Juha Helppi

Juha Helppi (born 4 March 1977) is a Finnish professional poker player from Helsinki.

Career

Juha was originally a croupier. He worked as a dealer for RAY in Finland but never dealt poker. He made a name for himself in the first World Poker Tour (WPT) event in Aruba, where he eliminated Kathy Liebert on the way to defeating professional player Phil Gordon in a heads-up challenge match. He has since made two other WPT final tables, with a 4th place finish in the Season 1 Battle of Champions and a 2nd place finish to England's Roland De Wolfe in the Grand Prix de Paris 2005 event. In addition he had a 10th place finish in the Season 3 Championship event.

He has also finished in the money of five World Series of Poker events, and his career winnings to date amount to over $2,420,000.

In November 2005, Helppi faced Phil Laak and Kenna James in the first ever underwater poker tournament and was awarded the Caribbean Poker Classic Extreme Poker bracelet.

As the winner of InterPoker's first extreme poker tournament, he earned the right to choose the next year's location. He chose to play it in Kemi on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia. He finished second, losing to former WSOP champion Robert Varkonyi.