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Martin Östman

Martin Östman was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, where he now works as a poker writer for various Web sites. He has been playing poker since the early 2000s when the first poker wave hit Scandinavia. Today, he grinds on the net and loses with speculative hands in home games.

It all started when Martin went to university where he studied history, social science, music theory, Nordic language history and one or two other subjects. He was supposed to become a teacher, but unfortunately, poker stood in the way. At first, Martin played in home games with his friends, many of whom still play the game on a professional or semi-professional level. But it didn't take long before he opened his first online poker account, read a truckload of poker books and suddenly, school didn't get that much attention anymore. In 2004, he dropped out.

Together with another home-game regular, Martin wrote one of the first poker books in Sweden - the first solely focusing on Texas Hold'em. The book is devoted to cash games, Limit and No-Limit, which is the only form of poker Martin plays. He doesn't have the patience to sit and wait for hands in tournaments just to bust out after four hours in a coin-flip situation. "I don't love poker that much", he says.

But still, poker plays a large role in Martin's life.