Ricki Nielsen is a professional poker player from Copenhagen, Denmark. This 25-year-old old Dane has been playing poker for a little over three years and got interested in poker after reading about and watching his countryman and poker legend Gus “Great Dane” Hansen on television. Unlike most pros his age, Nielsen is more at home at live tournaments than in a poker room in cyberspace.
Playing local poker tournaments in Copenhagen got Ricki Nielsen to 1st place in PokerRoom.com’s list of top Danish players, a distinction that earned him a free trip to the 37th World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and buy-in money for the main event. Before the main event. Nielsen participated in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em, where in a field of 2,803 entrants, he finished 190th, earning himself $4,591. The Dane put in an improved performance in the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em main event, where he finished 35th out of 8,773 entrants and took home substantial earnings to the tune of $329,865, his highest tournament cash to date.
Following his WSOP high, Ricki Nielsen traveled to Scandinavia in October 2006, where he participated in the Swedish Open Poker Championship in Malmo. In the SKr 20,000 No Limit Hold'em main event, Nielsen finished 13th and took home $4,204 for his efforts. In January 2007, Nielsen participated in the Scandinavian Open in his hometown, where he took 32nd place with earnings of $9,580 in the DKr 37,500 European Poker Tour No Limit Hold'em event.
