Fedor Holz, the “CrownUpGuy” as he’s mostly known, is a professional poker player, born on the 25th day of July 1993 in Saarbrucken, Germany. Fedor Holz who is on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in Germany and also fourth on the All-time Money List currently lives in Vienna, Austria.
Career Overview
Fedor Holz’s mother who is a journalist gave birth to him at 17 years of age and was forced to quit school. Holz who was a very intelligent kid was often bullied by his peers. Even with an IQ of 155, Holz was easily uninterested in school as he often skips classes in high school.
This continued in the University where he was studying informatics. Holz was always playing poker with friends at the detriment of his schoolwork. Although he always lost, his drive to compete and learn kept him going.
At 18, Holz started playing online poker and was winning about €300 to €400 monthly. In 2012, he was taken in by a reputable MTT player who tutored him in professional poker. This led to his first-ever big win of €15,320, finishing second place in the €500 No-Limit Hold’em GPT II Deepstack Series Main Event in Rozvadov, Czech Republic.
He got even more motivated that he dropped out of school and began his professional poker journey around the world. He decided to move to Vienna in 2014, leaving his friends and family behind in Germany. In the summer that same year, he won his first World Championship of Online Poker title with a whopping $1.3 million.
Tournaments Wins and Achievements
Fedor Holz has won a total of 12 World Series Of Poker (WSOP) cashes, a WSOP bracelet, and 3 live PokerStars tournaments trophies. He has amassed a total of $11,915,808 from WSOP events alone. Below are his winnings;
- In 2015, he won $268,463, finishing at 3rd position at the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6 Handed Championship
- In 2016, he placed 1st, winning a whopping $4,981,775 at the WSOP $111,111 High Roller for One Drop Hold’em Championship
- In 2018, he finished as a runner up to Justin Bonomo at the $1,000,000 No-Limit Hold’em – The Big One for One Drop, which saw him winning his biggest ever cash prize yet of $6,000,000.
He also won in several other tournaments;
- In 2012, he placed second, winning $19,288 at the €500 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event GPT II, Deepstack Series
- In February 2013, he won the $500 + 50 No-Limit Hold’em event, BLPT winning $4,695
- In April 2013, Holz placed second, winning $8,877 at the €1,850 + 150 No-Limit Hold’em event, High Roller 8-Handed ESPT Valencia
- In May 2013, he won $45,894, placing second at the €1,000 + 10 No-Limit Hold’em event, Turbo EPT Monte Carlo
- In November 2013, he was second, winning $35,000 at the $6,800 + 200 Lucky Number 7-Highroller event, CPT
- In 2014, he won and came fourth at two EPT Barcelona events, winning five pots amounting to $150,000. He also won the 2014 Mega Poker Series with a grand prize of $38,610 at the euro700 + 70 No-Limit Hold’em MPS Main Event
- In April 2015, he came 4th and 7th, winning $372,208 and $369,152 respectively, at two Super High Rollers events, EPT Monte Carlo
- In August 2015, he won two pots at the EPT Barcelona, worth $112,663 and $36,590.
- In December 2015, he won $1,589,219 at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic
- In January 2016, Holz won a staggering sum of $3,072,748 at the WPT National Philippines Triton Super High Roller Series Cali Cup, placing 1st position. He also came second in the same year, winning a huge sum of $3.5 million at the Aria $300k Super High Roller Bowl. He won both the High Roller for One Drop No-Limit Hold’em and the EPT Barcelona €50k Super High Roller event in 2015, winning a whopping $4,981,775 and $1.3 million respectively.
Fedor Holz had won more than $10 million in live events in barely 2 months in 2016. He has won over $32 million in live events throughout his career, with $16 million of that from 2016 alone.
Holz was featured in a documentary about himself, which was shown at the Poker Masters Series in 2017. He apparently plays poker now for pleasure and not for financial benefits.
Alongside his friends, Holz founded a company called Prime and they developed a special application called Primed Mind. He is an amazing poker player and is considered to be one of the best poker players in the world.