How PokerStrategist Mati312 went from Play Money to become a PokerStars Team Pro
We chat to Matthias ‘Mati312’ Brandner who started at Play Money but became a high stakes Badugi player and recent addition to PokerStars Team Online.
"I started my bankroll selling play money chips"
PokerStrategy.com: You are one of the few pros I know who played a lot of play money before embarking on their poker career.
mati312: It’s actually a funny story. Back in school a few of my friends started playing poker on Facebook. I just jumped right in and tried it.
I managed to spin up a big play money bankroll, I even managed to sell some of my play money chips so it gave me a real money boost as well. Yes, that was the beginning of my poker career.
PokerStrategy.com: Why do people buy play money chips?
mati312:I wondered the same thing myself, I wouldn’t buy them either. I guess some people like to play high stakes play money. I don’t know why, but maybe it makes them feel a little bit better. They can play high stakes even though it is for play money.
PokerStrategy.com: Do the players take it seriously enough to learn anything about the game?
mati312: A lot of people don't really take it seriously. So you know the jump in skill level was really high when you go to real money. Even from high stakes play money to micro stakes real money. So in the beginning it was a huge jump to real money. I was a winning play money player, but a losing real money player when I made the jump to $0.05/$0.10 ring games.
PokerStrategy.com: Would you advise people to start with real money instead?
mati312: Play money is certainly the easy and risk free way to start poker. But I don’t think you will learn really well because the skill differences are huge. So I would advise people to start with the lowest real money stakes.
"It's easier to make reads in Badugi"
PokerStrategy.com: Why do you think you were picked for 
PokerStars Team Online?
mati312: From what I understand they were looking for people who were specialising in specific game variants and I play a pretty exotic one (Badugi). They were looking for players to advertise those side games and it seems I was the right guy to do the job.
PokerStrategy.com: Is the toughest thing about Badugi being patient and waiting for good games to start?
mati312: Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of traffic for those games. This is the key point, and what I am trying to change by being a member of Team Online. In general I always have an eye on the lobby to see if there is any action going. Sometimes I just have to sit at open tables and wait for someone to join. I think there is a good chance the traffic will grow in the future.
PokerStrategy.com: You must play with a very small player pool, is understanding your opponents one of the core skills in Badugi?
mati312: It's a bit of an advantage, Badugi is like a small village, all the regulars know each other. Knowing opponents and having reads is important in every game, not just the exotic ones. Having such a small player base makes it easier to gather reads.
"Badugi requires a lot of self-study"
PokerStrategy.com: There isn't much learning material out there for games like Badugi. Is independent study another key skill?
mati312: That is absolutely true. There is really not a lot of information available online on those games, so it is a lot of self-study.
Fortunately, I had a poker buddy who was also interested in this game and we helped each other in learning and analysing the game in different ways. So it is a lot of self-study, but if you can find people that are interested you can also form learning groups.
PokerStrategy.com: This also must make the games more profitable?
mati312: Exactly, that is the point. Not a lot of people know how to play this game. So if you are actually willing to actually make an effort to do some self-study, you can create a pretty decent edge in those games.
PokerStrategy.com: Tell us a bit about your history with PokerStrategy.com
mati312: I think I found out about the PokerStrategy.com in about 2010, it was also the time I discovered Badugi. I stumbled on the site, and found out the German site is the biggest German poker community on the internet.
I started my blog in 2011 for other Badugi players and that is when I started to post regularly. My favourite thing is the forum, I like to post and read about others. My blog is the only Badugi resource I know of in the German poker community.
PokerStrategy.com: Thanks Matthias, good luck putting Badugi on the map.
See more of our recent interviews with the biggest names in poker
 Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2. He has been working in the poker industry for nine years and in 2013 won the APAT Award for Best Poker Media Provider. You can learn more about his work here.
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