WSOP 2011: Pokeroff Wins Big Thanks To Pius Heinz

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 10 November 2011 / Leave a Comment

Max Katz of Pokeroff playing in the Betfair Poker LIVE Kiev Main Event

We had a total of 170 players and they played in 2,915 events between them and we had shares in three bracelet winners including the Main Event, Joe Ebanks and Amir Lehavot

In a day an age where there seems to be a $10,000 buy-in live poker tournament at least once a month, often more than that if the players are prepared to travel around on the various tours, it is no surprise that the popularity of staking is at an all-time high. Most deals never hit the headlines but imagine if you had a large piece of Pius Heinz and he went on to win the World Series of Poker Main Event, which is exactly what happened to the Pokeroff website.

Poker is full of stories of people buying percentages of each other, it is just part of the game but the people behind Pokeroff seem to have a unique ability of staking the biggest winners in poker at just the right time. In recent times they have had pieces of EPT London Champion David Vamplew, PCA Main Event winner Galen Hall, EPT Berlin Champ Benjamin Wilinofsky, WSOP bracelet winner Joe Ebanks and the crowning jewel in their staking operations, the newly crowned WSOP Main Event Champion Pius Heinz!

So who are Pokeroff? One of the people heavily involved in the community and someone who played in the Betfair Poker LIVE Kiev tournament last year, is named Max Katz and he took some time out of his busy schedule to talk a little about Pokeroff, why there are so many Russian's in European poker tournaments and how big staking is right now in live poker.

Matthew Pitt: Could you tell our readers what Pokeroff is?

Max Katz: I have been part of Pokeroff ever since the founder Andrei Doktoroff built the site around seven years ago. Pokeroff is the biggest Russian site related to poker and it is written in the style of a blog. We do not have many articles written by hired staff or journalists, most the content is made by players and people who write poker blogs.

MP: Is a major part of the Pokeroff community dedicated to staking other players or buying percentages of players who are entering bigger buy-in tournaments?

MK: Yes. We have a closed community inside Pokeroff that people can participate in and they can buy shares of players who are wanting to sell some action. We also actively look for people who are wanting to sell shares, then we publish the offer on the private website and it is divided between the people who want a share of that particular player.

MP: It was rumoured that Pokeroff staked around $1,000,000 worth of tournament entries at the recent World Series of Poker. Is this an exaggeration or is that amount of money regularly been exchanged?

MK: Actually we staked more! Actually much more! We had a total of 170 players and they played in 2,915 events between them and we had shares in three bracelet winners including the Main Event, Joe Ebanks and Amir Lehavot. And we also had some big successes before the series, at the PCA Galen Hall, we had a share in Ben Wilinofsky at EPT Berlin and David Vamplew at EPT London and some third places at EPTs, we've had a lot of success.

MP: With Pokeroff being Russian facing I would have thought you may have only stakes Russian poker players, but it appears that is certainly not the case and that you have cast your net far and wide.

MK: We actually mostly stake non-Russian players because the foreign players are usually better and offer better conditions. In Russia the staking market is already very developed, there are a lot of potential buyers but not all of them know how to choose the right offers. The staking market in Russia is very good.

MP: Poker seems very popular in Russia and the neighbouring countries if the European Poker Tour is a gauge. Everytime I look at the entrants there are a lot of Russian and Ukrainian players amongst the entrants.

MK: This is not because poker is popular but because staking is popular. There are a lot of possibilities to find a stake in Russia, there are companies who will stake players and places where you can sell offers publicly. In Russia it is all very developed so this is the main reason there are a lot of Russian players in European poker tournaments

MP: Well that clears that one up! About Pius Heinz, I was told he sold a large percentage to a number of Pokeroff members (I actually quoted a percentage but Max declined to confirm)

MK: Actually I cannot say the exact number and I would prefer for you to publish rumours, because we like to keep the exact number secret, but yes we had a big share of Pius.

MP: Was he introduced to you? How did you come about knowing him?

MK: We have a site where players can publish offer on. We do not advertise this site, we just give the address to players we know and they give it to good players they know so it is like a recommendation. Somebody recommended Pius, he published an offer on the site, at first it was only a offers for small events at the WSOP for like the $1,000 and $1,500 tournaments and we bought them. Then he won seventh or eighth place in one of the $1,500 events, then he decided he wanted to sell more shares in the Main Event and we agreed.

MP: It will go without saying staking Pius Heinz is the best result for Pokeroff.

MK: Yes of course! Obviously! It is one of the largest poker tournaments in history of poker, but we have had other results like Galen Hall that were also very good.

So there you have it, the key to staking success. All you have to do to become staked by Pokeroff is to first be very good at poker and have the results online or live to prove this, then hope somebody recognises you and gives you a recommendation for this private staking website! One thing is for certain Pokeroff seem to have the golden touch when it comes to selecting who they buy shares of in the poker world.