JAN OLAV SJAAVIK
Get to know Jan Olav Sjåvik, aka TheBalrog in the Unibet poker client. Jan Olav is Team Norway`s sponsored poker pro` here at Unibet.
Jan Olav has won close to $2.000.000 throughout his poker career but is hungry for much more. He has won four big live tournaments so far in his career and hopes to finally do a very good performance during Unibet Open. Both Warszawa and Madrid saw Jan Olav eliminated early.
Jan Olav used to work as a journalist for a horse racing magazine in Norway and played cards for fun in his spare time during the 1990s. But the more he played poker the better he became and it was just a matter of time before he put his journalist pen and notepad safely in the desk drawer and left the desk.
In the summer of 2001 he won the European Poker Championships and collected $180.000 for the job. A month later he won the Grosvenor UK Open Poker Festival. The guy had a talent for poker!
About a year ago Jan Olav signed a sponsor deal with Unibet and became our poker ambassador of Norway. Jan Olav has helped us push poker in the far outmost region in Europe and is a true poker celebrity.
His schedule is poker 24/7. Prior to Unibet Open Milano Jan Olav will play EPT Barcelona and just after the final table on the 21 of September he will be on the plane to London to play the HORSE at WSOPE.
- 2008 has not been a good year for me so far but I hope to find my shape and form during the Autumn. From being totally locked into playing Limit and No Limit Hold`em only I have started to play 7 Card Stud and HORSE. I really love playing the HORSE games and did very well in this event during WSOP in Las Vegas, Jan Olav tells us.
- I have taken part in the first two Unibet Open tournaments and I am looking forward to Milano. In Warszaw I was unlucky and was eliminated early on. In Madrid I can only blame myself for not getting higher on the score board. I really enjoy these tournaments and if the progress continues the players can look forward to one hell of a weekend in Lugano. Madrid was almost as good as it gets.
- The level of the players at Unibet Open is not as good as the level of players playing EPT, WPT and WSOP, but in poker the difference between the best and all the rest is not that big and everyone can win. I do hope that I can use my experience better this time around. Most of the opponents lack the technical strength, so hopefully I can use this to my benefit?
So if you end up on the same table as TheBalrog at least you are a little prepared for what is awaiting you.
Posted in Players |
