{"id":3346,"date":"2014-08-18T11:59:29","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T11:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slategray-wallaby-310340.hostingersite.com\/index.php\/2014\/08\/18\/anatoly-filatov-explains-the-russian-playing-style\/"},"modified":"2014-08-18T11:59:29","modified_gmt":"2014-08-18T11:59:29","slug":"anatoly-filatov-explains-the-russian-playing-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2014\/08\/18\/anatoly-filatov-explains-the-russian-playing-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Anatoly Filatov Explains The Russian Playing Style"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Front page photo credit: Danny Maxwell<\/a>, PokerNews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>In the second and final part of this interview series with Russian poker pro Antoly Filatov the youngester talks about how he became a poker player. Filatov also goes into details about coaching, staking, the Russian playing style and his huge second place finish during the EPT Vienna High Roller.<\/span><\/p>\n

In case you missed the first part, it\u2019s right here: Part 1<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Becoming a Poker Player<\/strong><\/p>\n

While studying in Moscow Filatov came in touch with poker, and his story is similar to that of many that became professionals over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was studying in University my friend told me to watch poker on TV, and Ilya Gorodenskiy was the commentator. The guys on TV were wearing sunglasses and hoodies, and I really liked watching that. My friend then told me that we could also play ourselves and we started playing for play money. We had no idea what we were doing, even when we started playing for real money. It was just a lot of fun and after a while I discovered PokerStrategy. We used the promotion for $50 of free money, and that\u2019s how we really got started as students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI started winning some money online after watching a video from a Russian player called \u2018Diatty\u2019. He was playing sit and goes, so I started playing those as well. I played $1 SNGs and made $180 from my $10 bankroll. I was so happy and felt great about myself because I was really crushing those $1 SNGs. After that I moved up to the $5 SNGs, multi table tournaments and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI built my bankroll up to $300 and that\u2019s when I started playing some cash games on the side. A friend of mine from the University campus showed me some CardRunners videos of Cole South playing NL $5k heads up and I remember being very impressed by that. We looked for more videos and found the World Series of Poker episodes. That became my dream, after watching those videos, to play in the $10,000 World Series of Poker tournament. Now I\u2019ve played the WSOP Main Event four times and I\u2019ve had such bad results in Las Vegas every time. I only have one cash in total,\u201d Filatov laughed, who\u2019s been very successful online and on the European Poker Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream was to play the World Series of Poker and I\u2019ve made that happen. Now I have to stop dreaming and start making some money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn multi table tournaments online I managed to win some money and I ran up my bankroll to around $2,000. That was huge for me, and then I won a $10 tournament for $5,000. The feeling I got after winning that event were impossible to describe, it was the best feeling in the world,\u201d Filatov said, recalling his early success.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so much money for me, I couldn\u2019t sleep after it. Unfortunately I lost all of that money quickly playing $100 6-max SNGs. I played a 24-hour session and lost $4,000 because I was running bad and tilting. That was the first time I lost a lot, and that\u2019s when I decided go back and focus on multi table tournaments. I discovered the GypsyTeam.ru<\/a> website, kept watching videos on PokerStrategy and CardRunners and played a lot of poker. At that time, about six years ago, nobody in Russia really knew a lot about poker. We were a step behind, definitely if you compare it to right now. Within one year I managed to create a big bankroll and I ended up fulfilling my dream of going to the World Series of Poker and playing in 25 events,\u201d Filatov said, as he was just 21 years old when he went to Las Vegas for the first time. While his results in Las Vegas haven\u2019t been great he feels confident, and will keep coming back, and eventually have a breakthrough result in the United States.<\/p>\n

While poker has become a much more widely accepted hobby over the years, it is still something that can create friction with parents who look for their child to find a long lasting stable career. This wasn\u2019t the case for Filatov however, as he had full support right from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told my parents about poker from the start and explained to them it was my hobby. They were okay with it, as I told them I wouldn\u2019t be doing it for my entire life. I was always sure I would end up doing something in business, start a company or something like that. That has always been my main idea, but right now I feel like I can earn some money playing poker. My parents never forbid me to do something in my life and have always supported me. I think it helps that I\u2019m smart with my decisions, I\u2019ve never smoked and I don\u2019t drink alcohol, even though my parents never forbid me to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI also think poker was never a problem for me because my parents knew that I was going to be smart about it. They have always believed in my abilities and decision making,\u201d Filatov added.<\/p>\n

While many students drop out of college, or choose to not even attend one due to poker, this was also not the case for Filatov. Despite not being too happy with the choice of his education he managed to finish, and perhaps use some of his skills later in life. In his poker life Filatov looks to educate less skillful players and while he hasn\u2019t found many students just yet, he looks to expand his business in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI studied computer science at the Moscow State University, but I\u2019m not that much into programming or the science behind computers. I\u2019m much more of a salesman, because I love talking and I always smile. Having good conversations is something I really enjoy, and that\u2019s one of the reasons I always chat when I\u2019m playing online, because otherwise it gets a little boring.\u201d<\/p>\n