Johnny Lodden has been around for as long as I can remember. When I started blogging in 2005, he was already a prominent force, a valued member of the 'Scandie Invasion' and armed with a reputation that made him one of the most feared players at the felt. In many ways, he acted as a precursor to the many online geniuses who have ambushed the modern felt, Johnny's unrelenting aggression a fresh, but unnerving approach that turned many an EPT table on its head.
Despite the fanfare and promise, Johnny's luck evaded him at the vital stages, and whenever he came within touching distance of a major title, he'd lose a huge coin flip and crash out with two or three tables left. It was a trend that would haunt him for years to come. Meanwhile, his online success was about to make a dramatic 'U' turn as a handful of high stakes pros accused Swede Mohammaded 'fast_freddy' Koswa of installing a trojan on their hard drive and cheating them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Whether the accusations were true or not, Johnny's bankroll took a nosedive. Playing under the online alias 'bap_ip', Johnny was regarded as one of the best online players in the world, and once held the record for the biggest pot ever recorded at the virtual felt, but now he was being forced to start all over again and grind his way back up to the top.
Forward wind five years, and Johnny almost slips into the category of the 'old guard'. So, imagine my surprise when I learn that he is still only 25. His high-rolling, baller days seem to be behind him, and although he is still playing, and, more often than not, winning, he's treating the game with a level of maturity that didn't exist before. 2010 Johnny Lodden is a new and improved model, someone who is treating the game as a profession, a means to supporting a family, and a way of proving that he is indeed as good as the hype. With just one day remaining before the November Nine is found, the WSOP Main Event could finally be the tournament that elevates him to the stardom his talent deserves.
I grabbed Johnny during one of the breaks to find out what 'Lodden Thinks'...
Snoopy: What are the dynamics of your table at the moment?
Johnny Lodden: It's a tough table. There are a lot of good players left and the field is a lot harder than it was last year at the same stage. So, yeah, it's not easy, but I think every table is tough now.
Snoopy: Any particular players that have caused you problems today?
JL: I've been moving around a lot. This is my third table already, so I haven't really sat down at any table for long enough. There's a guy called Mads [Wissing], sitting on my left, he's a really good player. It's a good thing that the aggressive players on my table are sitting on my right side.
Snoopy: Do you like having other aggressive players on your table?
JL: As long as I have position on them. It's no problem. If I don't have position then I try to avoid them. I try to avoid almost everyone except for the big fish. We have a really, really, really nice, funny guy on our table. I was on his table yesterday as well. He's a really, really good guy, but he's not that good in poker. He's running as good as I've ever seen. I've sat with him for one hour today, and maybe two yesterday, and I've seen him flop five sets, I believe, and showed aces five times.
Snoopy: What's it like playing William [Thorson]?
JL: We avoid each other. That's as far as it goes.
Snoopy: What's the standard been like overall in the Main Event?
JL: I've never watched poker on TV almost, and haven't seen previous WSOP shows for the last couple of years, but I know that some of the players who made it deep aren't especially good. All the young guys, the Internet kids, it's so hard to play them. At this stage, it's really hard, like the later stages of EPTs, but at WSOP, you couldn't bust the first two days if you tried because the field is so bad.
Snoopy: Did you go into the Main Event with a strategy?
JL: I'd just look at my table first and then pick out five or six guys who were really bad. There are about five or six at every table. Then I'll just try and play pots with them because it's so easy to know what they have in almost every single hand.
Snoopy: It's been a bit of a roller coaster of late, but what's your graph been like for the whole tournament?
JL: I started off good the first day. I came two hours late and went up to 90K before my first break, which was really nice. Then it was a steady grind after that. I think Day 3 was the first time I found myself in big trouble. I was down to 40K, but I worked hard to finish with 160K and end in the top five. Two days later, I started with 880K and I went down to 70K in two hours, but then I came back and finished the day with 1.6 million. Yesterday, I was down to 350K, and came back to finish with 2.1, so... [laughs].
Snoopy: You've had so many near misses. How frustrating has that been?
JL: It's never easy. I've been close at, like, six EPTs, with three tables left, and every single one I busted. I either had A-K versus a pair, or a pair versus A-K, and I lost every single one. That's poker, but it's really boring, because you know when you're all in with A-K against pair or pair against A-K, just, fuck, again, again, again. Maybe you don't play as good as you can mentally because of what's happened before and start avoiding getting into these situations and taking the risk.
Snoopy: How do you feel you've performed this week?
JL: I feel I've played really well, the whole seven days. I didn't think I would manage to play so well for the whole time. I'm really bad now though because I have a fever, my throat is bad and my head is full of shit. I feel exhausted.
Snoopy: Not too many Scandinavians come over to Vegas. Is that solely because of the tax issues?
JL: Yeah, absolutely. We have to pay over 50 percent tax.
Snoopy: How much of a challenge does that make trying to turn a profit over here?
JL: It's a big challenge, but I'm sponsored by PokerStars, so that makes it easier, but even so, I think if I pay 20K to play in this tournament every year, I have big value against people paying 10K because there is so many dead people in there.
Snoopy: So sponsorship has made a massive difference...
JL: Of course. They've helped me quite a lot. It's always good to have a backer.
Snoopy: Did you travel over with a team?
JL: I travelled over with six buddies who played in the Main Event. William's obviously still in, but Tore Lagerborg made the money too. It's good, four made the money, and two of us are still left, so it says something about the other players.
Snoopy: What are you up to online these days?
JL: Not much. I'm not playing as much I used to. I never play at Summer time. I only play in autumn and winter time almost. I'm just grinding it low, playing $5/10, $10/20, sometimes $25/50, and tournaments.
Snoopy: Is there any part of your game that you feel you need to work on?
JL: My Omaha game. I can improve a lot. I'm playing a lot of Omaha, but I'm not even close to the best guys. They know all the strategies, what's best, so I'm trying to learn, watching them play and learning from them. I know a good Omaha player on PokerStars and he helps me out, explains what he does and why it works. William too. He's not as good online as he is live. I've seen him in something like 100 games, and I think he won in 99 of them. He could make a fortune out of playing live Omaha games.
Snoopy: Do you have aspirations to play the nosebleeds?
JL: No. Never again. I had a really bad experience a few years back. You get a knockout, you feel awful afterwards, you lose everything and it's a grind to come back. But I'm much more adult now. Before, it was more like a hobby and just about winning a lot of money, travelling around the world and blowing the money away. Doing everything that is the most expensive. Now it's more like a job, grinding in the cash and trying to make money. I still enjoy it, travelling around different places, but it's more serious now. I'm getting my first child now in two months, so I have a new perspective on life. I have to win money to support my family.
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