Seat 8: Johannes Strassmann, Germany (2,215,000)
In the early years, German pro Johannes Strassmann was all over the EPT.
Between the EPT3 Grand Final in March 2007 and EPT Snowfest in Season 6 (March 2010), Johannes cashed in a total of nine events including three final tables and two ninth place finishes. His lifetime live tournament winnings exceed $1.1 million �C and the vast majority of that comes from EPTs.
Since March 2010 however �C when he finished third at EPT Snowfest for a career best cash of �166,000, Strassmann has been largely off the scene. Today he said he took a break from the live poker circuit for some ��personal spiritual development��. He said: ��I��ve actually been traveling a lot, all over ... Europe, Thailand and quite a long time in the US. My father is American and I have a huge family over there. He had five sisters, so I have lots and lots of cousins �C there��s actually about 200 people in my American family.��
Strassmann hadn��t abandoned poker altogether however. He played the EPT Berlin High Roller last season and has also been playing high stakes cash games at casinos in the Czech Republic and online �C ��to make a living��.
He also went in to business, launching a German poker coaching site which subsequently failed. He said: ��It��s OK. As an entrepreneur, you expect some ventures to fail.�� Originally from Bonn but now living in Vienna, 28-year-old Strassmann plans to play more live events going forward �C including EPT Prague in December, the PCA in January and the Grand Final.
He said: ��I��m going to play the High Rollers and some Main Events �C the fun ones!�� He is also in the process of setting up Europe��s first ever �100,000 Heads-Up tourney in Prague in December.
*Bio courtesy of PokerStars