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Miscellaneous:
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Read FTR's Exclusive Interview with Johnny Lodden
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Residence:
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Jørpeland, Rogaland, Norway |
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Birthdate: |
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June 1, 1985
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Career Highlights: |
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2004 St Maarten Open $500 No Limit Hold’em, 1st
2005 Swedish No Limit Hold’em Championships, 2nd 2008 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final, 17th 2008 WSOPE £10,000 Main Event, 11th 2008 EPT Budapest €4,000 No Limit Hold´em, 8th
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Affiliated Poker Room(s): |
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Poker Stars
Read our
PokerStars.net review or pick up our exclusive
PokerStars Bonus Code. |
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Personal Website: |
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N/A |
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Products: |
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N/A
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Exclusive Johnny Lodden Interview (WCOOP 2012)
How do you feel an online series like the WCOOP compares to a live series such as WPT or WSOP? Which do you prefer to play?
WCOOP is fun to play but cant compare to playing tourney series live. Live is much more fun and I also think its more skill involved actually.
Do you make any changes in your game when approaching a WCOOP event compared to any other online MTT?
I try to play tighter in WCOOP events just because the structure is better so you have more time waiting for good cards. Don't have to take big flips all the time.
Other than the Main Event, what individual WCOOP tournament would you like to win the most? Why?
I love to play Omaha tourneys. So event 56: 2100 PLO 6-max would been great :)
If you were suddenly in charge of running the WCOOP what changes would you make to improve the series?
Not sure.. I think the series are really good already. But I would probably put in some more events with a bit higher buy-in.
What's your guess for the final number of runners in the WCOOP Main Event? Do you feel it will shatter the 1,000 player mark?
I`m 100% sure it will be more then 1k players.. Think it will be closer to 2000 or even more than that! So my guess is 2319 players :)
What type of playing environment do you maintain while playing poker online? Do you approach your online play as work, for instance, and dedicate part of your home to working on your craft without distraction? Do you adjust your environment when the stakes or prize pools are larger than usual?
I haven't anything settled up at home.. That's really bad :( I really should have bought a big mac a long time ago but I'm to lazy and stupid to do it. So when I play online from my home I sit on a laptop and watching TV.. Its not good at all.. Have to change that!
Whenever online poker becomes a reality in the US, do you think there will be another boom?
Think its gonna be a small boom again now as PokerStars have bought up FTP. But the last chance for a big boooom now is for it to open up in Asia then I think it will be good times again!
Which one skill or technique do you think you possess over your standard opposition?
Don't understand the question..
What do you do when not playing poker? What are your favorite hobbies to take your mind off of the game?
Then I mostly are with my family or friends. With friends we do all kind a sports and also plays a lot of different card games! Favorite hobby is football and tennis. But I follow all kind of sports.
Favorite movie? TV Show?
A lot of good movies out there.. The Shawshank Redemption, Lord of the Rings, The Dark Knight is really good! TV - shows: only follow one and that's: Graham Norton..
What is your favorite city to visit?
Many here as well. Barcelona is the fav in Europe. Las Vegas is in the world.
How did the “What does Lodden think” game come about with you, Laak, and Esfandiari?
It was us three joking around under the WSOPE on the TV table and then Esfandiari started to ask my all kind of questions. And people watching it loved it and now its a world wide game suddenly!
How often do you play it when at the tables? What are some of the most ridiculous and/or interesting questions that have come up during that game?
I never play it.. People was asking a lot in the start. But now I guess most people are bright enough to understand that I'm fed up of answering all kind of stupid questions!!
Johnny Lodden Bio
Picture a roller coaster ride. One that has its peak as high as the Himalaya’s, and has a valley as deep as the Mariana Trench. This should be one of the things that come to mind when you think about Johnny Lodden, the Norwegian poker phenom who decimated the opposition at the highest levels even before the highest levels were common place (before Durrrr and Antonius), and managed to lose his whole roll, and then found stardom by building a new roll and get sponsored by world’s biggest poker site.
Lodden was born on June 1st, 1985 in Jørpeland, which is a small town in the municipality of Strand located in the county of Rogaland in Norway. It’s a very small town somewhere near the south-western coast of Norway, and also a very quiet town. Jørpeland currently barely cracks 6,000 inhabitants.
Lodden started to play cards at a very young age, most of the time in the garage at home with close friends. Whatever he won in these “underground” live games, he would put it online and try his luck, with varying measures of success.
In the very beginning of his online career, he would play $1/$2 limit poker. Lodden, however, quickly moved through the limits, and within six months he was already playing $15/$30 LHE. Johnny would grind with a passion and devotion, some of the times following a wake up > poker > sleep > wake up pattern. 12 hour long sessions were not uncommon.
All of that devotion would pay off though, and his prima network nick “bad_ip” would soon be a staple in the highest limits of poker. At the time, the biggest games on the net would be found on the Prima Network, $200/$400 NLHE. Lodden amassed a very large bankroll by then, quite a lot north of 7 figures.
But then, Lodden would lose a lot of money, sending his bankroll on life support. Many sources tell different stories about this twist of turns, but two are the most convincing ones. First, Lodden lost a lot of money to an alleged scammer that could play at his limits. The scammer had somehow transferred a worm to his computer, and could see his hole cards or so the theory goes. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence supporting this claim not just by Lodden, but by many of the other Prima Network nosebleed players at the time. Patrick Antonius himself allegedly lost about 500,000€ to the scammer in about 10 sessions, noticed something was wrong, and then purchased a new computer and played him again, and proceeded to win. The scammer then proceeded to sit out and not play Antonius anymore.
The second story is that Lodden got knee-deep in sportsbetting, and couldn’t control himself. Remember that these are all myths, not facts. It is general knowledge of the poker world, but it stands unverified as is.
Anyway, we now arrive at the first Mariana Trench-like valley in Lodden’s career, in which he is flirting with Bustoville. In August of 2007 Lodden gave a brief interview with the Danish poker journal Acemag, were he admitted that his roll was almost gone, and decided to retire his old “bad_ip” account. In the interview, Lodden also admits he had to start anew while being staked by a friend.
While starting anew, Lodden wasted no time. He has cashed 8 times in the European Poker tour, and has also made the final table in the Budapest 2008 event. In the 2008 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Lodden was chip leader much of the tournament but ended up in 17th place earning €46,300 ($73,797). In live tournaments alone, to date Lodden has cashed upwards of $245,000.
His rebirth and strong showings in the tourney scene and legendary cash game resume did not go unnoticed, as Lodden got sponsored by PokerStars. In 2009, PokerStars announced that Lodden would join its team of Poker Pro’s, and Lodden would join such other legendary figures such as ElkY, Dario Minieri, Joe Hachem and Greg Raymer. Lodden is also the first Norwegian to join the elite group.
Fellow poker pro’s Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak came up with a game that they called “What Lodden Thinks”. It’s a prop betting game that involves on what a third person, not necessarily Lodden, thinks about a variety of subjects, and then two bettors would bet on the outcome. If Lodden is present, then of course, its all his call. This game has even been featured on the most popular televised poker shows, such as High Stakes Poker and Poker after Dark.
An example would be: “How much does a 2009 Harley Davidson Night Rod Chopper cost?” If I would guess $16K (the actual answer), my opponent guesses $38K, and Lodden reveals that his best guess would be about $42K, then my opponent wins. Questions span all topics, but the most easily preferred ones are the ones which have no basis on fact, but only on opinion, such as “How much money would you have to be paid to swim with sharks without a safety cage?”
Why Johnny Lodden, you ask? Well, Lodden enjoys a somewhat mythical reputation in the online poker world. He was the first to be involved in the truly big pots. He was the first to do the massive climb of limits, starting all the way from the bottom. Back in 2005, $200,000 and $300,000 and beyond pots were unthinkable, yet Lodden would find himself involved in these. So, it would seem logical that people would be somewhat interested in what he things, at least jokingly.
All in all, Johnny Lodden is The Man. He has been around forever in the online world, has known sweet victories and also bitter defeats, and he keeps coming. Johnny Lodden is truly an inspiration to us all.
Common misspellings: Jonny Lodden, Johnny Loden, Johnnie Lodden
Learn more about Johnny Lodden at PokerStars.
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