Juha Helppi: Player Profile

Name: Juha Helppi
Nationality: Finnish (lives in Helsinki)
Born: March 4, 1977
Nickname: Peasant
Biggest win: $331,000, 2nd place $1,000 NLH, 37th WSOP 2006, Las Vegas
Winnings to date: $1,890,041
Major titles: 2
WSOP bracelets/money: 0/10

Juha Helppi is one of those people that just seems to be good at everything. Before playing poker he was captain of a Finnish National Paintball Championship team, whilst he was also an accomplished footballer.

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He began life round the card tables as a casino dealer at the age of 21, and he soon picked up the game before turning his attention to online poker. It was not long before he was in the winner's circle, making a name for himself in the first WPT event in Aruba in 2002, where he won the amateur tournament before going on to defeat pro player Phil Gordon in a heads-up challenge to take the overall title.

Helppi is known for his colourful approach to life and is always on the lookout to do something exciting and different. In November 2005 he won the first ever underwater poker tournament where he saw off players including Phil Laak and Kenna James and was awarded the Caribbean Poker Classic Extreme Poker bracelet.

"Not only are Phil and Kenna two of the best poker players I have ever faced, I also had to overcome obstacles such as water leaking into my mask and staying away from the stingray," Helppi said. "I feel like I truly earned this victory."

As the winner of that event he earned the right to choose the following year's location. He plupmed for Kemi on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia in his homeland and he excelled again, this time finishing second - losing out to former WSOP champion Robert Varkonyi.

He has also built up a WSOP pedigree; in 2003 he cashed in two WSOP events, one of those being fourth in the $2000 no-limit hold'em tournament. He got closest to winning a bracelet when he finished second in the 2006 WSOP in the $1000 no-limit hold'em event, losing to WSOP legend Phil Hellmuth Jr, however that was Helppi's 3rd WSOP cash that year.

Helppi received a huge amount of publicity when he won the televised Partypoker.com Premier League in 2007 where he saw off poker stalwarts Phil Hellmuth Jr, Andy Black and Dave Ulliott, and he will back to defend his title this year.

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