Mario Mosböck AMA: Mental Game Secrets, Content Creation, Poker Career & More

Who Is Mario Mosböck?

Mario Mosböck is one of the most successful high-stakes tournament poker players in the world. With more than $17 million in tournament winnings, the ex-professional football player from Austria has established himself as one of the most impactful figures in high-stakes tournaments. 

We’re lucky that he’s recently made his own YouTube channel, giving us a look at how a multi-millionaire pro approaches the game.

This is an aggressive poker player with a sharp eye for detail and a unique ability to pull the trigger at the right time, even with millions of dollars on the line. 

• CoinPoker Username: “MarioMosboeck”
• Place of Birth: Austria
• Years Playing Poker: Over 10 years
• Poker Specialty: High-Stakes Tournaments
• Live Poker Earnings: Over $17 Million 
• WSOP Resume: 39 Cashes, 1 Final Table

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Mario Mosböck’s Answers About His Poker Career

Mario has thrived in poker over the last five years and has established himself as a staple of the high-stakes tournament community.

These are some of the questions he was asked about his ascent in poker. 

For Mario, enjoying his time at the tables is now the ultimate goal, regardless of the results of the game. 

Q: After so many years and so many successes, what is your main driver to keep going? Do you ever feel tempted to think you have done it all and it’s time to relax, or are there other ventures you would like to pursue after poker?

“I always really love playing, and this was my main driver to play. I do play already significantly less volume than at my peak in 2022/2023, which is a result of cutting the hours of poker that I enjoyed less. I will always play poker to some extent, but volume will likely become less.

I did achieve a couple of the goals I had, and earlier in my career, I was also more financially driven than now. However, I also notice that setting strict goals leads to me enjoying the progress less, and therefore my goal of continuing to play is to actually enjoy the time when I do play, unrelated to the outcome.“

Enjoying the game and being present are Mario’s ultimate goals for the coming years of his career. 

Q: What is your goal in poker? To be more specific: Is there anything specific you want to achieve in poker, winning a specific tournament, for example? And if you allow one more question: What’s your biggest goal outside of poker?

“I mainly want to be able to play poker over the next years and enjoy the process of playing it. Setting a specific target makes it hard for me, so my goal is to enjoy the process. Very similar on my personal life. I wanna make sure to be present, because I am aware that being young & healthy will be the best days of my life.”

Is another poker boom coming? Mario would sure love to see it!

Q: Hey Mario, do you think there will ever be another “poker boom”?

“I really hope so, I guess this will be led by Asian players starting to love the game. I don’t see the same poker boom from the US early 2000s happen again unless the market fully opens up. Which seems unlikely at this point.”

Mario Mosböck Answers About Poker Strategy

Most fans seemed more eager to know about Mario’s career and advice on the mental game, but one fan asked an important strategy question as well. 

No favorite poker hands for Mario Mosböck. 

Q: Hi, can you tell what’s your favourite hand to play (everyone has a favourite)? Also, what would you recommend is the best strategy I need to adopt to become better at 4-player or 6-player tables?

“Mhm, I don’t think I have a favorite hand TBH – I also don’t have a favorite football club, rather some that I like seeing succeed – is that weird? 😅 It’s all about poker position. If you want to become better at 4-handed, just see it as BB, SB, BU & CO and study those positions and scenarios between them. Same with 6-handed, but just add HJ & LJ. Overall, you play wider ranges on avg since the tighter early position will be left out.”

Mario Mosböck Answers About Discipline & Mental Game

Mosböck is clearly a master of the mental game of poker, as he always maintains a calm presence at the tables. It’s no wonder many questions were aimed at discovering hos he manages to remain so calm and collected when playing for such high stakes. 

Downswings aren’t really a thing in Mario’s book. New challenges come up, and we must find optimal solutions to them, even when they test our poker bankroll in a major way. 

Q: What was the most difficult thing for you when starting your career? As rookie players, we face many mental challenges that end in frustration. What advice could you offer to cope with bad times and negative streaks?

“The best advice on downswings, and I still remember it, I heard from Phil Galfond (or was it Mike McDonald?). He said that there is no such thing as a downswing, just a new, unique situation, which is now the task to find an optimal solution for. This helps you realize that you are on a losing/winning trend and makes you realize that previous results have no impact on future results and should be treated like this.”

Outbursts at the poker table make Mario uncomfortable, so he makes sure not to have any himself. 

Q: One thing that strikes me when I watch you play is how calm and collected you are compared to someone like Kabrhel or Phil Hellmuth, for instance. Is that simply your personality or is it something you learned over time? I would be genuinely surprised to see you get upset or burst out at the table. What are the chances of that ever happening?

“I would say it’s a mix of my personality & learned skills. I tend to stay calm in high-pressure situations, as I learned this to serve me well. It makes me uncomfortable to witness outbursts, so I wanna make sure I don’t bring others to uncomfortable spots.”

Being able to learn quickly is an essential poker skill for would-be poker professionals. 

Q: Were you always good at games and solving problems? Or what separates you, or other elite players, from the rest? Also, do you think an average person (not with any super bad habits) can get to the highest stakes with just hard work?

“I always enjoyed games & solving problems, which led to becoming good over time.

I do think the hard work part separates “successful“ persons from the average in itself. Being able to dedicate yourself to a craft and work hard is just as important of a skill as being “smart“

There is no such thing as, “If I wanted to, I could be good at poker.“ You are either good and worked hard for it, or you are not. If people have the perception that being smart is enough, they will never be truly great at something. I define smartness slightly differently and mainly as the ability to learn things quickly. And yes, with that definition, I would say that to become great at poker, you need to be able to learn very fast.”

Mario Mosböck Answers About Poker & Football

As a former professional football player, Mario answered a few questions regarding that part of his career, as fans were curious about which gave him more satisfaction. 

Mario was playing free-play poker at the age of just 12, which led to his family receiving a $1.4k internet bill. 

Q: Yes, hi Mario… two-part question. What’s your earliest poker memory, and how has that carried with you through your career? Secondly, what (if you could only pick one aspect) did you carry with you from your football career into the poker one? Thanks much, love brother, APK.

“Earliest core memory is playing free money on Full Tilt Poker & watching every single available video on PokerTube until I got sent a 1.4k$ internet bill, for spending more MB than the limit. I was twelve. A core strength from football is being able to stay calm in high-pressure situations and enjoying them quite a bit.”

Does Mario prefer football or poker? The answer is quite straightforward. 

Q: Poker or Football? 😉

“Poker.”

In the wake of Mario starting his YouTube channel and content creation, one fan was curious if Mario’s football background helped in this endeavor. 

Q: Mario, you came from professional football and later switched fully to poker. When did you realize that creating content publicly (sharing routine, mindset, your view of the game) should be part of your career? What motivated you to become a creator, and how did your football background help with that?

“Becoming a content creator was never really a priority, and it slowly became an option with the partnership with CoinPoker. This then developed into the partnership with Triton, and now I do enjoy parts of it.“

Mario Mosböck Answers About Partnering with CoinPoker

Mario didn’t hold back in his praise of CoinPoker either, as he answered fan questions about his partnership with the brand. 

Mosböck fully believes in the CoinPoker team and their passion for the game. 

Q: Why are CoinPoker & Mario so cool?

“As for CoinPoker, they have a great team behind it, who are all very passionate about the game.“

The next CoinPoker tournament series is just around the corner. 

Q: When are we getting the next tournament series on Coin?

“I believe the Winter Series is coming soon.” 

A major CoinPoker software update could be coming sooner than we thought. 

Q: CoinPoker could become the most powerful poker room in the world; the only thing missing is software worthy of its potential, with cool, imaginative, and gamified variations not found in mainstream poker rooms. When will a complete software update be released?😉

“Uh, we got something really nice cooking for you! 💃I do agree now, for now the product isn’t good enough to compete, but this will change way sooner than you think.”

The Next Big Tournament Series Is Coming to CoinPoker

Asked about the next tournament series at CoinPoker, Mario answered briefly: “I believe the Winter Series is coming soon.”

He’s not wrong. The CoinPoker Winter Festival is coming this Christmas, with millions in guarantees. That’s just a small part of our weekly tournament schedule, which includes daily freerolls and juicy Sunday Specials. 

Sign up with CoinPoker today, claim your 150% welcome bonus, and jump-start your own poker career. 

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