Lex "RaSZi" Veldhuis

There was a time when the road to being a top poker player started by playing in sleazy back rooms with some pretty shady characters. This is no longer the case. Nowadays most professional players get their start playing online. This is exactly how Lex "RaSZI" Veldhuis got his start. Eventually he went from online games to live games. Unlike most players who tend to be better at one or the other Veldhuis has achieved a great deal of success in both arenas.

While a lot of the current generation of poker players got their start playing online Lex Veldhuis took on odd route to even get into the world of online poker. Like most youngsters he was very active in sports and later he started to get involved in video games. It was while playing the online video game Starcraft he quickly became one of the top players in the world. It was while playing Starcraft that he became acquainted with another player by the name of Bertrand Grospellier. At around this time Grospellier started to get involved in online poker and he encouraged Veldhuis to join him. In fact the first ten dollars in Veldhuis's online poker account came from Grospellier.

It seems that Starcraft is the ideal training ground for poker players as both Veldhuis and Grospellier quickly became very successful. This should probably come as no surprise since Starcraft is largely a game of strategy. Regardless of the reason for his success Veldhuis quickly developed a reputation on the poker sites as one of the top players of the game. He has twice been the top money winner for the year on the online site that he normally plays on.

With the success that he had at online poker it was just a matter of time before he moved into live games. He got his start by playing in cash games in Europe. Eventually this led him to start playing in some tournaments. Not surprisingly he turned out to be a very successful tournament player so he headed to the United States so that he could start playing in the biggest tournaments in the world. These days Veldhuis is as well known for his tournament success as he is for his online play.

Professional poker players usually don't make the bulk of their money playing in tournaments. The real money is in playing in cash games. In the case of Lex "RaSZi" Veldhuis that usually means playing online. Online poker has been a real bonanza for the professional player. Not only are they able to get sponsorship from the online sites but they also have a place where they can get a game anytime they want. There are far more players online than in the casinos. The fact that most of the online players aren't particularly good is just a bonus for the top players in the world.