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 – and the vast majority of that comes from EPTs.
Since March 2010 however – 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 – 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 – “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 – 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 – 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