty seven hours straight and made a decent hourly rate.

I am a huge fight fan, weather it is MMA or Boxing, I enjoy a good fight. A good friend of mine hooked me up with some great seats to the recent Mayweather vs. Hatton fight the other night at Mandalay Bay. This was probably the best boxing match I have ever seen.

With so much action at the Bellagio I have had no time for the online games. Although I have heard that there are no big games running. I have sat at the Martins Poker tables a few times, but no one has come to play. Hopefully the online games start running more and I can get back to business.

Good luck at the tables

-Patrik-