Manig "swordfish007" Loeser has given his first substantial interview since signing with BCPoker, and the German Triple Crown holder used it to push the conversation away from his $12 million resume and onto trust, ethics, and the rake cut he negotiated as a condition of joining the room.
The full Q&A ran on PokerWired, bylined to Pessi Lamm. It is worth reading in full, but the headline takeaways are aimed squarely at the audience that already knows Loeser's tournament record and wants to know what kind of ambassador he is going to be. Loeser told PokerWired the BCPoker partnership is built on "a team that I could trust to act ethically," and was explicit about why that bar mattered to him.
Without naming the operator, Loeser referenced the publicly known dispute that soured his view of the industry, calling it a single bad actor that "was enough for me to lose a lot of faith in the industry as a whole." Long-time followers will know the reference. The framing matters because Loeser is the first signing the BC ecosystem has made who carries a high-roller record on the same scale as the players GGPoker and PokerStars sign, and his read of the room is the credibility chip on the table.
If a site can get away with scamming people and still operate at that level due to greed, it paints a very grim picture for the future of online poker. That's why it was so important for me to choose the right partnership.
Manig Loeser (@swordfish007)
The rake conversation
The most concrete piece of news in the interview is the rake change. Loeser told PokerWired the first thing BCPoker raised with him on signing was lowering the rake, and that the room shipped the cut "a few weeks ago," putting BCPoker's structure "significantly lower than many competitors' rake structures." He went on to vouch for the game quality from his own grind on the platform and confirmed instant withdrawals "across different chains."
That is the line that should travel inside the player community. Lower rake from a sponsored pro who plays the games is a different signal to a marketing line on a landing page. Loeser also flagged security and transparency as the two things he weighs first when judging a modern online poker site, with the standard fundamentals - liquidity, withdrawals, game quality - assumed to be in order before any of that matters. You can read the full BCPoker ambassador rundown on his PokerInfluencers profile.
On staying competitive in 2026
Asked what has mattered most in his career - technical study, emotional control, experience or hunger - Loeser pointed first to emotional control and gave credit to the mental coaches he has worked with over the years. He said bad beats and downswings "never affected me too much," and that experience is the other major factor, particularly because he still relies on live reads and frequently deviates from solver-approved lines.
On the broader changes in the game, Loeser was blunt about why a lot of the old guard has fallen off: "Many old-school players are still stuck in that era, which is why they can no longer compete at the highest level." He framed his own routine as continuous learning, helped by a peer group that includes some of the best players in the world. The German wave he came up with - Fedor Holz, Rainer Kempe and the rest of the late-2010s high-roller class - is the implied reference point.
Latin America is the proving ground
The travel section of the interview is where Loeser is most off-script. He bought an apartment in Buenos Aires "a few years ago," started playing the regional circuit more seriously, and described the South American poker culture in genuine terms: "people sharing mate, chatting, laughing, and genuinely enjoying each other's company while still competing hard." He singled out Uruguay and Argentina, with Taiwan and the APT also getting a mention.
That tracks with what Loeser has actually done on the felt in 2026. Two CAP Bariloche Monster Stack titles in January and February, an Enjoy Poker Tour Main Event win in Uruguay, two Argentinian Main Event runner-up finishes, and over $150,000 in regional cashes inside the first four months of the year. The BCPoker pitch into the Latin American market is built on top of an ambassador who is already living there, which is the part of this deal that makes structural sense.
Every poker stop has a completely different player pool, and that's what makes it so fun for me. The styles, tendencies, and overall atmosphere vary from region to region, so adapting is always part of the challenge.
Manig Loeser (@swordfish007)
Mixed games, streaming, and what comes next
Two smaller details worth flagging for the player audience. First, Loeser confessed an active love for PLO, saying he used to play "a lot of private PLO games" and would consider mixed games at this year's WSOP, while honestly admitting he is not particularly skilled at them. Second, on the ambassador job itself, he committed to promoting BCPoker at Triton, EPT and other live stops, playing regularly on the platform, creating content, and "getting back into streaming as well."
The streaming line is the one to watch. BCPoker has not had a true high-roller streamer attached to the brand to date, and a Loeser stream with mid-stakes content plus high-roller war stories would be the type of asset the room has been missing. The early checkpoint remains the May 17 Manig Welcome Freeroll cycle and the Be Champ Series spread of $150,000+ in guarantees, all of which we covered in the original signing piece.
The takeaway
Two things to take from this interview. The first is that BCPoker has a sponsored pro who is willing to publicly negotiate product (the rake cut) rather than read out marketing copy, and that is a meaningfully different posture from the average ambassador deal. The second is that Loeser is treating this as a multi-year project that will run through Triton, EPT, the South American festival calendar and a streaming relaunch, not a year-one promo push.
The full interview is on PokerWired and is the recommended primary source. We will keep tracking the BCPoker partnership on the Loeser profile and in the daily tweet feed. Always gamble responsibly. For help, visit BeGambleAware or the NCPG helpline.
