Riverloser is one of a select few Pocketfivers who has been around since the early days of the community. He is also a very talented player who doesn’t get the attention he deserves. This past weekend he finished second place in the Party 300k. His score is listed at $33k, but with a chop involved it was worth substantially more than that. He has had a number of five figure cashes this year, but this is his biggest score in a while. It provided a great excuse for Pocketfives to catch up with an old friend. <READMORE>More than any five figure score, Riverloser has something every poker player wants: longevity. He got his start online more than six years ago, and while he’s not ashamed to admit he went broke a couple times starting out, he has been making his living exclusively from poker for longer than most have even been playing online. In this game that has become so dominated by whiz kids, seniority doesn’t necessarily earn you much respect at the poker table... but long-term profitability certainly should.
Magnus “Riverloser” Gustavsson lives in Helsingborg, which is in the south of Sweden near Denmark. Helsingborg is surrounded by water on three sides and the warm maritime climate keeps the temperature quite mild year round. Not a bad spot to call home, especially when you make your living playing a game of cards. When asked about the reputation Scandinavians have for ultra aggression. Riverloser had some interesting observations.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the culture at all. I think people just emulate other successful players and friends teach them how to play well. There are Swedish rocks and TAGs, and all other types of players. Probably even more TAGs than LAGgy players.”
Everyone knows you have to get lucky to win a tourney. In the Party 300k Riverloser took his shot with around 50 players left and a dwindling stack. He remembered the hand like this, “I was getting very short with 51k on blinds of 3/6k. I was in the big blind and it folded around to the SB who min-raised. I gambled and pushed with 2c5c and he called with pocket sixes. I got very lucky and hit my flush on the river.”
Like most top players, Riverloser made good on this lucky break and took his stack to the final table and his second place finish. Fellow Pocketfiver Raulsoli went out in third place of the same tournament. Riverloser had this to say about playing against Raulsoli, “I hadn’t played with him much prior to that final table, but I can tell you he was the one guy I didn’t want to tangle with at the final table. He reraised me off a couple hands, so I’d say he played pretty well.”
Riverloser wasn’t so gracious towards the other players on Party. Asked about the differences on Party Poker without U.S. players he said, “Well, there are far fewer players obviously, and the standard of play is pretty terrible, but I think that’s always been the case.”
Riverloser got his start online on Paradise Poker playing Limit Hold’em. He was a losing player at first and he went broke a couple times. Things started to turn around when he gave 7 stud a try on Ladbrokes. He took his winnings from there and gave MTTs a try on Pokerstars, but had no luck at first. He continued to win on Ladbrokes, however and finally hit a decent multi-table score to jumpstart his bankroll. He hasn’t looked back since.
When asked how he became interested in poker in the first place, Riverloser replied, “I’ve played some form of poker since I was 10. I used to sit and play five card draw with my grandfather. I’ve always liked to gamble and I still lose a bit of my roll to other games like sportsbetting, but I try to keep it small and concentrate on poker these days.”
Ranked as high as the top ten in the early days of Pocketfives, Riverloser has spent many weeks on the rankings. He says he doesn’t mind the changes under the automated rankings however, “I think it is better now, but it is impossible for anyone who doesn’t play all the time to be ranked. I played a little less last year and just enjoyed life for a while.”
It looks like Riverloser has found a good balance between poker and the other things he enjoys in life. He is a bit of a movie buff and besides spending time with friends he is a big sports fan. He is passionate about international hockey and futbol (aka soccer). As for his poker goals going forward, he would like to play a few more live events. He has a final table at the Bellagio Five Diamond classic in a 5k event under his belt. Riverloser is looking to improve on the disappointment of going from chip leader of that event with five players left to out in fourth.
“That’s the kind of situation where people are trying to congratulate you, and you just want to tell them to $%#& off. It was the worst feeling ever to leave that table in fourth place,” Riverloser said of his experience in Vegas last spring. He is playing a 3k event in Sweden in a couple of weeks, so we look forward to hearing about that. Aside from live events, Riverloser has his sights set on the WCOOP on Pokerstars beginning in just a few weeks.
Pocketfives would like to wish Riverloser the best of luck in all his efforts both live and online, at and away from the table. He has been a contributing member of this community from the very beginning and it’s always fun to see old friends doing well. Congrats on a nice score in the Party 300k, we hope to see more of the same in the coming weeks.
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