Silviu Nemeș, one of the best players in Romania gave us an interview 7 years away from the previous one, given in 2014. Times have changed, Silviu is now an experienced player who at the beginning of September achieved the best result of his career so far, winning the 11 NLH Monsterstack tournament, part of the WSOP Circuit. On this occasion we congratulate him, and to you, the readers of our magazine, we offer this interview as a gift.
Silviu Nemeș
At the beginning of September, at Rozdanov, you won the 11 NLH Monsterstack tournament, part of the WSOP Circuit, managing to enter the exclusive club of Romanian players who came into possession of a WSOP ring or bracelet. What was your first thought, how did you feel the moment immediately after winning the decisive hand in the final?
Of course I was very happy. It is my biggest win, a prestigious tournament and a very consistent cash prize.
Was the Rozdanov tournament difficult? Was it hard to get to the final table and win?
I would say that in general, live tournaments like this with a small and very high guaranteed buyin, which attract a lot of recreational players, are not necessarily heavy tournaments. In general, the heavy tournaments take place online, the level of play in a 500 Euro tournament being incomparably higher online than the live one. It was a difficult tournament, tiring due to the fact that it lasted for 3 days, playing around 10 hours every day. I remember that on day 2, I had a harder game at one point, with some very good regulars, which I then met again in the last 2 games of the final day. On the last day, I started very well, accumulating chips quite quickly, reaching the position of chip leader before the final table, thus being in a very favorable situation, being able to make my game relaxed and put pressure on the rest of the players who in many moments, due to the big jumps in prizes, were unable to put up too much resistance.
Was there a key moment in the tournament you won? If so, what was it and how did it affect the outcome?
An important key moment that comes to mind was the end of day 2, when I was short stack for a long time, in the area of 10-20 Big Blinds, after which reaching 25 blinds, I paid a small 3 bet in position with 78s and I flopped the maximum straight on 456, my opponent having aces, thus managing to double, a moment that gave me confidence for the final day, propelling me to the top.
After this remarkable result, can we say that you are going on the next adventures with a very good morale, what are your goals in the near future?
My next target is to win a bracelet at the WSOOP Europe festival, where I plan to participate in most texas holdem tournaments, the festival starting on November 19 and of course I hope to make a beautiful figure at MAIN EVENT of 10,350 Euro – 5,000,000 Euro GUARANTEED, where I already have 2 tickets obtained at the last 2 final games at King’s Casino.
In 2014, when you gave your first interview to Casino Inside magazine, did you say that you play mostly Hold’em, very little Omaha and no other variations of poker, has anything changed in the meantime?
At the moment I am in the same situation, mainly Holdem game, more online cash, live tournaments and very rarely live omaha, but since the beginning of the pandemic I have spent most of my time playing online cash, Sit N Goes heads up and tournaments, occasionally, Sunday.
Also in the interview with Casino Inside 7 years ago, you said that you play more online, lately considering the poker club you are a shareholder, has anything changed in terms of your preferences?
Before the pandemic, I played more live than online, the situation changing then, with no other option. I would say that of the existing poker options, I like the live tournaments the most, because of the atmosphere, the adrenaline and the enthusiasm on the way to the final table. I prefer live tournaments much more than online ones because live, as a professional player, you have more information, which can be taken into account, playing face-to-face, compared to an online tournament.
How was the pandemic period for you, as a poker club owner, but also as a poker player?
As the owner of a poker club due to the pandemic, we decided to close the club with the intention of re-evaluating at the end of the pandemic. We needed a relocation to a larger location and better strategically located anyway. In the meantime, we found a new location, much more suitable, bigger, more beautiful, where we can organize tournaments with a much bigger guaranteed prize pool than before. On this occasion, I take this opportunity to announce a new Gentlemen’s Poker Club tournament, namely Gentlemen’s Million which will have a guaranteed fund of 1,000,000 Lei and which I hope we will be able to organize in 2022, of course this depends a lot of the pandemic situation. As a poker player, the pandemic period was the best of my entire career so far. Because of the lockdowns, many have entered online poker, creating action at online tables like we haven’t seen in a long time.
Are you well connected to the poker community in our country, how is poker evolving from your point of view today? Are there poker players coming from behind, players who are going to demonstrate high-level skills in the next period (possibly if you can exemplify)?
I would say that in our country live poker is on a slight increase, at least in tournaments, where we have more and more live tournament options with high guarantees. We will see how much this pandemic will affect in the next period. There are some new players who have had some very good scores online, which I don’t know, but also the old ones (Papazian, Vlad Darie and others) who have recently confirmed with impressive online scores.
What do you think will be the life of poker clubs in the next period? How will their operation be affected in the future?
After the lockdown, there was a great desire to play in poker clubs around the world. I think that after this lockdown it will be the same, after which, naturally, there will be a decrease, I hope not too drastic because most people were still financially affected by the pandemic. But time will tell…
