My name is Lukas, I am from Austria and 32 years old. I started playing poker around 9 years ago during my studies. I did my master's in business administration and worked in the banking and consulting industry. Until about 3 years ago I saw and treated poker more like a very profitable hobby, but then I got sick, which made it almost impossible for me to pursue my regular “career”, and so I turned pro. I very much enjoy lots of the advantages which come by being a poker pro but also miss some things which come with a regular job in the “real” world. Therefore I started to work on some projects again to not lose touch or to connect again with what I enjoyed so much before I decided to live on poker only.

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Charles Hawk: What do you think about profiting from poker? Are you satisfied by earning money from an industry which creates almost no value to humanity?

(If we compare poker with sports, in poker your money comes from non-professionals. If we compare it with business, in business it's possible for everyone to gain value/profit, which is not the case in poker. Poker is more like nature: 'the strong eating the weak')

Yovengo: This is a very difficult but even more important topic. I have discussed it over and over again with many friends making a living both from regular jobs and poker. Still I got to admit that I have no definite answer on that question as it is rather complex and you have to look at it from lots of different angles. I will try to answer it by dwelling on your statements “Poker creates almost no value to humanity” and “Poker is more like nature: 'the strong eating the weak'”: there are very few jobs out there which really do create value and are “honest”. You don't need to read (but I recommend) the “Black book on brand companies” to find out about the dark past or bad practices of so many recognized brands worldwide.

So do you really create value by working for an international company like Nike which still abuses and exploits its “employees” in many third world countries to the very day? Do you do any good being employed by a bank, hedge funds or insurance company which earn huge profits (over 100 billion a year) from betting on food prices in unregulated financial markets which directly leads to instability and increased food prices followed by increased hunger and malnutrition in developing countries? I don't think so...

Also “the strong eating the weak” is so true about business – big companies are swallowing the smaller ones which stand no chance surviving due to economies of scale. Every day new laws are passed which help the rich getting richer and make the poor even poorer. I don't want to go into too much detail but especially in the business world there is almost always a winner and a loser (but more often more than just one).

In poker we win our money mostly from recreational players. Many of them play poker as a hobby and just enjoy playing the game as they enjoy going to the gym or playing tennis where they also have to pay a “fee” to use the machines or to rent out the court. In poker with the “fee” the recs pay we make a living off. Obviously there are also addicted victims which lose much more than just a “fee” but after what I have experienced you will find more poker victims at the reg than on the rec side...

When it comes to me, I can easily say that playing poker doesn't satisfy myself. It does provide my financial needs but there is much more to life than just money. At this point everyone has to decide for himself if, what and how one wants give back to society to maybe make a small impact for a better world.

CH: What do you mean by ”What I have experienced you will find more poker victims at the reg than on the rec side...”?

I saw so many "pro´s" quitting school or university because they had some good poker months or years and thought they would print like that forever. In most cases that's not gonna happen and they will be very lost at some point. So many which made quite some money in a short period of time are so out of touch with the real world that they will have huge issues getting their foot back into the real world IF poker doesn't work out anymore for them.

CH: Why have you never been a big fan of the cartels in general?

Yovengo: I wasn´t a fan of it because the single thought of a whole group vs an individual didn't seem fair to me. A group which was founded from one day to another with no transparent “entry requirements” or rules – if you were well connected and had friends within the community the probability of you being a member of it was quite high. Over time some members just wanted to exploit this situation as much as possible and everyone talking against their plans or mentioning ethics drew a huge crosshair on his back.

CH: What are the main advantages 'which come by being a poker pro'? What do you miss though, comparing poker 'with a regular job in the “real” world'?

Yovengo: The main advantage is definitely time and flexibility. As a poker pro you decide for yourself when you work, how many hours you put in and from where you do your job. You can enjoy seeing the world and travel while you are young – while most work their back off pursuing a regular career. Short term you can also make a good amount of money but most of us won't make enough to be settled for life – so that might even be a disadvantage for many as they stop following other paths.

I miss my colleagues, interacting with people face to face on a daily basis and discussing all kinds of topics every day. As a poker player you start getting lazy – so you really have to push yourself to not lose touch with the real world. It also is a challenge to stay connected with non poker friends as they live at a different pace.

CH: Tell me about the beginning of your poker career 9 years ago: about strategies you used, about ways you were learning the game, about how different is to play professionally without PokerTracker or other programms.

Yovengo: When I started to play I had no clue at all about poker. I had some money on a sport betting site and saw the advertisement for poker, clicked on it and 1 minute later I was already seated at a table. I lost my 30 Euros but wanted to know more about the game. So I ordered a poker book online, read it, deposited 50 Euros and never had to cash in again since. Most of the knowledge back then I acquired by reading books and watching videos. Although I wasn't playing professionally I remember using tracking software pretty quickly after I started.

CH: Did you start playing hypers just after they got introduced in 2009? What was your hourly winrate compared with now? Do you think husng hypers will dry out eventually because of Spin and Goes?

Yovengo: 2009 I was still grinding 24 tables nlh full ring games but I had always played turbo husngs when I didn't have the time to setup a full ring session and did very well in them. When hypers were launched I just tried them out but nlh full ring was still my main game back then. 2010 I started to take hypers more seriously and enjoyed the format more and more. So it didn’t take long until I focused on hypers only. I started with 60s and moved up to 300s pretty quickly but I honestly can't remember my hourly back then. They are already drying out if you follow the hypers hu action – thus yes spins definitely took away lots of action from hypers.

CH: As I remember, when husng hypers were introduced, some husng turbo regs wrote in their yearly goals in 2p2 thread, 'to not become a hyper reg'. Do you think it is as silly as to not consider for hyper regs (especially medium stakes) to transition to Spin and Goes?

Yovengo: I just want to quote Jackson Brown as it answers the question perfectly: “Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity”

Part 2 (topic: only/mainly Spin and Goes) will be released next Friday.