The last 10 days of March were pretty fruitful for Russian poker pro Max decayLykov (pictured). On the 24th, he won the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Upoutright for $110,000, defeating a field of over 3,500 entrants. One week later, he was back at it, this time taking down an FTOPS jersey in a $256 No Limit Hold’em Knockout Six-Max Re-Entry tournament for $126,000. That event brought out over 3,700 players. The day before, he final tabled an FTOPS $109 No Limit Hold’em Rush Rebuy for a cool $36,000.

As if all that weren’t enough, three days before his Sunday Warm-Up win, he took down a $216 No Limit Hold’em Rush Super Turbo FTOPS event for $37,000, the start of an epic 10-day run. So yeah, it’s good to be decay.

PocketFives: Talk about your Sunday Warm-Up and FTOPS titles. What has been going right for you lately?

Max Lykov: Winning two big tournaments is super awesome. The lineups at the last four or five tables were not very strong, so I needed to chip up to protect myself against losing a couple of all-ins. I ran really hot, so I always had big stacks at the final tables.

PocketFives: One of your FTOPS wins came in a six-max event. Is your six-max game stronger than your full ring game or are they pretty equal?

Max Lykov: I think I am better at six-max games because there is more post-flop play and it is important to be aggressive and push your opponents around. When playing nine-max, I sometimes overreact and it damages my stack, while in the six-max format, some extra aggression never hurts.

PocketFives: How did you get started in poker?

Max Lykov: I am sort of an old-timer. I have played poker since mid-2006. I played everything – cash, heads-up cash, heads-up sit and gos, and lots of six-max. I naturally developed my own strategy that began to work. One piece of advice I have is to try to avoid high-variance plays against weak players. They will bleed chips in every pot anyway, so just keep it simple. Of course, you have to run good. Also, grind a lot, maintain a good playing environment, and don’t think about results too much. Then, you’ll definitely succeed.

I got started in poker at the end of 2005 when I was playing Quake3. A friend from e-sports sent me a link to some online casino and suggested that I try poker. So, I tried poker and got hooked.

PocketFives: Who or what was the biggest influence on your game?

Max Lykov: Recently, I have had a lot of discussions with such excellent players as gosuoposum1, Legenden, MAMOHT_T(pictured), veeea, roma-tilt, and FaNjkEEE. They helped me come back after many years of live poker. I also worked a lot on my play, analyzed my hands, and looked at my lines.

PocketFives: You seem to have slowed down on the live scene following your EPT San Remo Main Event final table and WSOP bracelet, both of which came in 2011, and a Monte Carlo High-Roller final table one year later. Talk about your live poker experience as of late.

Max Lykov: I started playing abroad in 2009 and was immediately successful. I made a final table at the WSOP, won EPT Kiev, and became the EPT Player of the Year, and it gave me a lot of confidence as well as a decent bankroll. I started to travel to EPTs and WSOPs, made some final tables, and earned some money.

My most memorable live feat is naturally my WSOP bracelet, which I won in a huge tournament with a $1,000 buy-in two years ago. Unfortunately, when I applied for a U.S. visa in May 2012, they lost my passport and because of that, I missed the entire WSOP and EPT Barcelona. I got a new passport, played in San Remo, and then had another visa application rejected. I replaced the passport again, but can’t get back the value I lost from all of the missed tournaments.

After such a big break from live poker, I have a huge motivation heading into the remaining EPTs and the WSOP this year. After Monte Carlo, I will again apply for a U.S. visa and hope they don’t lose my passport this time.

See who else has been making waves in PocketFives’ Russia poker community.

Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.