Capture the Flag -- Sami Kelopuro

Sami Kelopuro is a 21-year-old poker player from Finland who is a self-made millionaire. Railbirds know him as “LarsLuzak” on Full Tilt, where he can be found playing the $500-$1,000 half pot-limit Omaha/half pot-limit hold’em games. His ultra-aggressive style makes for huge six- and seven-figure swings, but his talent and instincts have earned him millions.

Kristy Arnett: First of all, tell me how you got started playing cash games.

Sami Kelopuro: It was at the end of 2005. Some of my friends played poker, and I was invited to a home sit-and-go game. I got excited about the game and started playing online shortly after that. In the beginning, I played a little bit of everything — tournaments, sit-and-gos, cash games, heads up, shorthanded, and full ring.

KA: What site was it, and how much did you deposit?

SK: It was PAF, Ongame Network. I made a couple of small deposits of like 30 euros, and started playing something like 25¢-50¢ and 50¢-$1.00.

KA: Were you going to school at the time, and how much time did you devote to playing in the beginning?

SK: I was just finishing high school then, and I didn’t have many classes anymore. I didn’t study much before the examinations because I was playing a lot of poker. I played a lot more then than I play now. Some days, I played more than 10 hours.

KA: How quickly did you move up in stakes, and what helped you to improve?

SK: I played the small stakes for like six months. The site where I started didn’t have higher stakes than 50¢-$1.00 back then. I had about a $1,000 bankroll, and moved to another Ongame site called Eurobet, which had higher games. I made a couple of deposits of a hundred euros, and started taking shots at $1-$2 and $2-$4. Then, I started running really good, and moved up levels really quickly. Two or three months later, I was already taking shots at $10-$20 and $25-$50. I think I learned from the better players while moving up in stakes, and eventually I started beating them.
 
KA: So, after high school, what did you do?

SK: I played a lot of poker. There was only about six months to go before my military service, and by the time I went there, I had already made a lot of money playing poker.

KA: How long were you in the military, and were you able to play during that time?

SK: I was there for nine months, and yeah, I was able to play after the first three months or so.

KA: When you were released from the military, did you know that you wanted to play poker professionally?

SK: At some point during my service, I realized I was doing well enough to do nothing else after the military. I don’t know when it was exactly; it all just happened. I was doing so well at the tables that there was no point in doing anything else.

KA: When you moved to Full Tilt as LarsLuzak, was that the first time you started playing as high as $500-$1,000?

SK: I think it was less than a year ago when those tables were added. I went back to Full Tilt last autumn, so that’s when I played $500-$1,000 for the first time.

KA: What do you think is the most important characteristic that a player must have to succeed at the $500-$1,000 level?

SK: Well, you need a lot of things to succeed at $500-$1,000. It’s hard to say what the most important thing is, since we have different kinds of players doing well at high stakes. It’s pretty much the same 10 to 20 guys who have been playing the highest games for a long time. When you’re playing with the same guys over and over again, you have to be able to come up with new moves constantly, and you have to change gears a lot.

KA: How is your pot-limit Omaha game compared to your no-limit hold’em game? Do you favor one or the other?

SK: No-limit hold’em is my thing. I have played it for much longer. Now, pretty much all of the high-stakes games are half-and-half, so I have to play pot-limit Omaha [PLO], too. I think my PLO game has improved a lot within the past six months. I’m still better in hold’em, but I also feel comfortable with my PLO.

KA: To many railbirds, it seems that there are a lot of all-in bets preflop in the PLO portion. Essentially, it looks as if you guys are flipping a lot. Is this the case, and if so, does PLO at the $500-$1,000 level favor the aggressor who pushes the smallest edges?

SK: Yeah, it’s true; especially when playing short-stacked, the money goes in all the time in PLO. In the long run, it actually favors the ones who play tighter than the others. It’s easy to get the money in as a favorite when someone is too aggressive when there are short stacks at the table. If you ask me, they should balance the games, so that PLO is half of the hold’em size, like $250-$500 PLO and $500-$1,000 no-limit hold’em, instead of pot-limit.

KA: That’s an interesting idea. What’s the best and worst cash-game session you’ve ever had?

SK: I think I’ve gone up and down about a million in one day.

KA: What advice would you give to cash-game players who have trouble dealing with the swings?

SK: You shouldn’t play above your comfort level, meaning that you need to make sure you have enough buy-ins for each level. I’m the wrong person to say this, actually, because I used to have terrible bankroll-management skills when I moved up really fast in stakes, but I started with nothing. I didn’t drop out of school or work because of poker, so I could risk everything. I was lucky not to go broke back in the days, but now I take things a little more professionally. It’s important to be able to handle the swings. You can’t let it affect your life too much. Poker is just poker, even if it’s your job, so it’s important to be comfortable with the swings you’re having. I’m not saying that it doesn’t hurt me to lose a million, but I can deal with it. I don’t go crazy, and I won’t let it affect my social life or anything else.

KA: I see that you’ve been focusing more on live tournaments, and plan to go to the World Series of Poker this summer. What is the hardest thing for cash-game players who are making the transition to live tournaments?

SK: There are many unpleasant things. As an online cash-game player, I’m used to fast games and multitabling. In a live tournament, you get maybe 25 hands per hour, so it’s really boring when you don’t get any good cards to play. The other thing is that it’s nine- or 10-handed. My favorite game is heads up, and I like to play up to five or six players. So, compared to shorthanded cash games, you have to play a lot tighter. The other thing is that the buy-ins are really small compared to the cash games that I’m used to playing, so I just don’t care that much, either.

KA: Is it hard to maintain a normal perspective on money in other aspects of life?

SK: Yeah, I think I lost it a long time ago. It just seems impossible to look at money in a normal way when the standard opening raise in a $500-$1,000 game is about an average month’s salary.

KA: How do you balance your life with poker as a 21-year-old millionaire? Do you still go out with friends, and is it ever difficult to relate to people who don’t play poker when you are out in a social gathering?

SK: Of course, some things have changed, but I still hang out a lot with the same guys I hung out with like 10 years ago. Money is just money, and I don’t think anyone should think it as an issue, whether I have a lot or none.

KA: Do you have any goals for yourself as a cash-game player?
SK: I think I’ve achieved pretty much everything in cash games. My next goal is to win a live tournament — hopefully, this year!

KA: What makes you want to compete at the highest level against the best players?

SK: I like the action. I’m not a grinder, and never have been. I love to challenge myself and play with the best. Although, if I felt that someone had a big edge against me, I probably would quit playing him. At the moment, though, I feel like I’m doing well enough against anybody. Actually, the money seems to just go back and forth between a lot of the best players. I think the actual edge is usually very small.

KA: What do you think of “Durrrr’s” challenge, and would you ever take him up on it?

SK: I’m going to see what happens with [Patrik] Antonius and [Phil] Ivey. It looks like it’s taking forever with Patrik, so I have a lot of time to think about it. If Tom beats both of them, I might be too scared to play him. If he loses to both of them, he might be broke, so let’s see what happens. If I’m going to do it, it’s going to be no-limit hold’em.