– Hi, Dmitry! Congratulations on another victory. Tell me, what did you do and how did you feel right after you beat Addamo in heads-up?
– I was a little dissatisfied with the game. There were no hands in which I could really show myself, since the entire final was played very well. I wanted to destroy it with skill, but there were no suitable situations.
But the joy and emotions this time were more real, although I was no longer jumping and screaming throughout the entire apartment, as I had after my first victory.
– It turns out that the emotions from major wins become dull over time?
– Yes, you probably already understand that there is a lot of money and it seems like you don’t need so much.
– How do you prepare for important final tables?
– First of all, I study my opponents. Specifically, I didn't have to prepare for this final, since I knew all the players. But if I come across unknown guys, I study their game, watch the broadcasts.
– So if there were five unknowns at the final tables, you would have compiled a dossier on all of them?
– Yeah.
– There was a legendary line-up at this final table. Who do you think was the strongest?
– It's hard to say. All the guys are famous and successful.
– Who was more difficult for you to play against?
– Probably against Addamo, he thinks very outside the box. There are hands in which he can play, roughly speaking, like an aggro fish, but at the same time he clearly understands what he is doing. If a person does not deviate from GTO and does not execute, then it is much easier for me to play against such people. Addamo can go hard beyond the range and then think about what hands he might have there. He also 3-bets a lot, even more than I do.
– What place in skill would you put yourself in?
– I’ll definitely be in the top 3.
My top in random order:
- Me
- Addamo
- Martirosyan
Valera (LALIBERTE) also plays well, but this is his first Millions final, so for now let him be in fourth place.
– What do you think are your strengths? What makes you good at high stakes?
– Firstly, I don't hold back in high stakes tournaments. I can stick to a very aggressive strategy, fear doesn't affect my decisions. Secondly, I've already won Phase Millions, so I was confident that I could win again.
Thirdly, I play a lot of unconventional creative hands. It is the unconventional play that gives me a good win rate, I currently have 13 bb/100 at ABI $900.
– Did you watch the broadcast during the game?
– The girl was watching, I missed it after the victory.
– Sam Greenwood said on the stream that you c-bet a lot, especially heads-up. Do you agree with that?
– Well, Greenwood is a typical GTO player, I never considered him a super-strong player. He adheres to a tighter strategy and in general the opponent is quite simple. Real poker is still very far from GTO. Poker is an exploit game, you play with a specific opponent, look at the dynamics and adjust.
– Were there any hands in the final that made you nervous? Did you doubt your decisions?
– I think only in heads-up.
– Can you tell me about the distribution with A4?
– I still think it’s a good call against Addamo heads-up. He’s the kind of opponent who can handle a bluff in that situation.
– What kind of bluffs could he have had there?
– A bunch of gutshots, all sorts of flush draws with Qx.
– Did you expect him to bet a middle ace on the river?
– Not really. I thought he was portraying two pairs and stronger.
– How did you manage not to call after this distribution?
– Of course, it was a shame. I spent all three minutes of the time bank, although I decided to open the hand on the second second.
People react differently to stress, some people's brains work at 200% in tense moments. But I'm not like that, my brain switches off when I'm stressed. In this situation, my brain also switched off a little, that's why I thought for so long.
Right after the call I looked to see when the break would be. I needed it then – to go catch my breath, stretch, wash my face with cold water, collect my thoughts.
I thought about it in my head that $1.2 million wasn’t bad either, and I was the shortest in the final, so there was nothing to be upset about.
After the break, I came to my senses and continued fighting.
– What helps you best get back into the game in such situations?
– Wash with very cold water. You can use ice.
– Were you pressured by the fact that the prize money was five times bigger than in the regular Millions?
– I didn’t even look at the prize money. We were fighting for the title!
– And has it always been like this for you? Have you had to fight the pressure of money before?
– At the beginning of my career, I noticed that many regs, who usually play aggressively, change their game drastically in the finals and start to tighten up. They simply don’t use all their experience and developments. I noticed this problem in myself, too, worked on it and fixed it at the beginning of my career. I specifically tried to play more relaxed in the finals, and sometimes even openly moved away to overcome this leak. And gradually it disappeared.
– You won two out of three Phase Millions. Do you ever think that you were just lucky?
– Friends, poker acquaintances and even players I don’t know say that I play well. And my win rates are very high. This adds confidence.
– Many people wrote in the comments that you were incredibly lucky in the final, and you just re-upped. Does that upset you?
– Well, haters will always find something to pick on. Of course, any negativity is unpleasant. Now I am working on my reaction, trying to ignore it all. It is stupid to dwell on negativity, as there is no benefit in it.
Well, anyway, it’s not my fault that things were going so well for me.
– Before winning your first Phase Million, you were on a downswing for a long time. How long did it last and what kept you going during that period?
– The downstreak lasted about a year. There was a period of two or three months when I almost never made it into the prizes and rolled in $100k. And then there were near-zero swings before the win.
It was hard. I didn't want to play, but I still sat down, even through force. I think it was a test of strength, whether I would endure it or break. I managed it.
When you have a game and high win rates, which almost no one else at your limits has, it is even harder to cope with a downswing. Because there are no growth points in sight, it is not clear what exactly needs to be improved. Who to take training from when everyone else's win rate is the same or lower than yours? In such a situation, it is hard to stay positive. At the same time, my win rates did not fall during the downswing, but even grew.
– What helped you not to fall apart?
– Take a break, go somewhere for a couple of days. Chat with friends and nature. A break from poker and poker communication, to miss the game and sit down at the tables with renewed energy.
– It was during the downswing that you switched to high stakes. Did you have any doubts about your game and abilities?
– There were no doubts, so yes – I didn’t wait for an upswing and went to play higher.
– And how much of an indicative story are MTT winrates? Is it possible to have a double-digit winrate and still play poorly?
– At high stakes, it's probably impossible, because once you've made it there, you definitely know how to play. But at ABI $15 – quite possible, you can play very badly, not fully understand or not understand the basic concepts at all.
– It’s hard to be an MTT player: winning is luck, win rates don’t mean anything either. How can you adequately evaluate your game?
– Analyzing your hands with competent players helps, adds confidence. Also working in Flopzilla – we look at what the opponent throws out for the bet, whether it is positive or not.
– You have a red graph that many envy. But is it necessary to monitor it and specifically raise it if everything seems to be okay with the game?
– I don't think so. Rather, it is needed at high limits, where people throw more and where aggression gives you an advantage. At low and mid limits, the main thing is to play correctly with value, to get more. And at high limits, you need to be able to get more subtly.
– Like Addamo with AT?
– Well, I also have epic hands from that tournament. This is where I won six pots with a weak top pair from Vyacheslav Buldygin:
– Most high rollers are now pushing for regimen and discipline. Do you have something similar or rather the opposite?
– Now I play little, only 300 tournaments in a year.
I rest a lot. I like to play CS:GO, but when I was on a downstreak, I didn’t allow myself to set aside even an hour for it. It was just unpleasant to “waste time” when things weren’t going well at the tables.
Now I finally feel free and can do what I want, not necessarily something necessary and useful. I started paying attention to my desires.
– How do you usually prepare for a session?
– I always do exercises before the game, and I also try to move during breaks. I have problems with my back and lower back, so I have to warm up. I recently bought a massager and now I can do massages during poker games.
– Has your life changed since the wins?
– Not much, I started to travel more, see the world. I started thinking about investments.
– Where have you been?
– In Kazakhstan, the Maldives and Hong Kong. By the way, the Maldives are very boring, although the first days were great – you eat, sleep, lie on the beach. The main thing is not to go for a long time, otherwise you can go crazy.
– At the beginning of your career, you played $0.25 tournaments for a long time. Tell us what you were doing then, what were you dreaming about?
– I was 18 years old. I studied in Moscow, lived in a dorm and played for fun at the same time. I even ended up at the Poker Academy by accident. I learned to play from Babyshark videos .
By the way, in the 25 cent tournament I met Denis luily021, with whom I still communicate. We just wrote to each other in the chat during the game and exchanged contacts. After some time, he decided to start the FunFarm fund, and I was very skeptical about any funds at the time. Two months later, he won $3k, which was considered a huge amount of money at the time, so I decided to give it a try. That's how my professional career began.
At first, my parents were categorically against poker. They turned off my internet and called me a gambling addict. My father once introduced me to a friend who played offline even before the casino ban. He told me how he lost his apartment, got into debt, and that the same thing awaited me if I continued.
– Has their attitude changed now?
– Yes, the attitude changed gradually. First I started living on my own, then I moved to Montenegro, then to Minsk. At some point my father apologized for being so categorical about poker. He said: "The world has changed, you can now earn money not only at the "factory".
– Was there an insight that helped you boost the game at the beginning of your journey?
– I learned about overbets from my first coach, back then everyone looked at them as something revolutionary. At first it was scary, I had to overcome myself, but over time you look at the number of folds in response and understand that the method works.
– Do you feel the difference between the new generation of players and the old school regs?
– I think the "old-timers" are less ideological and creative. They have a lot of playing, and they don't make clever adjustments to the players. It seems to me that some of them have the robot syndrome.
There are old school regs who still come up with something, but there are very few of them. Addamo, for example
– He’s 35 years old at most! [ Ed. – Actually, he’s only 31! ]
– Well, he's been playing for over 10 years, so he fits into that category. Ole Schemion is still good too. But in general, there are very few old-school players who still have some ideas.
– I read in your Telegram that “one of the goals was to get noticed, now the goal is to become the best poker player.” What does “becoming the best poker player” mean to you?
Win Phase Millions for the third time. Get heads-up with Kaladjurdjevic [ Ed. – this is a reg from Montenegro who also won Phase Millions ] and unwind him.
I would also like to win something live, but for now I don’t want to play offline, I think I’m not mentally ready for it. It’s hard for me to be in unfamiliar company, although I’m currently struggling with this anxiety.
– I saw that you made it to the EPT for the first time last year. How were you enjoying it?
– At first it was wildly uncomfortable, my nerves were on edge. I even took a couple of cocktails to calm myself down, it helped a little.
I felt that the offline game was less exploitable. I also realized that it was not a mistake to consider all unfamiliar players as fish who really don't like to give up. The mistake I made was that you can't bluff hard in the early stages of a tournament. Apparently, you should only do this in the later stages, when people at least start thinking about folding. It seemed to me that the vast majority played in the style of "Is it still possible to re-enter? – Then call!"
– Isn't it the same online?
– It seems to me that people play more adequately online. In live poker, there are still many more amateurs.
– What would you like to achieve outside of poker?
Have passive income and see the world, probably. I'd like to live in Brazil for a month, Argentina for a month, then Mexico for a month. Immerse myself in the culture, see new countries, brush up on my Spanish. And the time zone in Latin America is convenient for playing, so I'll continue to ruin high stakes.
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