Poker Magic
You've seen Antonio win, right?
You've seen him standing under the hot TV lights, with Shana on his left and Vince on his right, a goblet of bubbly in one hand and a wad of cash in the other. You've seen him model the hardware on his wrists -- wrists seemingly made for the bling of championship jewelry. You've seen him win, and if you've seen him win, you might think that winning is all he ever does.
Did you know that he busted out of the Big One at the 2004 WSOP in the first few hours of play? Can you imagine that Antonio -- magic though he may be -- loses more tournaments than he wins? Of course he does. Everybody does! And that, in a sense, is the secret of Antonio's success. The secret?
DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAIL!
Losing is part of winning, folks. If you hit the target every time, that target's too damn big or too damn close. So of course you're gonna lose sometimes. But if you go into a tournament or a big cash game afraid to lose, you're screwed. You won't play right. Fear will show, either in beads of sweat on your forehead or in the slightest hesitation when you're making a monster bet. You'll call when you should raise, fold when you should call, limp to a mediocre finish and wonder why you never grab the brass ring.
And guys like Antonio, guys who smell fear like sharks smell blood, will absolutely eat your lunch.
How do you spring yourself free from fear? Antonio says it's simple. All you've got to do is get with this:
MONEY ISN'T MONEY
Antonio actually sees money three different ways. There's money he spends on parties and friends, and this is money he spends insanely lavishly. Then there's "justice money," money that, no matter how large or small, has to give good value. "Justice money" is why you'll see Antonio cruising for a public parking space -- all night long if need be -- if he thinks what the private lots are charging is a gouge.
Finally there's poker money -- money that does nothing but play poker. This money is not money, not in Antonio's mind. It's the tools of his trade, and he no more thinks about the dollar cost of an individual chip than a carpenter thinks about the cost of the nails he's driving. That carpenter'll drive all the nails he needs to in order to do the job. Same with Antonio. Same with you, if you choose to.
Consider you chips to be the cost of doing business, nothing more and nothing less. You'll free yourself from the fear of losing them, and then you can go win more.
But there are other fears besides the fear of losing money. There's also the fear of looking silly, and this fear can brutalize a player's play. That's why AE preaches the gospel of:
DON'T BE AFRAID TO LOOK BAD
Antonio crashed out of the 2004 WSOP in spectacular fashion. A few broken drives, a few busted bluffs and. bam! Gone! Antonio! The wunderkind! The guy all eyes and ESPN cameras were glued to. Gone! Not quite gone in sixty seconds, but gone pretty damn quick. How would it make you feel if you were him. had all those expectations laid on you. and crashed and burned so soon? Would you feel like the last float on the clueless parade? You might.
Not Antonio.
He played right, caught unlucky, and got bounced out of the tournament on his ass. Did he feel bad? Did he feel a fool? Did he feel like he'd let down all those fans and all that expectation? Hell no! Why? Because. bottom line. he played right. He wasn't afraid to fail, and he wasn't afraid to disappoint the people who had high hopes for him. He knew that he had no chance -- none -- if he played to defend his image, rather than play his game and play to win.
Down here on the mortal level, we carry all kinds of people's expectations around with us. We're afraid to bust out early, squandering both our buy-in and our fragile, fearful egos. From Olympian heights, Antonio looks down and says, "Hey, right play is right play." That's why he's never afraid to make the right move at the right time, even if that time is the first ten minutes of a tournament, and even if the move goes wrong.
Because when it goes right, then you put yourself in position to win. And then you'll have a chance to stand with Shana and Vince.
So there you have it, kids: Antonio Esfandiari's simple three-step guide to poker glory.
- DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAIL
- DON'T BE AFRAID TO LOSE MONEY
- DON'T BE AFRAID TO LOOK BAD
Really, it all boils down to don't be afraid. But you knew that all along, right? Want
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