Fedor Holz: Poker Champion on Risk, Resilience, and Venture Capital

Fedor Holz, Germany's most successful poker player with over $50 million in live tournament winnings and two World Series of Poker bracelets, reflects on his career and philosophy in an interview for SLEEK magazine's PLAY issue. Born in Saarbrücken in 1993, Holz began playing poker at fifteen with friends, driven by joy rather than ambition. He approached the game systematically, using game theory and opponent analysis. In 2016, at age twenty-three, he won $16 million, briefly becoming the world's top tournament player. After ending his full-time career, he found his finest moment came when he no longer cared about money or outcomes, allowing him to play better. Holz built a support team of nutritionists, sports scientists, and a mental coach, treating poker like professional sports. He co-founded Pokercode, a poker academy, and is now a general partner in a venture capital fund investing in early-stage investors. He emphasizes emotional resilience, noting he lost money in 80% of tournaments due to variance, and once lost half of a million euros over ten months. Holz views poker as a model for decision-making under uncertainty, applicable to investing and life. He distinguishes between escapism and addiction, stating that using poker as an escape was about the real world, not the game. His key insight: "The best learning experience was losing money I shouldn't have lost."