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Battling It Out In Bulgaria: Dragomir Tops Field on Player of the Month Race

For 22-year-old Dragomir, winning the March Player of the Month title was quite a battle. He collected €10,000 Euros in profits throughout the month. The contest came down to Dragomir versus 6maxbottezon (PLO HU) and Alessio Capelli (6-max Elite), who also came close to a €10,000 month.

The competition turned into a poker version of a World Wrestling Entertainment battle royale with Dragomir claiming the title. A native of Varna, Bulgaria, Dragomir came out on top after clocking in an amazing 266 hours, the most for any BPC player for the month. The finish did not come easy.

As of March 17, he “went in a grindhouse for two weeks,” and that until March 26 ““there was nothing interesting.”

At only around €4,000 in profit, the next four days his profits exploded.

“Something happened and I just started making money and reached €10,000,” he says.

The feat came with some challenges. Dragmir has been out of town and knew he would have one less day to reach the goal. He was scheduled to fly back home on March 31, so he was going to miss playing that day online. He had to make the €10,000 profit by the 30th.

On March 29, he logged 13 hours at the tables and moved his profits to €9,000. After getting a nap at noon, he woke up two and a half hours later and got back to grinding.

“I was really pumped up to get the €10k, so I couldn’t sleep a lot,” he says.

The battle with 6maxbottezon and Capelli was quite entertaining, but not top of mind when he was putting so many hours at the tables. However, hard work certainly showed results.

“To be honest I was not battling for Player of the Month, but I was battling to get the €10k month,” he says. “I didn’t even realize that I finished first for March until it was mentioned to me on our Facebook group. I think that I just got lucky because I saw them both having around €11k in profit before the end of the month. They just probably had a bad last day.”

***

Discipline is key, this Bulgarian card shark says, in putting in so much time to be successful. He also makes some sacrifices to make his dream of earning a living playing poker a reality, especially when it comes to time in front of his laptop.

“I don’t really think that it’s that hard to put in 266 hours of play,” he says. “It all comes down to priority. In order to get those hours, you have to cut something else from your life for a month like social contact, healthy eating, sports, or another hobby. It is simple, but I don’t recommend to anyone to do it for a couple of months in a row. But you should definitely try to reach 270-300 playing hours at least once or twice per year.”

A former bartender, Dragomir quit his job about eight months ago. He isn’t married and doesn’t have kids, something that allows him to put in even more poker hours. At only age 19 he became fascinated with the game while living in Germany.

“I saw a video of one Bulgarian poker player who was making some decent money from poker and I decided that I wanted to do it as well,” he says.

He began playing NL2 , 6-max, and two months later realized he needed a coach and joined BPC. In 2016, Dragomir started in the 6-max micro program and in January 2017 he switched to the HU program and now plays NL500.

 

There are a three things that he really loves about the game:

1. There is still so much to learn because he’s not really as skilled as he would like to be.

2. It gives him the opportunity to make money from anywhere with just his laptop and his poker skills.

3. “It feels really great when you totally dominate over your opponent,” he says, “but it also teaches you to a lot of discipline when you are getting crushed by someone.”

Committed to winning, Dragomir plays almost everyday – taking only about two or three days off each month. In the past 15 months, he’s had only about two or three months with less than 200 playing hours.

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Growing up, Dragomir describes himself as a normal kid. At age 18, he realized he didn’t want to work for someone else and didn’t want a boss or regular job. He’s continued to pursue that path with poker.

“I knew that I had to find something that would give me financial freedom,” he says. “I started reading a lot of books and they shifted my mindset even more. At age 20, I started with poker and quit the university and that’s it.”

The decision has gone well so far. When not playing poker, he enjoys reading books, especially those that serve as motivation in life and with his chosen profession. He recently finished Ryan Holiday’s “The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph,” a biography of Elon Musk. He’s now reading Simon Sinek’s “’Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.”

He also enjoys hanging out with friends as well as billiards, volleyball, table tennis, and bowling. However, when Dragomir’s in the groove at the tables, some of this gets put aside.

As for poker, Dragomir doesn’t have any huge goals like becoming the best poker player or making millions of dollars. He does have one interesting goal – finding himself up against a certain skilled player (he wouldn’t name him) and having a good run at the table. Other goals include a bit of business interests.

“I want to learn a lot about investing outside of poker and just to use poker as a place from where I will get enough money to invest,” he says. “Don’t get me wrong, I will keep putting a lot of work and hours in poker, but not with the mindset to become the greatest.”

In the months ahead, Dragomir is hoping to advance in his skills and believes BPC has played a major role? How has the site helped this young player’s game?

“Basically I learned how to play poker thanks to BPC,” he says. “I knew only the rules and I had no experience before joining BPC. My best advice for other players would be to work on your mindset and stay disciplined.”

With his focus and determination, look for this Bulgarian to be raking in plenty of more Euros.

 

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications such as PokerNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.

 

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