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Juha Helppi hails from Helsinki, Finland, a location that rarely produces
faces familiar to North American audiences (with the possible exception of
hockey players). Unlike many of his countrymen, however, Helppi is a
familiar face to fans of the World Poker Tour in North America. That's
mostly thanks to his appearances on several WPT tournaments since 2003. He
has enjoyed considerable success both in Europe and abroad since bursting
onto the scene, with his career earnings being split nearly evenly between
events in the Americas and events held elsewhere.
Helppi was originally a poker dealer at a casino in Finland, but he came to
prominence during the very first World Poker Tour event held in Aruba. He
held off fierce competition from Kathy Liebert and Phil Gordon to claim the
first-ever WPT title and $50,000 in prizes. Helppi's career winnings may not
be on quite the same level as some other WPT champions, but that's mostly
due to the timing of his WPT win. Had he won a WPT tournament just a year or
two later, he would most likely have taken home over $1 million for his
efforts. In the place of one big win, Helppi has built his career winnings
on the back of consistency. He's earned his $1 million in career winnings by
playing as many events as possible.
One of the things that's easy to notice on Helppi's list of career results is
that he is a truly international player. He plays in big events in the
United States along with the rest of the poker world, but he also plays in
smaller events elsewhere. Austria, Estonia, St. Maarten, Spain, Ireland, St.
Kitts, and France have all been witness to the Finn's poker prowess. Most of
the time these tournaments feature smaller buy-ins than those at the World
Series or WPT preliminary events, but Helppi consistently makes the final
table in these events. There is one European event with a monster buy-in
that has seen Helppi perform extremely well - he took 2nd in the 2004 Monte
Carlo Millions for a $200,000 win.
In terms of the big events, Helppi has a solid track record of cashes in WPT
events. He was invited to the first WPT Battle of the Champions, where he
placed 4th - ahead of Gus Hansen and Chris Karagulleyan but behind Howard
Lederer, Jose Rosenkrantz, and winner Ron Rose. In 2005 he took 10th at the
$25,000 WPT Championship at Bellagio. He then turned around and took 2nd at
the Grand Prix de Paris in summer 2005, taking home over $300,000 for his
biggest career cash. Helppi has also enjoyed some success at the WSOP. In
2003 he cashed in two events, including a 4th place final table appearance
in the $2,000 no-limit hold'em event that was good for over $45,000. In 2004
he once again cashed in two events, including the $10,000 Main Event, and in
2005 he took 30th in the $2,500 pot-limit hold'em event.
Juha Helppi may not be best-known of all the WPT champions, but he is a solid
and consistent player who has proven his skill in dozens of tournaments over
the last several years. Anyone who ignores this Finn at his tournament table
does so at his own peril!
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