Finnish tax records for the year 2009 were made public today and the newspapers have been making headlines about a certain poker player whose earned income put him in the top 10 earners in 2009 and the biggest earner in the under-30 age bracket. It's Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies whose taxable earned income in 2009 exceeded 1.7 million euros.

Ilari makes a breath of fresh air in the list of top 10 earners which otherwise consists of corporate executives like Nokia's Jorma Ollila, who was the biggest earner with more than €6 million. Ilari is in 9th place on the list and the only one under 30-years old.

Interestingly, the second biggest earner in the under-30 category is also a poker pro, Ville Mattila who made more than 660,000 euros.

Media have also been shining a light on Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro's earnings with sensation-seeking headlines like "Young poker pro's earned income plummeted". Naturally it did, since Sami doesn't live in Finland anymore and hence doesn't pay any income tax there... One newspaper says of Sami, "In the poker media Kelopuro is described as an aggressive player," which is basically like saying that "Usain Bolt is described as a fast runner". Naturally he's aggressive - he's a poker pro!

Ps. It's worth noting that the taxable earned income for Finnish poker pros refers only to winnings from non-EU sources (like Full Tilt Poker). Winnings from within the EU are taxfree and not included in the figures mentioned here. Also, any unearned income (ie. income from stocks or other investments etc.) is not included.

It is also worth noting that the Finnish taxman knows how to take care of himself. For his paycheck of €1.7 million, Ilari has to pay at least 50% tax.