Former Dynamo forward Artem Milevsky talks about his passion for poker and how he opened his own private club.
Artem Milevsky- Artem, I saw that you opened a poker club. Could you tell us about it?
- We have been preparing this project for a long time, since spring, as I am a big fan of poker and I am interested in playing with my friends.
- Tell us about your private club. Do you have your own poker client or do you play at PokerStars or other poker clients?
- We have our own poker client where people from all over the world can play. It's very easy to do, you just need to write to me, and I answer everyone. And when I'm in the mood, after the Euro matches, I also sit down at the table. That is, we create our own community.
- How long have you been playing poker?
- A very long time. I think everyone knows the rules. There's nothing complicated about it.
- And how do you play poker: aggressively or secretly?
- Honestly, according to my mood. I mostly watch how other people play and get inspired by their game.
- I understand that you play cash games in your poker club. What are the minimum and maximum bets?
- The minimum is $10, the maximum is $250. It all depends on what table is going to be assembled. It's not fabulous money. You can also write to me privately during the game, and I answer everyone.
- Which celebrities play poker with you?
- There are a lot of influential people who live in the US, these are my friends. Ukrainian bloggers also play.
- Do any Dynamo players play?
- Not yet. But I think they'll find out soon and start playing too. Khacheridi is a fan of this business, and it won't take long (laughs ).
- Who was the best card player at Dynamo during your career?
- In my time, Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Shovkovskyi was always winning. Max Shatskikh and Oleg Gusev were also good. But we didn't play poker, we played joker. It's a purely football game, but unfortunately, the generation that played joker is dying out. Now it will be very difficult to find four people to play joker. We used to play after our paychecks all the time.
- How much did you lose and win the most?
- I could lose $500 in a game of joker. Then, after me, the guys started playing for bigger stakes, Rybalka and Khacheridi. They already had higher prices.
As for other games, the biggest amount I lost at roulette was 15 thousand dollars. After that, Valentin Belkevich, may he rest in peace, lent me two thousand dollars the next day. I won back all my money, and the next morning I gave him back the two.
- Did you play with Igor Mikhailovich Surkis?
- No, I didn't play with him. But I know that Rybalka played a game with Ihor Mykhailovych on the plane after the Chelsea match and won a decent amount of money. All the guys were rooting for Rybalka at the time (laughs).
- Did Rybalka at least raise a couple of grand?
- I think so.
- I can't help but ask you what happened at the card table with Denis Boyko.
- I don't want to raise this topic. Everyone in the football world knows this story perfectly well. I have nothing more to say and I'm not interested in talking about it.
- Do you greet him when you see him?
- No, I don't.
- You've shared a table with poker stars: Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, etc.?
- No, I haven't played with them, only with Miami cowboys.
- That's interesting.
- Miami, 2006, after the World Cup. I went on a cruise to Miami for the first time. As I remember it now, it was a big ship, 14 floors, six restaurants, a skating rink, a casino. Every day we stopped in a new city and country - the Caribbean, Jamaica, Haiti, Mexico. From 9 am to 3 pm we went on a tour. Then, without fail, we had a daytime nap, followed by dinner and discos.
In addition, the ship had a whole floor of a casino where you could play poker. The first day I went there, everyone was playing for $5. There were cowboys sitting there, all wearing hats. What does five dollars mean to me? I start raising. And we played a kind of poker where you could change 5 cards, not just one or two.
Anyway, the first night I lost 5 thousand dollars. Everyone was looking at me, they couldn't understand who this guy was. Then every evening I won back a little bit and even raised a mower during the cruise.
Andriy Piskun
