Sometimes, not having a Plan B can spell disaster. But, we’re not into writing about disasters here on PocketFives. When it comes to player interviews, we’re all about accomplishments. Recently, Russia’s Aleksandr NoPlanBMordvinov (pictured) was part of a heads-up chop of the PartyPoker $300,000 Guaranteedand walked away with $45,000. He plays on the world’s third largest online poker room as EvnomiYaand forged a deal with HenrikX__. We virtually traveled to Moscow for the victory parade.

—

NoteCaddy Edge is an add-on package to NoteCaddy and Holdem Manager 2. Everything is configured for you already so you can have one of the best software setups you can imagine.

—

PocketFives: Thanks for joining us. Tell us about the chop.

Aleksandr Mordvinov: Thank you for having me. As I remember, I was the chip leader pretty much the whole final table and we first decided to see the numbers when there were three of us left. As expected, the short stack didn’t like the numbers because the chop was not worth it for him. So, we kept playing and he busted out a couple of hands after that. Then, we discussed a chop again. I had about 4.2 million chips and my opponent had 2.8 million. The blinds were 20,000/40,000, so we just chopped it according to the numbers Party gave us: I got $45,000 and he got $40,000.

PocketFives: Are you still happy with the deal looking back on it?

Aleksandr Mordvinov: I’ve actually thought about it a bit. My opponent was definitely not a fish and he played pretty well and was decently aggressive during the final table. But, I think I could have had an edge heads-up. Before MTTs, I was a heads-up cash reg and played limits up to NL1,000. Still, the pay jumps on Party are really huge and we were tired after playing so many hours, so I’m fine with the deal.

PocketFives: How have your friends and family reacted? You’re now up to nearly $900,000 in lifetime tracked online MTT scores in your PocketFives profile.

Aleksandr Mordvinov: Yeah, it’s definitely a huge score. My friends and parents are very happy with my recent successes, but I guess they also got a bit used to the big wins, so the reaction was not as huge as it used to be when I had the first big scores of my career.

PocketFives: We believe poker is somewhat frowned upon in Russia. Talk about how people view the game and how easy or difficult it is to learn poker in Russia.

Aleksandr Mordvinov: Most people react to poker the same way they would react to roulette or other casino games, so the attitude generally is not that friendly. But, I still have my poker friends and the Russian poker community, so I’m fine with that.

PocketFives: Do you play cash games at all or just tournaments?

Aleksandr Mordvinov: I haven’t really played cash in a while. The last year-and-a-half, I have pretty much only been playing MTTs. I’m thinking of giving some of my time to playing cash, though, because I think it definitely can improve a person’s post-flop skills.

PocketFives: What do you hope to accomplish in poker this year?

Aleksandr Mordvinov: First, I want to improve my game and keep eliminating my mistakes and leaks. I’ve also started to work a lot on my mental game issues, so I hope to have success in improving that as well. I’m going to play my best the whole year, play a lot, and, of course, I’m not going to miss any of the huge online series. I want to play some offline series as well.

PocketFives: What about your mental gamedo you need to improve?

Aleksandr Mordvinov: I think mental game, tilt control issues, and many other psychological issues are really big problems for most players, but a very small percentage of them confess that they have those problems. I recently started to read “The Mental Game of Poker” by Jared Tendler. I have not finished it yet, but it has been worth reading.

PocketFives: Last question for you: How did you get started in poker?

Aleksandr Mordvinov: I started playing poker about three years ago. My best friend told me about the game. First, I played nine-max and shorthanded cash games, going from micro limits to mostly heads-up cash games from NL200 to NL600, taking shots at NL1,000 as well. The MTT game is much more interesting for me than cash, so I have gravitated toward that. I felt cash was more monotonous and boring.

Check out what’s brewing in our Russia pokercommunity.Want the latest poker headlines and interviews? Follow PocketFives on Twitterand Like PocketFives on Facebook. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed.