mochalov13 Wins Legend of the Week Leaderboard Three Times

Winning one of the Legend of the Week leaderboards is a fantastic achievement in its own right. Imagine not only topping a leaderboard once, but three times. Not only that but winning three different leaderboards since the promotion began.

That is exactly what mochalov13 did last week; he won his third Legend of the Week leaderboard, finishing first on Leaderboard 5, the one reserved for the $55 Gladiator and $55 Masters. Three Legend of the Week victories in the space of six months, what is mochalov13’s secret?

“I do not know, but if I did I probably would not say! There are small adjustments to make for the leaderboards, but I don’t really want to go into the details. To a greater extent, however, there is still a lot of luck involved and, of course, playing in all the tournaments.”

From Sports Betting to Online Poker

Gambling has been part of mochalov13’s life since his days as a student. Even before he dreamed of becoming a semi-professional poker player, he was involved in sports betting. It was through betting on sports that our three-time champion got his introduction to poker.

“Since the sits for betting and poker are basically the same, that’s where I got acquainted with poker. I began playing freerolls and tournaments that had money added to the prize pool.”

“In 2010, I came across the challenge of a female poker player who went from $50 to $1,000 in 30-days. Before that, I never thought that I was sexist in any way, and I’m still a little ashamed that I though ‘how can some girl do this, but I can’t?’ Basically, I did the same thing with only a $17 starting bankroll and it took 25-27 days.”

“The same girl set another challenge, this time earning $10,000 in 100 days playing nothing higher than $100. I made a bet that I could do the same with stakes up to $11. She won her challenge, but I did not. However, I had about $6,000 profit from those 100 days grinding. At the same time, the betting landscape changed in Ukraine, so I decided to switch to poker full time.”

The Leaderboards Are One Of The Main Reasons I Play These Tournaments

mochalov13 plays a lot of volume, which lends itself to leaderboard success. The Legend of the Week leaderboards do not need a lot of grinding because each runs Monday through Saturday across two tournaments per leaderboard. You only have to play 12 Daily Legends across a week at the most. Does this affect mochalov13’s strategy?

“Almost all leaderboards are special and require a different approach from the next in order to increase your chances of success. I don’t know how to estimate the EV of myself or an average player in the Legend of the Week leaderboards, but it is definitely +EV to play them. The leaderboards are one of the main reasons I play these tournaments.”

“A definite plus for most players is there is no need to grind too much. It is enough to play 12 tournaments, but I don’t really like this because grinding is one of my strengths.”

You do not have to play a ton of tournaments in the Legend of the Week promotion, nor do you have to win each event you play. Mochalov13’s latest leaderboard win occurred without triumphing in any of the qualifying Daily Legends tournaments.

“I managed to win without great success in the tournaments. I had a third place in the Masters, a fifth place in the Gladiator, and won the leaderboard with a 15th place in the Masters on the Saturday. There were a few more in-the-money finishes too.”

Thoughts On Taking Shots

Everyone who wins tickets from the Legend of the Week promotion loves the fact they get to play in tournaments that cost a lot more than their usual stakes. Mochalov13 has played much higher than even the $1,111 High Roller One Shot awarded as part of his winning package.

“Online, my most expensive buy-in was the $5,300 MILLIONS Online in 2018, the one with the $20 million guarantee. I played in this year’s MILLIONS Online after winning my seat from a $55 ticket. Offline, I played in the $10,300 WSOP Europe Main Event in Rozvadov after qualifying for only $2.20 at partypoker.”

Mochalov13 told the partypoker blog that tournaments costing more than $111 to enter make him uncomfortable, partly because he does not feel his skill level is such that he has an edge over his opponents.

“Without addition +EV from selling pieces of myself, leaderboards, or big overlay, I do not usually take shots in these higher stakes games regularly.”

We will be keeping an eye out for mochalov13 in the coming weeks as he hunts down what would be a fourth Legend of the Week title. Can he do it? We would not bet against it happening.