Former high-stakes pro Robert Lux of Sweden, also known as DODARN, has announced he will be quitting poker because he canīt beat the games at his previous rate anymore. Who is Robert Lux, you ask?
One of the routine things I have done over the past couple of years that has made me feel a little more baller than the average person, is my regular purchase of Swedens largest poker-publication, PokerMagazine, for the sake of only reading one single blog. I usually pick it up, read that one blog (amounts to perhaps 1,5 half page), and put the magazine away. I have been doing that for the last three or four years, without ever missing an issue. The reason, of course, has been the excellent blog of Robert Lux, on Prima formerly known as DODARN (english translation is "The Killer").
Robert was for a very long time known as one of the best swedish online pros, being one of the biggest 5/10 and 10/20 winners of 2006 and 2007, literally crushing the limits, and one of the most outspoken online grinders in media. Since then, the games have gotten tougher, and he has gradually been forced to step down, limit by limit. That is, until I picked up the last copy of Pokermagazine where Robert announced that he will be stepping down from the games all together due to a very disappointing 2009 where he broke even.
For me, this was somewhat of a sullen moment, and for the Swedish pokerworld, the end of an era. I vividly remember reading his blog in late 2006, being awed by his results and his elaborate, complex (at the time) thinking around the game. Of course, also being inspired and awed by somebody who could win or lose the amount of money he was winning and losing at the time is a given for anybody that is outside of the pokerworld. He seemed like a very intelligent person, a very good player, and a really, really funny (although controversial) dude. His blog was also one that was very open and honest. By his own admission, the blog also gave the impression of him being a little lazy with keeping up with the game, not having the best of routines, and for a long time, taking his success for granted. As I was coming up myself and having some similar success, I always used to think that he really needs to protect this talent by plugging these leaks, because people playing him were now reaching and surpassing his level of skill, but they were also very serious in their approach to the game. So I am not enirely surprised by his decision to retire, but I am a little bit sad.
His story is very similar to the one of another Swedish highstakes legend by the name of Jonas Danielsson, known online as Nebuchad. After having dominated the highstakes headsup games for years, his attitude towards the game gradually changed (this by his own admission), he became less interested in developing, less interested in playing and competing, and recently announced his retirement.
I guess this will signal a noticeable drop in the sales of PokerMagazine here in Sweden, as I suspect I wasnīt the only person primarily interested in Robertīs blog. Robert, if you are reading this, I want to thank you for a lot of fun and a lot of entertainment throughout these past few years, and for giving Swedish online proīs a voice. I suspect that like Nebuchad, you are financially pretty well off, had a great ride while it lasted, and I wish you the best in whatever you will be pursuing.
