Alexander Kostritsyn is a professional poker player from Russia and one of the most prolific online cash game players ever as he’s consistently beat the highest stakes for nearly a decade. Known as “joiso” on PokerStars and “PostflopAction” on Full Tilt, Kostritsyn plays several variations of poker including mixed cash games as well as live tournaments. He’s one of the biggest winners in online poker history according to HighStakeDB, with total profits of around $4.2 million on PokerStars and $4.5 million on Full Tilt. Alexander Kostritsyn also has around $5 million in career tournament winnings as well.
Making his success even more impressive is the fact that he was introduced to poker through a community of Starcraft players and didn’t even take the game seriously until he reached mid stakes. It wasn’t until Kostritsyn’s parents found themselves in a deep financial hole that he began looking at the game from a career perspective. His mother invested everything she had into Alex to help him crush the highest stakes which was obviously a great decision.
Alex burst onto the scene all the way back in 2008 when he eliminated Erik Seidel to win the Aussie Millions Main Event for $1.45 million. He also cashed in 6 WSOP events that same year in Hold’em, Omaha and 7-Card Stud. One year later, he returned to the Aussie Millions and took down the $10k HORSE event for $67,485. Since his amazing start, it’s been a giant roller coaster ride for Alexander Kostritsyn, having a wide range of results both live and online from all over the globe.
In an interview with CardPlayer, Kostritsyn was asked about how competitive online cash games have become in recent years as well as how he deals with the mental aspect of poker.
Yeah, it is always getting tougher and you need to stay ahead. But it’s been that way for years [even before online poker]. Back in the day when Doyle [Brunson] was playing, the field was getting tougher every year as well. I’m sure that a lot of people around were saying it’s too tough, but I don’t think Doyle would agree.
As for coping with downswings, I’ve been playing the highest stakes available for years, so you get used to everything. I can definitely tilt but there are a ton of pots and after a short while I can just let it go. Of course I am a little bit stubborn. I can’t rest and go somewhere for like a week if I am in a big downswing. I usually go for the vacation when I am winning, not when I am losing, or when I am break-even. When I’m losing big, it’s impossible for me to do something else. I just want to play.
Kostritsyn typically plays a very over-aggressive style and sometimes that can get him into trouble. So from his opponent’s perspective, it’s hard to say whether he’s tilting or just part of his normal style of play, causing some people to over adjust. Of course, when he actually is on tilt and playing someone good, it’s usually a disaster as you would expect. Speaking of playing someone good, here’s Alexander Kostritsyn playing 8 Game heads-up with Phil Ivey on Full Tilt.
