Since “retiring” from poker nearly a year ago Fedor Holz has won over $2,000,000 playing high-stakes tournaments.
Despite the contradiction Fedor Holz maintains he’s playing far less volume than he did previously and he’s focused primarily on his start-up, a mindset coaching app called Primed Mind.
He’s still playing some poker, however, and earlier this month he finished second in an ultra-tough SCOOP $2,100 PLO event, despite being more of a No-Limit Hold'em specialist.
Fedor Holz: Primed Mind
Holz also made the trip out to Vegas to play in the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl at Aria today. PokerListings caught up with Holz on a break from the SHRB to get his thoughts on retirement from poker and what his day-to-day life looks like these days.
PokerListings: How’s post-retirement life? It seems like you still play a lot of poker...
Fedor Holz back in his full-time grinding days.
Fedor Holz: I really don’t play that much. I feel like I play probably 5% of what I used to play. I was on the grind before.
PL: Do you like that? Do you miss playing poker all the time?
FH: I made that choice because I wanted to cut out the things that were taking too much of my energy. Now I’m focusing on the things I really enjoy.
PL: What is your day-to-day like?
FH: The company I founded last year — Primed Mind — I’m working a lot on that. I’m trying to build an infrastructure to do some fun things.
PL: What is Primed Mind and how did you get involved with it?
FH: It’s basically immersive mindset coaching with Elliott Roe. He’s pretty well known in the poker community as a coach.
I really enjoyed his one-on-one coaching sessions so we made that into a 10-minute session for different situations. Whether it’s poker or you want to get primed for a sports situation or just your every-day life.
PL: Was mindset coaching something that always interested you?
FH: I just like to spread content that I personally enjoy. I think he does an amazing job but he didn’t really have that much exposure. He did one-on-one sessions but that was about it. I wanted to share that content with other people.
PL: What can it be used for beyond poker?
Who wouldn't want a mind like Fedor Holz?
FH: We also focus on eSports. Personally I enjoy it more for my normal-life stuff. We focus on getting the most out of each day.
For instance to be more in the moment and enjoy the activities you do. Avoiding distractions.
That’s actually where I think it’s most useful.
PL: What do you plan on playing this summer? Is it going to be a big WSOP for you?
FH: I fly home on June 5 so I’ll be getting back to that start-up grind shortly. I’ll probably come back for the Main Event though.
PL: How does the start-up grind compare to poker?
FH: There are lots of similarities but there are also some huge differences. It’s a very different environment of people. But at the same time you have to put in the work just like poker. There are so many different factors you have to juggle and think about.
PL: Do you enjoy it?
FH: Oh I love it. That’s what I love about poker too. There’s so much information — it’s kind of too much — and you have to pick out the things that are valuable. That actually matter.
PL: What do you think of the Super High Roller Bowl?
FH: I’m here because it’s amazing. The set-up, the buy-in and the people. It’s just fun.
PL: You weren’t a big fan of the lottery that was utilized to get your seat this year. Can you talk about that?
FH: What I said came out a little more negative than it should have. It’s just Twitter. People always get tough on Twitter.
Basically I think it would have been better to just pick the people you want in the tournament before having a lottery. It helps avoid the double disappointment of missing out twice.
It’s not like they only give us something. It’s a two-way street, which is cool. We promote this event. If we didn’t play the event wouldn’t work. We also deposit the $300,000, which is significant.
Overall the lottery isn’t that bad, I just think it could have been implemented better.
