Johnny Lodden Poker Player Profile

Born in Norway Johnny Lodden is one of the most world famous online poker players to ever live. He started out playing poker at school with his mates and by the time he was 20 he was an online high stakes poker legend who was holding and breaking the biggest ever pots won and lost records on a daily basis. Lodden built his bankroll on the old Prima network, now known as Microgaming, playing on the biggest online games available $200/$400 no limit Holdem. This was well before the time of Phil Ivey, Patrick Antonius and Tom Dwann, Johnny Lodden is an old school high stakes sicko.

After building his bankroll to above 7 figures Johnny hit the wall big time and by the time 2007 came around was more or less busto. Rumours circulated that he lost the majority of his roll to one high stakes player on the Prima network who some believe had managed to infect Lodden’s computer with a program which would relay Johnny’s whole cards back to him. Another theory suggests that Lodden went busto due to becoming addicted to sports betting, neither theories are confirmed but in 2007 he did an interview with a member of the Danish poker magazine Acemag in which he admitted that he was virtually broke. At this point Lodden decided to retire his world famous online screen name ‘bad_ip’ and start from scratch playing with money a friend had staked him with.

Since he resurgence Lodden has managed to put himself back on the map with a number of big live tournament cashes as well as final table finishes in some of the biggest online multi table tournaments around. In 2009 on the 24th of March Johnny’s career took off once again as Pokerstars added him to the Team lineup. Now Lodden plays all his online poker at Pokerstars.com under the screen name ‘johnnylodden’. When he joined Team Pokerstars his old screen name ‘Lars-Magne’ was retired.

Play online poker with Johnny Lodden at Pokerstars

What Lodden Thinks

What Lodden thinks or what Johnny Lodden thinks as it’s sometimes called is a game created by poker buddies Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari. The game was invented at during the World Series of Poker Europe when the three players were all sat at the same table. The rules of what Lodden thinks are as follows:

Two bettors bet on the opinion of a third person. The bettor to get closest to what the third person thinks is the winner so you’re not betting on the true answer you’re betting on what someone else thinks the answer is.

For example:

Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari agree to bet on what Johnny Lodden thinks the highest card on the next flop will be. Laak takes the over on 8 so Esfandiari has the under. Johnny Lodden then reveals he thinks the highest card on the next flop will be a T. Regardless of what the flop actually is Laak wins the bet because he got what Lodden thinks correct.

Why is it ‘what Lodden thinks’?

The game is named after Johnny Lodden because he is the original high stakes online poker legend and when he was at his peak everyone looked up to him and tried to emulate his success. The name is a bit of a joke but at the same time kind of serious because back in the day people really did care what Johnny Lodden thought.

Tournament Record Online and Offline

Johnny Lodden has an impressive 8 cashes in events on the European Poker Tour with his biggest coming in the 2008 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final. This tournament had a 10,000 Euro buy in and Johhny Lodden came 17th for 46,300 Euros ($73,263). Since joining Team Pokerstars Johnny has played most EPT events and is expected to appear at nearly all tournaments in 2010.

To go with his EPT winnings Lodden has also managed two cashes in World Series of Poker events. The first coming in the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe £10,000 Main Event in which Johnny finished 11th for £54,300 ($98,756). His other WSOP cash came in the 2009 No Limit Holdem $3,000 Triple Chance event in which Lodden managed a small $8,037 money finish.

In total his live event winnings are worth over $600,000. Put the $221,000 that he’s won online on top of that and you’re looking at winnings of over $800,000.

You can play online in cash games and tournaments with Johnny Lodden only at Pokerstars.com