GPInterivew: Marvin Rettenmaier | Forging His Legacy

Coming off one of the best poker seasons ever produced in the history of poker, Team PartyPoker member Marvin Rettenmaier (GPI#6) understands there are high expectations when it comes to his results on the live tournament circuit. He has spent well over 50 weeks in the GPI Top 10, including a string of 11 straight weeks at #1 between February and May, cementing his name amongst poker’s elite. We connected with Mad Marvin as he readies to leave his home in London to fly south to defend his title at the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic, where he made poker history last season:

MAKING HISTORY

Marvin you’re getting ready to make the trek to Cyprus to defend your title at the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic, what are your fondest memories from that big win last season – a win in which you became the first poker player ever to win back-to-back events on the World Poker Tour?

Obviously, it was an amazing feeling last year. I remember realizing it at the airport, when I had some time to myself on my way from Cyprus to wherever I was going next. To do something that nobody has ever done before is awesome and I hope I can do something else that no one has done before which is to win the same WPT event back-to-back.

Do you ever get the chance to sit back and think back about the amazing season you had in 2012? It’s amongst the best seasons in poker history.

Definitely. I’m so thankful for what happened last year. The good competitors always want more, I know it’s hard to understand for some people that I’m still hungry every time I sit at the poker table and still want to win and I’m obviously disappointed if I don’t. But I’m very thankful for last year and hope there is plenty more to come.

KILLER INSTINCT

While on the subject of still wanting to win, we interviewed Antonio Esfandiari this summer at the WSOP and he talked about, even with all the success, wanting/needing to win every tournament, can you expand on that “killer instinct” that you seem to have as well?

You shouldn’t sit down at a poker table if you’re not hungry anymore and you’re just playing to play, I don’t think that’s a good attitude, you should always go for the win. It shouldn’t be to the point where if you play well and you lose, you mourn about it for a couple of days, that’s not the way to go. The main goal is to play well. If I play well and I bust afterwards, I’m ok with it. If I play bad and I bust then I get upset.

But Marvin does admit that there are times where it hurts more than most…

The bad beat that I got in the Main Event hurt a lot. When you’re that deep in the Main, I think I really would have had a shot if a couple of hands went a little differently when I had it in pretty good. It’s the tournament of the year. When there are 130 players left and you get it in good twice and you lose both times it’s disappointing.

A reminder that Marvin was indeed running very deep in this past summer’s WSOP Main Event. With a little less than 150 players left Marvin’s chip stack suffered two devastating blows and he eventually was cold decked vs. 10th place finisher – and former WSOP Main Event Champ – Carlos Mortensen:

Busted the main qq vs kk to @CarlosMortensen for 1,4mio pot… Obviously very disappointed but I played my best… Life goes on!!! #WSOP

— Marvin Rettenmaier (@MadMarvin) July 14, 2013

With success comes high expectations – critics would say that you’re having a tough season so far in 2013, is that fair given you have 13 cashes for 310K USD in winnings, how do you rate your 2013 season so far?

I’m not happy with my season. I’ve played less than last year, although I didn’t really play that much last year either until the WPT Championship. I ran really bad at the WSOP which isn’t hard to do in the small buy-in tournaments, I couldn’t build a stack which is always frustrating. Maybe I didn’t take those events as seriously as I should have because I was dealing with other things as well, I was late-registered a lot. But I did pretty well in the big buy-in tournaments. I ran deep in the 25K Six-Max and in a 5K Six-Max and then in the Main Event. All the events with a good structure, I went deep in. It wasn’t a good WSOP for me but it’s not the worst, it showed that I could still play good poker.

What’s the next goal you would like to accomplish in poker?

I want to finally win a WSOP bracelet to get that monkey off my back. I definitely want to win another WPT title – I always feel comfortable sitting down at WPT events, Matt Savage tournaments have great structures – there are many big events I would like to win including a EPT title as well.

“IT’S NICE TO BE GERMAN THESE DAYS!”

Three of the top 7 poker players on the GPI are from Germany and there are 18 Germans in the GPI300, why do you think Germans are doing so well on the live tournament circuit?

Honestly, I think it has to do with the German mentality, to have the right amount of patience and aggression in general. Germans love the game. There are several groups of German players who hang out together and talk about the game to improve their games. Everyone is getting better and better. It’s nice to be German these days!

Can you talk about a German player that has yet to breakthrough on the live circuit that you think is the “next big thing”?

Manig Loeser has been up there a lot. He’s made a lot of final two and three tables and just got second in a WSOP event this summer (Event #4 NLH Six-Max) it was well-deserved. Before that he just got bad-beated with ten or 15 players left. He’s due a big title.

Also, somebody that hasn’t been playing live but has done really well online is Alexander Debus – if he keeps on playing more live poker he would really be a big horse. He’s enjoying life right now but if he comes back and plays more on the circuit then he could do some damage.

HIPS DON’T LIE

Finally, there is controversy surrounding Marvin Rettenmaier, ESPN reports that you claim you won a Cook Island Hip Swinging contest a few years back but you seem to be very vague about the date. First, was in 2006 or 2008 and second, is it true that you’re the best hugger on the circuit?

I actually did win (a Cook Island Hip Swinging contest) back in 2008. And yes, it’s a proven fact that I give the best hugs on tour, I’ve been told that lost of times, obviously lots of practice, hard work and dedication!

Marvin plans on heading out to the Seminole Hard Rock after the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic and plans on participating in the inaugural WPT Alpha8 event in Florida. He then intends to hop on a plane and rush to Spain to play EPT Barcelona … and then take a well-deserved break. Although Rettenmaier still travels the world playing poker tournaments, he seems to have figured out how to balance life and poker. We thank Marvin for taking the time to chat with us and wish him the very best of luck as he attempts to go back-to-back in Cyprus as the World Poker Tour kicks off its twelfth season later this week.