No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players • PokerStars

$988.80+$11.20

Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter

SB	Jossel2008	470
BB	rossmac86	530

Effective Stacks: 24bb

Blinds 10/20

Pre-Flop (30, 2 players)

Jossel2008 raises to 40, rossmac86 calls 20

Flop (80, 2 players)

rossmac86 checks, Jossel2008 checks

Turn (80, 2 players)

rossmac86 bets 80, Jossel2008 calls 80

River (240, 2 players)

rossmac86 checks, Jossel2008 goes all-in 350, rossmac86 calls 350

Final Pot: 940

Jossel2008 shows a full house, Sevens full of Fives

rossmac86 shows two pair, Jacks and Sevens

Jossel2008 wins 940 ( won +470 )

rossmac86 lost -470

=======

No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players • PokerStars

$988.80+$11.20

Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter

BB	vik727	515
SB	Jossel2008	485

Effective Stacks: 16bb

Blinds 15/30

Pre-Flop (45, 2 players)

Jossel2008 calls 15, vik727 raises to 90, Jossel2008 calls 60

Flop (180, 2 players)

vik727 bets 90, Jossel2008 calls 90

Turn (360, 2 players)

vik727 bets 150, Jossel2008 calls 150

River (660, 2 players)

vik727 goes all-in 185, Jossel2008 goes all-in 155

Final Pot: 970

vik727 shows a pair of Sevens

Jossel2008 shows a pair of Sevens - lower kicker

vik727 wins 1000 ( won +485 )

Jossel2008 lost -485

=======

No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players • PokerStars

$988.80+$11.20

Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter

SB	Jossel2008	470
BB	SkaiWalkurrr	530

Effective Stacks: 16bb

Blinds 15/30

Pre-Flop (45, 2 players)

Jossel2008 calls 15, SkaiWalkurrr raises to 105, Jossel2008 calls 75

Flop (210, 2 players)

SkaiWalkurrr checks, Jossel2008 checks

Turn (210, 2 players)

SkaiWalkurrr bets 75, Jossel2008 calls 75

River (360, 2 players)

SkaiWalkurrr bets 270, Jossel2008 calls 270

Final Pot: 900

Jossel2008 shows three of a kind, Eights

SkaiWalkurrr shows a pair of Eights

Jossel2008 wins 900 ( won +450 )

SkaiWalkurrr lost -450

=======

No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players • PokerStars

$988.80+$11.20

Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter

BB	SkaiWalkurrr	520
SB	Jossel2008	480

Effective Stacks: 24bb

Blinds 10/20

Pre-Flop (30, 2 players)

Jossel2008 raises to 40, SkaiWalkurrr calls 20

Flop (80, 2 players)

SkaiWalkurrr checks, Jossel2008 checks

Turn (80, 2 players)

SkaiWalkurrr checks, Jossel2008 bets 61, SkaiWalkurrr calls 61

River (202, 2 players)

SkaiWalkurrr checks, Jossel2008 bets 155, SkaiWalkurrr goes all-in 419, Jossel2008 goes all-in 224

Final Pot: 960

SkaiWalkurrr shows two pair, Queens and Fives

Jossel2008 shows two pair, Aces and Jacks

Jossel2008 wins 960 ( won +480 )

SkaiWalkurrr lost -480

=======

Describe your main successes and the difficulties you had to handle in 2013



I think the main success I can be proud of in 2013 was overcoming some personal issues to an extent to which they could no longer hold me back from doing what it took to get my 1k seat. Lots of thanks goes to Jared Tendler for that who helped me a ton along the way.



I also managed to improve my theoretical understanding of Poker by miles and while this was always a strength of mine it definitively has a place on my list of 2013 successes.



Difficulties: half way through the year after coming back from Las Vegas, I developed a sleep-disorder that I had trouble with for 3 or 4 months. Sleep is obviously one of the most important things for a professional poker-player's productivity so that was quite the bummer to deal with. Eventually it went away though and all is good now in that regard.



a) What regs did you play the most with in 2013 and how did it go? b) who started sharing lobbies with you and who is still fighting you?



In 2013 I played Lotte Lenya, FisFarfar, Skaiwalkurrr, Serkules, mrGR33N13, Helio TYF and Harthor and I have a sharing agreement with all of them right now. Skaiwalkurrr was the Reg I played the most against - around 3000 games or so. How did it go? It went phasewise - if you remember my last interview, I became discouraged playing him at one point, so I played him like 700 games early in the year and then another 1700 games late in the year. Those last 1700 games went pretty well resultswise.



Tell me how many days you had completely off poker, did you do any travel?



I took almost no full days off. As a matter of fact taking days off was one of the skills I first came across halfway through 2013 (and one that I haven't fully mastered yet).



I did however have some forced breaks due to burnout (ironically the result of not taking enough days off :) ) and the sleep disorder I mentioned above.



I travelled to a few live Events including EPT Monte Carlo and the WSOP in Las Vegas. I also spent 2 weeks in September with my Family on Fehmarn, one of Germanys islands.



How many books, unrelated to Poker, did you read? :D



”Looking for Alaska” by John Green, the first 4 books of the Warrior Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell and bits and pieces of other books that I never finished. Currently I'm in the process of reading a german novel about Albert Einstein's life and “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. AND I've already bought another novel by John Green + 2 more parts of the Warrior Chronicles that I'm looking forward to :).



What did you learn/how did you improve as a poker player in 2013?



Well one thing I improved a lot on, was grinding skills - multitabling and playing long sessions.



In the Mental Game area I learned a lot about the learning process itself and about the realities of variance. I learned that any road-block that can be overcome. I also learned what exactly it took to become a 1k Reg – prior to and during some of 2013 I actually had some pretty big misconceptions about that.



Regarding my tactical skill-level I also improved tons - mostly away from the tables by continuously thinking critically and creatively about other people's and my own game and discussing thoughts with my friend Jan Kasten (Waaaghbozz on stars).



Tell me about your big downswing



Being ~300k below EV in 2013 obviously hurt... A few things helped me through it: For one, realizing that there is no such thing as being “permanently doomed” and every day is a fresh start and an oportunity to make a profit. Secondly the existence of an EV graph helped, even though I misinterpreted it frequentlty.



Are you confident about Poker being profitable for you in the future? How are things with action and competitors?



Very confident. My plan going forward is to keep improving my entire skill-set so that it remains competitive even with the strongest of opponents. That way I make the most money in the present and also people will have severe trouble getting ahead of me. As for profitable action, it's looking good at the moment and there is no indication this will change significantly in the near future.





Tell me something funny, awkward or very memorable which you had during online grind or live tournament



Summer 2013 in Vegas playing a SitnGo and this rich texas guy sits down, pulling a roll of 30k or so out of his back pocket making 2k last longer bets with everyone. An hour in his wife rings, apparently pissed off, because they had some family dinner plans and he didn't show up. So the guy panics and attempts to buy out of his bets, but at that point nobody wants to let him buy out. So he starts playing every single hand – in front of the wife and daughter who at that point had joined the scene and weren't overly amused. However no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get rid of the chips! He won pot after pot and soon was the chipleader of the whole tournament. Eventually he started openshoving every single hand and lost - but before that he managed to secure a buy out from some of the last longer bets. He even made a profit on some of them, cause people were getting scared that he might actually win the thing :)





Do you troll others? Did you get lots of insults by playing (from pros or from unknowns/fishes. Maybe can recall or have saved any funny chats



Very rarely. I think it's wrong to intentionally hurt other people's feelings and I try my best not to.



Regarding insults, I got some pretty personal ones of mrGR33N13 but generally Pros have been very respectful. And yea - random people wish me cancer all the time :P . I should say though that I've also met many exceptionally friendly amateur players both on- and offline.





Advice for good mid stake regs how to get to your level?



I can't really say how - it's very individual and differs from person to person. I will say this though: Do some deep thinking. Figure out what you want in life. Figure out why you want it. Only when you've done that, set specific goals and start thinking about the how.





Is it hard to beat cartels starting from $100 limit up to $1000 if you are good but new/unknown-to-others regs?



It's probably quite difficult. But then again - anything is possible. Make yourself known!

Did you do that journey from $100 limit up to highest stakes?

No. I built my Bankroll mainly through Fullring SnGs and MTTs. Prior to moving into 1ks I played  ~17000 HU games over the course of 3 years or so