Playing the Nosebleeds | Sergey "MunEZ_StaRR" Nikiforov

► MECHANICS 3.0 EARLY ACCESS, APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN, 10 SPOTS AVAILABLE. Apply now at https://www.mechanicsofpoker.com for a chance to work with Rene and Adam and accelerate your poker career! ► Study GTO and join monthly webinars by TheWakko over at GTO Wizard, https://gtowizard.com/mechanics/ 10% off the first month In episode 14 of the MOPP we chat with $100KNL superstar Sergey “MunEZ_StaRR” Nikiforov about his journey to playing the nose bleeds. He shares with us how he was able to keep moving up stakes, the challenges he faced trying to break into $2KNL and why a lot of $100KNL regs are scared money. 0:00 - Intro 04:50 - Thailand summers compared to Russian winters 06:20 - Playing strategy games competitively as a child 09:49 - Why getting better at Warcraft and poker is similar 13:47 - What inspired Sergey to start playing poker 18:45 - Sergeys expectations going into poker 22:40 - Moving up stakes and having to upgrade his strategy 24:48 - Where Sergey got his confidence from 27:37 - Taking 7 years to get to high stakes and the early challenges 29:00 - Playing too much and how Sergey was able to find the sweet spot 34:00 - Transitioning from CAP games to cash games and starting again 36:31 - How Sergey went from low stakes to mid stakes 41:40 - The importance of discussing strategy with other players 45:02 - Mindset leaks that Sergey had to overcome 48:01 - Allowing himself to deviate from theory and experiment 49:18 - How Rene had to learn more theory to balance his exploitative style 53:07 - The 3 periods of Sergey career and how they related to enjoyment 55:20 - The ONE high stakes player who makes the most deviations 59:10 - Is Stefan11222 the ultimate poker genius? 1:01:27 - How many times Sergey has analysed Stefan11222s game 1:05:30 - How Sergey approached studying pre-solvers 1:09:54 - One of the biggest “aha” moments Sergey had watching Sauce123 1:14:15 - Breaking free from theory thinking and trusting himself more 1:16:30 - Studying OtB_RedBaron and becoming established at $2Ks 1:22:00 - When Sergey first starting using solvers and understanding theory 1:25:00 - Why you need to be careful using solvers 1:28:19 - What stake was the hardest to break into for Sergey 1:30:25 - How being a “gambler at heart” has influenced his career 1:34:04 - Losing 25% of his bankroll in 1 week and feeling depressed 1:36:47 - Why the Russian community is a hot bed for poker talent 1:39:35 - A life lesson poker has taught Sergey 1:42:13 - The one player who inspired Sergey to aim for the highest stakes 1:45:40 - The major contributors to Sergey long term success 1:49:30 - What is the biggest life lesson Rene learnt through poker 1:51:34 - Why Sergey is courteous when setting huge goals 1:55:54 - Playing against the games legends and the challenges it brings 2:00:15 - What is the difference between a $2KNL reg and a $100KNL reg 2:01:56 - $100KNL madness against rich Chinese business men 2:04:57 - Why high stakes players take so much longer to make decisions 2:08:22 - Will Sergey play live or is $100KNL stimulating enough? 2:12:45 - What still excites Sergey about poker 2:15:47 - What causes Sergey to make mistakes and deviate strategy 2:18:15 - Things that still frustrate Sergey at the tables 2:23:45 - Advice that Sergey would give to his younger self 2:28:00 - Sergey parting words for the audience 2:29.04 - Adam and Renes key takeaways from the podcast