We will continue our series of exclusive interviews today, and in style - the next guest of our German spadecast is the fresh European champion Max Neugebauer. In an hour-long interview, the former national basketball player will tell you about his life, his poker beginnings and what he thinks is the most important thing in life. If you speak German, we've included the full interview, if not, we recommend you try the automatic subtitles or read on for the highlights.

Poker was probably not your first choice. How did you get into it? We know you were a professional athlete.

"I come from a basketball family. My grandfather played for the national team, my dad played on the national team, and then it was my turn. But unfortunately both my grandfather and my father had injuries, they tore their ACL. And it even happened to me twice. There's a big genetic factor. Anyway, I played in the National League for the first time when I was 16 years old. It was great, I trained a lot and hard, I enjoyed it a lot. But then I got injured, I was always in pain after training and I started to get exhausted from professional sports and I stopped enjoying it."

How did you get from ball to cards?

"It was a long journey, it started with Magic: The Gathering, I was about twelve years old at the time. As far as I know, a lot of poker players had played it in the past. That's where I met a very good friend of mine, Benny. Magic is often thought of as a game for kids, but a lot of people in their 20s and 30s play it, and Benny was already a big talent at it by the time he was fifteen. And then someone from Magic introduced him to poker and told him that it was also a very strategic game and he could make money there. Then when I quit basketball, Benny told me that I definitely had to start playing poker, that I would enjoy it very much. He explained me some rules and I started playing."

How old were you then?

"I think I was about 18-19."

How did it go after that?

"I started playing quite a bit after that, mainly online. I was trying to improve, but I didn't know how, so it was like I won a tournament, but then I lost it again because I was too confident and played high limits. In the meantime, I started studying physiotherapy, so I was torn between poker and studying. I dropped out of some exams and had to repeat a year and then Covid came in. And by playing online in the meantime I really got into poker and started to take it really seriously. Later on Manuel Fritz started coaching me, he had a small stable of players at that time. Well, as far as physiotherapy was concerned, then I did the exam but I decided to concentrate on poker. In the meantime, I was even babysitting children and putting the money I earned that way into the bankroll."

So the babysitter became a poker millionaire, a beautiful story! Now let's move on to the WSOPE, you said in the interview at the end that you actually didn't want to come because your back was hurting.

"Exactly, yeah. I had back pain because I was helping my grandfather with a very heavy cabinet. I wasn't even very motivated, I was telling myself I was going to stay at home with my girlfriend, who I don't pay enough attention to when I'm playing. But then I met my aunt, and she talked to me about manifesting (ed. note: summoning success by imagining and consciously thinking about it). She was asking me if I believed it and stuff. Sounds crazy I know. But I was imagining it, I could literally feel the bracelet on my arm. And so I finally went."

So obviously it worked, we'd all need an aunt like that.

"Yeah (laughs)."

As for the individual days of the tournament, you advanced from day one with a 113,000 stack, you advanced from day two with about a million. Was there any significant hand that you remember?

"On the second day I had aces in one of the last hands, I already had a pretty big stack of around 500,000. There was a raise, a 3-bet, a 4-bet jam and a call, so it was a huge pot for about 110bb. My opponent had jacks and the flop came king king jack. So I'm telling myself that the manifesting was for nothing. And all of a sudden an ace came. I totally jumped up, Roman Hrabec was behind me, and I think he came over to say goodbye, and we started rejoicing together. All of a sudden I had about 200bb and then I advanced from day three with four million, the chipleader had six."

How did you feel in front of the final table? Did you study your opponents, did you prepare with a coach?

"I tried to get as much information as I could, I knew something of their game before. That helped me a lot otherwise. I also consulted with poker friends, not so much with the coach. I also had a game plan, but none of the situations I prepared for ended up coming up. I didn't have any hands to 4-bet or anything like that. So I had to adjust and that actually helped the most, the changes I made on the fly."

When did you first think you might actually put on a bracelet?

"Back when I was manifesting with my aunt (laughs). And then when we got to the final two tables and I got a better draw and made the J8 call on the bubble. That's when I started telling myself that maybe I'm actually going to win this. Then at the final table, I noticed that everyone was getting kind of tired and passive, not wanting to make mistakes. But I had a different mind-set, I wanted to fight."

What was your first thought when all the chips landed in front of you?

"I was totally surprised, I was really happy that it worked out. I ran straight to my friends, Roman Hrabec was there with his girlfriend Monika, they were a great support for me."

Everybody is definitely interested in what you're going to do with your winnings.

"I'm going to invest most of it. But I've been wanting to buy a car for a long time, I didn't want to take so much out of the bankroll before. But it won't change my life. I'm not planning to move, I'm happy as I live with my girlfriend now."

What are your next poker stops?

"I'm thinking about going to the Bahamas. But originally I was thinking of going to Prague for the EPT and I'm supposed to go to Vegas in January. We'll see."

Is there anything you'd like to add in conclusion? Is there any advice you'd like to give to poker players?

"Well, overall, I'm awfully lucky to have had so many people around me supporting me. I could feel the positive energy coming to me, even when I had a lull it got me back in the game. That really means a lot to me. I'm also grateful to my family that they made it through even though they were worried at first and sometimes didn't know how it was going to turn out. And of course to my girlfriend who is always there for me and supports me. Being a poker partner is not always easy when you travel for poker or even at home you spend a lot of time playing online. That's what I would also like to say to poker players, that you have to realize how much time and effort it takes, the trips, online and studying, and that sometimes other things go by the wayside. But alongside that, don't neglect your friends and family, it's a very important pillar in life. And whenever you can give something back to them, do it. That would be my advice."

Max, thank you so much for the interview!

"Thank you as well!"

Source - KingsResort, vol.at