Vladimir Korzinin, also known as ‘Gambledore’, is a poker sensation who sprung up almost overnight.
The Estonian started crushing super high roller Triton events out of nowhere, leading the poker community to ask: Is Vladimir Korzinin good at poker, or just lucky? And, given the incredibly high stakes, how much is Gambledore worth?
Let’s take a look.
Who is Vladimir Korzinin?
Vladimir Korzinin is an inventor from Estonia, as per his introduction at the Triton final table. Before joining the Triton series in November 2024, the 69-year-old had just one recorded cash on his tournament record, making him a virtual unknown to the poker world.
With his long, white beard and a very unique persona, Triton’s commentary team quickly dubbed Korzinin ‘Gambledore’ due to his Dumbledore-like appearance and his obviously obscure and aggressive playing style. Viewers were loving their mystical new hero’s wacky (and successful) antics at the tables, and now he had the perfect name to go with it. An instant legend.
Is Gambledore Good at Poker?
If you want to analyze whether Gambledore is good at poker or not, you need a large sample size. That’s something that simply doesn’t exist.
Korzinin is still new to poker. Whether he’d come first in every tourney he’d played or dead last, we still couldn’t conclusively define if Gambledore is good at poker. But we do have some clues which can point us in the right direction.
Gambledore has little poker experience, and had one cash to his name before the Triton series: a $45,800 win for 3rd place (not including bounties) in the $10,200 EPT Cyprus NLH Mystery Bounty. With such little experience at the tables, our default assumption would be that Korzinin isn’t the greatest poker player.
But Gambledore’s results at the Triton Poker Series in Monte-Carlo were incredible. His first win was nothing special – $31,000 in the $40,000 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty Seven Max – but the next two were huge.
First, Gambledore came second in the $200,000 NLH Invitational for just under $3.5 million. Instantly, Korzinin became the number one Estonian on poker’s all-time money list.
Then, just four days later, he won the $150,000 NLH 8-Handed tournament for more than $4.3 million. In less than a week, Gambledore had conjured up more than $7.8 million in tournament winnings, climbing above the likes of Liv Boeree and the legendary Mike Sexton on the all-time money list.
His style is incredibly unpredictable. He’s just as likely to muck a premium ace as he is to go all in with garbage. He doesn’t seem bothered by the amount of money on the line, which means he’s not susceptible to ICM pressure, and can exploit opponents who are. He also makes some decisions on a whim, which makes it very difficult to figure him out.
Other high stakes players will welcome Gambledore to the tables, even with a few big wins under his belt, under the belief that his erratic style means they’ll beat him in the long run.
Gambledore Hands at Triton
With such little information to go off of, we’ve scrutinized his play at the Triton Poker Series in Monte-Carlo to help determine if Gambledore is good at poker. Triton tournaments are famous for their mega buy-ins, hosting events with even bigger prizes than the best online poker tournaments.
In the $200,000 event where he ultimately finished second, Gambledore joined a stacked final table which included WSOP Main Event winner Espen Jørstad and the legendary Patrick Antonius, who started the FT with 121 big blinds.
Unfazed by the stakes or his esteemed competition, Gambledore looked relaxed at the table, slinging one arm over the back of his chair. He stroked his beard slowly and folded marginal hands even slower.
For most players and fans, anyone who slows down the play is a pain. But not Korzinin. With him, it’s genuinely bewitching because he really could make any play with any two cards.
With blinds at 40k/80k, Tan Xuan min-raised with K♣️9♣️ from UTG. Korzinin made it 480k from the small blind with Q♦️J♦️, and Xuan called. The flop came 3♠️Q♠️2♣️ and, after a contemplative stroke of the beard, Gambledore overshoved all in, forcing the fold. Unconventional, but very tough to play against.
Korzinin found himself with K♠️9♣️ against Mikita Badziakouski’s J♣️2♣️ on a J♠️2♠️Q♥️ board which heavily favored the Belarusian. Badziakouski checks, Korzinin bets, Badziakouski raises, and Gambledore moves all in, and is called. A quick wave of his magic wand and he spiked the 10♦️ on the turn for a straight and a 4 million pot, before announcing “when you know, you know”.
With five remaining, he aggressively 3-bet chip leader Antonius, out of position with Q♣️J♥️, dismissing ICM pressure and making his game really difficult to predict. Not long later, he was at it again, 3-betting 9♠️5♠️ out of the big blind and successfully taking it down pre-flop.
Korzinin’s Poker Highs and Lows
He made mistakes that most of us wouldn’t. At one stage, he accidentally folded an uncontested big blind. Later, he tried to raise less than one big blind with A♥️K♥️.
But there were moments of pure magic, too. With 3.4 million in chips and blinds at 100k/200k, Korzinin got it all in with A♣️9♣️ against Antonius’s dominating A♥️Q♦️. As the turn landed on the 5♥️7♣️4♥️4♠️ board, Gambledore calmly announced “Now the magic happens”, before the 7♥️ hit to chop the pot.
At one stage, the wizard somehow used Antonius’s birthday to win a hand. Antonius led out for 300k into a 1.7 million pot with queen high on the 9♠️7♦️5♥️10♠️3♥️ runout. Gambledore’s ace high was good, but the way he found that out was sorcerous.
“When you have birthday?” asked Gambledore. When Antonius answered that it was December, Korzinin insta-called and won the pot. Did he mean to potentially donate his chips as a birthday gift? Was it all mind games? It’s impossible to tell – and that’s what made it so hard for these experienced pros to get a handle on the Estonian enchanter.
Birthdays are clearly special to Gambledore. During heads-up play, he moved all-in with 9♣️6♠️ because it’s his favorite hand, being 69 years old. Acting on superstitious feelings rather than odds and reads is a textbook amateur move which is more common at the softest online poker sites at the microstakes level – but makes for great viewing.
Korzinin’s $3,470,000 Triton Win
Gambledore’s patterns of play in the $150k event, which he won, were equally unpredictable.
On a final table which included Bryn Kenney and Stephen Chidwick, Gambledore jammed a flush draw on the turn, hit the river, then needled his opponent, Thomas Boivin. Normally, this would be unforgivable – but because he’s so clearly there to have fun, there’s no sting in his words.
You could see this again when his hand was mucked and a redeal required when he would’ve had aces. For most players at a final table with millions on the line, the floor would be called. Korzinin simply mused that he would’ve lost anyway, and moved on. Just as he did after losing a big all-in with A♦️K♦️ against Ossi Ketola’s pocket queens.
Gambledore stacked Sam Greenwood for over 40bbs, holding pocket queens against the Canadian’s A♣️5♣️. The flop came 4♣️2♦️10♣️ and, after Korzinin bet, Greenwood moved all in. Would he have seen a turn against a more predictable opponent? And could this be a sign that it’s not simply random luck, but part of a gameplan by Gambeldore which destroys normal poker logic and forces people to gamble more?
For his next trick, he eliminated two-time WSOP bracelet winner Kenney, who is number one on poker’s all-time money list. On the next hand, Korzinin demonstrated that he wasn’t simply calling everything, insta-folding A♣️J♠️ and avoiding a three-way pot in which Ketola held pocket jacks.
When heads-up against Ketola, he nibbled on Kit Kats while moving all in with 7♥️5♥️ and, later, 7♠️2♠️. He got lucky, beating Ketola’s K♥️9♣️ to survive and ultimately win, but he’d earned that luck.
What is Vladimir Korzinin’s Net Worth?
The precise net worth of Vladimir Korzinin is a mystery, but we do know that he has won nearly $7.9 million in poker tournaments, with almost all of that coming from two Triton super high roller events in November 2024. Beyond that, finding out the true net worth of Gambledore is tricky.
The Estonian may have been lapping up the attention at the tables, but seemingly wants little away from it. After winning the $150,000 Triton event, he vanished, handing his trophy to his opponent and disappearing without giving an interview.
He popped up just a couple of weeks ago on the west coast of Mexico, playing on the Nuevo Vallarta Tour. The buy-ins at the NVT are far less that Triton, highlighted by a 6,500 MXN ($316) Main Event and a 25,000 MXN ($1,215) High Roller. He did not cash any of the four events.
Because Vladimir Korzinin has been entering six-figure buy-in events as an amateur and seemingly playing without a care in the world, it’s a safe assumption that he is a multi-millionaire whose net worth likely goes into or exceeds the tens of millions.
He also has three patents to his name, with some online sleuths speculating that he’s a stock trader or possibly even works for NASA. But these are largely rumors, and there’s no verifiable evidence to prove Korzinin’s net worth at this time.
Conclusion
So, is Vladimir ‘Gambledore’ Korzinin good at poker? He certainly has traits which make him very difficult to play against, including his unpredictability and a fearless irreverence at the highest stakes possible.
But perhaps a more pertinent question would be: Is Gambledore good for poker?
The answer is a resounding yes. Other high-stakes players want amateurs who go against GTO poker, the fans love him, and it’s incredibly refreshing to see a player at the top truly enjoying the game.
He’s putting the magic back into poker.