Soccer

Ex-pro footballer, 27, wins £220,000 playing poker after hanging up his boots

A former professional footballer cleaned up at a online poker tournament as he won a whopping £220,000.

Austrian Mario Mosbock began his career with SKN St. Pölten, playing for the reserve side from 2014 to 2017 where he scored 21 goals in 48 games. He also played for the senior side of the second division Austrian side where he racked up 18 appearances and scored just once.

He made the move to Wiener Neustadter Sportclub in 2017 but played just two games for the club before making the decision to retire from football at just 21 years of age. Luckily for Mosbock, he had something to fall back on which would actually turn out to be more financially rewarding as he made a full-time move into poker.

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He first became acquainted with poker in 2008 at the age of 12 and quickly became enamoured with the game and by the age of 14, Mosbock had won £23,000 where he said he "calmly withdrew all the money". Despite the whopping win, the 27-year-old continued training to achieve his dream of being a footballer. However, when he reached 20 years old, he said his lost his love for football and soon hung up his boots.

In an interview with Poker Code, he admitted: "I stopped enjoying daily training and no longer felt that football is what I want to do". "I increasingly asked myself: 'Is this exactly what you want to devote the next 15 years to?'

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"I could extend the contract with the Austrian Bundesliga club, there was also the option to try my hand at a stronger league.

"But I doubted that even this would bring back my love for football. To sort out your feelings I decided to give up football altogether for a while and see how much I would miss it. Since then, I have not regretted my decision for a second and even now I am sure that I did everything right."

It certainly makes sense that he hasn't regretted turning his back on football considering he's won over a million pounds in online poker.

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