Here at Back2Gaming we appreciate and celebrate all sorts of different gaming genres, whether it’s console-based RPGs, PC MMOs or iGaming. The latter medium has become increasingly popular over the past few years as online casino operators and professionals continue to gain success around the world. In fact, there are now hundreds of individuals who earn their living through competing in tournaments online and offline, particularly in games such as poker. Really, it is very similar to eSports competitions which are also gaining momentum worldwide.
As Norway is renowned for adopting games into its culture and ensuring that gamers always have a place in society, we thought we’d take a look at the most prominent Norwegian professional poker players. Before long, we realised that many of the world’s leading professionals came from the country, and so we began to ask: Is Norway the home of the best poker players in the world? Let’s take a look on https://www.pokerqiu.online.
Poker in Norway
Before we begin it is probably important to detail just how popular poker is in Scandinavian countries, particularly Norway. It’s thought that approximately $170,000,000 worth of online wagers are made by Norwegian poker players each and every year. Furthermore, some of the best online casino in 2017 nominees operate in Norway, including MrWin, Dunder and JackpotCity. As poker is such an intricate part of Norwegian leisure culture, it’s really no surprise that they are home to some of the leading poker professionals. Here they are:
Johnny “bad_ip” Lodden
Thanks to @partypoker and everyone involved for a beautiful trip to Grand Canyon today! pic.twitter.com/qmpvMHR1xM
— Johnny Lodden (@johnnylodden) July 14, 2017
When it comes to dedication, few professional poker players have managed to stick around on the poker scene as long as Johnny “bad_ip” Lodden. At 32-years-old, Lodden has spent over half of his lifetime competing on the poker circuit having started at the age of 16. As a young adult Lodden had watched his IT teacher play Limit Hold’Em and decided to ask his mentor for help learning how to play. Before long Lodden had surpassed his teacher and master Limit Hold’em before changing over to No Limit Hold ‘Em.
After just a few years on the professional scene, Lodden managed to earn over $10,000,000 in winnings, completely annihilating any competition that came his way. Unfortunately, Lodden is most well-known for managing to lose all his hard-earned prize money before the age of 21 following an astonishingly bad downswing. However, some Lodden supports do blame his losses on the fact he was scammed by notorious Swedish player Mohamad Kowssarie, otherwise known as TheTerrorist, TerrorOfSweden and Fast_Freddie.
Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad
Join @Annette_15 April 28 @ 5pm for $1/$2 PLO! Call 702-414-7657 to get on the interest list! pic.twitter.com/dmiuG7hWcp
— Venetian Poker Room (@VenetianPoker) April 28, 2016
So, we’ve covered one of the world’s youngest poker success stories – but did you know it was another Norwegian native who shook the very foundations of traditional poker? When Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad appeared on the poker scene, the game was very much dominated by males but this didn’t stop her from making a name for herself.
Having started in her mid-teens, Obrestad had managed to become the world number one in 2007 at the age of just 18. That same year, she won a tournamnet during which she only looked at her cards once until the heads-up phase began. Later, she became the youngest WSOP champion in history, a record she continues to hold, and even won the WSOPE Main Event with over $2 million to her name. Obrestad continues to reign supreme in the poker world, if not by her wins by her reputation as one of the most influential female professional poker players in history.
Ola “Odd_Odddsen” Amundsgaard
Poker fans will no doubt recognise Ola “Odd_Oddsen” Amundsgaard for winning $4 million in the highest stakes PLO online game, an incredibly impressive feat. He is also one of the few professional poker players to successfully transition from mid-stake games to high-stakes PLO and is often known to play dozens of tables at once, which is made even more impressive by the fact he didn’t start playing online poker until 2008.
Although his gaming prowess certainly sets Amundsgaard up as one of the most impressive Norwegian players out there, it is actually his love for poker that encouraged us to include him on our list. At one point, he offered a $170,000 freeroll to Norwegian politicians, and all they had to do was beat him heads-up at PLO across 10,000 hands. Politician Erlend Wiborg decided to take Amunsgaard on, but was ultimately destroyed by the professional player.
Needless to say, these Norwegian players are willing to risk much more than money to continue playing their favourite game of chance. In fact, we would go as far as to say Norway is certainly one of the front runners when it comes to poker professionals.