Just the competition part and the part of improving and working on your game were really important to me, and I felt like there was some void that needed to be filled. When I stopped playing basketball, I started playing poker as well. When his athletic career came to a premature end, poker seemed like a perfect avenue to funnel his competitive fire. He also represented the Austrian Under-18 team. He was a professional basketball player before turning to poker, playing for BC Vienna in the Austrian first division. Neugebauer is a poker world champion, but his first career aspirations were in a different game. I don’t know what the experience would’ve been without them.' Max Neugebauer Wins WSOPE Main Event “What means most to me, honestly, is my friends being here and cheering me on.
And then it’s actually the WSOP Main Event means even a bit more,” he said, surrounded by a crowd of supporters that cheered every pot won and held up a sign that read “Max” throughout the final table.
