Is playing bitcoin like playing poker? Who wins and who loses? Do we all win? In this interview, Peter Golob, a former professional poker player for whom Bitcoin changed his life, explains how bitcoin and poker are connected.
Can you call yourself a Bitcoiner and what does this term mean to you?
Peter: Of course, I'm a Bitcoiner. That means I spend most of my creative time on Bitcoin and I want to bring this amazing discovery to as many people as possible.
When did you first come across Bitcoin? Did you understand it immediately?
Peter: I first heard about Bitcoin back in 2011, on our pokepro.cc portal, in a forum where a member was talking about Bitcoin. At that time, the price was around $20. Of course, at that time, I was not the least bit interested, because my mind was elsewhere at that time. I was generating a lot of money for me at that time with online poker, and I was also involved in an affiliate programme related to poker. My ego was too big, my focus was completely elsewhere and I couldn't get into it because it wasn't time for me at that time.I was lucky I had a great mentor, Tomaž, who asked me every now and then since 2014 if I had bought it yet. So in 2017 I invested for the first time. That motivated me to start learning and there was no turning back. I found my passion again.
You have a very extensive experience in the world of poker. Can you share your journey with us?
Peter: Ugh, long story. I somewhere heard that Jonas Ž, who was a media star at the time, was involved in online poker. I gave it a try and after humble beginnings, somehow I got my hands on a good book on poker strategy. I studied it carefully and I haven't looked back since. I became obsessed with studying it and with the game itself, because it seemed that I had found exactly what I was looking for. The results improved exponentially and within six months I was earning several times my salary. And I was working as a mechanical engineer. I resigned in 2003 and that was when I turned my full attention to professional poker. Later I set up https://si.pokerpro.cc/ (which is still running today under different management) and helped to create the Slovenian poker community. Things happened organically and we became a real team, where we progressed and learned together. We gave our members many benefits, from the strategy training itself, to getting discounts on the fees collected by online poker organisers. We have seen the world and enjoyed life to the fullest.
What life lessons has the world of poker taught you?
Peter: Many things, especially long-term focus. Every strategy book talks about exactly that, but they all have one big common mistake. The long term is much longer than it first appears. And because poker is a finite game, there is pain built into it, because the winner gains at the expense of the loser, which ultimately leads to an imbalance. This has personally led me to divorce, burnout and depression.
What do poker and Bitcoin have in common?
Peter: They are basically opposite principles. In poker, you are competing with other players for the money that is on the table, but the organiser also wants to have a piece of the pie, which is usually substantial. So the organiser is by far the "best player" and slowly all the money goes to him. Over time, as all the players improve and become more equal, the organiser basically takes it all. Our current "fiat" economy works in a similar way, where all the productivity and innovation of society flows to the ruling structures or institutions that have hijacked the money and power to manipulate the system. Instead of having more and more time and being richer and richer as individuals and as a society, everything flows into the hands of those who have the power and can intervene as they see fit.
Bitcoin is the exact opposite, because it is not a zero-sum game where one person gains at the expense of another, but where all participants in the network benefit in the long term. It is a real tool that will, in the long term, align the initiatives in the system and lead us to a better life.
Does proof of work apply in the poker world?
Peter: Of course. To be successful in poker, you need to have a huge advantage over other players. And to do that, you have to spend a lot of time studying the game, which takes a lot of energy. Of course, you also have to have a tremendous amount of emotional control. Today's top players have two coaches: one for the strategy of the game itself and one for the mental preparation. There is no such thing as a free meal.
You and your colleagues recently organised the first Bitcoin meetup in Zasavje (Bitcoin meetup Zasavje). Who is it for and what do you talk about at events like this?
Peter: First of all, we want to encourage people to start thinking about Bitcoin and start learning. It is for all people because it is the light at the end of the tunnel. We talk about all sorts of things, but most of all, of course, about economics, money and a better life.
Where can people find out when you organise events and what the theme is?
Peter: The Bitcoin Society of Slovenia has a group on FB where all these events are announced. The topics are diverse and there will be more and more of these events around Slovenia. Specifically in Trbovlje there will be a new meetup every month.
What do you do in your free time? Are you involved with Bitcoin in any other way?
Peter: I'm an avid tennis player and mountain biker, where I ride my Husqvarna up and down the nearby hills. I'm still a risk-taker and sometimes I place a tennis bet. Sometimes I'll even play a little poker with friends.
Bitcoin is basically my life and I see everything from that perspective. Once you understand, once it clicks, you can't help but see the world in a different light. For me, Bitcoin is a light, it is a transformational matter that makes you start to learn, and with every step you progress. Of course, it also helps that your purchasing power is increasing and you are no longer tied to this corrupt system. This buys you time and freedom to do what you enjoy.
What needs to happen for people to realise that the government, the globalists and the multinationals never act in the interests of the people?
Peter: It seems that pain is necessary and needed for everyone. Everyone needs pain on an individual level, which gives them the motivation and the desire to crawl out of this gutter. I am only afraid of too much collective pain, which may take the form of totalitarianism and the control that will be imposed on us. That is what our movement is about, because Bitcoin was created for precisely that reason, to resist that and to set up a parallel, equal for all, decentralised system.
It's 2030. What will Bitcoin's role be then?
Peter: I think it's in the next cycle that we will see a global transition, and by then it will be much more obvious that Bitcoin is becoming the only true global money.
What change is needed to ensure that the state is at the service of citizens and not the other way around?
Peter: Bitcoin as the world's reserve currency and the fall of a fiat debt system that doesn't hold water.
How to raise the interest of Slovenians to start exploring what bitcoin is?
Peter: Everyone working in this ecosystem has to contribute in their own way. Everyone who owns a bitcoin has an incentive to expand the network as much as possible. The average person will be organically persuaded by the price in € and eventually no one will be able to resist bitcoin. Wait a little longer and in a couple of months, Bitcoin will be popping out on every media outlet. The world cannot resist such a good technology, because we need it for a civilised and orderly society. Everything is going, more or less, the way it should.
Why bitcoin? (In one sentence)
Peter: Because it is the antimatter to this corrupt system, which will properly adjust and balance people's initiatives.
You have one orange pill. Who in Slovenia would you give it to?
Peter: In Trbovlje we have Dewesoft, whose mastermind is Jure Knez, who is an outstanding expert and visionary. I wish he would understand the power of Bitcoin.
Which book would you give to the President of the country?
Peter: A book by Seb Bunney, a fellow passionate downhiller who wrote a brilliant book, The Hidden Cost of Money.
Where can people find you?
Peter: I have a FB page called Cerkev Sv. Bitcoina (St Bitcoin's Church), which was created purely as a joke, because we make fun of all institutions, where I post jokes, but also very serious things. I also have a website where I write articles or translate things by many other authors to make them accessible to the Slovenian public, mostly for my own pure pleasure. https://www.bitcoinzasavje.si/
