WSOP Gold -- Wahlbeck Wins Finland’s First BraceletFinnish Pro Takes the Early Lead for WSOP’s Player of the Year Award |
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Most people probably thought it would’ve been Patrik Antonius. Some people would have argued for Ilari “Zigmund” Sahamies. But last night, 33-year-old poker pro Ville Wahlbeck took down the $10,000 mixed games world championship and won his first bracelet, the first ever by a Finnish player.
“It’s nice to be the first Finnish player to win a bracelet,” Wahlbeck told Card Player today. “But to be honest, I wouldn’t have cared if I was first or third or fifth (Finnish player to win at the World Series).”
Wahlbeck has had a phenomenal start to the 2009 WSOP. Just last week, he finished third in the $10,000 stud event, collecting $152,915 for his efforts. Last night, he put the finishing touches on his first bracelet in the world championship mixed games event, beating out a stacked field of 194 players and taking home an additional $492,375.
His two final tables make him the early leader in the World Series Player of the Year standings.
Wahlbeck says he might play a few more events now that he is in the hunt for the prestigious reward.
“I was already planning on playing most big events,” said Wahlbeck. “But maybe because I’ve started so well in the Player of the Year, I’ll play some of the smaller events also. I wasn’t planning on playing the main event because I was thinking about flying back to Finland then, but because of this, I might just stick around and play the main event.”
More poker is not exactly something Wahlbeck wants right now, but he feels compelled to give the Player of the Year award his best shot.
“I’m really considering almost quitting online poker,” said Wahlbeck. “I used to play easily 60 hours a week. If you put in too many of those sessions together, then you’re in pretty bad shape.”
Wahleck says he looks forward on cutting back his poker time so he can enjoy life a little bit more.
“I want to read, relax, spend time with my friends and family, socialize,” said Wahlbeck. “It’s not that poker is stopping me from doing that now, but it’s making it difficult. Poker has just taken up so much of my time.”
Wahlbeck first immersed himself in the poker world six years ago when he signed up for an account on Paradise Poker.
“After a while, I just noticed that I was a winning player and then it was a pretty easy decision to turn professional,” said Wahlbeck, who used to be a journalist and elementary school teacher.
But life as a pro has not always been easy.
“When you’re winning and when things are going well, it’s such a high. But the lows are low, and when you’re taking beats, it’s just very emotional and exhausting,” said Wahlbeck. “My problem has always been that I’m playing so much and too high for my bankroll that I’m emotionally too involved in the game.”
Emotional can certainly be used to describe the Finnish pro after he secured his bracelet.
Wahlbeck broke into tears of joy and needed several minutes to compose himself after he beat out David Chiu heads up, preventing Chiu from winning his fifth bracelet.
“I can always say now that I’ve won a World Series bracelet,” said Wahlbeck, who says he’ll celebrate his win when a few more Finnish players get into town. “I’m just so tired, I don’t feel like partying yet.”
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