I’m in Vegas right now doing a three-day coaching program with a new client. At the end of day one, we went downstairs to the poker room at the Venetian to play some poker in the same game, for mutual observation. The plan is that I watch him and take notes on things he does and doesn’t do so that the next day, up in the room, we can talk about changes he could make that would make him more money. These changes range all the way from how he looks at his cards to what he says and doesn’t say to what he thinks and doesn’t think and more. The other reason we are there is so that he can observe me as I demonstrate behaviors and attitudes that build a strong aura of confidence and shamelessness thereby planting seeds of doubt and fear in the minds of the opponents while also making it more fun to play and increasing the percentage of A-game.
One of the areas where most everyone has room for improvement is going broke. And in this field of expertise, it would be dishonest for me to feign modesty. Maybe it’s because I have so much experience at it, but going busto is something I am very good at. So much so, that when I get felted, I consider it a positive EV situation for me. See that poor pitiful player over there stacking up all my chips? Little does he suspect that he just gave me an opportunity to flaunt my imperviousness. Touche! I think, while not wincing. Take that!
Last night, we played $2/5 no-limit hold’em, and I bought in for the minimum: $200. On the first significant hand I played, I lost all my chips. I was ready. I demonstrated perfect non-reaction to getting beat on the river after my money was in the middle and my cards were face up. I demonstrated perfect rebuy form with the chips I had in my pocket. I demonstrated perfect calm and tiltlessless during the following hands. In short, my client got a good show. And my solid image was solidified.
On break, I called my wife to get caught up on our days. She likes to know the score, and toward the end of the conversation, she asked, “How are we doing in the game?”
I told her about going broke early, for the minimum buy-in of $200, and that it was great because the client got a good lesson from it.
She said, “I’ve noticed that you often seem to go broke early on when you’re with a client, and then you always say that it was good that it happened, for the client’s sake.”
I said, “Yeah, I think you’re right, there’s a pattern here.”
She said, “I think you should raise your fee $200.”
11 Responses to “The Benefits of Going Broke”
absolutely the funniest thing I’ve read today. keep ‘em coming :-)
Priceless. I laughed out loud.
A strong aura of shamelessness?
haha, great!
Phat,
“A strong aura of shamelessness?”
I guess it would be a more accurate to say “A strong aura caused by shamelessness.”
i laughed also, and i must demand more KAY more KAY;)
She’s right, you know.
I want more!
on February 28th, 2009 at 1:03 pm #
[...] Angelo mentioned a word in passing in a recent entry in his blog. He was talking about a coaching session for live play at a casino and is talking about [...]
I’ll go along with the others and say “great article and funny too”.
But now for my nit-pick – you aren’t “going busto”, you are “getting stacked”. “Busto” usually means losing everything, your entire bankroll, having nothing left. And since “enough is never enough” for you, I’d never expect you to ever go busto…
JJS,
You’re right. “Busto” is a throwback word to the ancient times — like, four years ago — before the phrase “getting stacked” existed. I need to modernize! It so happens that I am collecting words and phrases that have appeared since the poker boom for an article I’m working on. Not quite sure what angle the article will take. I just know it’ll be about our lingo. I have to write it because I already have a title: He Beat Me With a Club.
I just added “getting stacked” in the file.
Tommy