Fedor Holz Speaks at Websummit

Fedor Holz is one of those people, that makes everyone else feel self-conscious about their achievements. In just a few short years, German pro managed to catapult himself near the top of the tournament all-time money list, earning enough money to retire from poker at a young age of 23. Seeing as Fedor basically conquered this whole poker thing, and at this point, he's just rubbing it in by winning millions of dollars as a 'retiree', he's now shifting his interest from the world of cards to the arguably more fashionable (and profitable) world of tech startups.

Recently Holz had the chance to do his best Steve Jobs impression during the 2017's Websummit, where he promoted the mindset app Primed Mind and gave a talk about his poker career. At this point, we can safely assume that it's just a matter of time before Fedor decides to swap his oversized hoodie for a black turtleneck.

My first time speaking in front of that many people. I shared personal experiences out of my life that led me to where I am today and made me the person I am, specifically what I learned and why I got out of poker and started a company last year. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and all the nice people I met and I'm looking forward to the next one! #websummit2017

A post shared by Fedor Holz (@fedoire) on Nov 7, 2017 at 10:53am PST

Inspiring Journey

From the perspective of a casual poker fan - or even someone relatively high on the poker success ladder - Fedor Holz can seem more like a force of nature than a real card player. It's very hard to relate to someone who managed to win such an absurd amount of money in such a short span of time. Fedor's 2017 Websummit talk does a lot to undo the image of a mythical poker master. Turns out that the story of the young German prodigy - or at least the beginning of it - isn't really all that different from the stories of many other poker players. Holz had a warm but tough childhood, he was a talented outsider who found it difficult to stick to one passion - until he discovered poker.

Believe it or not, there was actually a time when Fedor Holz envied the financial freedom of his poker playing mates who were earning up to $2000 per month. He used to be a punching bag in his home game and not everything he touched turn to gold, at least not initially. Fedor made the decision to pursue poker full time even though his early results were far from impressive, and the rest - as they say - is history.

Fedor finished his talk with some valuable insights (or trendy buzzwords if we chose to be cynical about it), stressing the importance of communication, cooperation and following one's passion. According to Holz, it's all about the journey, not the destination. On the whole, the speech was a bit rough around the edges, but also sincere and emotional. It's unclear how much popularity in the tech world Fedor's 2017 Websummit talk will bring him, but one thing is for certain, poker fans certainly got a lot from it.