Ukraine. Life of a poker player in a country at war: AMA.

Thanks for posting and good luck to Ukraine and you in these trying times. To what extent does the war effect your daily life? Are air raid sirens just routine now? How reliable is the electricity, and do either effect your poker sessions often?

Thank you for your wishes and questions.

Unfortunately, people get used to everything and in everyday life the war is already a background, despite the daily air raid sirens, regular explosions of missiles and UAVs. Specifically in my city, during air raid sirens, shops, almost all banks, the post office, public transport do not close, but continue to work. Only some large shopping centers close. 99%+ of people practically do not react to air raid sirens and explosions, if they are not within a kilometer radius.

Personally for me and my family in everyday life there is only one huge inconvenience, in our city kindergartens are closed, so the child is constantly with us, she lacks communication with peers, although we try to spend 2-4 hours almost every day on the playground in the yard of the house or in the park, where the child has friends.

The last problems with electricity were in November-December last year. I had the opportunity to buy an Ecoflow Delta 2 charging station and an additional battery for it, this is enough for a day of economical use, including a 6-8 hour poker session. It fully charges in 1.5 hours. I also have 7 large power banks for charging gadgets, lighting the apartment, and powering the router. The Internet in the house is fiber optic, so it does not disappear during power outages, you only need to power the router from a power bank or charging station. But I am one of the small percentage of families that could afford to buy this equipment for energy independence at that time, due to high demand, prices have risen sharply and for the whole set I paid about 4 average monthly salaries in Ukraine, most people simply do not have that amount of money.

Wow! I'm glad you have the resources to do that. Hope it didn't crush the bankroll too much.

This doesn't surprise me, to be honest. I am in the US military, and I found the same thing. Almost anything can become routine after a while. Not a happy routine, but not a shock either. Mostly just annoying unless/until it hits close to home.

What’s your age?

How much money do you make monthly compared to the average Ukrainian salary?

Will you/ are you involved in the war efforts?

How do you see the war ending?

Good luck in the poker and life.

Respect for sharing your experience. Must be tough balancing poker with everything going on. Curious, has the war changed how you approach the game mentally?

I am 40 years old.

Over the past couple of years, my monthly income from poker has been about 4-5 average salaries in Ukraine.

I was removed from military registration more than 20 years ago due to health reasons. I have 2 close relatives fighting, I help them and their families financially, with equipment and everything else necessary.

I do not want to make empty predictions about the end of the war. Moreover, all the COVID experts have retrained as military and geopolitical experts. I only see that not everything depends on Ukraine in this war, Europe and the United States should take into account the experience of World War II and the "Munich Agreement" of 1938, when the transfer of territories to Hitler without military action in an attempt at pacification did not lead to anything good in the end. Without financial and military support, Ukraine will gradually lose this war, I hope this does not happen.

Globally, for me, a "victory" would be stopping the war along the current front line, providing security guarantees from the USA and Europe, Ukraine joining the European Union, rearming the army and financial assistance in restoring the country and its economy.

Thank you for your wishes.

I would say that poker now even gives me more advantages than before the war. I don't have to go to work, it's safer to be at home now than on the street. I have the opportunity to experience rocket attacks and explosions next to my family, at work there would be constant anxiety in such moments, because you don't know where the rocket hit and what is happening to your family at that moment.
And as for the mental component of the game, I have much less tilt, bad beats are now perceived much easier than before the war.

This line is great. May I use it?

KatamaranUA, thank you for sharing an alternative verification method on 888, maybe it will be useful in the future. I had another question about 888, wrote to you in telegram. Please answer if you read this message.

I apologize for perhaps an ignorant question. Can you not find a way out of the country somewhere? Or do you simply have no interest?

How much do you give to the war effort, if anything?