A soap opera life
Both poker and billiards make you stay awake at night, which is not very healthy
Augustin Viziru, thank you for agreeing to give an exclusive interview to Casino Life & Business Magazine, the first gambling magazine in Romania.
Here is the first question:
Who is Augustin Viziru?
Let’s start from the beginning. First of all, I am proud to be the grandson of Gogu Viziru, one of the greatest tennis player in Romania. Not many people know him because he died a long time ago. As for me, he has been my mentor in life. He coached for Davis Cup for 12 years and was also a skipper. He was the one to train Ion Tiriac and Ilie Nastase. My entire family has had sportsmen and had nothing to do with the acting. I happened to become an actor.
Why poker? How did you end up liking this game and not tennis?
I played tennis until the age of 17, when I ran into billiards, another hobby of mine that I master quite well. What I mean is that I had good results and I am among the best players in Romania. And this is where I found gambling, to say so. In the billiards room, they play all kinds of games, starting with poker, backgammon, rummy, etc. I just loved that adrenalin. And I ‚met’ Texas Hold’em 7-8 years ago and got stuck with it. I fell in love with it.
You are an actor, how does art get along with the poker?
Well, this means I have several ‚trumps’ because I am an actor. There are some hands you have to lie about and the other players have to believe you – for this, you have to make some faces. And I steal from my acting and bring it to the poker table.
You are a star, how are you doing with the other poker players? Men or women…
To be honest, I have never been in an awkward situation except during several tournaments while playing with amateurs. But for the rest, with the professional or semi-professional players, they already know me. We know one another and me being Augustin Viziru does not matter at all. They are only interested to take my chips away and I want to do the same thing to them.
What about the lady players?
I met only a few of them at the table. One of them is Gina Pistol, whom I saw several times. Honestly, I do not a lot of these ladies, because I play Cash a lot and not so many tournaments.
Your best poker results?
You are probably talking about the financial part, because I do not have any tournaments wins. It is the Cash games where I won much more.
To give us a total, are you in the red or in the black?
I am so much in the black!
Do you mean that you could live off poker?
Well, I have been doing this for the last two years. And this part of the year has been so good for me. When you grow older, you gain experience – this happens to me, I have gained more experience and I play well.
Do you have any other hobbies?
As I said, I love playing billiards and I go to various tournaments. I am going to the Europeans and I want to go to the World championship. And my portfolio says it all about me. I am a national champion, a Balkan champion and one of the best players in Romania. Unfortunately, I am not promoted as much as I need. If billiards had been promoted like the poker, I would stop playing poker and go with the billiards. I believe that I am much better at billiards than poker.
Are you still in acting?
Yes. A few days ago I went to negotiate a future project. It is very likely that this project will be done, but I cannot tell you anything about it. This is my future and my daily job is acting. Both poker and billiards make you stay awake at night, which is not very healthy. When you are older, you kind of start feeling it…You wake up in the morning and your liver is pinching you..it is not quite ok.
I assume that you played in a casino… If YES, please share with us your best experience. And the least pleasant one, too.
I do not think I could tell you about my worst experience that I had in a casino. I have had my share, you know…and I admit it. Until seven years ago…Wait a minute. What date is today?
May 7…
Tomorrow, on May 8, it has been 8 years since I stopped playing against the casino. Eight years ago, I was playing all the games against the casino and it was not at all lucrative, trust me. I kind of wasted some money back then, but I realized that I should stop playing and I stopped.
But what about the best experience?
Well… When I am in a casino? How should I say it? I think that I discovered…I don’t know, some qualities. Yes, I can call them qualities, since I have learned a lot of stuff. People are bad in a casino. And everyone wants to take your shirt off you. And your skin, if possible. I also learnt how to stay away from certain things and this helped me in my daily life.
My understanding is that you are not playing other games?
No, I am not. I go to the casino quite often but only to play poker. Cash or tournaments. Quite rarely for the tournaments.
You are then familiar with the gambling world in Romania. Tell me an original thing that happened to you.
Let me think…Original? It is more like…well..All the facts are done again and again in a casino. This is not quite a good world and I cannot see myself going to the casino all my life. To put it differently, I do not think very highly about casino. Because everything there changes you completely. You lose your control and if you do it in the casino, you lose yourself.
What are your plans for the future?
Honestly, I really want to go beyond my current status in acting. To be in big movies, even international. This is why I have been training intensely for. I want to leave Romania next year. And I would like to try it to get where everyone does, to Hollywood. If God helps me, I hope to get a good contract there. And again, this is why I have been getting for, because this is going to be my life. This is what I will do for the rest of it. I just acting so much. Even though I started it as a joke, I cannot see myself doing something else.
Do you have time for your personal life?
Yes, of course. Especially this time of the year, I do have a lot. Except that the day is too short. Because of the games, the poker games that end in the morning. And I wake up at 2-3 in the afternoon and the day is truly short. But I do have time since the nightlife, as we all know, is the best, yet unhealthy.
How does a regular day in your life look like?
As an example, I like going to the gym. To exercise a little, to play either soccer, tennis or other sport. After that, I eat something. I love eating out, never at home. I do not like the smell of cooked meal in the house so I’d rather go out. In the evening, it is the same – I hang out with my friends, play poker, meet a girlfriend or leaving on a vacation…Stuff like this.
Have you ever had a turning point when you thought of giving all up?
Well, it depends on what to give up.
To this ‚good living’. Not everyone can afford playing poker at night, for example..
Yes, good, this is why I am telling you all these…It has been eight years since I stopped playing games against the casino, because I was going down a path I did not really like. And I had lost much money, more that I could think. And when I realized my situation – I am so glad that I am one of those people – I simply stopped. Had I not done it, we would have not be talking to each other today. I would have been a homeless. But I am thrilled to have stopped in due time. And I do not want to ever get involved with the games – I am more a temperamental person and if I start sliding, I will not stop. So I’d rather not play anything.
How did that happen? Did you realize yourself that you were in danger or you got help from a kind of program ‚Responsible gambling’?
No, no, no…One evening, I just understood how much I had lost. But let me tell you how that happened, it is funny anyway – I lost a lot of money one night and then I went to a club. They had a VIP section there, do not want to advertise for it, with four tables. One of them was our table, mine and my friends’ and another one was for the owners of the casino I had played. Those people at the casino respected me a lot, had all the facilities, free apartment, the car parked in front, a full tank…I was a player and they were buttering me up..But they knew I had reached the bottom. Because they know everything. When I went to say hi to them, a bodyguard told me – ‚My boss told me not to let anyone in here. And I make a sign to the boss –‚Hey, how are you, man? Chin-Chin!’ He looked at me from where he was sitting, a cigar in his mouth, made a discrete sign with his hand and looked away. Then, I said to myself – ‚Look at him, what he can do with my money!’ That second, I felt like stupid. And that moment I decided – got tell you that I am a proud man – not to gamble anymore. And that was it!
What is your greatest achievement?
The best thing that happened to me was that I am an actor. No matter how beautiful my life is and how many things and satisfaction I had, they are nothing, you do not do anything, not leave anything behind. With the movies, series and soap operas, I think the opposite, you leave something. That will tell people that I did something in this world…This is the most important thing…Family and memories, right? To leave something behind you.
But the failures in your life?
The fact that I do not have a child, this is the worst failure for me. I really want to have a family and children. I love having children and it has not happened so far. This is what I would call failure in my life.
Can you tell a few words for the readers of Casino Life & Business Magazine?
To stay away from the casino games and not play against the casino. And for those playing poker, they should be more open-minded, to learn from others, as I have done it myself.
Thank you and good luck in what you are doing.
Thank you and keep up your good work!
