Ilari Sahamies aka Ziigmund
Ilari Sahamies aka Ziigmund aka Ilari FIN has had an interesting year. After a downward spiral in 2010 where he lost more than 2 million dollars, Ilari has been rebuilding his poker empire in 2011. His greatest skills were developed at the live event tables and this in mind, he’s made some significant moves in that department, however he did not make a live appearance at the worlds greats known poker event, The World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
At the start of the year, Ziigmund appeared on Full Tilt Poker many times. He competed in the high stakes games and continued to assault the PLO tables when he was on a streak. That streak and impressive skill, many have come to expect from this trash talking poker professional, seemed to have faltered. In mid February he made the move to PokerStars as Ilari FIN and had a rough start. He reflected on the change and reasoned that he had come to have significant anxiety over playing on FullTilt. The anxiety manifest itself in physical reactions that disappeared when he made the move to PokerStars. After playing drunk one series of sessions against Isidulr1, Sahamies went down more than 150 thousand dollars. That was his worst spiral on PokerStars to date. He’s won his money back through various high stakes and PLO events and real money poker games since.
When Black Friday took everyone by surprise, Ilari Sahamies was among the few who continued to play on either site, at times on both. At one point during the first three weeks after the event, he won more than 200 thousand dollars in 100 /200 PLO games on Full Tilt Poker. As scandal and further concerns became obvious, he explained he made the choice not to deposit and play online with either Full Tilt or PokerStars. Since then he’s focused his talent on live games and EU based and focused online poker sites. He has made a few steps back onto the PokerStars high stakes events, since FullTilt has been closed. His overall online game is down for the year, however that won’t stop his drive to recover what he’s lost and then some. In June he competed in his home country of Finland for the Helsinki Midnight Sun Tournament. The title of Finnish Champion of Poker eluded him this time, but that doesn’t deter his push for incredible success.
Something that has been a constant for Ilari Sahamies is his enjoyment of the gambler’s attitude. The best example of this is the coin flip series he had with Phil Ivey where they started the bets at 40k on a single flip and it just grew from there to double that. This attitude contributes to his online and off line poker game play.
Currently, Ilari Sahamies is still trailing many in his annual earnings online; however he’s not slowing his game play. The poker professional plans to push for Gus Hansen’s level of success this year. If he makes it, he will more than make up for the 2010 overall loss.