Not too long ago, you finished third for €53,000 at the WPT Prime Bratislava Championship. How do you feel about that placement and, your success now?
Well, of course, whenever you end up at the top of a tournament, you're always very lucky. I am aware that this was the case for me as well. I'm happy about that, but I don't see it as some great achievement. This year my goal was to play live buy-ins between 1,000 and 3,000, a few 5,000 and if there's a good festival some smaller ones. The average buy-in will be between 1,500 and 2,000, so when you look at it like that, it's basically just some 25-30 buy-ins.
What stage are you in right now poker-wise? I know that in the past you were more of a cash player, now you've achieved this kind of tournament success.
I considered myself a professional player somewhere between 2008 and early 2014. After that, I played very little for a long time. So in this form and setup I don't consider myself a professional player, I'm kind of a semi-fulltime player. I don't spend more than 120-150 hours a month playing poker. In the days when I used to play professionally, it was at least that 250 hours a month. That's a huge difference, the intensity just isn't there. It's not like I'm thinking about poker even when I'm taking a shower, which I think is literally a prerequisite for it (laughs). When I'm in the mood to turn on poker, I'll do those 2-3 sessions online a week, and if there's a good festival I'll go play. Last year, just coincidentally, I got into tournaments when I started playing them a bit more responsibly for the first time in my life.
We had a friend visiting in Komárno and there happened to be a tournament. We were having a party and we went there just to have a look, because I had never been there before. And it was a 500-euro tournament, which they have maybe once or twice a year. It was like a sit and go, 15-20 people. There were I think 3 paid seats and my buddy and I split it in heads-up. I hadn't played tournaments for maybe eight years before that, and I never took them too seriously. I liked it then, I had a positive emotion about it. I started going to this casino a little bit, I liked it, there were nice people there. I was attracted to the game because of the different characteristics of the cash game, ICM and the pressure on the players more than the too deep theory. Then I told myself I'd start getting better at it online. I first got online last year sometime in the summer with $5 to $20 tournaments. I knew I wasn't going to have the chops to beat the bigger tournaments. Then as I started studying, I started playing a little higher. But even nowadays, I have that average buy-in online of maybe $50. I'm no high stakes crusher. I enjoy poker and I don't put any pressure on myself.
Do you play tournaments exclusively now?
Hey, I haven't played cash that seriously in maybe 10 years. There have been some apps in the meantime for a while where I've been playing, but it's been on the order of some months. So I'm really far from some kind of professional, if someone doesn't think I play well, it may not seem like it.
I'd go back even further to your final table at WPT Prime, where you impressed everyone with your "disguise". There was criticism from some people associated with that, how do you feel about that?
I like wearing glasses. I think it's a pretty big body tell, the stare down. Not many people at this level into buy-ins of 1,000-2,000 have it well practiced. It's quite difficult to look at the other players with the same intensity all the time. So yeah, I wear glasses because of that. But I don't wear that scarf expressly for that reason. For one thing, I have very poor immunity, and last year I was almost always sick for about a week and a half after playing 5-6 days because of the air-conditioning. The other thing is that it provides me with such personal warmth, such peace of mind. That I can immerse myself more in that zone of mine where those people don't dare to talk to me too much. Because I don't want to be in conversation very much while I'm playing. It's not about those bodies, it's more to give people the hint that give me a break, don't talk to me. And what other people think about it, I don't care, basically. As long as it's within the rules, I'll do it. It puts me in that comfort zone that I want to be in. And as long as it's not allowed, I'm not going to have it. If goggles were banned, that would be a problem for me and I'd have to deal with it with some training. But the scarf doesn't. I've talked to players otherwise, too, and none of my counterparts have minded it. Maybe in past tournaments once or twice they have gently spoken out against it. But otherwise not at all. We've talked more than once about figures like Kabrhel, for example, who are much more irritating to me. When the subject has been brought up, people have always unanimously agreed that these people should somehow be restricted in their behavior, and that it's beyond the pale. I don't think any glasses or scarf that it bothers anyone. There are things like some types of angleshooting that people use. And I think that's a much more pressing issue that should be addressed. I'm friendly to the players, I'll have a quiet chat over the break.
Let's move on. It's not fun to play for long hours, days, and keep your concentration at some level consistently during that time. Do you have any way you prepare for tournaments and how do you keep yourself mentally and physically fit?
I have a great routine when it comes to this. I take live poker as a form of meditation. What happens in live poker is that one is bombarded by different stimuli from the environment, especially the emotions of other players. And he is under some pressure. It's a bit like real life. When you're dealing with people it's probably good to be generally prepared. Not to start to tilt, not to have an emotional response to a lot of the stimuli from the environment is quite a challenge in my opinion. It's one of the things that really interests me about poker. There's very few things where you can practice that kind of thing. Someone starts talking to me in an aggressive way and staying in that zone and putting emotions to the side is probably the biggest challenge for me. I like to fight with myself in those situations.
Whenever I go out to play gently I work out, so I don't get tired, I work out with rubber bands. I always feel good physically when I go to play as well. And mentally, also I always do such gentle breathing exercises. Even when I'm on the table and there's a difficult situation, sometimes I stand up and do a little bit of exercise or I go to the toilet and I take my rubber, I always have it with me and I go to practice. I try to concentrate on my breath. I'm quite interested in breath work. A couple of years ago I was also interested in hardening through the Wim Hof method and I find it very sympathetic. There too, a lot of things are dealt with through the breath and one feels much better when one is breathing. So I am working with that. That's why I don't even get bored on those tables. For one thing, I work with the breath. And I also write a lot of notes on each player and I have a database that I keep up to date. So even when I'm not in those hands I'm thinking about the ranks that those players might have and as soon as I see something in there I write it down right away. I'm always there with interest.
Do you have a degree in anything?
I dropped out of college for poker. I studied math. I'm definitely a mathematician and I've always enjoyed that stuff, the Olympiads and stuff.
From the way you talk, it sounds to me like you read quite a bit and you're curious?
I'd like to read more but I don't have much of a relationship with it. But if I do through podcasts, I like different podcasts, even more spiritual podcasts, even poker podcasts about the best players, what their routines are like. And also about longevity, not having that peak now, but planning those 3, 5, 10 years so that they're able to sit at those tables and still enjoy it. I don't eat at all when I'm sitting at poker tables, for example. I got that from a podcast that Bencb hosted. He had a nutritionist on and he said that it's good for concentration to have one coffee and then just green tea. Green teas have some sort of substance that also calms you down and then you don't get that overhype like you do from caffeine. That helps me to concentrate well and not be tired. I don't consider myself a professional, but I'm interested enough in the game that I'll probably play in 10-20 years or until I die in some form.
I'm interested in protecting some current passion and desire to study and play. That desire goes and comes and I think it's very important to know yourself. I think it depends terribly on the individual. Everyone should know what makes them feel good so that they generally try harder in life and vice versa. Everyone experiences burnouts at different times. Someone is bothered when he plays a lot, on the contrary someone is not. I don't do well when I'm on the downswing, but I also do well when I have some great upswing. That's when I try to put myself down a little bit mentally, to undermine my self-confidence a little bit. Because I already know from experience that my subconscious is going to get some lazier. Basically, I'm always trying to get to some healthy middle ground so that I have the desire to do it. It can relate to other things in life. For example, if you're feeling too happy in your partner life, it's also a good place to put it in perspective, to put it in some kind of vision, to see if that's really the case, or if you should be a little bit more cautious so you're not disappointed. I think those extreme emotions are dangerous for a person in the long run, when a person is extreme for a long time some crash comes at some end. At least in my experience. It's also probably affected by age. When I was younger I was able to be more persistent, the testosterone was there overwhelmingly.
Do you coach as well?
I don't coach. I can't even imagine coaching now. I don't consider myself a professional, I don't do it enough... But there are better players who have more experience. I haven't muddied the waters much in the last 10 years. And overall, coaching makes sense when a person either really enjoys it or wants to make money from it, neither of which is very much the case for me.
What are your next poker plans and goals?
I mainly want to maintain the enthusiasm for poker that I have now. I've been lacking that to some extent the last few years. I feel like I'm enjoying it more than I used to. At the same time, I can feel in myself that once I exceed the 40 hours per week I spend on poker, overall I start to feel that it's too much. Of course there are those exceptions, the festivals, but after that I don't do anything with poker for 3-4 days or so. I want to keep practicing and improve slowly, so that I can beat the buy-ins of around 100 online and then live this year mainly between 1,000 and 3,000 sometimes 5,000. Sometimes smaller ones when they are here. My next goals are Monte Carlo and then Montreal. Hopefully I'll have a good experience and enjoy it. Goals like, I want such and such finances and so many hours to devote to it, that's already passed for me. Poker is not a thing that I enjoy in my life. I miss the variability, the speed is slow... It's not a thing I absolutely love and would like to pursue like some high stakes... So I guess it'll stay that I'll be such a semipro and if I find a limit I won't beat I won't go higher.....
If you don't love poker, what is it that you love?
I've loved poker at some point and I've lived it. But I'm more into playing games like Star Craft 2, and occasionally chess online. Other than that, moments in the family chill, the outdoors, walking the dog....
Do you prefer cats or dogs?
Two years ago neither, but now both. Now we have two cats and one dog. More like cats I guess, I'm less drooly then (laughs).
Our conversation with Jozek continued after his success in the EPT Monte Carlo EPT where he managed to fight his way to the final table. So you can look forward to hearing his feelings about the 5,000-player tournament, stories about his Bulgarian friend and the emotions that playing with Adrian Mateos left in him soon.....
