#1917 - Fedor Gorst

SPEAKER_2 (0:04)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

Joe Rogan (0:16)

You are the first professional pool player to ever be on this podcast.

Fedor Gorst (0:19)

Yeah, thank you.

Joe Rogan (0:20)

Congratulations.

Fedor Gorst (0:21)

Thank you so much.

Joe Rogan (0:21)

How old are you, man?

Fedor Gorst (0:22)

I'm 22

Joe Rogan (0:23)

How long have you been playing?

Fedor Gorst (0:25)

I've actually started with a different game called Russian Pyramid.

Joe Rogan (0:29)

Yeah, I've seen that before.

Fedor Gorst (0:30)

Yeah, that's the game we play in Russia. You know, I've played since I was about six. That's when I had my first coach.

But I've been around the billiard ball since the very beginning.

Joe Rogan (0:43)

What are you ranked in the world right now? You're like, in my opinion, you're like top three, top four in the world.

Fedor Gorst (0:49)

There's currently, like, too many different rankings.

You can't really... Because I didn't play as many tournaments this year, like official ones, so I don't have any ranking points.

Joe Rogan (1:00)

Because you're from Russia, and you couldn't play in tournaments for a while, right, during the Ukraine crisis?

Fedor Gorst (1:07)

Yeah, so since the end of February, when the whole thing started, they banned all the Russian athletes, and they only removed the ban, I believe, in the end of July.

Joe Rogan (1:23)

You know, it's crazy, they didn't ban UFC fighters.

We had a lot of Russian UFC fighters, and they don't even get treated badly. They don't get booed. I mean, they get booed a little bit by some assholes.

Fedor Gorst (1:36)

It's different in every sport, like hockey. You know, if HG is still playing, there's a lot of great players in hockey that still play from Russia.

Joe Rogan (1:43)

So in Poole, they made a decision to not have Russian players for a little while, and then they relaxed it. Why did they relax it?

It's not your business. Like, it's not like... You're 22 You're not involved in politics.

Fedor Gorst (1:59)

Well, you can understand it from, I don't know, from like the business point of view. I guess.

But, you know, Poole, in my opinion, is a small sport, and in the end of the day, I don't know how many Poole players will you ban by betting the Russian athletes. I know, I mean, three players.

Joe Rogan (2:18)

Yeah, there's only a few from Russia, right?

Fedor Gorst (2:20)

Yeah, they play internationally.

Joe Rogan (2:22)

And you're the best?

Fedor Gorst (2:24)

From Russia, yeah.

Joe Rogan (2:24)

Yeah, for sure. For sure, yeah. You're one of the best in the world, period. It's kind of crazy to be one of the best in the world at something at 22 years old, because you have so much room to grow and get better.

Fedor Gorst (2:35)

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Joe Rogan (2:36)

I mean, that's got to be very promising for you, because at 22 years old, you're just sort of like, your body's not even fully formed yet. Your brain's not fully formed. They say your cerebral cortex, your frontal lobe, fully forms when you're 25

Fedor Gorst (2:50)

Yeah, I mean, I still have a lot of potential, and I definitely will be aiming to get up there.

Joe Rogan (2:57)

So how did you make the trek from Russia, coming to the United States to play? How old were you?

Fedor Gorst (3:04)

You mean the first time I came? Yes. It was 2016 My very good Russian friend and my sponsor, he brought me to Derby City Classic.

So that was my first experience.

Joe Rogan (3:18)

So you were like, what, 16 or something?

Fedor Gorst (3:20)

16, yeah.

Joe Rogan (3:21)

Wow, robbing people at 16

Fedor Gorst (3:24)

I did pretty good. In the nine ball division, I think I finished in round 12, which is like the last 12 players out of 500 plus.

Joe Rogan (3:33)

That's pretty good for 16

Fedor Gorst (3:35)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So and then a lot of people kind of recognized that I can play, and I got an invite for Derby City Classic Invitational Temple Tournament.

Joe Rogan (3:46)

And the Derby City Classic, we should tell everybody, is this enormous eight day tournament that takes place in Kentucky.

Fedor Gorst (3:53)

Yeah, nonstop action.

Joe Rogan (3:54)

Every year, it's like the Hustlers Convention. Like all the great players, all the gamblers, all the people that talk shit, all the people that sell cues.

Everybody goes down to the Derby City.

Fedor Gorst (4:05)

Yeah, that's the biggest pool fest.

Joe Rogan (4:06)

I still haven't been.