To close out July, Jerry Odeen, known on PocketFives as perrymejsen, took second in the weekly PokerStars Sunday 500 and earned $40,000. There were 606 entrants that day and Odeen was one of six PocketFivers to finish in the top 10. Consequently, PocketFivers earned 46% of the prize pool.

“It feels good,” Odeen told PocketFives in an exclusive interview. “I’ve been running ridiculously well in that tournament and in general this year. I’ve gotten close a lot of times to hitting it big this year, and so now when I finally did it, it feels great!” He finished fifth in the Sunday 500 in December of last year for $18,000.

Why has he managed to finish in the top five in the Sunday 500 twice in the last eight months? One word, according to him: variance. “It’s variance mostly, of course,” he said. “But it seems to be to my advantage when a tournament has a good structure. I did well in the deep-stacked SCOOPs too, so hopefully I’m doing something right when playing deep.”

In terms of who at the final table gave him the most trouble, Odeen perhaps unsurprisingly said maggess88, who ended up winning the Sunday 500 for $56,000. “He had position on me and even though I came in with the chip lead, he showed immediately that he wanted to battle,” Odeen relayed. “I’ve never in my poker career felt as owned as I did in the heads-up against him. Hopefully he smashed the deck, but I would not be surprised if he didn’t.”

Other large scores for Odeen include a sixth place finish in the Super Tuesday this month for $23,000 and a runner-up finish in a PokerStars.fr SCOOP tournament in March for $22,000, just to name a few. He is up to #33 worldwide in the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings, his all-time high, and is nearing $900,000 in career online tournament winnings.

If you haven’t already figured it out, his user name, perrymejsen, is a reference to Perry Mason (pictured), a detective from a 1950s and 1960s TV series. “I didn’t know what it meant when I picked it,” he laughed saying. “It was just something my mom called me when I was kid. She never told me where it came from.” Perry Mason has also been the subject of various novels and movies over the years.

The Swede started playing full-time one year ago after he graduated high school. He explained that besides the full-time focus, there have been other factors contributing to his recent success: “I’ve increased my average buy-in by a significant margin this year. But, I’m very sure I’ve been running hot as hell even though I have nothing to compare it to since I’m quite new in the business.” He never held down a 9-5 job save summers while he was going to school.

As he put it, “I had always wanted to make a living out of playing poker ever since I discovered the game through the Swedish television show ‘Pokermiljonen.’ And since I was still living with my parents at the time I graduated, I thought I would give it a shot. My mom was very supportive from the beginning. With my dad, it took a while, but he had no intention of stopping my dreams and, since I’ve been doing quite well lately, I don’t think he has any problem with it.”

Odeen also has three brothers who play poker somewhat regularly, so that likely curbs whatever trepidations his parents might have. His friends are largely happy that he has been succeeding online. Odeen is now the seventh-ranked player in our Sweden poker community and tops in the county of Jonkopings Lan.

Away from our great game, Odeen plays low division football and loves watching the sport on TV. His favorite team: Liverpool of the Premier League. He added, “Sports in general is something I enjoy doing and watching. I also like going out with my friends.”

Visit PokerStars for more details on the Sunday 500.

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