It would be somewhat strange to congratulate ourselves, but 15 years is a huge milestone. After Ivan Demidov's WSOP success in 2008, GipsyTeam's story began. "For poker players, by poker players" sounds too cliche, but isn't far from the truth. The founders are either players or commentators, following long-standing passions for this game.
The 2009 World Series was the first major event GipsyTeam's Russia chapter covered. Approaching this 15th birthday, we've tried to bring everything useful and newsworthy, building a community of like-minded players along the way. We'll continue this into the future, offering a place for you to learn and see more benefits from poker.
Humbly, we'd like to post some well-wishes from legendary forum authors, streamers, founders, and GipsyTeam members.
Thank you all.
Forhayley // Diary of an Untalented Regular
GipsyTeam will always have a special place in my heart. Here, I made friends, spent many exciting hours with like-minded people, and shared a sense of joy with people who understood and accepted me. No matter how hard it was for me, I knew that the heat of the forum's comfortably designed fireplace would always warm and calm me.
I want to express my immense gratitude to everyone who has been and is involved in the development of this site. Thank you! I can’t even imagine how hard and thankless work it can be at times. Especially in the current, historically difficult period. Therefore, try to remind yourself more often that the results of your work, not only unite people around the world but also fill their lives with useful, interesting, and fun information, along with emotions and meaning every day.
Anton Sandr1x // Sandrix's Diary: Chuikoreg Chronicles
I registered on the forum back in 2011, but I started writing much later when I started making money from poker. Thanks to the blog, I have made wonderful friends who speak the same language.
The first one who comes to mind is Igor xFlake. We don’t meet often, but when we do, we communicate very warmly and in a friendly manner. The second is my partner Vitalya. We are close friends with him and work on the game together. This is my brother, and we found each other thanks to the forum. This meeting not only changed the direction of my career but also greatly helped me in my life.
Another person who radically influenced my career is Vlad luckycps. He also found me through a blog, gave me a couple of training sessions and we continued to communicate on theory. He managed to convey his vision to me, and I was able to integrate it into the game. I then sat on NL200 for a long time, played 1.5 million hands there, and could not beat the stakes. After communicating and training with Vlad and working independently, I began to develop my instincts, and not act according to a template. After that, my career took off, it was as if I had a second wind. It is unknown whether I would have come to this way of thinking and results if Vlad had not found me through the blog at one time. It’s not at all a fact that I would be playing NL2k now rather than vegetating at NL100.
I met Nikita NIXONJK through his blog and helped him with work on the game and theory, and as a result, he himself understood many things better. It was clear that when you teach someone, you yourself begin to understand the subject better. Without the forum, we would most likely never have known about each other. So if you are brave enough to share more than just victories and pleasant moments, then this can be a cool payoff.
We met Kostya gambler14 in a funny way. A long time ago, he quite harshly trolled popular users on his blog, including me. Well, maybe not very harshly, but it hooked me, I came to his diary and began to sort things out, his brothers from MTT came there and started attacking me. In general, it didn't turn out very friendly. But now it seems to me that Kostya was trolling me on purpose – then I really had an inflated ego and an off-scale emotional stress. Now it’s not without it either, but it’s much better. I thought that we were now enemies forever, and then, I don’t remember how, we started communicating normally. At first we just crossed paths during streaks, but after a few minutes we met in Phuket and started talking, now we’re discussing poker and near-poker, supporting each other during streaks. In contrast to the first meeting, it turned out funny. Thanks to his MTT background, his view on strategy helped me look at poker from a different angle, so Kostya also contributed to my development, and also thanks to the forum.
Kolya dyrdom1 became my guide to the world of high limits. He reads my blog and sometimes shares insights. Thanks to his high-stakes experience, he has a lot of useful thoughts and ideas. He influenced my approach to poker and mindset. He is also super professional, and I just lacked professionalism. Kolyan is cool!
Also on GipsyTeam, I met Brdz1 and Aurora, then came to the guys on the podcast. I really like this whole poker-related movement.
The list of people I met on GT could go on for a long time, but I guess we’ll stop here.
The Russian GipsyTeam forum, especially in its current form – with a feed of the best posts, Blog Battles and other goodies and activities – contributes to the development of the community. I, as part of this community, feel it, and I like it. Not everyone likes it, of course, but the vector that involves more and more people in forum life has been chosen correctly.
In general, the function of the forum that unites people is obvious. True, for this it is not enough to be in read-only mode, you need to prove yourself – start a blog and follow other guys. The point is to become visible and useful to the community. And after this, unexpected acquaintances and proposals may begin.
The forum is also a source of inspiration for me. The blogs of Vorheili, Stefan, Invoker, Mercator and many others provide food for thought and, in addition to practical discussions, charge with motivation. You can clearly see that people think completely differently from you, and at the same time achieve outstanding results. There's a lot to learn from blogging, and it's all thanks to the forum and the willingness of users to share information.
I spend a lot of time on the forum, I like to blog, read other people's diaries, interact with the community, and meet new people. Perhaps I even spend too much time here – I almost don’t use Insta, FB and VK, so the forum is my social network, where I can stick around for a long time and refresh active discussions. I don’t really like this, but this is no longer a complaint for the forum)
I also play some rooms from GipsyTeam. Everything is fast and clear, there are also all sorts of goodies and gifts, and rakeback, of course. GT literally strengthened my bankroll. For a long time I played only on PokerStars and without rakeback at all. And in the eighth year of my career, I realized that, it turns out, in poker you can not only make a profit.
I must also say about the site, which publishes excellent articles. I'll mention a few people here. First, of course, Sergei swordfish, who was the editor-in-chief for most of the site’s existence. I really like the selection of materials, the translations he has done before, and his approach to business in general. It is clear that he loves the site and treats it as his brainchild.
Sasha iskander is a real chronicler of high stakes; all his reviews of the expensive game are very interesting and useful to read. The dude is very cool at his job. I love his reviews of social networks, even though I follow Twitter myself, but he adds a lot of interesting details, rather than just making a translation. In general, he approaches business with soul.
Misha BadSeed is a person who helps expand your horizons. I even included one of his last articles – about the indicator of oxygen absorption in the body – to my parents.
Scientists who study the problems of aging have found an indicator whose value is a good predictor of life expectancy – and it can be trained.
And he also does everything related to poker materials very cool. Apparently, because he skates himself and is well-versed in what he writes about.
Each person in the editorial office has found their own path and creates cool content. In general, thanks to GipsyTeam for our happy childhood!
Lika Lika // Well of Lika Gerasimova
Without exaggeration, I will say that GipsyTeam is a huge part of my life, not only social. Initially, we strived to ensure that the site and forum were primarily easy to use. And in the end, thanks to all the forum members, GT has also become a soulful place with many cool diaries, challenges and quality shit (well, who doesn’t love them?!.
There were times when I started and ended the day on the forum. And this is not a flickering of reels and incoherent pictures, this is a more measured life and a feeling of belonging to a community that, like you, knows all the pain of pressing three buttons. This is very valuable for us, poker players, who at times cannot see the light of day, let alone people.
I like that people return to the forum even after many years of breaks. In a year like 2015 ( Ed. – Let’s boringly clarify that it was in 2014 ) they wanted to buy GipsyTeam, offering a favorable price. I was strongly against it, and the rest did not raise their hands. It is possible, of course, that nothing would have changed much for the members of the forum, but it’s scary to even imagine that there was such a possibility...
Dasha ScarlettD
For me, the forum is, first of all, about people. On GipsyTeam I met a lot of wonderful authors and readers, and it was thanks to the forum that an amazing friend appeared in my life, Liya Novikova . Her birthday will be on June 16th, she would have turned 32 years old.
Our blog, started for fun, played an important role in my career. Although I met Ruslan Bangert at the RPT in Odessa, I dare to hope that my graphomania was one of the reasons that PokerDom offered me a contract.
Interestingly, in my head there is a clear division between the forum and GipsyTeam. The forum for me is fun, dating, communication and crazy meetings, these are my friends and co-authors – Roma Zadrot_mode and Max IKnowTheRiverCard . And GipsyTeam is Ilya, Vanya and Sergey, Usolya and Lika, Iskander... (Natasha is still a “forum” for me, because you can’t just tear sprees out of your heart). But even dividing these entities, for me they are always about people and, as the Latin origin of the word tells us, about “the square where public life was concentrated.”
Alexander joiso // Alexander Kostritsyn's well
The GipsyTeam forum was created by good friends of mine, and it was especially nice to see how it embodies the Roman idea of a forum – becoming a central square in the poker world. Here I learned news and rumors, immersed myself in the atmosphere and style of the poker subculture, listened to the thoughts of experienced players and thought for myself, challenged, and accepted challenges. The special merit of the GipsyTeam community is to create an atmosphere of comfort and open dialogue where it is most difficult to do so – in a highly competitive individual game for money.
Just recently, I decided to share my passion for thinking clearly and flexibly about myself and the world with a wider audience, and the first place I came to was again GipsyTeam. This shows that even when poker fades into the background in life, GipsyTeam still remains in it in an amazing way.
Happy 15th anniversary, guys!
Lesha avr0ra // t.me/A-Game
GipsyTeam has played a huge role in my life. I think this is by far my top 1 site in terms of time spent.
I always really liked reading player blogs (there used to be more of them), it was fun to wander through the sections (cash, MTT, SNG, offline), see who is playing what, and how they are doing. At the end of the month, it was always especially fun, people shared their results, experiences, and problems, and this always got a great response (since we are all players, and we have similar experiences).
Some kept a more professional blog (work reports, hands, goals), others kept a more personal one (stories from life mixed with poker). Sometimes some high-profile events occurred, not necessarily good or bad, but very much out of the routine, and because of this, they seemed especially striking (for example, some kind of hard cheat by a famous player or a conditional blog of the Performer). Then everyone returned to the poker routine again with monthly reports))
I still feel part of this community. Well, in fact, I found many of my poker friends on GipsyTeam.
Denis Andy // t.me/LIFE ALTALA
GipsyTeam is like a mother who abandoned her child.
Sasha storo08 // Dyr bul schyl
I’ve been on GipsyTeam since the site was created, I just didn’t create an account right away.
It happened like this: first I read Gipsy’s blog on cgm.ru, there was a lot of valuable and relevant practical information and interesting poker-related stories. When the creation of the GipsyTeam forum and website was announced, I became one of its first readers.
Subsequently, I met a lot of interesting people here. At one time it was fashionable to discuss hands and game strategies, and this gave me a decent boost in the game. GT also helped me with technical issues more than once; I made purchases in the store, so I recommend it.
There was a period when I was actively involved in coaching, and the forum provided an influx of new students. I, in turn, tried to blog regularly, create content and be active. The GT Project has definitely contributed significantly to my career as a player, coach, and streamer.
In general, the emotions from the forum and the GipsyTeam website are only positive! Very grateful to the site and creators! I wish you prosperity and creative success.
Misha inner // t.me/Misha Inner – Poker with Pro
Ambassador for GGNetwork's PokerOK
The blog on GipsyTeam and the streaming section helped me gain my first viewer base at the beginning of my streaming career. And in general, with the help of the diary, reading other people's blogs, and forum meetings, I made a lot of pleasant acquaintances in the poker field.
Andrey BabySharkl4 // t.me/Andrey Kozlenko (there is a blog)
In 2017, I decided to try my hand at the media field and started recording final table commentaries on YouTube. On the GipsyTeam RU forum, I found my first viewers and received feedback from players of different levels, which helped me improve my content. Well, various interesting posts on the main page and blogs naturally provided knowledge and motivation.
Gleb Ti0 // t.me/Gleb Tremzin. An adventure of a lifetime
I registered for GipsyTeam in the fall of 2010, but even before that, I read the news. In those days there was very little information about poker. Just the Russian-language CGM, 2+2, and, probably, that’s all. So I’ve been on GT from the very beginning, and I still read the news to this day.
I spent most of my poker career with GT and spent countless hours here. I followed the ups and downs of players, arbitrations, and discussions of poker-related topics, and read hand analyses. This is where I tried blogging for the first time. I remember an exciting feeling, something between fear of the unknown and interest in what will happen next.
Special respect to GT for the backing section and the ability to conveniently sell shares. I remember how it was sold at EPT Prague in 2015 (this is still my best cash), and a certain neker2013 took 30 or 40% from me. And after some time I found out that it was Mikita Badziakouski. It was funny, we met him thanks to this purchase. Before the final, he gave me some good advice, which helped me a lot in heads-up. And then we celebrated this win, again with the guys from the forum.
It’s cool that despite everything, GipsyTeam continues to help new professionals grow and remain a cool team with legendary founders, cool editors, and interesting content. Although we are now competitors in some sense, GT has always been the most honest and worthy in the industry.
For hundreds of hours spent here, many pleasant acquaintances, and much more, GipsyTeam will forever remain in my heart. Congratulations on your 15th anniversary and I wish you to continue making an interesting product and providing quality services.
Misha Minthon // t.me/Minthon19
Ambassador PokerOK
Well, I'll start with the banal: beloved GipsyTeam – happy birthday! 15 years, wow! By the way, my “career” is only 5 months older.
I didn’t manage to jump into the top 100 forum participants and didn’t get an additional rating (and it would really help me now!!!) But this is due to the fact that the first months after the launch, the site was in read-only mode.
How did GT influence me? Yes, wow!!! For 10+ years now, this has been the first page that I open in the browser when I turn on the computer. For the last few years, I have hardly read blogs, and in general I have reduced my activity, but I still enjoy going to see what is happening on the main page.
Despite the decrease in activity, I DO NOT think that GT is no longer the same, and that the forum or site has taken a wrong turn. On the contrary, it is quite difficult to manage such a colossus, to experience so many metamorphoses, to try to give a platform for expression to such different layers of fans of our favorite game. And also survive the update of the main page, lol!!! And, it seems to me, the site has been able to do this with a reserve all these years!
And, of course, GT gave me a bunch of new cool acquaintances!) My co-host on “Double Bottom” asked me to write a couple of lines (lol, naive)!!! Remember this?) Then he reported that there is also a great and terrible Rusher in St. Petersburg! Sasha Iskander is always joking in the chat and on streams.
I started streaming (well, this, of course, is rather a minus for everyone) because I was active on GT. PokerOK and GG picked me up, not least because I did something for the GT media and wrote in PLO blogs.
With Ilya, I hope we’ll watch the Champions League final together with a decent portion of the forum’s top regs. And with Gipsy we were spinning the slots in half on the stream, what an achievement!!
In short, GipsyTeam greatly influenced my life and career) Well, I hope I also gave something back)
I love GT, even when it doesn't love me!)
All the best and at least another 15 years of cool and high-quality work!
Hurray!
