Generation Next -- Ramzi Jelassi

Despite being only 22-years-old, Ramzi Jelassi has a string of cashes to his name. Burning the European felt up as he attempts to make an impact on the live scene, this Swedish rising star is committed to the cause and determined to win as much live as he has online.

Rebecca McAdam: Tell us a little bit about your background?

Ramzi Jelassi: My father is from Tunisia and my mother was born in Finland, but both have lived in Sweden for more than 25 years, and I have lived there my whole life. I was born in a suburb of Stockholm in Sweden.

RM: What did you do before you got into poker and how did you start?

RJ: My parents were divorced when I was very small but still lived close to each other and I would spend time at both places during the week for my whole upbringing. I started going to high school in Stockholm city, an hour train ride from where I lived, and eventually when I became 18 I moved in to the city with another poker playing friend. I started playing poker with friends and thought it was fun and challenging to try to win money from other players. I played lower stakes online for fun and started winning and moving up in levels, got lucky and won an online tournament when I was very young and after that the money was just too good to not want to continue. I played soccer my whole life since I was a little kid, and pretty seriously up to the age 18 when I had a small injury and decided to quit since I had so much going on with a two-hour train ride back and forth from school, and a one hour ride to soccer practice five or six times a week plus the new poker thing.

RM: Was there a moment when you realised you could really get somewhere by playing poker?

RJ: I guess it was when I had the amount of money that I couldn't see myself doing anything else for the moment in terms of making money since I was only a couple of steps away from a computer where I could easily win a few hundred bucks a day.

RM: What kind of games and tournaments do you like to play?

RJ: It all depends on the mood I'm in, and frankly I have played poker for such a long time now that it's not always fun to play. Cash games can always be fun and you can win or lose big amounts of money in a short period of time. I prefer tournaments though because that's my best game and that's what I have been most successful at and feel most confident about. I play the tournaments that my bankroll lets me play, so mostly the bigger $200 plus buy in tournaments online, but I also play more expensive buy in live tournaments since I feel that there is a lot of value to be found in them. Now that I'm sponsored by RedKings in the bigger live tournaments it takes a little bit of pressure off my own bankroll, and I can focus more on just playing since that is what I do best.

RM: You're so young, you must have started out online?

RJ: I played a lot in Europe before going over to the states to play. I started playing the bigger live tournaments including the European Poker Tour when I was 18 years old so most of my experience with live poker comes from that.

RM: Was the transition to live difficult?

RJ: Playing in Vegas wasn't too different since I was already so used to the game. So, there was no real transition really.

RM: What is your online name and where did it come from?

RJ: I don't have a specific online name that I use, I have a bunch of different ones. I have a habit of using girls' names as nicknames, and I have used names such as IzabelG and Karolina23. I don't really know where they came from, I guess it was just a thought I had when I started playing to try to have a different name. Right now my nickname is RK_PRO_RAMZI on RedKings.

RM: What levels do you play online and how did you get there?

RJ: I kind of grinded my way up through the levels, but had a big online win ($90,000) when I had just turned 18 that boosted me, even though I kept playing $10-$20 limit for at least six months after that big win. Today, I play the bigger online tournaments and depending on how many there are available I sometimes play down to $100 buy-ins.

RM: What do you think the differences are between playing online and live?

RJ: First of all the games are much faster online, that is a big difference, so we usually want better value when we play live since it takes up more time. Playing-wise there is some information you cannot get online when you play because you can't see the players you are playing against. Live we can hear them and see them and take in all sorts of information that might help us in our decisions in some of the hands.

RM: Who are your peers in the Swedish online poker scene?

RJ: I have many friends through online poker and I'm friends with most of the well known players in Sweden. Some of my closer poker-playing friends are Jonas Molander, Michael Tureniec, and Patric Mårtensson. I am also very close friends with some other poker players that are not as well known, and one of my best friends used to play under the famous TexasLimitKing name but he doesn't play poker anymore.

RM: What is the poker scene like in Sweden?

RJ: There are a lot of online poker players since Sweden started early and everyone has great Internet access. We have big poker forums and what not which come with the whole online poker scene, and probably helped to spread the game in Sweden. For live play it's not as great as in some other countries, we have a lot of players but not a lot of them play in the live casinos. We only have a few live casinos and they are run by the government. There have been several smaller private poker clubs where I have played since I was younger that were always well run and would always have some of Sweden's best players in them for many years, so that's where I started getting better at live poker.

RM: How did your sponsorship come about and has it affected you and your game?

RJ: RedKings wanted a player that could represent their site and I guess they liked the idea of working with me so they contacted me about working together. The arrangement happened pretty quickly and I think the deal we have with each other is very good for both parts. I am used to playing big live tournaments so the sponsorship doesn't change my game much, but it definitely allows me to focus more on playing and having fun.

RM: What are your poker ambitions?

RJ: Of course every poker player's ambition is to be the best. But there is also other things going on in my life so poker is mainly a source of income, but it's still something I like to excel at and always try to be the best at. The dream scenario would be to win something big and use the money to be able to live and eat without a worry, and invest the money in something, maybe start a new company.

RM: What is the best lesson you have learned so far?

RJ: I have learned a lot of life lessons through poker but I would say that patience is a huge thing to master to be able to be a big winner in poker.

RM: Any good advice?

RJ: Best advice ever given was probably to trust my own instincts more. But then again, my instincts are world class!

Jelassi, most recently, won the €2,000 side event at the European Poker Tour Prague for his biggest live cash ever, €129,000.