Johnny Lodden: The Fall And Rise Of A Cash Pro

Norwegian poker pro Johnny Lodden is just 26 years-old but in his relatively short career as a card player has gone from being one of poker’s top online cash game players to hitting rock bottom before then rising once more in recent years.
As he explains: “When I was 18 I had roughly a million pounds…but it was just a figure online….in my head I didn’t understand what I had. I’d lose $200k one day, win $500k the next. When you’re that young, it’s almost meaningless.”
By 2007, Johnny Lodden had managed to accumulate a $10 million bankroll playing under the screen name ‘bad_ip.’ His progression through the ranks included graduating from the lower limit games to the £150/£300 stakes to eventually hitting the no-limit tables.
Playing $200/$400 NL on the Prima Poker network, years before games that high were offered at PokerStars or Full Tilt, Lodden held the record for the biggest pot ever won online of  $357,256. However, hitting a relentless downswing, Lodden lost that record after being on the wrong end of a $465,461 pot to “Fast_Freddie” aka Freddie Deeb.
By 2008, Lodden had hit rock bottom and just like that he was broke. However, a friend of his from the Norwegian poker community gave him encouragement and $50k to get started again. Nevertheless, the whole experience was a huge let down for Lodden, who explains:
“It’s stupid actually, because I crushed the lower levels like $25/$50, $50/$100, but even when I was winning $50k, I looked at it like I was still down $2 million. That’s a stupid way to think, but I was brain damaged.”
Now a member of Team Pokerstars Pro, Johnny Lodden has been on the ascendancy for some time. He is often seen playing at the $5/$10 or $10/$20 PLO levels, but concedes to having no plans to return to the nosebleed stakes again.
“It’s all work now. It’s fun work, but you don’t get that rush any more…The game was easy money back then. If you lost one day out of seven you were really bad. Now if you win one day out of seven you’re a f***ing genius.”