Name: Tapio Koivisto

Age: 30

Nationality: Finnish

The next GSOP Live Malta qualifier we are introducing you is a long-time RedKings regular Tapio Koivisto from Finland. Like many Finns Tapio keeps it short and pithy:

“I´ve been playing poker for about seven years now, I´m a SnG regular and occasionally play MTTS too. I don´t play big Live events very often - and haven´t had any success in the ones I´ve played so far - so I´m really looking forward to GSOP Live Malta”

Name: Andrey Tsitovich
Nationality: Russian
Age: 21

Player presentation in English:

Three years ago there was a poker boom in Russia and I started playing too, having $50 in my account. I was playing 12 NL2 cash tables at a time as well as different kind of cheap satellites. In one of them I qualified to a 250k gtd. tournament in which I finished 15th. I also decided to try some cheap offline tournaments in a local poker club and my first experience appeared to be very lucky – I took the 1st place. Having a decent starting bankroll I went for $5 SNG 10max, six months later I was already playing at $54 with a good ROI. Later after reading some posts of hiNt (editor’s note: a well-known Russian player) I changed 10max to 6max $54-$108 SnG and also started discovering MTTs where I managed to go up to $525 limits. Now I am interested in HU SnG’s.
Player Presentation in Russian:

Я начал играть 3 года назад , во времена покерного бума в России.
Я стартовал с 50$ и начал играть НЛ2 кеш на 12 столах, также время от времени играл различные дешевые саттелиты, в одном из которых я отобрался в турнир с гарантией 250к и занял там 15-ое место. В это же время я первый раз попробовал поиграть дешевые оффлайн турниры в местном покерном клубе, и в первом же турнире 10+ Rebuy мне улыбнулась удача – я занял 1-ое место. Имея приличный стартовый банкролл, я перешел на 5$ sng 10max, через полгода я уже играл на 54$ с неплохим рои. Почитав посты Хинта о бесперспективности 10max, я перешел в 6max sng 54-108$, а также начал учиться играть MTT, где, поймав удачную полосу, мне за пару месяцев удалось быстро подняться до лимитов 525$. Сейчас я начал изучать дисциплину husng.

Name: Vitalii Evdokimov
Nationality: Russian
Age: 24
Player presentation in English:

The first time I learned about poker few years ago. The game intrigued me immediately but I wasn’t crazy about it. It was fun for me to gather together with my friends and play with them. But since they created official special areas for poker in Russia it made many people stop playing offline inside the country. However, recently I have realized that online poker gives an excellent opportunity to participate in the international live tournaments. To qualify to such Live tournaments is quite easy even for an average player without having big experience. That’s what I did at RedKings and now I am looking forward to go to GSOP Live Malta. I am not a very experienced offline poker player but I am so sure I am going to have great time!

Player Presentation in Russian:
Первый раз я познакомился с покером несколько лет назад, и игра меня сразу заинтриговала, однако большого увлечения не вызвала. Покер был развлечением, которое позволяло весело провести время с друзьями за приятным занятием.  А с тех пор, как покер в России официально вывели в специальные игровые зоны наравне с азартными играми, от данного вида развлечения пришлось практически отказаться. Однако недавно я понял, что Online покер-румы предоставляют прекрасную возможность поучаствовать в международных турнирах. При этом пройти отборочные турниры на такой турнир вполне реально даже для игрока-любителя среднего уровня. Предложение RedKings отобраться через отборочные турниры на серию GSOP Live на Мальте мне показалось очень интересным, и я не ошибся. Так как опыта игры в больших offline турнирах у меня нет, я рассчитываю просто хорошо провести время.

Name: Pavlo Melnychenko

Nationality: Ukrainian

Age: 23

Player presentation in English:

I was introduced to poker by one of my friends who told me the game is very interesting. I gave it a shot and liked it a lot! This was around 2 years ago and I started with $1 Sit’n’Go tournaments. Playing different kinds of poker (cash, MTT) I went up the limits and now I am playing $5.5 - $22 tournaments. I like to play offline as well and I have experience in winning some smaller scale live events, but nothing as big one as the coming GSOP Live Malta. But I am young and I am ready to learn =)

Player Presentation in Russian:

Мне про покер рассказал знакомый, он тоже только начал играть 2 месяца всего и говорил , что очень интересная игра, я попробовал -  мне понравилось! Начал играть я где-то 2 года назад, играл в начале турниры СНГ за $1, потом потихоньку начал вырастать по лимитам, играл много всего разного: и кеш и МТТ… Сейчас играю СНГ турниры от $5.5 до $22. Играю и в офлайне - выигрывал пару турниров. Но особого опыта в больших офлаqн турнирах нет, но я молодой и готов учиться=)

Kalle ~20000

Ramzi ~20000

Toni 31500

Mikko Lehtonen 25000 “nothing special”

Mikko Kerola 19000 “lost a bit set vs set, lucklily the board ran so scary we didn´t get the chips in”

Name: Janne Salonen

Nationality: Finnish

Age: 26

Player Presentation:

I got into poker about a five years ago when I saw my friend play online and winning like $500 in 40 minutes. I had never seen this poker with only two cards, only poker I knew was 5 Card Draw and Sökö (Finnish five card-stud for our non-Finnish readers –ed. Note)

I made my first deposit a shortly after seeing my friend play and then made my second deposit about 30 minutes later. I kept playing freerolls, cash games and tournaments and kept losing money.

The turning point was seeing a friend of mine making some money and I decided I have to be better than him. I started playing SNGs a bit more seriously and did quite ok.

I consider myself an average poker player who loves the gambling element in poker. Nowadays I mostly play small to midstakes online MTTs

I haven´t played much Live poker but have occasionally played some cash games in Helsinki and took part in Macau Cup with Team RedKings a while ago. My first goal in GSOP Live Riga is not to bluff myself out in the first 30 minutes.

…of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND CHIPS in EPT London. But still in the tournament, in the money and only 127 playerst left to beat. Ramzi is marching on!

He´s not among the chipleaders right now, but we´ve heard that this is just a strategic move and eventually Ramzi plans to have ALL the chips and ALL THE MONEYZ!

Name: Wouter G

Age: 26

Nationality: Dutch

Player Presentation:

I started playing poker five years ago in freerolls and small buy-in tournaments, but I quickly switched over to cashgames from NL50 to NL400. Last year I started focusing on Heads-Up games and I´ve been very happy with my success.

I also played my first big live events at the end of the year and eventhough I still don´t play that much live tournaments, when I play, I have only one goal: winning.

Name: Kanstantsin Yermakou

Age: 27

Nationality: Belarusian

Player presentation:

I have been playing poker professionally for approximately 2,5 years now and have tried all poker variants, but at the moment I prefer playing Sit´n´Go –tournaments. I have some live poker experience and we will see if that helps me in the upcoming higher level tournament in Riga.

In Russian:

Живу за счет покера около 2.5 лет. Пробовал себя во всех дисциплинах, но на данный момент предпочтение отдаю СНГ. Есть некоторый оффлайн опыт, посмотрим будет ли его достаточно для турнира подобного уровня.

Name: Pekka Ikonen

Age: 31

Nationality: Finnish

Player presentation:

I have been playing poker for four years now and it has been my main source of income from the beginning 2010. I started with free money bonus in small stakes fixed limit cash games before switching over to No Limit cash games. At the moment I´m playing everything from NL200 to NL1000. I used to play tournaments only with local friends but in early 2010 I started studying the tournament game too and playing Online tournaments at RedKings regularly. I haven´t played that many Live events yet but I find them a welcome break from sitting in front of my computer and in future my plan is to attend at least few major events a year. So far my biggest achievement in the Live Scene is 3rd place finish in WSOP Event #47 this summer.

Suomeksi/In Finnish

Olen pelannut pokeria nelisen vuotta ja vuoden alusta pokeri on ollut ainoa tulonlähteeni. Aloitin ilmaisrahalla pienten panosten fixed limit- käteispeleistä. Myöhemmin siirryin no limit- käteispeleihin joita pelaan edelleen tasoilla NL 200 – NL 1000. Turnauksia olen pelannut lähinnä kotipeleissä kaveriporukalla. Tämän vuoden alusta olen kuitenkin opetellut myös turnauspelaamista ja pelannut turnauksia säännöllisesti netissä. Liveturnauskokemukseni on vielä melko vähäistä, mutta ne ovat mukavaa vaihtelua kotikoneella istumiselle ja jatkossa aion matkustaa ainakin muutamaan turnaukseen vuodessa. Mainittavin turnausmenestys tähän asti on kolmas sija viime kesän WSOP event 47:ssa.