} Juha Helppi (born 4 March 1977) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

professional poker player from

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Career

Juha was originally a

croupier A croupier or dealer is someone appointed at a gambling table to assist in the conduct of the game, especially in the distribution of bets and payouts. Croupiers are typically employed by casinos. Origin of the word Originally a "croupier" meant ...

. He worked as a dealer for RAY in Finland but never dealt poker. He made a name for himself in the first

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the f ...

(WPT) event in Aruba, where he eliminated

Kathy Liebert Kathleen H. Liebert (born October 1, 1967 in Tennessee) is an American professional poker player. Poker Liebert started her professional poker career as a prop player in Colorado. She would later go on to enter tournaments and she won the ...

on the way to defeating professional player Phil Gordon in a heads-up challenge match. He has since made two other WPT final tables, with a 4th-place finish in the Season 1 Battle of Champions and a 2nd-place finish to England's

Roland De Wolfe Roland De Wolfe is an English professional poker player and a former writer for the poker magazine ''Inside Edge''. After winning first prize in an event at the 2004 Gutshot Poker Festival, De Wolfe went on to cash in the $1,000 No Limit eve ...

in the Grand Prix de Paris 2005 event. At the

2019 World Series of Poker The 2019 World Series of Poker was the 50th annual tournament, and took place from May 28 – July 16, 2019 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were 90 bracelet events. To celebrate the 50th WSOP there was a $50,000 ...

, he won his first

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker p ...

bracelet in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship. In total, he has finished in the money in 29 WSOP events. In November 2005, Helppi faced

Phil Laak Philip Courtney Laak (born September 8, 1972) is an Irish–American professional poker player and a poker commentator, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Laak holds a World Poker Tour (WPT) title, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, a ...

and Kenna James in the first ever underwater poker tournament and was awarded the Caribbean Poker Classic Extreme Poker bracelet. In March 2007, Helppi won the inaugural Premier League Poker title, defeating some of the all-time greats along the way, such as

Phil Hellmuth Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. (born July 16, 1964) is an American professional poker player who has won a record sixteen World Series of Poker bracelets. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the Main Event ...

and Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott. Helppi defeated German pro and two-time WSOP Bracelet winner

Eddy Scharf Eduard "Eddy" Scharf (born 7 November 1953 in Cologne) is a German professional poker player best known for winning two World Series of Poker bracelets. Scharf, who still maintains his job as a professional airline pilot, began playing poker p ...

In heads-up play to win the title. As the winner of InterPoker's first extreme poker tournament, he earned the right to choose the next year's location. He chose to play it in Kemi on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia. He finished second, losing to former WSOP champion Robert Varkonyi. As of 2019, his total live tournament winnings exceed $7,700,000.Hendon Mob tournament results
/ref> His WSOP cashes account for over $1,350,000 of those winnings. Helppi is a high level

paintball Paintball is a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called paintballs that break upon impact. Paintballs are usually shot using low-energy a ...

player and the captain of the Finnish national paintball champions 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2014. When younger, he played ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

'' successfully for several years.

World Series of Poker bracelets

An "O" following a year denotes bracelet(s) won during the World Series of Poker Online

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helppi, Juha 1977 births Living people Finnish poker players World Poker Tour winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners