Sebastian Ioniță, second place at EPT Barcelona 2025: “Poker is a marathon, not a sprint”
Sebastian Ioniță is one of the revelations of Romanian poker in 2025. With an exceptional result at EPT Barcelona and a rapidly ascending career, he may become a leading name in Romanian poker in the coming years. We offer you an exclusive interview with him and the opportunity to get to know him better and learn about his ideas on poker.
Sebastian Ioniță
Second place at EPT Barcelona 2025 is the biggest achievement of your career so far. Please tell us how this tournament was for you, how you felt during it, and how you felt at the end when you realized what a great result you had achieved?
This is the third EPT I’ve played in, the other two being in Prague and Paris, but I didn’t manage to cash in either of those two. When you make the buy-in, you receive a ticket with the table number and seat, you sit down, and you receive your chips. At that moment, when you have your starting chips in front of you, you can’t imagine that those 30,000 chips could turn into millions of chips at the final table. Since it was a 7-day tournament, I tried to establish a proper routine for myself during the days. I would ride my bike or take the subway to the tournament and walk back in the evening to get some exercise, as the hotel was a 30-minute walk away. It’s not the physical effort that’s the problem in such a long and large-scale tournament, but the mental effort. I played the first four days like any other, but when I entered day five with a decent stack, I realized that I could actually go far. In my mind, during all those days of play, I just wanted to play as well as I could, I didn’t even care if I got a bad beat or anything, I was just focused on my game and how to maximize each hand. When the tournament ended, I had very mixed feelings. On the one hand, I felt disappointed that I didn’t manage to be the second Romanian to lift the trophy, but on the other hand, I was very happy, relieved, and grateful for everything that happened and for the result I achieved. I must admit that it took me a few days to process everything that had happened, as the week had been full of concentration and mental effort. In the end, I am extremely pleased with the result and the way I played. Looking back, everything that happened seems like a dream, but it is reality!
In recent years, several Romanian poker players have achieved very good results in major tournaments. Can this be considered the best generation so far? What made the difference compared to the 2010 generation? Did the participation in more online and live tournaments create the experience that is starting to bring results? What do you think?
Besides the fact that poker is becoming more popular every year, people have realized that poker, although classified as a game of chance, is not. Poker is a game of chance only for recreational players and for those who are not interested in studying the game and becoming better. People need to understand that poker is a marathon, not a sprint. I think Romanians have realized this over time. Plus, the rise of online poker has certainly helped in this regard. In one evening, you can play up to 20 tournaments if you want. By playing a lot online, your experience grows and this will be reflected in your live game. Online players will always be better prepared than those who play strictly live, although this is a separate discussion, because you also need to know how to adapt. Romanians love poker, and I hope it stays that way. 2025 was a great year for Romanians. I hope to hear only Romanian names in the big finals in the future!
To get to know you better, please tell us a few things about when you started playing poker and then poker at a professional level? How did your poker story begin? What attracted you into it?
I started playing poker in high school with my friends. It was only after I moved to Bucharest for college that I started playing in casinos, but we’re not talking about large sums… a 1/2 cash game, a 100 buy-in tournament, etc. When I was around 18, I opened my first online poker account… I used to play sit & go, spin & go, everything… at the time, I didn’t know the difference between them. I’ve been playing ever since, but I didn’t play much, as I didn’t win much anyway. I just knew that I was passionate about it and that I loved playing. The term “professional poker player” is a weighty one for me and of big impact. Nowadays, you see a lot of people calling themselves pro players, but in fact they are just enthusiasts who play more than others; they are not professionals in the true sense of the word. From my point of view, for someone to call themselves a professional poker player, they must be accomplished at poker and already have some remarkable results, think about the game like a professional, have the necessary mentality, and, of course, be profitable. So, to answer the question, I would say that I have been a “player” for about 7 years and a “professional” for 3 years.
Please tell us what you play more: online or live? Why?
I definitely play more online than live. As I said earlier, online you can play 30 tournaments in a day if you want, whereas live you go and play only one. All players know how variable it can be sometimes. It’s better to play 10-15 tournaments and then stay with one where you go deep than to go to a live tournament, travel there, play for 6 hours, and not even make it into the money or get a min-cash. Live tournaments definitely have their benefits. The players are much more recreational than online. I decided this year to play live as much as possible when there are festivals. So, for the most part, I only play online, but when there are major festivals in Europe, I try to attend as many as possible. After all, that’s one of the beauties of poker; it allows you to travel and work at the same time.
What do you play besides Texas Holdem?
There was a period when I played Omaha quite a lot, but it didn’t last long. I told myself that I wanted to focus solely on Texas Hold’em.
How would you describe yourself as a poker player?
I consider myself a calculated player. I think one of my qualities is that I’m not afraid to make decisions that I know are good, regardless of what stage of the tournament I’m in, whether I’m at the final table or just starting the tournament. I manage to concentrate very well in critical situations and adapt to circumstances.
You started playing poker seriously in 2018, and in just 7 years, you reached 10th place in Romania’s all-time money list, according to thehendonmob.com. Was it easy? Was it difficult? What obstacles did you encounter? Who or what helped you?
In 2018, I was definitely not at a serious level. My best poker results have been in the last 3 years. The road has been hard. There are months when you can only lose, but then you win a tournament and make back all those months plus profit. For poker, you have to have the right mindset. It is only when variance and downswing come into play that you can you really see if you are mentally prepared to become a professional. My loved ones have always been there for me and supported me, so I consider myself lucky in that regard.
Do you have a poker mentor? What good advice have you received in your career so far, and how has it helped you achieve results?
Yes, I have a mentor, a man I admire very much, his name is Benjamin Rolle or bencb789 online. I haven’t had one-on-one coaching with him, but his platforms and his way of teaching and explaining the game have helped me a lot. I think the best advice I could give to a beginner, or even a player who already has some experience, would be to learn the preflop game very, very well. People don’t realize how important this is.
Do you have a recipe for success in poker? Do you study a lot? Do you train mentally and/or physically? Do you have a specific program? What advice can you give to help the next generation of poker players who are just starting out?
I don’t know if there is a recipe for success in poker. It can be very subjective; it depends on each individual to make the program that works best for them. Personally, I try to eat healthy and keep my body healthy by going to the gym and exercising. There’s no room for mental fog when you’re playing 14 tournaments at the same time. As for advice, I think the best advice I could give to a beginner, or even a player who already has some experience, would be to learn the preflop game very, very well. People don’t realize how important this is. If you know how to take advantage of certain situations, you can make more chips in tournaments by playing preflop than postflop. Plus, if you play a lot of tables online, preflop decisions have to become reflexive; there’s no time to think too much about them.
