Who is Ziigmund on Full Tilt Poker?
‘Ziigmund’ is a name which is familiar with most poker railbirds, and he is one of the most exciting high-stakes poker players ever. He is sponsored by PowerPoker; however it is usually Full Tilt Poker where ‘Ziigmund’ plays due to them having the biggest stakes and most action. He regularly flips pots worth hundreds of thousands, and he has even been known to play whilst being drunk which makes for fun reading in the Full Tilt chat-box!
Ilari was born in Helsinki, Finland, in 1983. As a teenager he was very successful in a lot of sports such as soccer and diving, however billiards soon took over his life and he won the Finnish Junior Championships twice. It was at 15 years old that Ziigmund first found an interest in poker after seeing a programme about it on television, and after chatting to his billiard friends about it he was invited to a home game – where he met friend Patrik Antonius. Ziigmund was hooked on poker and often skipped school so he could play, however it wasn’t until he finished school at 18 that he took it seriously.
At 18 years old Ziigmund became a regular at the Grand Casino in Helsinki playing at low stakes but he soon found himself being a regular winner at Pot-Limit Omaha cash games. Ziigmund had now built a good bankroll and his love of poker saw him moving online, opening several accounts at different European poker sites. He began by playing $50 buy-in NLHE and PLO, however due to poor bankroll management he would win, then lose it all playing at higher stakes, leaving him to rebuild again. His online alias ‘Ziigmund’ became famous in the internet poker world due to his super aggressive style, and the fact he would play daily, multi-tabling for up to 15 hours at a time!
As Ziigmund began crushing the European poker sites the action at high-stakes dried up, forcing him to find a new poker room to crave his need, that is when he found Full Tilt Poker in 2006. At this time the biggest games available were $50/$100 NLHE and PLO, where he was a regular opponent for players such as Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, Gus Hansen and many more of the best high stakes poker players. As Full Tilt grew, so did the stakes, and soon they had introduced games up to $500/$1000, which continue to be the highest stakes available online.
Despite being predominantly a cash-game player, Ziigmund plays some live tournaments and has a runner up finish in the Helsinki Poker Championship Main Event which earned him over $150,000. At the 2009 WSOP he only participated in one event (the $10k PLO), and was refused entry to the Main Event because it was sold out. So what did he do throughout the WSOP if he wasn’t playing tournaments you ask? Well like most high stakes cash game players, Ziigmund took a seat in some of the highest stake games found anywhere, playing against pros such as Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Doyle Brunson and many more. At these games high stakes poker took to a whole different level, with Ziigmund being involved in two of his biggest pots ever – one he won, and one he lost. The pot he won was worth a massive $1.7million, however he lost a staggering 2.7million pot to friend Patrik Antonius despite the fact they ran it twice.
You can watch Ziigmund play at Full Tilt Poker where you will receive a 100% up to $600 bonus, or you can play with him in special PowerPoker tournaments which have a bounty on him.
*Ziigmund receives rakeback at Full Tilt Poker. Get your Full Tilt Poker Rakeback today!
