Voitto Rintala
Voitto Rintala is one of the poker world’s biggest up-and-coming talents, recognizable around the globe for not only his trademark contact lenses, but also for his tight aggressive game.
Often called HeviHeinola in his native Finland, Voitto is also the lead bassist for Random Eyes, one of Scandinavia’s most popular metal bands.
“It is said that poker players are the new rock stars. I want to be both.”
Like many poker players, Voitto Rintala decided to pick up the game after watching Rounders.
However, few of those who picked up the game after watching the 1998 film have parlayed it into a sponsorship and a trip to the final table in Event #52 (No Limit Hold'em) at the 2008 WSOP, where Voitto finished 9th, cashing $57,712.
In 2003, Voitto began playing poker online and competed in his first live tournament. “Before then, to me, live poker was about playing at home with your friends who had also seen Rounders.”
Voitto adapted to live tournament poker fairly quickly, however, winning his third live event. He would continue to build his skills online at Everest Poker and in other live tournaments, all while recording and touring with Random Eyes.
Only a few years later, Voitto decided a pro sponsorship was the next step in his poker career. He went after this goal with do-or-die determination in Everest Poker’s 2007 Live The Dream competition.
“After playing in several satellites against over 500 players, I suffered a pretty bad beat. I decided to qualify through the Live The Dream Summit Point race. I was confident I would make the Top 5.”
“I played at 8 tables for literally 8 hours a day during that entire month. I remember there was one guy, from Japan, he was playing a lot more than me and had over 100,000 SP. I was second with 80,000, but the next closest players had 50,000.”
While the difficult part may have been getting to Vienna, Voitto made it through live casting and became one of 10 Everest Poker players to be selected for the first Live The Dream team.
In addition to final tabling at the WSOP in 2008, Voitto also finished 17th at the EPT Barcelona, cashing $34,827 (€24,700).
When his one-year Live The Dream sponsorship ended in early 2009, Everest immediately signed Voitto to an exclusive pro contract with Team Everest.
