PLAYER PROFILE – Dominik Nitsche
- Posted on
- Posted Under Player Profiles
About Domink Nitsche
Dominik Nitsche has earned almost $19.5 million US dollars playing poker games in live poker tournaments, placing him fifth on the German all-time money list. He has won a World Poker Tour Main Event, and four World Series of Poker bracelets, including the €111,111 buy-in 2017 High Roller for One Drop (WSOP-E Event #10) in Rozvadov, earning over $4,000,000 for the victory. Further cementing his name in the poker history books, Nitsche was named as one of the 50 best players in poker history as part of the 50th World Series of Poker celebration in 2019. Born in Minden, Germany, Dominik Nitsche, who has been playing online poker games since 2006, currently resides in Edinburgh, Scotland.
First Big Win and First Bracelet
Nitsche first tasted poker tournament success in 2009 at the main event of the Latin American Poker Tour in Mar del Plata, Argentina. He won nearly $400,000 for his efforts in the poker tournament. Three years later, in July of 2012, Nitsche won his first World Series of Poker bracelet. It was in event #59 at the 43rd WSOP, a $1,000 No Limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament, held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino just off of the Las Vegas Strip. Finishing at the top of a 4,620 player field, Dominik took home over $650,000.
Dominik hit it big again just three months later in October at the World Poker Tour Emperors Palace Poker Classic Main Event in Johannesburg, South Africa. For finishing atop the 230 player field, he earned just over $200,000 US dollars and his first World Poker Tour championship. One year later, in October 2013, Nitsche took third place in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker Europe in Enghien-les-Bains, earning €400,000 in prize money. Six months later, during May 2014, he won the exclusive WSOP National Championship for over $350,000 and his second World Series of Poker bracelet. Nitsche secured this third WSOP bracelet winning event #21, which, like his first bracelet, was a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament. With his victory and capture of his third bracelet, he replaced Phil Ivey as the youngest player in World Series of Poker History to win three bracelets. Dominik held the record until 2017 when Adrián Mateos, a Spanish poker player, set a new record.
Keep on Rolling
Jumping ahead to June 2016, Nitsche placed second behind Fedor Holz in the Aria Super High Roller poker tournament at the Aria Resort & Casino. He earned approximately $630,000 in prize money after the two professional poker players chose to chop the prize pool. From April to December 2016, in addition to his regular tournament play, Nitsche was part of the Berlin Bears of the Global Poker League and reached the finals with his team. In early November 2017, he won the €111,111 High Roller for One Drop of the World Series of Poker Europe at King’s Resort in Rozvadov. In return, he defeated his compatriot Andreas Eiler heads-up and earned the biggest tournament cash of his career, almost €3.5 million, and his fourth WSOP bracelet.
The next year, 2018, started off strong for Nitsche. By mid-April, Nitsche won the High Roller at partypoker Millions Germany and finished 4th at both the Super High Roller Bowl China in Macau and at the partypoker MILLIONS Barcelona Grand Final. By the end of the first third of 2018, Dominik had earned approximately $3,000,000 from just those poker tournaments. Not one to slow down, in October he managed to reach the final table of the Super High Roller of the World Series of Poker Europe in Rozvadov. Although he went into the final table as the chip leader, a couple of poorly timed calls was all that was needed and he was eliminated in fifth, earning just under €575,000. January 2019, Nitsche worked his way to a second place finish in the High Roller event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventures in the Bahamas, taking home more than $600,000 in prize money. He followed this by making the final table at the $100,000 High Roller event at the 2019 WSOP. He only finished sixth but still earned more than $450,000 for the effort.
One of the All Time Best
In honor of the 50th running of the World Series of Poker tournament series, Nitsche was named as one of the 50 best players in poker history. Over his career, Dominik Nitsche has finished in the money 52 times, including 10 final tables, and has won four WSOP bracelets but he has not yet managed a WSOP main event final table.
During an interview with a German sports broadcaster, Dominik was asked “After winning 3.5 million, you said that you were particularly pleased with your way of playing. Have you changed anything about your game lately?”
His answer was, “I change my game every day. I work hard on poker theory every day when I’m at home. I have probably the best poker group in the world around me. We’re all getting a little better every day. There’s also new software out there that just keeps getting better and better at teaching you how to play. We’re getting a hell of a lot better.”
Dominik is part of a poker study group with dozens of Super High Roller regulars. He says it is the best poker group that he has been part of.
The Importance of Money
Dominik attaches great importance to ignoring the money. He confirmed this again in an interview:
If you’re playing a €100,000 tournament anywhere in the world every week, you’re starting to break the bank. Ideally, the money should not influence you when you play. Poker decisions are poker decisions. It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing for €10,000, €500 or one million Euro. If you want to be successful, you have to look at it as objectively as possible. I played online a bit before that. I turned 18 in October, and a few months later there was a tournament in Argentina where I won around $380,000. It’s still the same game. Poker is poker. You get two cards and then you try to make the best of it.
What’s He Doing Now?
Parallel to his poker career, Nitsche launched his own online poker training app, DTO Poker, in 2019. Available for Android and iOS devices, this online poker app combines information from multiple online poker training platforms, making it an effective way to improve your own poker games.
