Alexander the Great was 33 when he conquered the world, Fedor Holz was only 21 when he became the king of the online poker world.

Okay, this might not be the most appropriate comparison, but there’s no denying that Holz has done a lot in his professional poker career, despite being only in his mid-twenties.

In 2014, the German-born player was crowned the world’s best online MTT player. The same happened in 2015 and a year later, he won his first WSOP bracelet.

In 2020, it’s estimated that he has more than $32M in his bank account, all thanks to poker.

A FEW FACTS ABOUT HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER

Fedor Holz was born on July 25, 1993, in Saarbrucken Germany, but currently resides in the capital of Austria, Vienna.

He got involved with online poker in his teens, with his first major success happening in his early twenties.

That’s when his rise to stardom started. Today, at the age of 26, he’s one of the richest poker players on Earth.

Here are some facts that show how successful he’s been so far.

• Going by the name CrownUpGuy, Holz was crowned the best online MTT player in 2014 and 2015.
• He had his first live cash in 2012 at the €500 No Limit Hold'em GPT II Deepstack Series Main Event.
• In 2016, Holz won his first WSOP bracelet by taking down the $111,111 High Roller For One Drop event.
• Later that year, he won $6M after finishing second in the $1M buy-in High Roller event.
• The same year, Holz managed to cash out a total of more than $10M.
• In total, his winnings make up over $32M, which puts him at the very top of the German all-time money list.
• Apart from making a fortune playing poker, Holz has been involved in many other ventures, some related to poker, some not.

‘HOLZING’ OUT FOR A HERO

Holz didn’t become poker’s success story by accident. On the contrary, he earned his money rather than winning it by chance.

What’s his secret? A really high IQ! Albert Einstein’s IQ was 160. Holz got his IQ tested while still at school and back then, it was 155.

Although Holz jokes about getting dumber over the years, the fact is he belongs to the 0.01229 percentile of people with an IQ of 155 or more. That makes him one of only about 93,000 people on Earth with such brainpower.

Obviously, Holz has been using his IQ to beat other poker players and make himself a real fortune. With over $30M in his account, Holz is one of the richest poker players in the world today, meaning that he can retire early if he wants to.

He doesn’t. He loves playing poker even if money is not involved. However, poker is not his only occupation. This guy has a wide spectrum of interests, including everything from traveling to playing chess, which makes him a far more interesting character than many other poker players.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE POKER PLAYER

Being a poker player is a profession that often attracts a lot of controversy. There are players who like spending money on wild parties, with supermodels and sometimes, a lot of drugs. There are also those whose wrong decisions get them in trouble with the law. Holz, is definitely not one of them.

The only controversy about this guy is that there’s literally nothing controversial going on in his life. Living a good guy’s life does not make him too interesting to the yellow press.

When he’s not playing poker, he spends his days traveling the world, hiking in the mountains, doing yoga, meditating, and practicing salsa moves. Yes, you’ve read it correctly, Holz loves dancing and he’s not afraid to show it, as you can see in the video below.

Speaking of videos with Holz in them, this guy has also made a couple of YouTube tutorials in which he teaches his viewers on how to play poker successfully.

You can find these on his official YouTube channel, together with a couple of other videos, in which he acts as a motivational speaker.

In his motivational videos, he’s talking about how changes in attitude can help you achieve greatness in all areas of life. Focusing on mental strength is key to success according to this very successful poker player.

He also shares his thoughts on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. His posts often deal with the importance of personal growth, love, and support. According to the man himself, one of the pillars of his professional and personal life is his family.

THE HOLZ FAMILY

Having an above-the-average IQ has certainly helped him become a poker legend. However, without the support of his parents, Holz would’ve probably picked another profession.

Perhaps he’d be a famous chess player now, as that was his passion in his youth. Even before his teenage days, Holz used to play chess online and you can still find his profiles on sites like 365chess.com.

His life took a different turn when he got introduced to poker. It didn’t take too much for him to master the game. That happened when he was still in his teens when he was still living with his parents and three sisters.

His family wasn’t rich, but they were all for helping Fedor pursue his dream. Even when he decided to drop out of college to play poker, they stood by him.

Today, at the age of 26, Fedor Holz is one of the greatest poker players in history.

How to go from a winning poker player to a profitable sports bettor, read here.

Check out the other articles in our 10 People Who Got Rich from Poker series on:

• Article 1: Daniel Negreanu, the most famous poker play of all time
• Article 2: Phil Ivey cheated his way to a $10 million win
• Article 3: Phil “POKER BRAT” Hellmuth, the biggest trash talker in poker
• Article 5: Patrik Antonius, winning the biggest ever online pot & nearly becoming a tennis pro
• Article 6: Gus Hansen, the great Dane who went on a $20.7M losing streak!
• Article 7: Doug Polk, a poker pensioner at 31 who now plays warcraft full-time
• Article 8: Chris Ferguson, the Jesus of Poker who turned full antichrist
• Article 9: Justin Bonomo, the Romeo with many Juliets
• Article 10: Mike Matusow, a former prisoner and Trump-worshipping poker legend
• Article 11: Viktor Blom, a.k.a. ILSIDUR1, the record holder for the biggest loss in online poker history
• Article 12: Bryn Kenney, the richest man in poker
• Article 13: Jonas Gjelstad, leaving school early and moving to Thailand to become a professional poker player