Our Top Interviews: Hellmuth, Negreanu, Trueteller, Hansen, & More
GipsyTeam
12 January, 14:15
We're reminiscing about some of our most interesting conversations with prominent poker personalities, like Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Mikita Bodyakovsky, Trueteller, and Gus Hansen.
Over time, GipsyTeam has sat down with poker legends several times. It's a lot harder to get interviews with some of these players now, with sponsorship, schedules, and life getting in the way—but looking back is still interesting.
These interviews from poker's past give a glimpse into the game's history. They also show you how the best of the best viewed the game back then, during the days of Full Tilt and before solvers came into the picture.
Reminisce with us as we go through our exclusive interviews with some of the world's best players from back in the day.
Gus Hansen – 2011 Interview in Moscow
— Tell me, Gus, what game are you best at? You play everything, like backgammon, all kinds of poker, Yahtzee...
I think I have a talent for backgammon. I think it's my best game. I constantly play against the best players in the world, and even if I take a break for a few months, I still compete on equal terms with them.
As for poker... I've always worked hard on my game, striving to get better. Some forms of poker still don't work for me, but I play a lot of weird games like Omaha Hi-Lo or Triple Draw pretty well.
Honestly, I enjoy all the games, though some are better than others. But I'm still most confident in backgammon. I know there are many fans of this game in Russia. So I can challenge them – if anyone is ready to play for really, really high stakes, I'm always at their disposal.
— You mentioned that you work hard on your game. I think this will surprise many, given your image as a passionate player who cares little about who or what he plays.
How exactly do you improve your game? Do you analyze your sessions or even watch videos?
I know many poker players study their opponents' play a lot, trying to adapt to it. Of course, that's quite important, but I think you should pay more attention to yourself. So, I mostly analyze my own actions, my playing patterns—maybe I've started raising too much, or, conversely, calling too much...
So I'm trying to improve my game. I have one big problem is that I occasionally become incredibly stubborn. And stubbornness is very, very costly in poker.
Poker is a very dangerous game in general. You can be the world's number one player and still have a financially successful career, or you can be number ten, but if you're constantly playing against #1, #2, and #3, things will go very, very badly for you.
In any game of chance, human ego plays a huge role, and I'm no exception. So if I were to play exclusively with the best players in the world in games where they're stronger than me, I'd be doomed to lose in the long run. However, in the last six months, perhaps even eight months, I've made significant progress in my approach to the game, so I'm looking forward to 2011 with optimism. I have a great feeling about it.
— Gus, have you reread your book "Every Hand Revealed" lately? Does it seem outdated? And are you planning on releasing another similar book soon?
I agree that much of what's described in this book seems strange by today's standards. But, it's important to understand that this is a tournament book. In tournaments, you usually play against opponents who think at the most primitive, basic level. They're constantly worried about their "tournament life." And if you're constantly putting them under pressure today, they won't even remember that two days ago you were doing exactly the same thing...
In this regard, I think tournament strategy often seems quite simple. And in terms of describing this basic strategy, my book still holds up quite well. Of course, it won't make a strong player great, but it can help a beginner or even an average player. Many people have told me that my book has helped them.
I also have some new literary plans, but nothing concrete.
Arranging a one-on-one interview with the incredibly busy Phil Hellmuth was a stroke of luck in itself. Getting to actually talk to him was even luckier, as his day couldn't be marred by mood swings or embarrassing bad beats.
So, in 2013, we were doubly lucky.
— About Phil's main advantage over the field:
White magic! That's what I call the ability to read your opponents. Some people have this ability, some don't. If you have it, you can develop it almost infinitely, but if you don't...
I once tried to explain some of my actions in hands to mathematically minded players. They said, "That's wrong! You can't do that!" I was surprised: "How is that wrong? I showed , and he showed me "That's a great play!" But they continued to insist I'd played poorly.
Then I told them another hand in which I'd folded and my opponent had shown . And again, they told me it was bad play.
— Which games does this intuition work best in?
White magic and the ability to read your opponents are the most important things in no-limit Hold'em.
Second on my list would be razz. In this game, it's crucial to recognize when an opponent has hit a redraw. I'm pretty good at guessing this.
— On the followers of his poker philosophy:
Not all young players base their game on mathematics. Among those who immediately come to mind are Nick Schulman, Shaun Deeb, Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst... They are all great players today, real poker players.
Charlie Carrel breaks down several tournament and cash game hands to answer whether Phil Hellmuth is the G.O.A.T. (as Phil thinks he is) or whether he's been left behind by a new generation of poker players.
Yes, I did spend a year at WLU [Wilfrid Lurie University], and I loved it, but I really missed my job—playing poker.
When you play every day, your schedule and everything else just becomes a given. My year at WLU really changed my perspective. When I applied, I already knew I probably wouldn't work in my field, but I thought studying would be fun.
Overall, it was okay, but I find it hard to commit to something that doesn't seem promising. Unfortunately, it turned out that my program trains mid-level managers, not leaders and entrepreneurs. That same year, I played in my first World Series, immersed myself in a familiar atmosphere, and the idea of studying no longer seemed so appealing. While poker is doing well, I don't plan to return to university.
So, I continued playing, but not for 60 hours a week like before. Now I only play on days when the lineups are the best, and only when I'm in a good mood. When I was 18 or 19, poker was my life. When I wasn't playing, I'd read forums.
In the last two years, I've changed that approach. When I'm at home, I play 20-25 hours a week, and when I'm traveling, 40-45 hours—that's an average of 30 hours, which is much more modest than before.
— Mike on his achievements:
2012 was the worst year of my career, but the last six months have been the most successful thanks to a streak of big wins (around a million dollars in total), which continued at the PCA.
Five of my top 10 results have come in the last six months, and I haven't played that much. The variance in this game is simply ridiculous.
So many people in poker think that yoga and vegetable juices will make them champions, and that a cool head and the right attitude will lead to victories... But I've never worked so hard on my game as I did in 2012. I played at the limit of my abilities! And for the first time, I finished the year in the red.
For the last six months, I've been playing without fanaticism. My motivation is only average, but I'm setting records in winnings, even though logically it should be the other way around.
— About Mike got into backing players:
In the summer of 2006, I won a lot online, but I was still too young for live tournaments, and there simply weren't enough high-stakes tournaments online. I wanted to invest my money somewhere, to make it work for me.
At that moment, I realized I had many friends who played recreationally but could make a living playing poker if the opportunity presented itself. This option seemed more attractive to me than the stock market or other investment options, so I became a backer about eight years ago. I still buy shares occasionally, but I no longer have any long-term plans.
The main reason was that I started sleeping poorly. I was constantly second-guessing my friends I sponsored. Terminating a contract with a major makeup company would be like throwing money away, but continuing to sponsor a losing player over the long term is also questionable, as their level of play inevitably declines in such a situation. A multitude of ethical questions arose...
This conversation with Negreanu took place during a period of his fascination with modern poker theory. Around that time, he began studying GTO in earnest and paved the way for a new surge in high-stakes tournaments.
— Negreanu on when it's time to start studying again:
At Poker Masters, I watched my neighbors and saw them play better than me, hand after hand. They bluffed and I folded, they hit and I called, they folded to my value bets, they called my bluffs... Some of it was bad luck, but certainly not all of it.
I can't control luck, so I had to focus on what I can do—improving my game.
— Should we believe Charlie Carell when he says German high rollers are easy to read?
I'd say he's right about some things: some are more readable than others, of course.
However, I think he underestimates the enormous amount of work they put into reading their opponents. Phil Hellmuth makes the same mistake. He tells me all those Germans play like robots, but trust me, Phil: they're excellent at reading body language and get more tells from you than you get from them. Not all of them, of course—some don't pay much attention to their opponents—but most high rollers work hard at it.
What Charlie is absolutely right about is how many people greatly underestimate the benefits of reading their opponents. Sometimes opponents are so transparent that it's simply impossible to lose to them...
— Negreanu about the influence of intuition in decision-making:
100% of my decisions are based on scientific knowledge. I don't call an all-in overbet on the turn with a flush draw because I suddenly believe the flush will hit on the river. Maybe when I was younger, something like that sometimes happened. But not anymore.
Although I'll say this, and let them think I'm crazy. I often sense whether I'll win or lose before I go all in, a powerful intuitive feeling. The last time it happened was the day before yesterday, at the final table of a high roller tournament. And I must say, in my 20-year career, I've been right surprisingly often.
I don't know if people can have psychic abilities, but sometimes I really do feel that way.
Editor – Our image of Daniel shows a PokerStars patch, but of course, that was a long time ago. Nowadays, he's the golden boy of GGPoker.
— Have you been playing since you were 5 years old?
Well, not from five, but from 16. I was already 20 at the time, but because I started playing before I was 18, I registered the account under my dad's name. Later, he started playing poker himself, and then we just made an account under my name, and he played from it.
I couldn't really switch to my own account because everyone at high stakes already knew me as fish2013, and it would have looked weird if the two accounts had swapped, so I kept playing. Anyway, PokerStars asked questions, and I decided to tell it like it was.
They then tormented me for two months, during which I hopefully checked my email every half hour. It was a "fun" time. After two long months of waiting, I decided it was time for a change and moved to Kyiv.
As if on cue, on the second day of my move, I received a call from Stars: "We've reviewed your case and made a final decision. You'll receive a response by email this evening." At that moment, you realize time can pass and feel different. It was a very long five hours, but that evening the email finally arrived: "Blah blah, we've decided to confiscate all funds you won before you turned 18."
This was only $7,000 less than my balance. A beautiful decision for me. That's when I realized the emotions I'd experienced when I busted on the bubble were nothing more than a pittance.
— I guess they were following their rules. If it's not a secret, what was the amount the confiscated?
Well, I've actually heard a lot of stories where people got away with warnings or temporary six-month bans, but not this time.
Regarding the confiscated amount—that's the funny part. There's a funny rumor floating around the internet that I won a million before I was 18. It always makes me smile, of course, but it's a myth.
$156,000—that was the amount Stars calculated and confiscated. Actually, going back to Copenhagen, that wasn't the only butterfly effect that happened after my loose push. Without waiting out that bubble, I couldn't have imagined that for the next three years, 30 tournaments and over almost a dozen trips to the EPT... I wouldn't even have a single cash.
— Are you still playing online now, or has this whole 6-max thing completely died?
I hardly play anymore because the anticipation has gotten significantly worse. I went through a long period where I had to work really hard to keep up.
I'd go to a live series, drop out for a few weeks, come back, and I'd have to fight for lobbies, catch up, and get back into shape.
It was difficult because the other guys were sitting there, leveling up in the online cash. It was pretty tough, but a little over a year ago, I made the decision to stop sitting down and fighting for lobbies. And it's become much easier.
Yes, the online cash helped my progress, but once I turned it off, my life became more fulfilling.
— What about Vegas? You've been playing for so many years, but this is your first time there. I understand there are various tax nuances, but still.
Yes, but I should have made it back in 2013... When I started playing poker, like many others, I dreamed of going to the WSOP, and I didn't turn 21 until 2013.
The winner of the 2023 One Drop for $7,114,500 told Mikhail Savinov how to prepare for this kind of tournament and sell shares for it. Mikita also commented on the most important hands of the final table.
— You've said several times that you felt no emotions at all at the beginning of your career. How did that affect your psychology? Were there any problems with that approach?
Not exactly. I think I even wrote that in the first month, there was an episode when I tilted and bet my entire bankroll on four tables of Omaha. Later, that almost never happened.
Even in the first year of my career, tilt didn't really affect my play. You could say that anger is quite common for me, even too common. At least that's how it was back then; now I've gotten a bit out of the habit of it. Before, it was nothing new; it was my normal state, so tilt didn't surprise me too much.
— Why did you specialize in limit Hold'em?
There was less information, and if you figured it out quickly, you could gain a big edge. I got up to $25/$50 within a year, Jungle about the same. I climbed in limit, only playing a little full stack midway through. But full stacking didn't work out so well. Early in my career, I played very well preflop compared to the field, but postflop I was overly loose-aggressive.
And in limit Hold'em, this didn't cost me very much in terms of bb/100, but in deep stacks, it was quite painful.
— Did you later analyze what this was connected with?
I was about 19 years old then, I wasn't very happy with my life and was disillusioned with my studies at university. I was very withdrawn, hardly socialized, and generally wasn't very aware of my problems or anything.
Now, all of that has changed dramatically.
— You also talked about how you suddenly came to understand the correct preflop strategy in limit Hold'em. Do you remember how other regs reacted to your changes in play?
Some people in the chat were upset that I was defending the big blind so loosely. Apparently, they perceived it as disrespect on my part.
But, there was a lot of action back then, and everyone was battling each other. I was constantly playing heads-up.
I doubt they considered me an outright fish, although it's hard to say because I wasn't talking to anyone back then.
— Was this the period when you’d wake up and immediately start playing?
That period lasted for about six years. Not right away, but pretty quickly—when I started playing $25/$50 and winning a lot. It lasted until 2017.
Then I started taking some breaks, but in 2018-19 I started playing a lot again.
In an exclusive interview for GipsyTeam, Timofey Kuznetsov told Alexander Yelensky what the secret of BERRI SWEET is, about meeting Forhayley and Viktor Malinovsky and learning from Isildur.
— Did you enjoy playing that much? Surely it wasn't just about earning all the money in the world?
I enjoyed playing, but I also wanted to win big. More precisely, I never really wanted to win more money to buy a new watch. But I was haunted by the thought of easy money coming my way, and I didn't take it.
I was missing out on a simple opportunity that might never come again.
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