The Winamax team blog [Blog] Always more ...

Before being part of the poker world, I would have sworn that I would never be annoying € 10,000, € 25,000 or even € 100,000 on a part of cards.The 18 -year -old Roman was much wiser and concerned about his money.Ahhh, my friends, the times have indeed changed! Finally, do not worry: I do not move in private jet yet between two royal suites of the most beautiful hotels in the world.

I remember an exchange with my English grandfather eight or nine years ago, when I played free games on Facebook with my friends:

Grandpa : « Je te fais confiance Romain, mais promets-moi de ne jamais mettre un pound sur un jeu de hasard ! »
Jeune Romain : « Bien évidemment Grandpa, je ne fais ça que pour m’amuser avec mes amis.Anyway, I am not age to play and I will not become a gamber (lol). »
Grandpa, pas franchement convaincu, mais souhaitant éviter la dispute : « Ok son, viens aider ta mamie à mettre la table, roast dinner is on its way ! »

Stopped part, dinner swallowed and forgotten discussion ... but a few years later, while I was thinking about taking the plunge and becoming a professional player, this conversation came to my mind.Today Grandpa looks proudly from up there, I am sure.Like me, he had to be a little scared at the beginning, then he had to try to understand and learn to erase this fear.This is the story of my way, from the free parties of Facebook to my first Highroller EPT.

Many of us have started with free or small buy-in games.Simply because we like the game, like a board game.Thus, during my 18th birthday, I signed up for a clubhouse in Poker in Bordeaux in which I had some friends.I also started playing online, without much result for a year, if not the fun that I retired.I then mixed studies and poker, but the latter took more and more space.I started to move with friends on some live tournaments.

One or two pretty results later, it is clear in my head: poker is just a simple hobby, I want to become the best.I then arrive at a thin border: will I become the gambeler that I had promised myself never to be, or a professional player, a profession of which I did not even know the existence of the time of this famous conversation with Grandpa.

I was young, well surrounded and informed of the difficulties that the previous generation of pro players had met.The indicators seemed to be green, I was ready to change my life, move and attack myself in the circuit.However, getting out of my comfort zone and passing pro remains the most difficult decision today I had to take in my life.As well as having to announce it to my family ...

Première grosse étape : l’European Poker Tour de Prague en 2015. Pour mon tout premier buy-in au-dessus de 1 000 €, j’avais décidé de me faire staker. L’idée de participer à ce tournoi était assez folle, mais je mourais d’envie de me tester et je me sentais en pleine confiance. Une fois que j'avais décidé d’arrêter mes études, je voulais prendre des risques pour franchir rapidement les étapes. Quitte à me planter et réaliser que ce métier n’était pas fait pour moi.

End of my first day 1 on an EPT with 9,300 tokens (for 30,000 starting), then elimination on the second level of Day 2.Not frankly the expected dream.This sport sometimes gives blows, you have to know how to receive them.It is a real uppercut that I took under the chin at that time.My friends encouraged me to play the side event at € 2,000, but I was still groggy and on the ground after this defeat.

As much as I was not yet very comfortable with the amounts committed, as much I was really surprised by the level of certain players.I was previously convinced that all the players who hired € 5,000 and more to play a poker tournament were at least as competent as I.But I quickly realized that it was not necessarily the case.

Also, after a few hours of recovery, I decided to put the gloves back.I agreed to be staked for this side event.Bingo: A day later, I find myself at 24 remaining players, attached in the company of Fedor Holz and… Davidi Kitai.We are at the break, and I have not yet spoken to "genius".I am then a little above his token carpet, and timidly offer him a "swap" at 5%.He accepts without hesitation: I live a little the dream, I am very happy and my confidence is swollen.I finish second in the tournament for € 79,000 and I am in Angels.

Things will then accelerate.I received a call from David at night to congratulate me, but not only ... he offered to play the € 10,000 Highroller the next day.Perhaps it was a little early, surely even, compared to my experience and my level of play, but certainly not in terms of confidence.Confidence and momentum are elements that I consider very important to explain the success of a player.I let myself be carried by the Belgian genius and I found myself facing the best players in the world on a five -digit tournament.

Et bien m’en a pris. Je termine le Day 1 chipleader du clan français. Bon, certes, avec à peine cinq représentants, ce n’était pas si dur, mais c’est encourageant et mon tapis est bien au-dessus de la moyenne. Je suis passé par différents états mentaux. Avec beaucoup trop de top-players à toutes les tables, j’étais au départ clairement impressionné. À cause de l’argent en jeu et du regard des autres, je me mettais une certaine pression. Beaucoup de joueurs plus expérimentés ou avec un plus joli palmarès que moi n’avaient pas la chance de participer à ce tournoi et j’avais envie de bien faire.

Then all these little apprehensions flew as the shots won and players eliminated.I forgot the others to focus on me.Unfortunately, I ended up bust a few places of money but the experience and the confidence generated by this tournament gave a real boost to my career.

Back to the present, twenty-one month after this first highroller.I became a seasoned player of the circuit and I can give you a feeling of these tournaments.If they are less publicized than the Main Events, it is simply because they are less accessible.But the stake is sometimes more important there.

There are no online qualifications for these tests.There are certainly a few live satellites during the festival, but they are above all events reserved for the wealthy players.You will never read a great story of the genre: "Jimmy qualified for € 13 on Winamax before winning the € 25,000 Highroller of the Bahamas."We are not trying to sell dreams with these tournaments, they are simply written in a corner of the program:" 2:00 pm - Day 1 Highroller EPT 25,000 € ".So who plays them?

The best players in the world, on the one hand, of course.With both the bankroll to support the variance of these disproportionate buy-ins, as well as a level of playing them to be able to earn money against the other pros, they constitute a logical base of the Field of the Highrollers of the Circuit (and not the one we prefer to meet).Then on the other hand, the players like me who are financed part of their tournament by external investors.

You are going to ask me why hell would be profitable to invest in this way against the best players in the world?Quite simply because we must not forget a whole range of recreational and wealthy players who are fans of poker and sit at these tables for the kiff.They can represent up to 20 % of the field.In terms of money, it's a hell of a chest to get.The main difficulty being then to manage to adapt our strategy optimally according to the style of our opponent, between Top Reg and Businessman with.

Je travaille mon jeu toute l’année avec Sylvain, Davidi, Ivan, Guillaume et autres habitués du circuit pour devenir le plus équilibré possible. Quand nos adversaires n’ont pas tous le même degré de réflexion dans le jeu, il faut savoir être flexible. Je cherche par exemple à être le moins exploitable possible contre les meilleurs et le plus exploitant possible contre les moins bons. Toutes ces adaptations prennent un temps fou à mettre en place dans mon jeu et si je ne me vante pas de mes résultats sur ces tournois, c’est simplement car ils sont encore trop décevants.

Another important element that can differentiate the best players in the world on highrollers is pace and lifestyle.Technical work is no longer enough to create the gap, but the mental and physical state is for me the key to success.If we observe the serial victories of the Holz, O’Dwyer, Trickett, Schemion or Urbanovitch, we notice patterns.This famous wave (or cycle, to borrow a term dear to a team colleague), the momentum during which the player masters his run and systematically takes the best decision.It is a question of putting yourself in the best mental conditions so that "preparation meets the opportunity", as well as Doyle Brunson defines "luck" in poker.

I learned today to consider highrollers like other tournaments.The entry price is higher and the Field more prestigious, of course, but it is an investment that will one day be, I hope, profitable.I sometimes play less action than on my other tournaments of the year, but this is normal with a management perspective of Bankroll healthy.You would also be surprised to see the very low minority of players who play 100 % of their action on these tournaments.

There is also a real challenge to participate in these notes noted.The decisions are complicated and the variance is sometimes cruel.Mentally, it is sometimes very difficult.A bad run on a few consecutive highrollers can destroy the results of an online work year, for example.This is what motivates me, I want to know my limits and I have the feeling that by giving myself all my chances, I will get there.

Mon palmarès n’est pas très beau sur ces tournois, mais j’ai acquis énormément d’expérience. Pour dix tournois à 10 000 €, je n’ai qu’un seul ITM, et pour deux à 25 000 €, aucun. Pourtant, je suis très content de la manière dont j’ai abordé ces tournois. J’ai souvent atteint le Day 2, mais quelques erreurs d’ICM et autres bad beats m’ont poussé vers la sortie à la bulle (quatre fois sur ces douzes tentatives).

Today my goal is clear: I want to be perforated continuously in the highroller to create the gap.And with the beautiful entourage that I am lucky to benefit from Winamax, I feel like I have a star above the head that others have not.

Well, that's not all that, but I have my plane for Barcelona in a few hours!I hope to play again the € 25,000, as last year (via satellite, of course).This is the tournament that brought me the most in my young career.I have to spin: the sun, my friends and a beautiful poker program await me.I hope that your summer is going well and that the stress of your work year is gradually dissolving according to the walks and sunbathing sessions.For me, it's already back to school ... and I'm hot hot.I will have to breathe in breathing well before starting my tournaments, it's been too long since I have seen cards.

The good kiss, rlewis.