24-year-old poker prodigy turns to eSport

One of the biggest winners in live tournament poker, Fedor Holz invested in Envy, Inc., a professional video gaming company.

Holz, who amassed more than $26 million in the past three years, playing big buy-in tournaments around the globe is no stranger to video games. Back in 2016, he wore a Team EnvyUs jersey at the final table of the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop event, which he eventually took down for a cool $5 million.

Fedor got interested in the esport organization after becoming friends with former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Nathan "NBK" Schmitt. Schmitt introduced him to the CEO of Envy, Mike "Hastro" Rufail and things started to escalate quickly. "I like to invest in things that I'm emotionally connected to it because I feel that I contribute the most but I also get the most out of it," Holz told ESPN. "I like Envy, I like to watch, I like the way they build their infrastructure and team, take care of their players. And it was just a corporation I wanted to be a part of in some way."


Fedor on Twitter

After announcing his (loosely defined) retirement from poker, Holz cofounded a mindset coaching company, Primed Mind - which developed an app with more than 200 courses on several topics to help people achieve their goals. According to the German phenom, he currently works with his mindset coach, Elliot Roe and "NBK" to develop similar content for esport players.


Nathan "NBK" Schmitt

"Talking to these players and seeing them myself, a lot of them still struggle with their mindset because they're really young and the pressure starts really early," Holz said. "I feel that the mindset or the way you approach the game has very low importance so far compared to more seen sports. I think we can bring some of that into the game, and I'd love to tackle more of that in the next year." - he added.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it looks like Fedor really puts his money, where his mouth is. If he can achieve only a fraction of his poker success in other fields, he will be certainly a big hit in the mindset coaching business as well.