Maxim Lykov - a promising Russian poker player

Maxim Lykov is a professional poker player from Russia. Online is known by the nickname "KaKeTKa", "justdec", "Decay" and "Maxim Lykov". He is one of the top ten players in Russia. This article will describe his brief biography.

Interest in poker

Maxim Lykov was born in Balashikha (Moscow region) in 1987. As a child, the boy actively played football and, quite possibly, could have made a professional career. But in the youth Maxim had a new hobby - computer games. Talent Lykov appeared almost immediately, and he became famous in Moscow cybersportsman.

And with poker Maxim met already in his student years. The young man had no desire to spend his own money on this occupation. Therefore, he played exclusively freerolls, not replenishing his account in the poker room. In one of them, Lykov won $ 20.

Training

Realizing that poker can make money, Maxim Lykov began to raise their own level of the game. The young man read books, teaching articles and visited thematic forums. As a specialty, he chose Texas Hold'em. Then Maxim played for several years online, periodically pacing in the Moscow casino. Also, the hero of this article set a record for winning among Russian players. Having taken 2nd place in the online tournament FTOPS (poker room Full Tilt), he added his bankroll to $ 362,500.

It is worth noting that Maxim gave most of this money to Baker Sergey Rybachenko. The latter sponsored at that time many Russian players. However, the bankroll of the hero of this article has still grown several times.

Hard time

Soon Maxim Lykov, whose photo periodically appears on the pages of poker publications, spent most of his money on solving current problems and buying an apartment. In the life of a young man came a difficult period. After all, yesterday he played at high stakes, where his current bankroll was equal to the size of the bank in one hand.

Lykov decided to start anew climbing the limits. He took $ 10,000 from a friend and proceeded to play. Maxim spent hours analyzing his distributions to exclude mistakes. Since the bankroll was small, the young man focused on MTT competitions. Lykov played about 15-20 tournaments a day. This allowed you to quickly accumulate money and return to high limits.

Take-off of career

In 2009, Maxim Lykov began to actively participate in live poker competitions. From the very first games he showed very good results. For example, after winning the Red Sea Poker Cup, the young man earned $ 69,797. Soon Lykov joined the JokerTeam team and went to the WSOP. There, Maxim took third place and received just over $ 145,000.

The following years became a bright band in the player's career. Lykov either took first place, or entered the prizes. In 2011, at the WSOP, Maxim won two competitions. In the competition with a buy-in of $ 1,333 he took 2nd place, and also won in the tournament with a contribution of $ 1,000. The total amount of the prize was almost a million dollars.

In 2012, the hero of this article decided to get a little distracted from poker and left with his wife in Thailand for four months. Nevertheless, Lykov periodically played online, where he won at major tournaments. Offline outings also were successful: Maxim got on 3 final tables EPT: in Monte Carlo, Berlin and Vienna. Unfortunately, the young man did not manage to get to the WSOP in 2012, as the employees of the American Embassy lost his passport. The last few years, the hero of this article rarely participates in tournaments, but stably gets on them in prizes.

Style of play

Maxim Lykov, whose biography is known to all Russian fans of poker, is distinguished by his assertiveness and aggressiveness. But at the same time every young person is looking at each drawing individually. The strengths of Maxima are considered to be tenacity, diligence and self-discipline. Lykov follows the careers of the best foreign and Russian players, trying to learn from them something new.

Interesting Facts

• 5 wins in live tournaments.
• 10 years of experience in poker.
• 1 gold bracelet WSOP.
• 12,000 online tournaments.
• More than $ 4,000,000 in prize money.