From winning at crypto to winning at poker: Jordi Alexander says he's at an all-time peak

For many people, working one job in crypto is more than enough — let alone working two crypto jobs and finding enough time to win a poker tournament on the side. 

Yet that’s the position Selini Capital founder George "Jordi" Alexander found himself in last month when he beat out heavyweights like Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu to claim a bracelet at the World Series of Poker and his first-place prize of $282,000.

“For me, it meant a lot,” said Alexander in an interview at ETHCC in Brussels. “Being one of those lifelong checklist items you have and accomplishing it at a later stage can make you reflect upon your entire life and your journey of trying to improve yourself and do better every time, not just in poker, but in everything that you do.”

“When it actually happened, it was like time stopped and it took a while to digest,” he added. He said he didn’t have anyone on the rail because the game finished in the early hours but was pleased to find support from the crypto community on X. 

Blending poker and crypto

Alexander’s poker journey started at a young age when he played professionally for a few years. He said this was common among college students who wanted to elevate themselves and make money. However, over time, many such poker players pivoted to crypto trading as they saw it as the next hunting ground for making big winnings. 

Alexander said that the poker mindset is key to performing well in crypto. He cited awareness of expected value — the value that is estimated to result from certain actions — and making consistent, above-average decisions that compound over time as critical techniques that poker players can apply to crypto. 

“I see it with poker players that come into crypto; one thing they don't want to do is not be early. They know that you don't want to be the one at the end holding the bag,” Alexander said. “They understand concepts like this very intuitively.”

He noted that professional gamblers have to deal with a lot of government bureaucracy and difficulties settling money, claiming this results in an inherent understanding of the value of currency systems that are permissionless.

“They really understand it to the extent that some have become very wealthy because they understood Bitcoin so well, so early, but they just went all in and never sold anything because they really believe in it a lot,” he said.

Building a stronger mindset

Even though he moved from poker to individual crypto trading to running his own crypto company, he still finds the time to take a couple of weeks out each year to play at the WSOP. He recalled previous occasions when he made the final table around eight or nine times but never managed to reach the final spot. He put this down to a lack of self-belief in the final hours when he might get tilted and make poor decisions. 

He said his mindset was different this time. “This year, I do feel like all the fighting through the bear markets and building that mental resilience definitely made a huge impact on [my] poker play,” he said.

Alexander pointed to the 2022 crypto bear market, during which he said it felt like all the people in the industry were getting punched every two months with negative headlines. He said that he saw himself staying resilient through these challenging times and built a mindset that helped him overcome the self-doubting voices in his head.

This meant seeing poker legends like Ivey as mere mortals so that they wouldn’t crush him in the game. This forced him to play against them like they were any other player. 

In the end, Ivey ended up helping him by offering him a bucket hat that kept the bright lights in the room at bay. As for the final day, Alexander said he lasted on just a caffeine patch and green tea. Regardless, it worked and he secured the win.

Investing while building

When asked about his success on the crypto side of things, he said he was "at a point where I feel like I'm at an all-time peak and in all my verticals that I spend time with.”

The main business he runs is Selini Capital, a crypto market-making and VC firm that has around 45 employees. It has been involved in 21 crypto investments, according to The Block Pro’s Funding Dashboard , with investments in companies like Ether.Fi, WOO Network, Arbelos Markets, Illuvium and RedStone.

In addition to Selini Capital, Alexander also works on Mantle MNT +4.81% Network, an Ethereum Layer 2 network built on a modular design. Its staked ether token is called mETH and its memecoin is called Puff, while its upcoming governance token will be called Cook, and its restaking token to be named Crystal Meth (yes, there's a theme here).

“It came out organically, just by coincidence, Alexander said. “So mantle ether is mETH. And when we were ideating it, initially we were just chuckling, but just mentioning it to people, they're like surely you can't actually make this official, but even giving it to a bit more of a serious crowd, they still enjoyed it, and they didn't think it was over the line.”

The speed of adoption of Mantle has surprised him, he noted, particularly with the value flowing into mETH hitting $2 billion in March. “That’s been a trip," he said.

Alexander is betting that balancing both roles and sacrificing his personal time will pay off, especially if there are ways to integrate his two projects. He suggested Selini Capital could, for instance, provide market-making services for a decentralized exchange on Mantle or help with VC funding in that ecosystem. In return, Mantle's success could then bleed back into Selini Capital.

Such a move to double down on a single ecosystem is a bit of a gamble. But that won't worry him.