All athletes have different ways of relaxing and getting the right mindset before a major competition. For Norwegian Skier Petter Northug that way is by playing online poker, to be exact Pot Limit Omaha, on the world’s biggest poker site Pokerstars. Unfortunately it may have influenced his sports, as he has had a disastrous Winter Olympics.
Northug started by losing almost $20,000 at the first days of the Winter Olympics, which he then improved a couple of days later by winning $12,500 of those back. Northug however had to wait until the last days of the Winter Olympics in Sochi to win back his losses and get a profit, as he has managed to win $15,000 the last 48 hours on Pokerstars.
Northug has been able to grind his way through approximately 1,900 hands of PLO on Pokerstars while being a contestant at the Winter Olympics. Northug can bring home around $8,000 extra from staying in Russia a couple of weeks, but unfortunately for him he will not be bringing home any medals.
Northug has been among the most searched players on HighstakesDB for the past couple of weeks, way more popular than Isildur1, Gus Hansen and WGCRider. Maybe Northug should consider going full time pro in the poker industry, as it seems that he is better at playing poker than skiing.