Generation Next - De Korver Fulfills Poker Destiny

Pieter de Korver burst onto the international poker circuit with a massive win at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in 2009. The Team PokerStars pro took home €2,300,000 after coming back from next to nothing at a roller coaster final table. The following year he took down the $1,000 no-limit hold’em six-max event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $110,050. It’s easy to see the colourful Dutchman has a strong passion for the game and has become a character who enhances any event he enters by just being there. The friendly 28-year-old feels a great sense of belonging in the industry for many reasons, which he explains to Card Player.
Rebecca McAdam: What did you do before poker?
Pieter de Korver: I was a student studying leisure management. It was five years ago. I did my internship in Indonesia, I did golf event management, and I actually only had to do my thesis when I came back. When I discovered poker, I was already a card player from when I was seven years old or so, and when poker started to boom, my thesis got put to one side a little bit. It was three years later when I finished my thesis — I started to play poker and I was really into it and I really loved it. In 2008, when I won the poker amateur championship of Holland (it was a TV programme), that gave me the boost to play poker seriously. Then I got a shot from PokerStars to play Barcelona, but didn’t really do anything good there. Then in November I got a phone call saying I could join Team PokerStars Holland; it would be maybe for a year or something. When I got the phone call, that was my motivation to finish my studies. I said to myself, “Ok, I’ll put all my focus on poker, but first I have to finish one thing, and that’s my school.” And in a couple of weeks I finished my thesis.
RM: Was it hard going back?
PK: No, no because I was always looking at it, and I couldn’t finish it. I did my thesis about the ideal golf driving range, so it was actually a pretty nice subject to write about but I missed the finishing touch. That phone call changed everything because I finished my studies, and then went to the Bahamas to play. It was a great adventure but it didn’t work out. However, it gave me the motivation to improve my game. I changed my whole opinion of poker, I really went hard into training. I went four to five times a week to the gym because Bahamas was a disappointment and I was thinking I had to prepare much better and if I did that maybe I could succeed. I was preparing myself totally for the World Series of Poker, so I had five or six months.
Then in April we had a photo shoot and I talked to the boys and they asked was I going to San Remo, and I said no, and they asked what about Monte Carlo, and I said no. But it triggered me off and so I asked my manager and he said, “Yeah, you can go to San Remo but then you have to get your hotel by yourself.” I said, “Nah, I don’t want to.” He said, “Ok, try Monte Carlo then!” And I said, “What the heck! Let’s try it.” That changed everything.
RM: You were saying you weren’t prepared, so how do you prepare?
PK: It was so crazy. I was going to the sports school like four to five times a week, and I was also doing spin classes. My fitness instructor was also my dietician so I kept a good schedule for food. In my spinning classes he was screaming at me, “Come on Peter!” I was giving it 200 percent, and this is crazy, but I was there cycling on the bicycle saying, “Who wants to be a millionaire, who wants to be a millionaire…” I had a chance to do it. A friend of mine was saying, “Come on, you’re crazy,” but I just said, “Come on! This is a chance!” I was so focused and relaxed, I didn’t have my school, my parents weren’t bugging me or anything, I sold percentages to my friends and family, so there was also a lot of motivation from everyone. The more I got fit, the more excited and thrilled they all were. Everything felt like it was a puzzle that fell together. When we got fourhanded, I got unlucky, but I still had chips left and the rest is history, I won it! It was really amazing.
RM: Has your life changed since then?
PK: Totally. I’m not home much. I really like to travel so I can’t complain. I love it. It also gave me the opportunity to redecorate my house. It was already nice and I lived there before the win but I made it even nicer with a jacuzzi in the backyard and everything (laughs).
RM: Do you play online much now then?
PK: I made a really great office with four screens but I’m not really playing a lot, so that’s a problem.
RM: Do you think that happens frequently with young people who win a lot of money — they become less focused afterwards?
PK: Yeah, that’s exactly true because when you win a big thing it’s hard to focus and get yourself back to basics. I want to try and succeed, and actually next month I’m going to go to Thailand and I’m going to go totally back to basics. It’s called A Monk A Month and I can do it in a week. I’m going to see how it works, it’s like Buddhism. I hope to get some rest because after the big win, things go crazy, and everything changes.
RM: Do you still feel the drive to play poker?
PK: Yeah, I so love it. Actually my story is much more crazy. Last year my Mom found a school project from when I was about nine or ten, and she told me, “This is the craziest thing ever Peter!” She gave it to me and it was a two-week, personally designed holiday, and I had made my own island, it was called “Casino Island”. Casino island with a “Poker Stand”, “Roulette Harbour”, and a “Gamble Beach”. So I was already made for this world. I was totally thrilled about casinos, money, flashing lights, Vegas, and everything worked out, so I’m feeling very at home here.
RM: Would you do anything concerning your previous interests with your winnings — like designing a real golf course for instance?
PK: Yeah, I could. After my win, I didn’t do a big investment because I don’t know what I want at this moment, but I put it away and I’m still waiting with tax and stuff.
RM: So, you envisioned your destiny and made it come true.
PK: Exactly. I always said when I was younger that I was going to be a millionaire [laughs]. So maybe it was like destiny that I could do it. I was always a card player, and with cards, if you can really handle yourself, you can win in poker.
RM: What’s your next ambition now?
PK: I would like to win a second EPT, to be the first one would be so cool. That would really be writing history. Now I’m really enjoying it, I hope I can succeed and stay as long as I want in this world. ♠