Ari Pietarinen(credit: Ari Pietarinen)
Ari Pietarinen is a former medical student who found his passion, poker. A Finnish native who makes his home in the Helsinki area, Pietarinen is a family man. He vows that 2009 will be his breakthrough year and hopes to follow in the footsteps of countrymen such as Jani Sointula, Juha Helppi, Ilari Sahamies and Patrik Antonius. Using the nickname “PokerSpokesman,” Ari works closely with the MyPokerAcademy community and forum where he is regularly a bounty in their tournaments.
Ari approaches poker with a business sensibility and knows how to utilize social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter. So, without further ado, let’s get to know more about this rising star.
TB: Ari, you’re the first poker player we’ve nabbed an interview with via Twitter. How do you think social networks will help you promote your brand in the poker world? Specifically what plans do you have to market yourself in the coming year?
AP: Poker as lifestyle is something that lives in people's hearts and minds. Social media is the best way to reach people globally, listen to what they have to say and to start interaction and discussion. Through communication my personality and values come visible. When there is a match in how people see me and who I truly am - it is a strong brand.
My main marketing plan is simple: meet people and give them relevant value.
My interest is to build strong personal connections and to know people personally, share ideas and meet them alive if that is possible. I am not trying to reach out to the masses, but to work with the quality and the depth. If I know good course of action someone should take or a hint that would help them out, I am glad to share it. I am looking to make connections that will hopefully last and lead to more connections.
In the coming year I am planning to participate in more poker-related live events (tournaments, meetings, conferences) and to use social media to share my personal viewpoint.
TB: You mentioned that 2009 was going to be your breakthrough year. What events are you hoping to play in? What do you see happening for Ari Pietarinen in the next 12 – 15 months?
AP: The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) will be the main event of year 2009 for me. Other events that I am looking forward to are smaller European Poker Tour (EPT) events.
I am very close with Maltese poker community through my affiliation with the MyPoker Academy web site, which I’ll talk more about later on. In the coming year I am also looking forward to participating in the Malta Poker Tour. I am hoping to make that a yearly tradition.
Participating in the APPT already coming year would be dream come true. Watching the Macau and SKYCITY Auckland events this made me sigh and I wished I could be there. So if I have any chances to play in Asia this year, then I’ll consider 2009 a perfect year.
In coming 15 months I hope I have earned entry level respect as professional poker player. My potential as player has been recognized and I hopefully have found coach or "guardian angel" among the best poker players in the world. I believe learning from the best. What comes to poker business, I have found key people and friends to share the PokerSpokesman mission.
TB: We read through your #aristory on Twitter and found a few interesting tidbits about your life. We have to ask…what is Scandinavian stud or Sökö. How do you play it exactly?
AP: Sökö is form of Stud poker played with 5-cards. A similar game is called Sousem, Canadian or Scandinavian Stud.
Winning card combinations are the same in Hold'em with a few exceptions. In sökö straight and flushes of four cards are accepted. Four card straight and flushes are more valuable than pairs. Two pairs are better than four card straight or flushes. Four cards cannot form straight flushes. One needs five cards for that.
Before any cards are dealt each player needs to pay an amount that is agreed (ante).
Each player gets two cards. One card is face-down, the hole card, and the other is face-up. The one who has the highest visible card or best hand always starts the betting round. On the first betting round the one who has the highest card must raise or bet at least the minimum bet (usually size of the ante). If other players want to stay in the hand they have to match the bet or raise more.
There are 4 betting rounds. Those players who stay until the end of the hand have 5 cards in front of them. Hole-cards are revealed starting from the originator of the highest bet. Mucking is possible for others.
Sökö is usually played as pot limit or fixed limit. There are usually no limitations with the amount of re-raises.
TB: Sounds like fun! Finland has quite a few great poker players such as Patrik Antonius, Juha Helppi, Ilari “zigmund” Sahamies, Everest Dream Team member Voitto Rintala and now you. What is about the Finnish character or landscape that makes the Finns so good at the game? Does the concept of “Sisu”, a sort of stoic determination, which you mention on your Facebook page, have anything to do with it?
AP: I would like to start by stating that I am nowhere near by skill level of these players mentioned - yet.
I guess the "ideal poker player" actually to some degree matches the national old hero idea, wise fearless Väinämöinen who got challenged by a younger male. In Finland, we still appreciate men and women who are able to cope in arctic situations with pride.
Finns teach their children to sit in a hot sauna and tolerate small exposures of steaming heat. Kids learn to compete in these kinds of social endurance tests from an early age. Whoever participates in these rituals is already considered a winner, the actual winning does not matter. All nations have these kinds of rituals, but Finns have developed a strong concept of Sisu and a whole set of expressions around it.
When individual Finns later on in life find his/her personal pride about something that they love or they are good in, they may become unstoppable.
From my own experience I can say that Finns also have some sort of national pride over Sökö. We are a computer savvy nation and adopted online poker quickly. There are great websites and blogs in Finland – there is plenty of poker information to newcomers. More and more poker books are published and translated in Finnish as well. We absorb this information and apply it to our games.
What has happened is that talented players started chasing their dream and kept on going. I think "Sisu" might have something to do with that.
TB: Here’s a really personal question – when did you discover that poker was the thing you wanted to do with your life…and why? What is it about poker that excites you so?
AP: I was visiting Las Vegas first time at 1996. Since then I have been thinking playing/gambling as profession. I kept it as secret many years.
The final spark to move forward came to me in the year 2007 when I read about Chris “Jesus” Ferguson’s challenge – he grinded up a nifty bankroll online from nothing starting with freerolls and small tables. I did a much smaller experiment with the same idea and grinded $50 bucks from zero. To me this was a life-changing experience even though to some it may seem like such a small thing. I understood that I had finally developed the patience I needed to move on to the first ladders of pro playing.
I enjoyed playing with a deck of cards since I was 5 years old. As a kid I dreamt of being a poker player - just like heroes in western movies. As a pre-teen I was making card tricks and learning gambling games. I tried to figure out how they could be won. Controlled intellectual risk taking has always been part of my life from driving motorcycles to running my own business.
Poker, cards and playing games makes me feel at home. When I am playing I get a feeling that I am part of something bigger and that there is a purpose in this life. Poker is almost a religious experience to me and my way to develop myself to become a better person. It combines all I know about life.
TB: What is your greatest poker dream? What do you want to be remembered most for achieving as a poker player?
AP: I want to be a person who can one day say to sincere seekers and newcomers, “How can I help you?” and really make the difference in that person's life. I want to be known as person who loved poker for decades and found his peak play after age 60 … 22 years to go still...
Playing the biggest games possible is my dream. I am not so much after bracelets - don't mind them either. I want the whole word to know that I love poker and that I gave all I could to the game and to my family.
I am after building a poker empire, but not one with fancy buildings, one that lives in people’s hearts, a real community.
Oh yes, and I want to write a two-volume poker book.
TB: Let’s call this the lightning round. We’re going to give you some quick questions. Just give your first response:
Do you prefer …
tournaments or ring games?
AP: Ring games. Just lately started finding "joy" in tournaments.
TB: Live action or online poker?
AP: Live, - there is so much to learn in live games and I do not too much experience yet.
TB: Hold’em or Stud?
AP: Stud! More Stud!
TB: Limit or no-limit?
AP: Limit or Pot-limit.
TB: Texas or Omaha Hold’em?
AP: Texas.
TB: low stakes or high stakes?
AP: As big a stake as my bankroll allows.
TB: tight or loose?
AP: Loose if it works in the situation.
TB: aggressive or passive?
AP: Super aggressive if it works. I can play sloppy passive too if that does the trick, but it is really not me. There are way more aggressive players than me.
TB: tilted or unemotional?
AP: Tilted. I use a lot of my emotional intelligence and energy when I play.
TB: Anything you’d like to add based on those short answers?
AP: Learning to play better H.O.R.S.E. is at the moment my major challenge as a player. I noticed that playing different forms of poker has improved my game.
TB: Do you have advice for any of our readers who are thinking about turning pro? Should they give up their ‘day jobs’ yet?
AP: The short answer is: enjoy poker as hobby as long as you can. Poker can be enjoyed as a great and exciting hobby that is actually giving you motivation to do that daily work better. Day work can be often arranged in such a way hat there is enough time for occasional tournaments and events.
If one is seriously looking to make poker their profession, one should:
1. Separate passion from obsession. Passion has core values in it - values that guide passion - obsession does not.
2. Talk with your closest people and ask their opinion (I am not saying you need to do what they say, but you do need to listen and consider what people who care about you say, especially if you are married or have family.)
3. Test poker pro life/playing during your free time and make notes and an honest balance sheet. Determine what you gained and what you lost financially. Also make balance sheet about what you got and lost as a human being.
4. Follow your progress in long run and see how poker works in your life. Some need to work years to get there, some get there faster. Quit your job only if it comes naturally, don't force it. Poker has to fit into your life naturally. You can’t force it.
TB: Is there anything else you’d like to share with us before we bid you farewell? (How do you say in Finnish?)
AP: It has been pleasure to answer these questions.
I would like to encourage people to go forward with their poker dream and start communicating about it with other people. It does not matter how long you have played or what level you are. What matters is how much you care.
Näkemiin, nähdään! (Goodbye, see you!)
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