Juha Helppi

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

Juha was originally a poker dealer, but 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 $1,020,000.

In November 2005, Helppi faced Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and "Cowboy" 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 years location, he chose to play it in Kemi on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia. He finished second, losing to former WSOP champion Robert Varkonyi.

As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceed $1,900,000

Helppi used to be a high level paintball player and was the captain of the Finnish national paintball champions. When younger, he played Magic: The Gathering successfully for several years.

In August 2007, Helppi won the Premier League Poker league, defeating some of the all-time greats along the way, such as Phil Hellmuth and Devilfish.