Hello! This is the PR team at CLOViZ Inc.!
Many of you may be wondering what CLOViZ is all about and what kind of members are part of it.
In this note, we'll introduce the members of CLOViZ through interviews. We'll touch on CLOViZ's vision and values, as well as each member's role and skill set, while introducing the strength of the team as a whole and the appeal of each individual.
For the third installment, we'd like to introduce our director, Mr. Goto!
1. Winning Multiple Titles in a Short Time
—First, please tell us a little about yourself!
My name is Hiroshi Goto, and I'm a graduate student in the Department of Technology Management for Innovation at the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. Until recently, I was a regular on TBS's quiz show Todai King.
I first encountered poker seven years ago, when I was in my first year of high school. Back then, I just played casually for fun, but about a year and a half ago I started studying in earnest, focusing especially on the genre of mixed games.
As for my poker results, I've won a total of five events so far: four at JOPT in Japan and one at APT overseas.
Beyond playing, I've also hosted domestic tournaments, taught mixed games as a poker instructor, and appeared on the YouTube channel Poker Royale.
~ About JOPT ~
~ About Poker Royale ~
2. The Secret to Getting Results at Unusual Speed
—Those are amazing results, but you only really started studying last year!
As someone who achieved results in a short time, how do you think people who are about to start poker should study?
To put it simply, I think "learning from the right materials" is what matters most.
Compared to when I first started poker, there are clearly more learning resources available now—but that also means there's a lot of unreliable or unhelpful information out there. The important thing is being able to tell them apart. I'd recommend learning from the content put out by strong players and trustworthy people. Even if you study for a year with the wrong materials, you won't improve at all, while the right materials should make you improve by leaps and bounds.
I think even a beginner can reach a level where "no one would think you're clearly bad" in about a month with the right materials. Lately, I've seen players with less than a year of experience who are already extremely good. I myself was able to win a tournament after about two months of study, and I could really feel myself getting better.
These days, I'd say the best way to study is to use the app we're developing, "POKER Q’z". Many of the people behind POKER Q’z truly understand the fundamentals, and I'm confident it's a service that gives you the right direction, so if you're ever stuck, I hope you'll rely on it.
If I were starting poker from scratch, I would absolutely use POKER Q’z with total enthusiasm.
3. What Makes Poker Appealing to Goto
—So it comes down to being selective about information. What do you find most appealing about poker, Mr. Goto?
Compared to games like mahjong, poker has rules that are easy to learn and a low barrier to entry, yet it runs deep—that's what I find appealing.
As for the game itself, its appeal lies in the wonderful balance between luck and skill. In shogi, a beginner would lose all 100 games against a professional, but in poker, even a beginner could win 10 to 20 games against a top pro. However, in the long run, skill shows in the results. There's definitely an element of luck, but the game is designed so that strong players win in the long term—I think that balance is exactly what draws so many people in.
Also, because of the nature of poker, when several people sit around a table and you fold a hand, there isn't much to think about during that time, so you can talk about hands or make small talk sparked by poker. I find the chance to enjoy interacting with other players appealing as well.
4. Bringing Poker Closer to Everyday Life
—That's true—once you've experienced beating a pro, you'd think you could win again and want to keep going.
Mr. Goto, what would you like to see happen in the poker industry from here?
In Japan, regulations have kept the number of poker players low, and the scene is still much smaller compared to overseas. In the U.S., by contrast, large-scale tournaments like the WSOP are held, poker is played regularly in casinos, and the game is popular enough to be broadcast on TV.
I hope that, in the future, regulations in Japan gradually ease, a professional league is established domestically, cash games and tournaments can be held with prize pools comparable to overseas events, and poker being broadcast on TV becomes a matter of course. If that day comes, I believe many more people will enjoy poker in their daily lives, and the industry as a whole will become even more vibrant.
5. The Appeal of POKER Q’z: The Right Materials and Environment
—We hope it keeps growing from here! You mentioned earlier that you develop POKER Q’z—could you tell us more about what makes it appealing?
There are two main things that make POKER Q’z appealing.
The first is that you can learn while having fun through a proper learning curriculum. When people study poker, they tend to do so with a studying mindset—reading books or doing calculations—but POKER Q’z is designed so that you feel like you're playing poker, like you're having fun, and before you know it, you've been learning. The flow takes beginner players through what they need step by step, so even people who don't know where to start can learn.
In the future, we plan to collect users' play data and build a service where you can learn things like "for this kind of playing style, this is the optimal play."
The second is that you can find companions to learn with. Studying alone makes it hard to keep your motivation up, so I think poker study becomes fun when you have companions who keep each other motivated and help each other get stronger.
When you're wondering where to start, where to play, or you want to go on an overseas trip but don't have anyone to go with, joining POKER Q’z lets you learn from scratch and find companions to play with—everything comes together in one place, and I think that's what makes it far more appealing than other services.
In the future, I hope that people who join POKER Q’z are passionate and produce results in tournaments, and that the community becomes so well-regarded that when people talk about strong poker communities in Japan, POKER Q’z is the first one that comes to mind.
—Mr. Goto, thank you very much for the interview today!
Thank you as well. If you're interested in what we're doing and feel like you'd like to be involved in developing the service with us, please don't hesitate to reach out through the link below!