Fedor Holz: From School Days to Poker Stardom

Fedor Holz, born on July 25, 1993, is a professional poker player from Saarbrucken, Germany, known for his expertise in high-roller tournaments. Holz was named the top online poker player of the year in 2014 and 2015 by Pocketfives. In 2016, Holz won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in a tournament with a $111,111 buy-in, earning $4,981,775.

Holz spent 30-50% of his time working on his poker game, including watching videos, discussing strategies, and learning from trainers. He began his professional poker career in 2011 with home games and dropped out of university in 2012 to focus on poker. Holz spent about two years on micro-limits and another year and a half on medium limits before moving to high-stakes. He played 12-18 MTTs simultaneously with five-minute breaks in between.

Holz considers balance, understanding opponent's range, and exploiting weaknesses as the most important skills for a tournament poker player. His most expensive cash game was €4,000/€8,000. Holz advises beginners to find good players to discuss poker with and work on all aspects of the game.