VIP-Grinders.com: First of all thank you very much for taking the time. Would you please introduce yourself to the people, who don’t know you yet?
Gregor Müller: My name is Gregor Müller, 33 years old from Austria. I do enjoy playing poker a lot, but it is not my profession since I work in marketing.
VG: You have just won the first Austrian bracelet at this year’s WSOP. Can you please describe the feeling, when the final card was dealt?
GM: I was happy that I won, but to be honest I didn’t even realize that I have won a bracelet until two hours after the tournament was finished.
I only played the tournament as I won the buy-in from one of your leaderboards. I saw that there is a Limit Hold’em tournament in the BetKings lobby and as I started with Limit Hold’em and it was basically a freeroll, I decided to play the event.
Somehow I ended up winning it and then I saw at WSOP.com that they were reporting on hands from the final table. So it took a couple of hours until I actually realized what had happened and it was a very nice surprise.
VG: Has something changed since your bracelet win and if so what?
GM: Except for the fact that I get interview requests not much has changed.
I am still waiting for my bracelet and am very curious what it will look like, since I have never seen one.
VG: You won your bracelet in a Limit Hold’em Event. Would you say that Limit Hold’em is your strongest game or are there other games you prefer?
GM: It’s sad that Limit Hold’em is technically dead nowadays as it was the first game I played and how I started with poker ten years ago.
Unfortunately, these days it’s quite dead, so I mostly play Pot-Limit Omaha now, which I also think is my strongest game.
The format of PLO in my opinion is more suited for cash games. There are some tournaments and I occasionally play them, but when it comes to poker tournaments, then it’s all about No-Limit Hold’em.
VG: Do you play only tournaments or also cash games? What are your stakes and does your daily and Sunday Grind schedule look like at the moment?
GM: I never had a real tournament grind like that and also don’t have much of a schedule. It all depends on how much time I have. Usually I play more during the week and less on the weekends, when I spend more time with my wife.
I mostly play PLO cash games with a buy-in of around $500. Regarding tournaments, I decide spontaneously depending on, if my job allows it to go to bed at 4 am or not.
VG: You are the second player so far this year, coming from BetKings, that has been able to win a WSOP bracelet, and you’re known by the name of “Soulsntfaces” there. Tell us about your experience at this online poker site?
GM: I would describe BetKings as a poker site that focuses on creating a fun environment for online poker players.
And I like the idea that you’re not allowed to use any kind of poker tracking software on this site, since it makes it feel more like you are competing against human players.
VG: Austria and especially its capital Vienna used to be a paradise for professional poker players. Is this still the case or did the change of legislation at the end of 2019, which resulted in the shutdown of the popular card casinos change this?
GM: It’s still very good for German-speaking online players. The reason for this being that the tax situation is more favourable in Austria, than it is in Germany.
In addition to that, Vienna is a very nice city to live in. It often wins the yearly “world’s most liveable city” rating.
I believe that Vienna is a great city for german-speaking poker players as there are many things to do and they can speak their native language. Moreover, it is very well-communicated for tournament players, who do travel a lot to live tournaments.
In regards to live poker, I didn’t play much, when I was living there. I know that a €5/€10 table is running every day, but when playing live in Austria I played mostly at the Casinos Austria Poker Tour (CAPT) in nice locations like Velden, where you can combine poker with a holiday.
VG: You are also one of our players at VIP-Grinders.com. How would you describe our player services and did it help you to progress as an online poker player?
GM: Your player service definitely makes life much easier in terms of communication with the online poker site and depositing or withdrawing money.
VIP-Grinders.com is in the end also the reason, why I won the bracelet. I shipped a $500 buy-in for the WSOP Online in one of your leaderboards, which I afterwards used for the Limit Hold’em event, where I ended up winning the bracelet.
Without your leaderboard I wouldn’t have registered for this tournament, so in the end it was really helpful.
VG: What are your plans for the future? Will you move up in stakes now and are you planning on playing more live once it is possible again or do you stick with online poker?
GM: The only thing that changes is that I will look more into No-Limit Hold’em tournaments as I also got a $15,000 package for the WSOP Europe Main Event at King’s Casino Rozvadov on top of the bracelet.
The Main Event is a No-Limit Hold’em tournament, so I guess it makes sense to invest some time to study strategy. In case I enjoy the WSOP Europe, I might start playing more live poker once it will be possible again.
Apart from that not much will change, as I like the mix of my professional life and online poker and don’t want to be dependent on poker alone.
VG: Thank you very much for taking the time. We wish you all the best and will definitely root for you at the WSOP Europe!
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