Poker freelance dealer, player and hurricane Irma survivor – Darius Darka!

I already had pleasure to interview the one of the best superstars in poker world including professional poker players like Nick Petrangelo, WSOP 2016 November niner Kenny Hallaert, chatty british fella William Kassouf or irish commenting legend Fintan Gavin. However, it will be always all about the dealers on Allin1 blog. Let´s check out another interesting interview with former poker freelancer and passionate poker player, who has followed his heart and dreams!

Hi, Would you mind telling us briefly something about yourself please?

My name is Darius Tamulevicius, I am from Lithuania and I was born in very beautiful city Druskininkai. I started to work in Olympic casino in 2003 and moved to England  in 2005. I moved to Ireland in 2007 and that´s where all the fun begins. I worked in Colossus casino in Dublin and started as freelance dealer from there. I traveled a lot around Europe.

I remember, where we used to be a work colleagues and dealt poker tournaments all over the Europe. How do you remember being a freelance poker dealer?

I remember it as the best time of my dealer career. If there is such a thing, actually. I have been working in the casinos for a long time. Poker was always my big passion. So, when i started working as a freelance dealer, that was like dream come true for me. This kind of job gives you an opportunity to travel around the world. I used to spend more time in hotels than i did at home.

We always had great team. We were like a big poker family. And not only dealers,  but players as well. Most of the time you see same players going to same events, so you get to know them. There are really nice players out there, who would always look after dealers.

Can you tell me What was the main reason for you to quit this job and start doing something else?

I worked long enough for the one person. My position used to be either dealer or floor staff. I used to deal at some events and I had different positions at another festivals. Suddenly, I got invited to tournaments, where I always used to be floorman to work as a dealer. I didn´t get explanation why and I knew, I didn’t do anything wrong to be demoted. I worked really hard to get to higher level, so I simply couldn’t take step back. One of my friends was working in small poker room called Joca in Amstetten, Austria. He told me about this crazy game they have and I thought I really have to go to check it out! He didn’t lie. It was the biggest 1/1 NLH game I have never seen in my life. It  was played more like 5/10 game. So I started grinding there and built my bankroll.

I know you are regular cash game player now. Do you play poker for living full-time? What are your favorite stakes?

Yes, I play cash games for living. Normally, I just would play any game, that casino would offer, but most of the time it is 1/1 NLH or one blind 2 PLO. The games are crazy and very big as I already mentioned before. I would say my favourite stakes would be 5/5 PLO.

You still love travelling and playing poker. I know you travelled a lot this year. What was your favourite destination? Any interesting results that you proud of?

I love to travel to new exciting destinations. This year, I played Pokerstars championship in Macau, finished 3rd in PLO for about 6200$, but my favourite place to play poker is Las Vegas. I was there for all June this year and it was my first WSOP. I didn´t have any big scores, but I was happy with my perfomance.

I cashed 3 out of 4 WSOP events ($ 600 Pot Limit Omaha – Bounty #52,  $ 1,500 No Limit Hold’em – Millionaire Maker (Event #20), $ 1,100 No Limit Hold’em – Bounty #40,  $ 1,000 No Limit Hold’em – Tag Team (Event #10). I got deep in $ 565 Pot Limit Omaha (Event #18) and got very unlucky in situation AAxx vs. AAxx. I finished 73 out of 3186 runners. I hope, I will have better luck next year.

Unfortunately, You have experienced the extremely powerful hurricane Irma  in St. Maarten, Carribean Islands. How did it feel to be in the centre of this catastrophic storm?

I have never experienced hurricane before so i did not know what to expect. We thought, that we will be just sitting in our hotel room, listening to the music, having a few drinks and playing some cards, but hurricane Irma was very strong. We were on 7th floor. Suddenly, our floor was moving, windows popped out and smashed inside, our bathroom wall cracked and blocked the door. I have never felt such a power before. Fortunately, none of us got any major injuries, we only lost some stuff. I have to say, that was really scary experience. I hope, I won´t have to go through it again!

Just out of curiosity. What was the security procedure in this unpleasant situation?

To be honest, our hotel staff was useless! We did not get any information, what should we do or where should we hide. They were just looking after themselves. It was terrible misorganisation!

I know that this extreme experience will not make you to loose your passion for poker. Is there any interesting poker destination, that you are planning to visit soon?

At the moment, I don´t have any trips planned. It will be hard to do it now, because me and my friend just started running Hollywood poker room. So, I am back to work, but I hope, that I will have a chance to play poker soon!

Darka, thank you very much for a great and interesting interview! I wish you the best of luck in your new job!

GET 15€ CASHBACK FROM BOOKING.COM!