Geir Helgemo was born in 1970 in Vinstra, Norway.

He is a professional bridge player, columnist and widely regarded by his peers as the most talented player on the planet.

As a junior, Geir compiled an impressive record, making his debut in the Norwegian Under-25 team at the age of only 18 in the 1988 European Junior Championships. Two years later he led his national team to victory in that event.

In 1993 he achieved a remarkable double, earning Silver medals at both the World Junior Teams and the Bermuda Bowl. For good measure, he also won a Bronze medal at the European Open Teams Championship that year, a feat he repeated four years later. Geir became a World Champion in 1995, in his final event as a junior, winning the World Junior Pairs in partnership with Boye Brogeland. The following year, he added another world title to his resume with a victory in the Generali Masters Individual.

In partnership with Tor Helness, Geir has won both of the world's two premier invitational pairs events twice: the Cap Gemini in 1994 and 1996 and the Macallan back-to-back in 1998 and 1999. In addition to numerous victories in Norwegian National events, Geir has won the British Spring Foursomes (in 1999) and the Schiphol International Teams in The Netherlands (in 1993).

He won the 1997 Politiken Invitational  Pairs playing with Krzysztof Martens. Geir has the ability to do well with new partners. He was awarded the IBPA's CC Wei Award for the year's best defensive play in 1990. After a string of near misses in NABC events (2nd in the Open Pairs and the Open Swiss in 1997, and in both the Life Masters Pairs and the Blue Ribbon Pairs in 1996 and 1997), Geir and his partner, Tony Forrester, earned their first North American titles in 1998, winning both the Open Pairs I and the prestigious Reisinger Board-A-Match Teams. A year later, his team (Forrester, Geir Helgemo 10 Andrew Robson, Rita Shugart) won the Reisinger again, a feat achieved by only three other teams in the 81-year history of the event and its predecessor (the Chicago Trophy).

For several years the team has competed with great success in the toughest North American events playing four-handed. Although this idea hasn’t really caught on, it is somewhat surprising that it hasn’t. Geir has recently collaborated on two books: Bridge with Imagination co-written with David Bird and Helgemo's World of Bridge with another long-time partner, Geo Tislevol.

With a natural flair for the game and a remarkable ability to create problems for his opponents, Helgemo prefers to play simple, mostly natural methods, and to trust his judgment and instincts. The formula has always worked for him because recently he won also the Transnational in 2009, the Roberts Teams in 2010 and 2012. Besides, he arriving in second position in Champion Cup of same year.

In 2012 he took the citizenship of Monaco and began to defend the colors of the Principality by winning the European Championships in the Open Teams and his second Spingold and earning a bronze medal in the Olympiads of Lille.

The following year he earned the silver medal in the Bermuda Bowl and still won the Reisinger Cup and the World Mind Games.

Last prestigious success is the silver earned at 2014 European Open Teams, the gold in Individual World Mind Games and the bronze in World Pairs Game.

In 2015  he becomes National Champion for France Teams, won silver medal inthe Mixed Pairs at the European Open and won the Transnational Open Teams.

In 2016 arrive the victory in the European Winter Games, in the Champion Cup and the silver in the Olympiad.

In 2017 he has been elected in the new EBL Hall of Fame.

In 2018 he won newly the Spingold and the Rosenblum and in 2022 he earned the bronze medal in Bermuda Bowl..

In 2024 he returned to play with the Norwegian national team and won the European Team Championships.

For some time he has been in a relationship with champion Jessica Larsson.