Marvin Rettenmaier Starts Summer on “Mad” Run

Since its inception in 1997, the Card Player Player of the Year award has been a sign of consisent achievement over an entire year. One could not capture that title by simply winning one tournament. To win took skill, determination and commitment. One need only look at the list of prior winners like Daniel Negreanu, T.J. Cloutier, Michael Mizrachi, David Pham and a host of other great champions to know that it is not an easy award to win.

In addition to all of the previous winners of this award being world-class players, another tie that bound all them was that they were primarily players from the United States, as that was where the majority of the tournaments took place. With tournament poker’s popularity on the rise all around the world, and the growth of the European Poker Tour, the World Series of Poker Europe and a myriad of other poker tours, the idea that the whole poker world revolves around America has changed.

Perhaps the perfect player to represent this new era of global poker is Marvin Rettenmaier. In 2011, the young poker pro from Leonberg, Germany emerged from relative obscurity and put together an absolutely incredible year.

Rettenmaier made a total of 13 final tables, the most of anyone on the live tournament circuit that year, winning two titles and more than $700,917 in the process. It was that incredible level of consistency that drove Rettenmaier up the ranks to a 4th-place finish by year’s end.

After playing an exhausting schedule in pursuit of the Player of the Year title in 2011, Rettenmaier decided to cut down his schedule and focus more on quality than quantity this time around. It seemed that whichever approach he chose would work, as he already has found his way to the top of the leaderboard in 2012, completing his rise to prominence by winning the prestigious World Poker Tour Championship main event for almost $1.2 million late in May.

The 25-year-old currently sits in second place in the POY rankings, and with a huge title under his belt and a newly announced sponsorship deal with online giant Party Poker, things are looking up for the man known as “Mad Marvin”.

Card Player caught up with Marvin to learn all about his amazing two-year run, his WPT Championship win and much more.

Erik Fast: With Piuz Heinz as the reigning World Series of Poker main event champion and your recent win, German pros now hold two of tournament poker’s most prestigious titles. Why do you think German players had such a good year?

Marvin Rettenmaier: I am definitely very happy to represent my country. I wouldn’t necessarily compare my victory to Piuz’s, as the WSOP main event is the biggest tournament and very influential, but it is still nice to have both titles in the country.

EF: It seems that with both of you, and players like Tobias Reinkemeier, Benny Spindler and Philipp Gruissem, Germany is producing some very successful players.
MR: The German poker community is pretty close knit; there are definitely a lot of people who share their thoughts about the game. Also, I think that the German mentality is pretty good for poker, as well. Germans are stereotypically very disciplined, calm working people, so I think that within Europe, Germany is definitely one of the top nations in poker.

EF: Now you have played a lot of tournaments and had a lot of success in Europe, especially on some of the bigger tournaments on smaller tours like the France Poker Tour. Do you encounter different levels of experience from country to country?

MR: There are definitely a lot of differences, especially if you compare the United States to Europe. There are different playing styles as well… I don’t play too much in Germany, but people are definitely more conservative there, whereas in Southern European countries like Italy people go crazy. They have a lot of honor and they don’t want that to get touched, so they are basically unbluffable. There is definitely a huge difference in the average player from tournament to tournament.

EF: How did you come to be called “Mad Marvin?”

MR: It started with the people from Party Poker, they gave me that nickname quite a while ago. I think it has more to do with my partying behavior then anything with my behavior at the poker table.

EF: Speaking of which, you just announced a deal with Party Poker, and team pro and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton said of you, “Poker needs characters and Marvin is certainly one of those. I think he’ll be an asset and I am delighted that he has joined the team.” What are your thoughts on the deal?

MR: I am very excited about getting the deal with Party Poker, they are a huge and great company and it will definitely help me get my image out there and build my brand, and I am very excited about that definitely.

EF: I saw I picture on your twitter account of you with Scotty Nguyen from 2008 that said, “my favorite player in my starting years baby.” A lot of young players come across as very serious, do you like the players that are more flamboyant at the table, and what does that say about your approach at the table?

MR: I definitely like the players that are more fun at the table, but I take poker very seriously. It is my job after all, so I am not trying to be the class clown on the table, especially when we are playing for such high stakes. But I definitely like if there is a little bit of talk, because it makes it so much more interesting for spectators.

EF: When you found yourself in the mix in the 2011 Card Player Player of the Year race, you traveled a ton and played a massive amount of tournaments going after the title. While many players say they mostly play just to win money, is it fair to say that you are at least somewhat concerned with prestige?

MR: There is definitely a good percentage of me that is not playing just for the money, but is also playing for prestige as well. I don’t have to play the high rollers against the very good players, but the rankings do mean something to me. You can’t really prove who is the best within a single tournament, or even within a single year, either. They keep me going as well. I would never have played as much as I did last year without the Player of the Year rankings. It was kind of a weird goal, which I set before the year even started.

EF: Interesting. So if you value the rankings as proof of consistency over periods of longer than a year, you are certainly living up to your expectations. Last year you finished fourth in the POY rankings, and this year already you are currently near the top of the leaderboard again. So consistency over a two-year period must make you feel good?

MR: Yeah definitely, and I haven’t even played that much yet this year. This year is my “I want to play good poker” year, more so than just putting in a lot of volume. I feel like I am playing a lot better this year as well, I am more focused and sleep more before tournaments, so definitely I am playing better.

EF: How did you get started playing poker, and then once interested in the game, how did you come to play it seriously?

MR: I had friends that played in high school. We would play during breaks, and at night we would have a couple of beers and play for €5. So that’s how I got into the game, and then I was fortunate to have buddies that got into it and improved very fast, and we picked up a lot from each other. One of my buddies back then, we came out to the World Series of Poker in 2008 and we were those super-donks you saw there. We both didn’t have that much money and $10,000 was a lot for us. Now he plays heads-up high-stakes pot-limit Omaha, and I am playing the high-stakes tournaments, so we’ve come a long way.

EF: So let’s talk about the tournament you just won.

MR: Which one? (laughs) No, just kidding.

EF: The $25,000 WPT Championship. Was that the biggest buy-in tournament you have ever played?

MR: Yeah I was just discussing that with a friend, this was definitely the highest buy-in event I have ever played. I have played a lot of $10,000 events, but I have never played any high-rollers. I was going to play a couple, but something always happened, like I would still be in smaller side events when the bigger buy-ins started. I have complained before that I seem to run very well in the low buy-ins and bad in the high buy-ins, but I guess I can’t do that anymore now.

EF: What led you to play the event this year?

MR: A buddy of mine told me that the field is not actually as tough as people think and that there is money to be made, so I thought I might as well come over early and if I bust right away I can get the partying out of my system for a week and then show up at the WSOP focused.

EF: How was your road to the final table in that event?

MR: There were definitely some ups-and-downs, but I avoided most of the cooler situations.

EF: When you played down to the final table you gathered a ton of chips. How did that go down?

MR: There was a huge coin flip I played against Hafiz Khan, and if I didn’t win that it would have been very tough for me, but I won it and became a massive chip leader, which allowed me to put a lot of pressure on people and pick up easy chips in uncontested pots.

EF: So you made the final table with 44 percent of the chips in play, but then had a day off before playing for the title. That must have been stressful.

MR: I’ve never had that situation happen before, and I have to say that I didn’t like it. I ended up thinking a lot about my situation and how much money we were playing for, and I don’t think I would have dwelled on it so much without the day off. It had a little bit of a negative effect on me, I think.

EF: You had more time to worry about it.

MR: I realized that I was the favorite, and that I am supposed to win this, so if I didn’t win that would have been terrible.

EF: Your heads-up match had a lot of lead changes, and you were facing one of the less experienced players of the final six. Were you a little worried about finishing second knowing that you came in as a big favorite, and could end up losing as a result of the blinds being so large and the hands just playing themselves?

MR: Definitely, especially to lose against the least experienced player, no offense to him, but that would have been very frustrating.

EF: So eventually you were able to come back from a short stack, retake the lead and finish it off. How did it feel to win such a prestigious tournament and a seven-figure score?

MR: I actually think that I only really realized when the result got up in the databases and I saw the numbers next to my name. It feels especially good because this was the big title that I was missing. People have given me a hard time for complaining because I have had decent results, but I have always wanted that one big title and now that I have it, it feels good.

EF: So just a week after winning the WPT Championship, already you have made a final table at the WSOP, finishing fifth in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em mix-max event. As a result, you moved into second place in the Player of the Year race.

MR: I think that I will not make it my top priority quite yet, but I will wait until the last few months of the year. I am definitely going to go for it, though.

EF: There are a lot of tough players near the top of the leaderboard, including your friend Faraz Jaka. Would it be fun to battle with him for the title?

MR: Definitely, but he’s not sure if he is going to play a ton of tournaments, because he is also doing a lot of work as a businessman. I am trying to talk him into focusing on business so that he can’t get the POY points. I am rooming with him right now actually, so that would definitely be a good battle. (laughs)

EF: So you are going to play a lot of events at the WSOP?

MR: Yeah, I have always wanted one of these bracelets, and I wanted to win the Player of the Year, so I had the thought where I would just combine the two: win a bracelet, and then take over the lead and then win Player of the Year (laughs). ♠

German Pros On The Rise

German pros now hold two of poker’s biggest titles, with Piuz Heinz winning the World Series of Poker main event and Rettenmaier taking down the World Poker Tour Championship. A number of other Deutschlanders have also made a huge impact on the global tournaments poker scene. Here is a look at some of the best tournament poker players that Germany has to offer:

Sebastian Ruthenberg – Hamburg, DEU – Age: 28

- With live tournament earnings of $3,285,118 and two massive titles under his belt, Sebastian Ruthenberg has secured his name on the list of great German pros.
Ruthenberg won the 2008 European Poker Tour Barcelona for $1.9 million, and has made a total of 3 final tables on that tour, making him the 5th-highest earner in the history of EPT. Ruthenberg also captured a WSOP gold bracelet in a 2008 $5,000 seven-card stud for $328,762.

Benny Spindler – Darmstadt, DEU – Age: 27

- With seven career titles, including a win at the 2011 EPT London main event, Benny Spindler has also made his presence felt on the international tournament circuit. Spindler is a double threat, with more than $3 million in live tournament earnings and more than $820,000 in online tournament earnings.

Tobias Reinkemeier – Cuxhaven, DEU – Age: 24

- Tobias Reinkemeier has live tournament earnings of more than $3.5 million, with two seven-figure scores to his name, including a recent runner-up finish in the €100,000 buy-in super high roller. Like Spindler, Reinkemeier has also put up massive results online, with more than $810,000 in online winnings.

Philipp Gruissem – Aachen Nordrhein-Westfalen, DEU – Age: 25

- Gruissem won two EPT high roller events in a matter of weeks in 2011. With 80 career cashes and an impressive ten titles to his name, Gruissem has garnered $2.1 in live winnings and more than $1.1 million in online earnings.

Pius Heinz – Cologne, DEU – Age: 23

- The reigning world champion is the first German player ever to win the WSOP main event. As a result of his capturing the $8.8 million first-place prize for winning that massive title, Heinz has earned the distinction of becoming the highest earner in German poker history, and the fourth highest earner in WSOP history.

Marvin Rettenmaier – Leonberg, DEU – Age: 25

- Rettenmaier’s recent capture of the 2012 WPT Championship title increased his lifetime career earnings to more than $2.9 million, but what has perhaps been most impressive about him is his consistency over the past two years. With the most final tables made in 2011 by any player on the circuit with 13, and five more already this year, Rettenmaier has made his name around the globe as a tournament force to be reckoned with. ♠