Mikael Westerlund is a professional poker player from Sweden. Originally a salesman in his hometown of Gothenberg, Westerlund longed to give up his sales job and take up poker full time. Mikael Westerlund began 2005 with a couple of small wins, one an online tournament, and the other, a tournament held in his hometown.
Later that year, Westerlund decided to participate in the World Poker Tour’s Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. He did so, partly to escape the harsh Swedish winter, but mostly due to his passion for poker. Still an unknown quantity on the global poker scene, Mikael Westerlund made the final table at the WPT Caribbean Adventure and finished third, with overall winnings of $300,000. Shortly after his Caribbean triumph, Westerlund travelled closer to home to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he once again made the final table, this time at the European Poker Tour Scandinavian Open. Finishing sixth overall, the Swede bagged $17,624 in Copenhagen.
No-Limit Hold'em is one of Mikael Westerlund’s favorite games, and he enjoys $25-$50 cash games. Westerlund considers himself to be a good tournament player, but only an average cash player. He believes that poker is 90 per cent psychology and says that that’s where his strength lies. He cites picking up on bluffs as one of his strengths, something he picked up working as a salesman in his hometown. However, he also believes that this strength can sometimes be his weakness, as, at times, he gets overly curious and calls when he shouldn’t.
A divorced father of four, this former salesman now travels the world pursuing his passion for poker. Although not the biggest poker star around, he consistently manages to make the final table in many tournaments. Formerly one of Europe’s top backgammon players, Mikael Westerlund is now focused solely on poker, and even writes about poker in a leading Swedish newspaper.
In all, Westerlund has made eight final tables in eight consecutive tournaments, winning four of them. His biggest tournament performance still remains the 2005 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure, where he bagged $300,000. In 2007, Westerlund placed fifteenth at the Europen Poker Tour’s Warsaw No-Limit Hold'em Championship, leaving Poland $12,172 richer. A professional for only a few years, Mikael Westerlund has played poker all his life, though he only started playing Hold'em about fifteen years ago. He may have not made the headlines for sometime after his last win but Westerlund continues to be a regular on the professional poker circuit with frequent tournament appearances in Europe and the United States.