Espen Uhlen Jørstad

Norwegian professional poker player Espen Uhlen Jorstad resides in London, United Kingdom. Many people will be familiar with Jorstad from his online poker career, particularly on PokerStars where he goes by the alias “Hymn2ninkasi” and GGPoker where he goes by the alias “COVFEFE-19”. He primarily plays cash games, though he occasionally participates in tournament poker.

Espen Jørstad: Early Life

Espen used to play video games as a child to escape from reality. He claimed that at the age of 14, he was socially awkward, fat, and unattractive. He has discovered that when people are struggling in life, they frequently look for an escape.

When you meet him in person today, he is a confident speaker, but there is a part of him that is still that fat, anxious, shy kid. He is constantly working on it. When he enlisted in the army at age 18, a lot changed. He felt the need to interact with many people.

He had left school, was spending a lot of time playing Warcraft, and was generally acting like a slob. The structure and discipline he developed in the army also helped him. He went back to his old ways and moved to a larger Norwegian city and began playing more poker. Espen claimed that he lacked any sense of morality. Jorstad was a child, immature, and only interested in doing what he wanted and claim that he had no ambitions or objectives.

Jorstad put a lot of time into working out, and he worried about what people thought of him. He continued losing himself in heavy drinking and video game play.

Then he continued playing poker but he was getting bored. He changed from someone who regularly read all poker-related books, and watched all strategy videos. He followed the World Series and the World Poker Tour to boost his income. 

Espen Jørstad: Poker Career

Espen won two WSOP bracelets in 2022, including the $10,000,000 Main Event, making him the first Norwegian to win poker’s biggest award.

Many people will be familiar with Jorstad from his online poker career. He mostly plays on PokerStars and GGPoker under the nicknames “Hymn2ninkasi” and “COVFEFE-19.” He plays cash games and occasionally gets into the world of tournament poker.

Prior to this year, he had never won money at the World Series of Poker. His 20 WSOP online cashes do include a sixth-place finish in the $5,050 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event Online Championship in 2021, which was worth $603,058.

At the opening of the 2022 WSOP, he won money in Event #5: The Housewarming, finishing in the money. Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team, which he won for $74,042.  He won the Main Event championship after earning another cash prize, this time in Event #68: Million Dollar Bounty.

He won a $1,050 satellite at GGPoker before winning his $10,000 WSOP Main Event seat there. The last three GGPoker qualifiers were him, Vadim Rozin, and Tom Kunze. He earned a free spot in the WSOP Europe Main Event.

In a recent cash, Espen won $2,766,191 and finished 3rd in the $212,000 No-Limit Hold’em Eight Max event at the 2023 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series London on August 2, 2023.

Conclusion

Espen Jorstad plays poker and streams on Twitch. He rules both worlds and he has been active in recent tournaments, including those hosted by Triton. He is one of the poker players who has been continuously developing and establishing himself. We will see more of him on this website, and we will find all the information here.