Look Out: Joep van den Bijgaart

Joep van den Bijgaart has been recognized as a rising star in the Dutch poker community. He was made a member of Team PokerStars two years ago, and after a successful start to his career online, he is now transferring his skills to the live arena, because, as he puts it, “It’s nice not to be stuck behind a screen all the time. You can see your opponents’ faces and you’re much more involved in the game.”

He studied facilities management in college, and it was during this time that he started playing poker with friends and became more interested in the game. He had to make a couple of deposits online after losing at first, but he was determined to succeed, so he read strategy books and discussed hands with other players to improve his play. He soon was making a profit, and is now following in the footsteps of other great players from his home country of Holland, like fellow Team PokerStars pros Marcel Luske and Noah Boeken. “The Netherlands is a small country, just 60 million people, but the quality of players we have produced is very high,” said Joep.

Online poker provided Joep (“Pappe_ruk”) the training ground to develop his skills, and he’s racked up plenty of success on the virtual felt (18 online cashes). He’s a regular in the big tournaments at PokerStars, where he won $69,234 when he finished second in the Sunday 500 during a very profitable January in 2009. “I started in small sit-and-go events, and then worked my way up to the bigger Sunday tournaments after I made some big scores; it’s kind of the standard story,” he said.

The Dutch pro also has found success on the European live-tournament circuit; he finished 34th in the PokerStars European Poker Tour Deauville main event, for $14,321, and was the runner-up in a €300 limit hold’em event at the Dom Classics, a popular tournament in Utrecht in the Netherlands. He also made the final table of a World Series of Poker event this past summer; he finished seventh in the $1,500 limit hold’em shootout, and won $18,136. His lifetime tournament winnings now stand at $227,076.

Joep enjoys life on the road, and likes hanging out with his growing group of poker friends. Together, they enjoy watching football games when not playing on the felt. He also is a poker writer and contributes articles to various websites, and credits his improved play to his involvement in the poker media.

For now, Joep will be seeking his first major-tournament title, mainly in Europe and during the summers in Las Vegas. He enjoys playing during an entire tournament, even if it doesn’t involve a deep run in the main event, because of all of the side events that are now offered on the EPT. “There are always a lot of side events at EPT stops, so there are events for everyone. PokerStars has done a good job of offering a large number of side events.” ♠