Ville "V. Wahlbeck" Wahlbeck first got hooked on poker when he participated in home games with friends from school. Wahlbeck made his share of research online and was prepared when the poker boom started in 2003, with (among other things) the televised World Poker Tour and the amateur Chris Moneymaker winning the WSOP main event (Moneymaker got into the 10K$ buy in trough a $39 satellite online).
Wahlbeck has been a professional poker player since 2004 and has some great live tournaments results, with around $1,2 million in winnings. His biggest achievement with out a doubt is what he accomplished during the WSOP in 2009, where he became the first Finnish player to win a world series bracelet, by winning the 10K$ World Championship mixed event and $492K. On top of that he made 3 additional final tables, and finished just outside two other final tables. What's even more impressive is that all of them were in different variations of poker. Wahlbeck became the runner up for WSOP player of the year 2009.
After winning the his bracelet Wahlbeck announced his retirement: "I have too much gamble, it's not good for me" a decision that had been taken prior the WSOP. For 8 months Wahlbeck managed to stay away from poker almost entirely, but he realized that he missed the game too much, and accepted an offer from Pokerstars when they asked him to become a part of their team in the summer of 2010.