First Blog

Whether he likes it or not, a man's character is stripped bare at the poker table; if the other players read him better than he does them, he has only himself to blame. Unless he is both able and prepared to see himself as others do, flaws and all, he will be a loser in cards, as in life. -Anthony Holden

Hey everyone,

I will do my best to maintain this blog with weekly/daily updates; it will depend on my mood. I am a very private person, so I am completely out of my comfort zone typing this. This blog will be about me and how I evolve and adapt to the world of online poker. I have been playing for almost three years (both cash and tournament), and I feel I am a slightly losing player in both forms. I am a losing player because I am failing to make the adjustments needed to accomodate how fast the game is changing. Do not get me wrong, I have won several live tourneys here in Las Vegas along with thousands of dollars in cash games. However, online poker has completely “pwned” me from the beginning. I have been a CardRunners and PokerXFactor member since the beginning and have read just about every poker book ever written, except the one by Chen about math…..I just can’t do it.

About me: I’m middle aged, I played college football, and spent a large portion of my life as a Marine traveling the world. I am not married nor do I have children. I have a girlfriend who plays poker as well, so that is a definite plus, because I do not see how a relationship could work if your significant other did not understand/play poker too.

My set up: AMD Phenom II X3 processor, 4 Gig RAM, dual 19’ monitors.

I will be upgrading to the 30” Dells as soon as I start to become a winning online player, but for now what I have works just fine.

I have hired private coaches, attended WPT and WSOP academies, and while everything has helped me become a better player, I still have not achieved the results I am looking for. After beating my head against the wall several times, blaming my losses on suckouts and poor play by others, and even going so far as to accuse the poker websites of cheating, I have realized the problem lies within me. So I asked myself, "how do I get better? I am already watching poker videos, studying them over and over but yet not getting the same results as the people recording them. It must be luck right? Or maybe I need to pause for a minute before I make a call so that I hit my card because of the RNG (Random Number Generator) the poker site uses." I have literally thought there was no way the problem was with me, it had to be something else. "Online poker is rigged!! How do people keep going runner runner against me? Why do I keep losing 70/30 situations, and even 80/20’s!!!"

So why didn’t I just give up? Well, for a couple of reasons. One of those reasons is that I know some guys that cannot win a local backyard league tournament but yet they crush it online making $5-10K a month part-time. Lucky? Well, maybe at first….but not every single month. Another reason would be the freedom that playing online poker would provide to do whatever I want, whenever I want, from anywhere in the world.

So one afternoon I read an article (http://bit.ly/18M2J7) in Bluff Magazine about some guy they called The Maven. His real name is David Chicotsky and he was the Bluff Online Player of the year for 2008. The article tells of how hard work and determination turned him into a successful online player as well as a person. He worked countless hours and gave up sleep, holidays, and weekends. I also learned recently that it affected a personal relationship he had with someone he really cared about. I made up my mind after reading this article that I wanted to meet him.

I met David this summer during the Ante Up For Africa WSOP event where I volunteered to walk celebrities across the red carpet. It was a great time and I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet the likes of Sarah Silverman, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Don Cheadle, Kenny Smith, Jennifer Tilly, and several professional poker players. After speaking with David at his booth during the Expo, he invited me over to the training center the next day to take a look around. I accepted and was thoroughly impressed by everything he said and showed me. We discussed his system and the students that are currently using it. Every student, except for a few with personal issues, is crushing it online. I was sold. I also was fortunate enough to meet “Bob2bob” and “Drexxel7,” two up-and-coming online superstars who are David’s students.

Now, my business has all but failed over the past year so financially I couldn't afford it. So I debated over this for almost two months before I broke down and called him again one afternoon while he was playing in an FTOPS event. He personally guaranteed me that he would turn me into a winning player if I would put forth the effort, so we agreed to terms that would have me being coached by him and Ari Engel.

First day: Training with The Maven. David has two assistants, Ryan and Zach. Ryan is the younger, up-and-coming protégé and Zach is the well-groomed, highly intelligent guy who runs everything. Zach has a commanding presence, is well spoken, and seems just as excited teaching as the students are listening.

The material is straightforward and highly progressive. There are tools that MUST be used for it to work. If you do not employ them, you will not be successful. After the material was presented I watched David play several tournaments, eventually final tabling one (going out around 6^th I believe). I went home exhausted but decided to play one tournament before I went to bed…so I chose a Full Tilt $6 NLHE 90 man KO. I won it and it felt effortless. I texted David the results and went to bed.

Second day: Training with Ari Engel, another accomplished online poker player who is actually David’s teacher. I watched Ari play all of the Sunday majors and we discussed several situations that occurred. The main thing I noticed is that David and Ari have different styles of play, but yet the employ the same tools. David likes to play several tournaments at a time, while Ari stays around four, sometimes five. Ari is a great guy and when you get to know him, you will soon realize that he too is a poster boy for dedication and discipline.

During my visit, Joe “Dyzalot” Morneau was killing the FTOPS $2500 buy in event in the next room, so I was able to watch him play for several hours. He is another GREAT player and person to talk to about poker. At 39 years old, he is well traveled and has seen it all before. I think with my age and character, I could relate to him more than anyone else in the house.

After the training, I left town for a couple of weeks and locked myself down to play. Now during this time I ended up only barely making a profit and became even more disheartened than ever. I thought to myself, “Fuck, I’m not even break even, because I just spent several grand on training.” Back to the drawing board. I got back into town and called Ryan, David’s assistant to schedule a sweat session for the next day. During this session, I picked up more than ever, mainly because I watched David plow through a field of 9000 people in the Sunday Million in his bath robe to finish 10^th.

The only people at the training center watching this take place were Ari, Dyzalot, Ryan, and myself. David had this video playing in the background over and over again. I am not exaggerating when I say that he must have played it 50 times or more. He told me he did it because he likes the song, but I’m guessing that the intensity of everything Pantera puts out only added to his aggression. I say this because I saw the hole cards and I watched him absolutely destroy everyone on the way to his 10^th place finish. The bottom line is he plays to win.

I mentioned at the beginning that I have a Marine Corps background, spent eight years around men and women who are dedicated to a cause and have the discipline needed to carry out tough tasks. I demand more of myself than anyone could ever ask. When I lose at something, I just want to die. That is how intense I am when it comes to winning. For the record, it takes a lot to impress me. Just because someone wins a million dollars in poker....well it isn’t enough to garner my respect if they are not what I consider a good person. A lot of idiots make money in poker. My point is, I consider David a good person and whether he chose poker or any other profession, he would be successful.

Okay, now on to the haters. People rag on him and call him names because he charges so much for his training? Some of the idiots talking trash are down more money that he is charging! Here is a guy who takes you into his home, trains you for five days, answers all of your possible questions and teaches you to become successful and people have a problem with it? Unreal. I just learned that Ryan (his assistant) is not allowed to play poker for an undisclosed duration and he is not being paid! You cannot buy that type of loyalty these days. How much would you charge a complete stranger to live with you for a week and to teach him everything you know about poker so he can leave and become your competition?

Believe me when I tell you that paying for the training was one of the toughest decisions I have ever made, because I thought it was overpriced as well. I even went to Bryan Micon via Facebook and asked him about it, and in typical Micon style he gave me some bullshit answer about how it would change my life etc. I started sweating, Subiime, Daisyxoxo, Bob2bob, Dyzalot, and even Micon, who took down a large tourney for 6k online…..so I said to myself, it must be worth it and took the plunge.

I want to state again, that I am not a blogger, so with the exception of this first blog, I will keep things simple, short, and direct.

David and I discussed the idea of my producing a blog for a variety of reasons, because this could help him or it could hurt him. But either way, I will be 100% honest with it.

I welcome comments, suggestions and anything else people have to say. I cannot comment about David’s system because I gave my word, and signed an agreement to privacy.

I think I wrote enough for now. Good luck everyone and see you at the tables.

Qtrain