New about the poker sector report the increasing popularity of online and live poker events. But winning at one of these tournaments isn’t as easy as it seems.
Steffen Sontheimer, the professional poker player, poker coach, and number 6 on the German all-time money list, has revealed his secret of winning in poker cash games and tournaments. The poker star has also talked about the ups and downs during his caress and his aspirations for the future.
Steffen, why did you decide to pursue a career in professional poker? Could tell our readers about your path to the top of the poker world?
Actually, I never decided to pursue a career or anything, I have never seen poker as my job either. I always loved games and ended up playing poker instead of other videogames I played before (Warcraft 3, e.g.). Getting better and rising the ranks, seeing the money as a “high score” was the main goal and I enjoyed it. At some point obviously, I started making “real” money with it and people started calling me a professional, which is still weird to me.
From that point on, I was very lucky with the people I met and the choices I made. First moving together in Brighton with Rainer Kempe and Benjamin Rolle was obviously a big boost. Then, getting more and more in touch and traveling the live circuit with Fedor Holz had the biggest impact!
As a poker coach, what advice would you give to players who want to succeed in poker?
Do it for the love of the game, not for the money. Lots of people ask me whether it is still “worth it” to start a career in poker… For those people, it won’t work out. You need to love the game and put all you have into it to get really successful. I mean, you need to beat people who are doing exactly this.
The second big piece of advice is to ask questions. Fedor Holz was asking way more questions than anyone else, sometimes even annoying many (ha-ha) but this made him get the most and best answers!
Do you have a certain strategy for winning in poker? What about your style of the game?
I wouldn’t call it a style. Nowadays there is just so much material to learn from. I follow a basic logic that consists of 3 questions:
- What would be right (game theoretically)?
- What is the villain doing wrong (everyone is!)?
- What is the right exploit?
I want to understand the whole game to draw the right conclusions then.
Could you tell our readers about the biggest wins and losses in your poker career? What did you learn from those experiences?
Very tough questions for someone who played both cash games and tournaments. My biggest win personally is probably the 2 years of SuperNova Elite I grinded in 2015/2016. This needed more dedication than any live tournament I won. This is the foundation of my career and the part that makes me the proudest. I could tell you that winning a high roller in the Bahamas is great, but it’s not very high up there in my career.
The second part of the question is way easier. The toughest stretch of my career was fall/winter 2016. I was traveling the live high rollers in November. First, it was Las Vegas, then Manila (Triton Series), and then Macau (Stars) and after having a successful summer I was ready to fire hard… All my buddies I had pieces in and I didn’t cash anything for I don’t know how many bullets straight, even though we were playing very soft fields. Sometimes variance is just not going your way. That cost me quite a good bunch of my bankroll back then. Managing to stick to it and push through feels actually like one of the biggest successes!
It is known that you’ve started your career in online poker rooms. Do you prefer online or live poker now?
I prefer tournaments live and cash games online, this is a pretty easy decision. Tournaments have a storyline, stuff is happening. It is way easier to have fun, have banter at the table and just enjoy the show while hoping to be the lucky one. With cash games, it is the same game day in and day out. No bubble, no final table, no dreaming. Live cash game is just way too slow for me so I can’t enjoy it at all while firing up a couple of high stakes tables online gets me pumped!
Who of the popular poker players you would like to compete with?
The weakest ones, ha-ha. Actually, I can’t name any, since I did compete with pretty much all interesting people out there. I loved meeting and playing Ike Haxton for the first time. Online legend Trueteller, or obviously end bosses like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey. No one’s missing on this list????
What are your plans for the rest of 2021 and 2022? In which tournaments would you like to participate?
I just got married at the start of October and I don’t have any big plans right now. You won’t see me around for any live stops probably this year and I have no plans for next year so far. I will definitely focus on delivering more content for the website, where I am the head coach for the cash game section. This is where my focus will be on the next weeks and probably months, and then I will just see where life is heading!
Read more: Best Canadian Online Casinos
