Try to start by telling us a little bit about yourself, how did you get started playing poker professionally?

"I originally studied law in Austria. One of my friends was working as a dealer at Concord Casino, so I started alongside school. So my career started by working as a dealer for 10 euros an hour. At some point I realized that I would also enjoy playing. On my days off, I started playing daily tournaments with a buy-in of 30 euros and an unbeatable rake - 30 percent... Those were my first tournaments. I was hooked and since then I've been playing whenever I had time. In 2017, I was deciding if I wanted to do it full time on a professional level, I wasn't sure about it. I was working, going to law school, playing poker. All of a sudden, it was a lot. At the same time, I wanted to have some security and not just drop out of school. And at the end of the year, all of a sudden, I won 100k in about 2.5 months. That was the perfect time to give it a try, so I started. In 2018, I qualified for the PCA for the first time, playing my first EPT tournament. It went from low stakes to mid and high stakes very quickly."

Last year, you finished first in the Austrian GPI rankings. Pretty fast in your career.

"Yes, for the third year in a row. I think it has to do with the community I was in. One of the reasons I was motivated to start poker full time was that one of my good friends is the Austrian number one - Matthias Eibinger. I started playing online with him, he's from my hometown. Overall, I have a lot of friends among German and Austrian players. We also spend time together outside of poker, weekends, we go out for a good dinner."

How do you rate your 2023? Because there are other criteria than GPI points.

"Obviously one of the criteria is money. People underestimate how much of it is buy-in. GPI is great, but having a good GPI also doesn't mean it was a good year. Sometimes of course it does, two of the last three years have been winning years. Last year I cashed about 1.5m, but what people don't realise is that I played a lot of 25k buy-in, 50k buy-in, an awful lot of 10k re-entry tournaments. And that can add up to make a seven-figure sum on buy-ins alone. But I've been playing online besides that as well. GPI is nice in that I can see I've had a lot of deep runs and consistent results. It's motivating even in the years when you're not plus because it's information that I've been close in some spots."

So was 2023 a successful year from your perspective?

"Oh yes. It wasn't my best year. I would say it was successful in terms of achieving some of the goals that I set for myself. It was the first year I started playing high roller tournaments. I played my first Triton, which was great. I only cashed in one tournament there, but I was on the final table for 50k. That was a big achievement for me. I played the Poker Masters, where I was on two final tables. Unfortunately I didn't win any tournaments, I was second a couple of times. It's hard work sometimes."

When you mention online, do you play more online or live? Which do you prefer?

"That's a good question. I think one should have a balance in it. I enjoy both online and live poker. But last year I played 10 months of live tournaments and probably only 1.5 months online. I gave myself that goal, to get as much live experience as possible. The advantage of online poker is that you can play your hands better and study, pick up some of the kinks. And live is good in that you travel, the prize money is bigger..."

There was a lot of controversy in online poker last year. What is your opinion, does it reduce the confidence in online poker ?

"Unfortunately there will always be people who want to get money by cheating. But we've also had a lot of scandals in live poker, for example Mike Postle at the TV table. Obviously it's bigger online, but it's not as some media outlets make it out to be, that online poker is all about cheating. Clearly, it's something that the cardrooms should go hard against to protect players. But it's not just about cheating, you can still win and be successful at online poker. Most of the time those people get caught. That GG superuser, even he couldn't see the cards, he just found a hack where he could see his equity on the flop. That's bad too, of course, but it's not like before when a superuser at another poker room could see all the cards. What's otherwise interesting about the bot thing, ironically it happens more on low limits than on high stakes. High stakes players know right away when they are being cheated, they know their win rate, they know when the game looks suspicious. So when someone starts cheating at high stakes, they are quickly detected."

It's not just you, but your brother is picking up poker success. Did you bring him to poker? What is the story of two successful poker-playing brothers?

"We started at pretty much the same time, he about 2 months after me. In 2017-2018, when I started poker professionally, I was on the final table of the Concord Million, which was Austria's biggest tournament at the time. I finished 4th and the following year my brother finished 2nd. So we joked with the tournament director of Concord that he should name the tournament after us."

Do you and your brother have a rivalry or are you more into helping each other and studying together?

"We study together, but when we're at the table together, we're pretty competitive. Like for example this year at the WSOCP in Wroclaw. We were at the same table together on the bubble and we both had pretty big stacks. And one of the players, I don't know if he was serious or joking, said we can tell the tournament director to split us up because we're brothers. We just looked at him and said don't worry, we're even tougher on each other than we are on the others. And then we played ridiculously big pots on the bubble. Off the table we support each other, we study together, we have a good relationship. But at the table, we're both competitive."

How do you spend your time outside of poker? What's your favorite form of relaxation?

"My day probably looks like I get up, then I play or study. When I'm at home I spend time with my parents and friends. I go to clubs, nice restaurants. I don't have any significant other hobbies. I've gotten lazy lately in terms of exercising and going to the gym, in addition to playing and traveling. That's what I've made it a point to do now, to stretch myself and see the gym from the inside."

Do you have a girlfriend?

"I don't. I feel like that's not even possible with my current schedule. Last year I had about 2 weeks completely without poker, when I didn't even touch the cards and study. I play an average of 12 hours a day."

What about the future? Do you see yourself in poker in about 5-10 years?

"That's a good question that I have to answer to my parents once in a while. Honestly, I'm 29 now and I see myself playing until at least 40. I enjoy poker. If I ever feel like I have to force myself into the game, that's when I'll probably consider quitting. Because one of the reasons I started playing professionally was always that I found a job where it didn't feel like work. Something that I'm good at and I love doing."

How does your family actually feel about your career choice?

"Right now, it's fine. Clearly in the beginning they didn't like that I left law. It was a reaction that one would expect from parents. The first year when I made a six-figure sum, their reaction was that great, invest it in real estate and continue your education. But now they support me when I'm at the final table watching streams. It wasn't even that they had anything against poker, they were just worried that it wouldn't provide me with security for the future. Now that they see that it does, they're already supporting me."

What are your immediate poker plans and goals?

"Last year I played my first 50k tournaments, this year the goal is to play my first 100k. First stop is the EPT in Paris, and I plan to go to Triton in Korea in March. I'm looking forward to both."

Do you have any poker dreams? Tournaments you'd like to win?

"A Triton title would be awesome. Obviously a bracelet as well, I've been getting close to that lately, but I haven't been able to get one yet. A Main Event title would be great. But I have goals more like to improve my game, to have a better routine. To be better than the year before. Winning a tournament is pretty much about variance. But on the other hand, if you prepare well for the tournament, that's when you have the best chance to get lucky."

Anything you'd like to add in closing?

"I've been hearing a lot lately that you can't make money at poker anymore, that it's too hard. I don't think that's true. People who want to start doing it professionally and be successful can still do it. But I would recommend not to go into it just for the money. If a person is really committed to something and invests so much time and energy into it, they can make just as much in other fields as they can in poker. So be passionate, do poker because you enjoy it, and then you have the best chance of making a living at it and being successful. Even if it's hard, but on the other hand there are many more opportunities and tools to get better at it."

Daniel, thank you for a great interview and we wish you the best of luck!