Johan Goslings

Johan Goslings is a Dutch poker player who made an unconventional career switch: after years of flying around the globe for poker tournaments, he now owns and runs Beslag Grou, a pancake restaurant in Grou, Friesland. His journey from semi-professional poker player to restaurateur is a story of passion, risk-taking, and following a dream.

Goslings started playing poker at home with friends in Leeuwarden, later moving online. His first live tournament was the Unibet Open in Barcelona, where he met like-minded players and became hooked. He went on to play nearly every Unibet Open event, as well as MPN tournaments.

“I played almost every Unibet Open, and later I added the MPN. I was traveling almost every month to some city,” he recalled. Goslings described his poker activity as a “runaway hobby” rather than a full-time profession, though he played almost every evening and night.

Goslings’ confirmed live cash is limited, but he consistently cashed in Unibet Open and MPN events with buy-ins of €500 to €1,000. He won packages for most tournaments and occasionally took home a prize. His most notable recorded victory came online: on December 2, 2021, he won PokerCity League Season 2 event #36 (PCL2 #36) as a debutant, beating Jan Alemans heads-up and topping a field of 76 entries. The win earned him a final ticket for the league’s playoffs.

Goslings never considered himself a full-time pro. “I played a kind of semi-professional. I played a lot, actually every evening, but I didn’t need to earn 100% of my money from it.” He balanced poker with raising his son, playing online at night and caring for his child during the day. When his son started school, Goslings had free days but decided to dial back poker.

Goslings had long dreamed of running his own bar or restaurant. Years earlier, he had even paused poker to attend cooking school and worked in a five-star hotel kitchen. When he spotted a vacancy at Beslag, a pancake house in Grou run by an acquaintance Norma de Jong, he jumped at the opportunity. Within a week, he was working there, and later he bought the building, renovating the upstairs into two Airbnb apartments.

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Goslings has no regrets. “You have to take risks sometimes to move forward,” he says. His pancake restaurant offers a global menu, including Venezuelan cachapa, Korean gamja jeon, and American pancakes, and has earned a Travelers’ Choice award from TripAdvisor.

Goslings focused exclusively on tournaments, not cash games. He favored low-to-middle buy-in fields and enjoyed the social atmosphere of events like the Unibet Open, which he compared to a city trip with a poker tournament attached. His style was likely solid and disciplined, typical of the Dutch poker scene’s emphasis on math and fundamentals.

While not a household name in poker, Goslings represents the many semi-professional players who enjoy the game for its adventure and camaraderie. His story is a reminder that poker can be a springboard to other passions—and that sometimes the best move off the felt leads to a pancake kitchen.