Interview With Online Poker Pro Henri Junttila

I scored an interview with online poker pro Henri Juntilla today.  Henri is only 22, but has had much success in limit and no-no limit hold’em.  Henri was gracious enough to answer several questions.

Tell me a little about yourself.  What are some of your interesting experiences in poker?

I started playing poker when I was 17 and still in high school (in Sweden it goes by a different year, but 11-12th year of school) and when I turned 18 I started playing freerolls online. I never deposited money, I played those freerolls and eventually I won about $1-1.5 and started grinding some limit hold’em games, and lost it.

I then played freerolls again and again until I made $1-3 another time, I promptly lost that as well. I started secretly wondering if poker was really beatable.  I had two friends who had already made $5,000+ from online poker so I thought–if they can, I can!  I played those damn freerolls and eventually won another dollar, and then I started winning while simultaneously reading Matt Hilger’s book Internet Texas Hold’em.

Where did you start at?

It all started at those $0.05/$0.10 limit hold’em tables and from there I went to $10/20 and $20/40 LHE until I switched to No-Limit Hold’em 2 years later.

What are the worst months you’ve ever had?

Months I’ve made 0 or negative money: maybe 1 or 2, I’ve mainly played $200 and $400NL where the swings aren’t that great, and it’s consistent money!

What tables do you play at?

My main game is $200NL ($1/2) and I play $100 and $400NL at times depending on how good the games are.

What is the most money you’ve made in a month?

Most money i’ve made in a month: at limit hold’em I had some good months making $20,000 a month when the games were good a few years back. At NL my biggest month is probably around the same as in limit, around $15-20,000 I’d guess.

Are you going to join the circuit?

No, I don’t like playing live poker and I don’t like playing tournaments. I’m more of a cash-game kind of guy ;)

Thanks very much Henri.  If you would like to more about Henri’s path to online stardom or want to read poker tips from the Finnish star, you can find his poker blog at thepokerhowto.com.