Ruben Visser  

Ruben Visser is a Dutch professional poker player who had his first live-event cash in 2008. In the first 4 years, Ruben cashed 17 times, made 8 final tables, won 3 events, cashed in a WSOP Main Event, and earned over $1 million.

Born in 1989, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Ruben grew up thriving on competition, playing field hockey, football, tennis, and snowboarding. He was introduced to poker while studying Business and Marketing at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, by playing 5-Card Draw, Pot-Limit Omaha and No-Limit Hold\’em in the school cafeteria with friends. Realizing he needed to improve his skills to be successful at the game he loved, he started reading books, visiting poker forums, and studying poker.

In 2008, Ruben deposited $100 at PokerStars and started playing micro-limit cash games and tournaments as “rubenrtv.” It wasn’t long before he was playing higher stakes, and in his first year, he earned over $315,000 in tournaments alone. His total tournament earnings on PokerStars in 4 years topped $800,000, which included cashing for $77,301 in a Sunday Million, cashing for $126,000 and $83,057 in SCOOP events, winning a Sunday Warm-up for $112,945, and winning a WCOOP event for $152,194.

At the 2008 Prague Poker Palooza, Ruben made his first live-event cash when he finished 6th in the €500 NLHE to earn €1,620. His next cash was in 2009, when he finished 20th in the $1,850 NLHE at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), to earn $7,100. At the WPT Spanish Championship, he cashed twice, finishing 11th for €13,440 in the €5,000 Main Event, and winning the €400 NLHE to earn €12,000. His last cash of the year was at the EPT Vilamoura, where he finished 14th in the €5,000 NLHE Main Event to earn €13,274.

Ruben’s first cash in 2010 was at the EPT Grand Final Monte Carlo, where he was runner-up in the €5,000 NLHE to collect €171,450. His other pair of cashes were at the EPT Vienna, and the EPT Barcelona.

He started 2011 by finishing 18th for €13,780 in the €3,200 NLHE Main Event at the WPT Vienna, making the money in the Main Event at the EPT San Remo, and finishing 44th in the WSOP Main Event to earn $196,174. To wrap-up the year, he finished 3rd for €11,000 in the €1,000 NLHE at the North Sea Poker Classics, cashed at the Master Classics of Poker, and won the €1,000 NLHE Main Event at the VIP Days Venlo X-Mas to earn €42,000.

In January 2012, Ruben signed a sponsorship deal with Poker770 to represent them at live events around the world as a member of their Pro Team. If his first 3 cashes were any indication of where Ruben was headed in 2012, the young Dutchman was going to have his best year yet. He started by finishing 8th in the $10,000 NLHE Main Event at the PCA to collect $156,400. The next month, he was at the EPT Deauville, where he cashed twice, winning €44,400 for taking down the €1,000 NLHE Bounty event, and finishing runner-up in the €10,000 NLHE to collect €152,000.

Ruben still lives in his hometown of Amsterdam, where he enjoys having friends over for barbeques when he is not playing poker. He also still likes snowboarding, playing football, tennis and field hockey. As a member of Poker770, he is scheduled to start making instructional poker videos for the online poker site.