Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies has been playing poker with the big names for a long time. He started out at the age of 15 playing with high stakes player Patrik Antonius. Since then he’s been seen at the highest stakes at major sites often playing under the influence of alcohol. His chat-logs have made him either a fan favorite or a despised player depending on people’s reactions.
It looks like his days may be over on the major sites, PokerStars and FullTilt Poker. He was quoted in an interview at pokerisivut.com explaining his plans to cease action at both PokerStars and FullTilt and moving his money at European sites. He also said he would definitely play in both live cash games and tournaments. This comes at an awful time for both PokerStars and FullTilt as their recent outlawing of U.S. players already made their player pool pretty thin.
Sahamies was last seen on the felt at FullTilt playing against the likes of Gus Hansen and “NoPasaran” who both profited due to his bad session. The game was high stakes omaha and Sahamies found himself on the wrong side of two gigantic pots. The first one he was crushed with middle set vs. top set and a flush and straight draw, while the other he actually held the lead with top set vs. a flush draw but after running it twice he lost both times.
Keep in mind that when he told pokerisivut.com his intentions he was probably still fuming over his recent losses. No one knows for sure if Ilari will keep his promise but I’m sure if he does then FullTilt and PokerStars will be negatively affected. Not only does he produce a lot of rake for the sites but also entertainment value against high stake celebrities. Fan boys and railbirds better hope he actually sticks around!