Long before the likes of Fedor Holz, Dietrich Fast* and a million other top-class German poker players became the German Crew, there was another German Crew; the original German Crew.
Philipp Gruissem.
Nicklas Heinecker
Tobias Reinkemeier.
Fabian Quoss.
Igor Kurganov*
*Not only were the two groups, German. They both had a Russian masquerading as a German.
But what became of the original crew?
Gruissem plies his trade with partypoker. Kurganov does the same with PokerStars, but the rest are long gone.
Nicklas Heinecker
Tobias Reinkemeier.
Fabian Quoss.
Three top, top players who bowed at of the game while at the peak of their powers, and on August 22 (yes, I know I am a tad slow), we heard from one of them.
Fabian Quoss ‘Exits’ Poker
I only spoke to Fabian Quoss once. It was six or seven years ago during a poker tournament in Prague, a World Poker Tour (WPT) event, I think. I remember he had a beard a dwarf would have been proud of, and the best Christmas jumper I had ever seen.
A handsome man, one for the ladies, I waltzed up to him at the break to ask him for an interview.
“Sorry, Lee, I don’t do interviews.”
And so I never spoke to him again.
Reading his exit interview, I feel like I have missed out.
During his tenure with the original German Crew, Quoss won close to $10m competing in the most significant buy-in events around the world. Quoss won nine tournaments during his time in the game, including the $100,000 Super High Roller at the 2014 PokerStars Carribean Adventure (PCA) for $1.6m, and another million dollar score for winning the AUD 100,000 NLHE Challenge at the 2016 Aussie Millions.
After winning $2.8m in 2016, Quoss dropped off the map, only to surface on Instagram, surprisingly; sharing his globe-trotting exploits accompanied by a smattering of profound and meaningful quotes.
And his decision to begin spending more time on social media prompted the once silent Quoss to open up about his absence from the game, and it’s terrible news for his fans because I’m not sure he’s coming back.
In a long, well thought out speech accompanying shots of his poker highlights, Quoss spoke of the laser-like focus he needed to apply to become one of the best players in the game, and how that focus took him away from other vital areas in his life.
Quoss played for the freedom poker provided, and because of his success, he continues to have that freedom without having to play a game that no longer holds the allure it once did.
“The reason why I loved playing poker professionally wasn’t that I thought poker was especially interesting or rewarding of an activity (though, at times, it really can be both), but more because of the freedom it provided me.” Quoss wrote before continuing. “There‘s an infinite amount of things we can choose to focus on, but for most of us, the majority of our lives revolves around a small number of things. We basically only exist in our own little bubbles, completely ignoring the infinite variety of other bubbles all around us.”
Ironically, after spending much of his life trying to avoid bubbles, Quoss was about to leave the game so he could find more.
“Spending most my time on poker just isn’t an option anymore,” said Quoss.
So what will Quoss do next?
“Poker gave me the incredible opportunity to make conscious choices about what to spend my time on,” said Quoss. “I’m so lucky and blessed— I know this is something most people won’t ever have. I feel responsible, now, to make use of that gift, and to live my life in a conscious way.”
How does he plan to do that?
I won’t know unless I ask him, and as he’s no longer in the business, he may be kind enough to break that ‘I don’t do interviews’ rule?
I hope he does.