Alexander ‘PostflopAction’ Kostritsyn has been among the best Russian players for years but he has only become a real star recently, in this year’s online high stakes season. He has been playing the nosebleeds since 2011 but he has never before played and won so much in these games.
In 2011, Kostritsyn won $214,039 at the FTP high stakes tables in 11,881 hands and $473,856 on PS in 8,716 hands under his ‘joiso’ screen name. In the next year, who booked $369,742 on FTP in 7,651 hands but lost $553,814 on PS in 36,340 hands. The 26-year-old Russian pro therefore started the 2013 season up around half a million in high stakes games. This is a remarkable feat in itself but he has become virtually unstoppable lately.
In January, he was the 3rd biggest winner with $1,485,771 in profits in 25,524 hands, as was he in February ($961,994 in 19,555 hands) as well as March ($1,283,720 in 8,554 hands). So far in April, he has only played 3,097 hands and came breakeven. His annual profit is currently $3,736,436 in 56,720 hands, making him by far the most successful online high stakes player this year. He is followed by Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom with 2,640,459 in 128,587 hands.
Kostritsyn’s success primarily comes from the fact that, after the dominance of PLO and NLHE games in the previous years, different game types have gained popularity recently in the high stakes field. Even as the Russian player is highly skilled in PLO and NLHE as well, his main strength is his knowledge in other games. Accordingly, he has been dominating the 8-game tables, profiting $3,033,156 of his total winnings this year and playing the most here, a total of 28,249 hands. In addition to 8-game, he won 838,729 in PLO (3,659 hands) and $37,516 in FLO8 (7,114 hands), while he lost only in draw games: $172,965 in 17,698 hands.
The value of his performance is further enhanced by the fact that his graph is constantly increasing as he is playing hardly and losing sessions. Even though this does not push him into the spotlight, where the ‘Isildur1’ is with his huge variance of winning millions of dollars one day and losing them on another, Kostritsyn’s dominance is remarkable in the incredibly strong high stakes field.
‘PostflopAction’s’ 2013 graph:
Kostritsyn’s poker career
This year’s high stakes leader was born in a small town near Moscow in a poor family. He had used to be a Starcraft player before getting to know poker in 2005. Since he lacked the money, he teamed up with four of his friends to come up with the $50 minimum deposit to play online. They shared the decision making, too, but being ineffective, they soon lost the money.
The turn came in the form of a highly unusual family decision: Kostritsyn being very smart and a great student, and his parents aware of the opportunities of online poker, in its boom at the time, they decided to give him the entire family savings, a total of $150, to try his luck alone at online poker.
“My mother gave me $150; it was our family's savings. Both my parents have always believed in me. I never really had an idea about [variance] or what is bankroll management. I thought that if I was a better player than someone, then I'd win 100 percent of the time against them because I had played chess and played Starcraft a lot, and in those games, if you're better, you're going to win, like, 95 percent of the time. There's a very small chance you'd lose. I was sure that if I was better I would win. I won $1,000 on my first day. I started a new file in Excel and entered a $5 sit-and-go. I recorded my losses until I won one, and I thought, 'OK, this stage, I've passed it.' I had no idea what I was doing. I moved to $10 sit-and-gos, then $20, then $30. On the first day I made it up to a $200 sit-and-go and that was the maximum at that time. I won at $200, was like, 'OK, I'm just the king of the game!' I was playing against Americans who were having fun. It wasn't a lot of money to them,” Kostritsyn said years later.
The Russian learned quick and started to comprehend the depths of the game. Two years later, he already had a bankroll of half a million dollars, opening the way for him to the highest Russian live cash games.
Another turning point was 2008: even though being primarily a cash game player, he was interested in the world of the rising blinds. After winning smaller Russian and Ukrainian tournaments, he entered the Aussie Millions Main Event and, besting 780 players, he won it for $1,450,396. In the heads-up, he defeated one of the living legends of poker, Erik Seidel. Kostritsyn instantly made it to top of the poker world but he only became a real star, as mentioned, with his current online high stakes season.
“My parents' lifestyle has changed a lot. They have a new house, a car. They're having more fun. I want them not to work so much. It's very nice to see them more comfortable. That was my goal, the reason I started playing poker,” Kostritsyn said in an interview.
He managed to build his current, $4 million online high stakes profit for 2013 in roughly three and a half months and he has drawn considerable attention, especially regarding just how far he can go until the end of the year. In comparison, Ben ‘Sauce123’ Sulsky won last year’s money list with $3,595,666 in profits.
In 2011, Kostritsyn won $214,039 at the FTP high stakes tables in 11,881 hands and $473,856 on PS in 8,716 hands under his ‘joiso’ screen name. In the next year, who booked $369,742 on FTP in 7,651 hands but lost $553,814 on PS in 36,340 hands. The 26-year-old Russian pro therefore started the 2013 season up around half a million in high stakes games. This is a remarkable feat in itself but he has become virtually unstoppable lately.
In January, he was the 3rd biggest winner with $1,485,771 in profits in 25,524 hands, as was he in February ($961,994 in 19,555 hands) as well as March ($1,283,720 in 8,554 hands). So far in April, he has only played 3,097 hands and came breakeven. His annual profit is currently $3,736,436 in 56,720 hands, making him by far the most successful online high stakes player this year. He is followed by Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom with 2,640,459 in 128,587 hands.
Kostritsyn’s success primarily comes from the fact that, after the dominance of PLO and NLHE games in the previous years, different game types have gained popularity recently in the high stakes field. Even as the Russian player is highly skilled in PLO and NLHE as well, his main strength is his knowledge in other games. Accordingly, he has been dominating the 8-game tables, profiting $3,033,156 of his total winnings this year and playing the most here, a total of 28,249 hands. In addition to 8-game, he won 838,729 in PLO (3,659 hands) and $37,516 in FLO8 (7,114 hands), while he lost only in draw games: $172,965 in 17,698 hands.
The value of his performance is further enhanced by the fact that his graph is constantly increasing as he is playing hardly and losing sessions. Even though this does not push him into the spotlight, where the ‘Isildur1’ is with his huge variance of winning millions of dollars one day and losing them on another, Kostritsyn’s dominance is remarkable in the incredibly strong high stakes field.
‘PostflopAction’s’ 2013 graph:
Kostritsyn’s poker career
This year’s high stakes leader was born in a small town near Moscow in a poor family. He had used to be a Starcraft player before getting to know poker in 2005. Since he lacked the money, he teamed up with four of his friends to come up with the $50 minimum deposit to play online. They shared the decision making, too, but being ineffective, they soon lost the money.
The turn came in the form of a highly unusual family decision: Kostritsyn being very smart and a great student, and his parents aware of the opportunities of online poker, in its boom at the time, they decided to give him the entire family savings, a total of $150, to try his luck alone at online poker.
“My mother gave me $150; it was our family's savings. Both my parents have always believed in me. I never really had an idea about [variance] or what is bankroll management. I thought that if I was a better player than someone, then I'd win 100 percent of the time against them because I had played chess and played Starcraft a lot, and in those games, if you're better, you're going to win, like, 95 percent of the time. There's a very small chance you'd lose. I was sure that if I was better I would win. I won $1,000 on my first day. I started a new file in Excel and entered a $5 sit-and-go. I recorded my losses until I won one, and I thought, 'OK, this stage, I've passed it.' I had no idea what I was doing. I moved to $10 sit-and-gos, then $20, then $30. On the first day I made it up to a $200 sit-and-go and that was the maximum at that time. I won at $200, was like, 'OK, I'm just the king of the game!' I was playing against Americans who were having fun. It wasn't a lot of money to them,” Kostritsyn said years later.
The Russian learned quick and started to comprehend the depths of the game. Two years later, he already had a bankroll of half a million dollars, opening the way for him to the highest Russian live cash games.
Another turning point was 2008: even though being primarily a cash game player, he was interested in the world of the rising blinds. After winning smaller Russian and Ukrainian tournaments, he entered the Aussie Millions Main Event and, besting 780 players, he won it for $1,450,396. In the heads-up, he defeated one of the living legends of poker, Erik Seidel. Kostritsyn instantly made it to top of the poker world but he only became a real star, as mentioned, with his current online high stakes season.
“My parents' lifestyle has changed a lot. They have a new house, a car. They're having more fun. I want them not to work so much. It's very nice to see them more comfortable. That was my goal, the reason I started playing poker,” Kostritsyn said in an interview.
He managed to build his current, $4 million online high stakes profit for 2013 in roughly three and a half months and he has drawn considerable attention, especially regarding just how far he can go until the end of the year. In comparison, Ben ‘Sauce123’ Sulsky won last year’s money list with $3,595,666 in profits.
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