Try to introduce yourself for starters, what should we know about you?

"I'm from Germany, but I moved to London fifteen years ago. I'm a tournament player, but I also play a lot of live cash games. And I'm also an ambassador for CoinPoker, which is an online crypto poker room. I play online almost exclusively there."

How long have you actually been playing poker and how much of that has been cryptocurrency?

"I've been playing poker for quite a long time, about 16 years. I started with cryptocurrencies early on, but at first I didn't pay that much attention to it, I just bought some. Lately, I've also been trading and doing various projects with cryptocurrencies."

Can you tell me more about that? What cryptocurrencies are you buying, what percentage of your bankroll are you investing in?

"Sure. My approach is that I have most of my money in cryptocurrencies. I invest in bitcoin and ethereum, so the biggest ones. Of the others, I have quite a bit of money in solan, I invested there in the beginning, it jumped a lot then and then fell, but it's been rising again recently. The other money I try to invest in real estate. I'm not exactly a fan of having money in the bank. I also spend a lot of time in Dubai and overall I believe that cryptocurrencies will be a big factor in the future around the world."

What do you think is the important factor about cryptocurrencies for poker players?

"The big factor for poker players is that if someone has their money in a cryptocurrency wallet, they have a lot of control over their money. When one has money deposited in a bank, it is not easy to move money around as one needs to, banks often require a lot of information, it can take a long time, and on top of that one pays high fees. One of the arguments against cryptocurrencies is that it is used for illegal transfers. But that's not the point, the point is to be able to handle your money freely, quickly and with almost no fees. To send ten million in bitcoin, a person costs essentially the same as sending a hundred dollars. It has a lot of advantages. Another factor is, of course, inflation, which traditional currencies are subject to. I spent a lot of time in Argentina and the inflation situation there is insane. In my opinion, basically every currency is doomed to eventually crash, you can't print forever of course."

Is there any advice you would give to players who are just starting out with cryptocurrencies?

"So obviously I would recommend finding out and studying as much as you can about it. About the big cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and stuff like that, one can just Google it. Of course it's a high-risk investment, but to start with small investments in, for example, the aforementioned bitcoin is a smart move in my opinion. And in addition to that, educate yourself, read books and watch videos."

Do you think it's for everyone, or does one have to have some special skills to do it?

"In my opinion, it's for everybody. I even got my dad and family into it. Although it depends of course, I wouldn't recommend everyone to trade because it takes skills. But to buy cryptocurrencies, and store them in a hardware wallet, it certainly does."

Let's move on to poker, then. You've had great success online and from live tournaments. Do you prefer any of that more?

"I prefer playing live tournaments. But on CoinPokri there are very fast tournaments and sometimes it's just a three-hour session, for example. If I don't want to sit at the table for so many hours, then I enjoy it more online."

Do you tend to be social at the table?

"Yes, during tournaments I enjoy meeting interesting people and having interesting conversations with them. I'm not the type to be on my phone for hours while playing or have my headphones on."

Playing long hours can be challenging for a poker player. Do you have any ways that you keep yourself in shape?

"I'm a big football fan, so I'm looking forward to going back to Argentina in a few days. I miss my team, we play a couple of times a week. I also box a lot. I think it's very important for a poker player to be involved in a sport, at least a little bit every day. Because yes, it's very exhausting to play, for example, eleven hours a day. So it definitely helps to keep fit."

You have a lot of titles to your name, including EPT Main Event and Triton wins. Can you say which one is most valuable to you personally?

"That's a really good question. I would say the EPT Monte Carlo. When I first started playing poker, I used to watch the EPT final tables, and I always wanted to win one myself. It's not easy to win the EPT Main Event, even though there's less money involved than, say, Triton."

Do you have any goals in poker that you haven't achieved yet that you'd like to?

"Winning the WPT Main Event is definitely on my bucket list! I've had some good results there, but no wins, and that's something I'd definitely like to do."

Manig, thank you for the interview and we wish you the best of luck in achieving further success!