Poker great Fedor Holz announced over the weekend that he decided not to re-up his ambassadorship with GGPoker. That in and of itself would be news, but the 32-year-old went on to say that he is moving on to non-poker things in life, effectively indicating that he is retiring from the world of professional poker.
Specifically, Holz tweeted that he and his partner “are trying to have kids this year and I’m launching an investment fund, so that will be my full focus going forward.”
Before thanking the GGPoker crew, Holz said, “I started playing poker exactly half my life ago and it has given me an incredible amount of freedom and opportunity. It allowed me to travel the world, meet amazing people and build the life I have today. It will always be very special to me.”
This is not the first time Holz has announced that he is pulling back on poker. A decade ago, barely into his 20’s, but already one of the most successful tournament players in the world, Holz decided stop the full-time, day in, day out grind.
“Do I spend my time on the right things whether that’s poker or anything else in life? It’s a very important question for me,” he told CalvinAyre.com at the time.
“Society clearly teaches us the wrong value system. Money is overvalued, and freedom has very little to do with money,” he added. “We always think that money is connected to how we feel but it’s a very short-term feeling and what I have learned through coaching, and giving back to people, I realized that this is the only thing that gives me joy. That’s why poker is not the thing I want to pursue. It only takes. It’s very selfish. There is no lasting place for it in my life to do this for a living.”
Back then, Holz didn’t stop playing poker completely, he just dialed it back to take more time for himself. This time, it appears that he is done with the professional poker life.
In a reply to a question under his social media post, Holz clarified that he does think he might play in a couple Triton high roller events per year.
According to The Hendon Mob poker database, Fedor Holz ranks 12th in all-time money list with just over $50 million in live tournament cashes. He took the poker world by storm in 2016, when he scored $16 million in tourney cashes at just 22 years old. In the decade since, Holz has become one of the most respected minds in the game.
The post Fedor Holz Retires From Professional Poker appeared first on Poker News Daily.
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