BPC is International: Dominik from Austria

Today we meet our HU Student Dominik “XcreminatR” from Austria.

Dominik played poker with some success across different formats before joining BPC, his biggest leak being shaky organisation and bad bankroll management. HE went broke regularly or crippled his bankroll, which was obviously fixed by joining BPC.

After a few months in the program, he hit his record CFP month in January, for 4k EUR. This is however just the beginning, and he is not happy with those kinds of numbers, which is the only correct attitude!

Dominik’s two graphs for January.

Many would be happy making 4k per month, but not Dominik. To be fair, he was quite busy in the past months – he is a passionate dancer (latin dances), which took a lot of his time before January, as he was preparing for December  world championship, where he and ended up taking down 6th place with his partner.

Now he has more time to focus on poker, which will likely show results very fast, as he is a determined grinder and does lots of work on his game off the tables. In fact he started February well, being a little behind Hucol’s pace, but by no means out of the race to take down this month’s rankings.

He is a little bit up against it, with construction going on in the building he lives not a very focus-inducing environment for grinding – which is why he is moving to a new flat in a couple of months, finding another nice spot in his Vienna, where he lives.

Besides dancing and poker, he also enjoys pretty much any kind of sports, trained cross fit for a long time and plans to start again, and of course, as an Austrian, loves skiing and snowboarding as well. He is working on personal development, and has goals and ambitions to help others in this field in the future as well. It’s an never-ending road, of course, but over 200 hours played and 55 hours studied, combined with over 30 hours of mediation during the last month, shows you what he is made of.

There’s also another side to him, and I simply can’t end the post about Dominik without linking to his legendary blog update, a must-see for any aspiring grinder!

Good luck man, this month 5k+, next month advanced group and 10k+!

Meet Ella BPC, the most charming member of our team!

Ella started helping on the BPC team a couple of months ago, and joined us full-time at the start of the month.

She will do many things at BPC, but the players and wider BPC team will mostly see her in a supporting role. She is coming to us from another position in the I-Gaming industry, working for a big German sports-betting company. 

Ella is a hobby grinder herself, and has been known to stack a fish or two in her free time.

She also loves to travel, has visited many places already, and lived in different cities in her native Germany, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia – and many more places, if you count the shorter stays of a few weeks or so.

Her knowledge of Slavic languages is a bit rusty these days, but you can still say hello if you speak one of them, and see how it goes!

She currently lives in Malta – making her the perfect organizer of our next BPC meeting, which will be this summer in Malta!

Malta is a great place for many outdoor activities, which she also enjoys, more so during the summer, of course. She exercises daily, likes to read books and discover new things.

Together with Alex, she is already helping our players as well as the wider BPC community where needed, and in general helping things to run smoothly.

BPC is growing and while we are still a close team, we do need people taking care of the “business side” of things as well, which is where here main contributions will come in the future.

Welcome to the team, Ella!

Usually all the pomp goes to the top of the rankings, and deservedly so, of course.

But there are guys at the lower stakes making their progress each day towards those $10k+ months.

The first steps can often be the hardest, so shout-out here to the guys  fighting their way up through the ranks.

Our 6-max Micro student from Serbia, Lateralus, will soon reach the halfway point of the Micro program, after having joined a few months ago.

He made close to 3500 EUR already, over 5x what his starting bankroll was.

6-max student “justplayff” joined BPC in September with 50 EUR in his pocket and a willingness to learn, and grind.

He started at the bottom, playing the Micros.

Currently he is over 4000 EUR up, playing NL50, and planning his shots for NL100.

Check out his blog here: LINK.

Our 6-max student “skenderbeu13” also started his Coaching for profits at BPC with $50 in his pocket, and a determination to succeed no matter what.

He started grinding at the very bottom, the infamous NL2.

After a few months, he is over 3200 EUR up – and that’s just the start. Now he is out of the micros, and the real money-making is about to begin…

Check out his blog here: LINK.

Keep on grinding guys, it takes guts and determination to climb up from the micros, respect to all the grinders pushing hard day after day to hit the goals they set!

Good luck!

The EV Line is not what you think it is

Do you look at your EV line on your graphs?

You shouldn’t be.

The EV line is not what you think it is (unless you have done lots of work on it, and understand it completely).

Here is a hand I played a long time ago, and made a video about it while I was still a CFP student.

The game is NL HU, stacks are a bit over 100bb.

I raise preflop with AQo, and Villain makes a 3-bet with 99.

Given how the board played out, it would be reasonable (as you will see in a minute) for both of us to go all-in at any point in the hand.

If you know anything about the EV line, you know that it pretty much only matters when you go all-in, right?

Basically, how it works, is – you and your opponent go all-in, and both have some % of equity in the pot, assuming you’re not on the river already.

In my example, 99 has 55% equity, and AQ has 45%.

That means 99 expects to win 55% of the time, and AQo expects to win 45% of the time.

In practice, one of these two hands will win the all-in right now. And the other one will be “screwed” out of its % share. The loser doesn’t get 45% or 55%; if you lose the all-in, you get nothing. Winner takes it all.

When that happens, the EV line will show the winner that he should not have won it all, and it will show the loser, that he should have gotten some of this pot. In other words, the EV line will make both players believe that the poker gods will make things right in the future all-ins, where the loser will be compensated, and the winner will have to give some of it back. So that over the long run, both get close to the 55% and 45% share (assuming they repeat this all in long enough).

And this is as far as players usually think on the subject. Since I have never met anybody overly-focused on his EV line when he is winning all the all-ins, let’s talk about the more commonly heard complaint: “I am running below EV”.

The simple logic goes: If I am below the EV line, I am being unlucky, and I am ENTITLED to get more lucky because of it in the future.

The first danger of this logic is, that the longer you are still “unlucky” or below the EV line, the more cheated you might start to feel.

“How is this possible?! When is it MY turn to win the all-ins?! Of course, standard – I lost again. I never win with KK, they always hit the ace.”

That is what I call a loser mentality. If you have thoughts like this, you have fallen into the loser’s mentality. I’m not saying you are a loser, but you are thinking like a loser.

Thoughts translate into action, and soon you will start acting like a loser, and make bad moves on and off the tables. You will start skipping coaching sessions, get lazy with your homeworks, and sloppy with posting and commenting hands on the forums. Your game will suffer, and your results will go down – confirming to yourself, that you are destined to lose.

That is a big problem, and if you fall for that trap, you will not win, no matter what. On the contrary, bad results will linger on, your mentality will drop even further, and you are locked in a vicious cycle.

So I present to you here a way how you can get out of it – and it all starts with the EV line. This is for all of you who have EV lines on your graphs, and regularly look at them, thinking that they are telling you something, when in fact, they are probably just reflecting your own mindset back to you.

If you have read Jared Tendler’s materials, or even watched the videos I suggested a few weeks ago (LINK), you know that one approach to dealing with mental issues is to try and rationally understand what is going on. His argument is, once you understand the EV line, and understand that the long run in poker is really long, your attitude about being “unlucky” or “running bad” will change. The truth shall set you free, so to speak.

My approach here will be different, in fact it will be the opposite.

I am here to tell you that you should not try to understand the EV line, but you should instead realize that you DON’T understand it as well as you thought you did. In fact, you might even conclude you have no idea what the EV line really tells you about your game. Once you reach that point, you will start to see the EV line as it is – meaningless.

And here’s why.

Let’s go back to the example of 99 vs. AQo.

As said, if me and the villain go all-in preflop, he expects to win 55%, and I expect to win 45% of the time.

The pot will be around $140, meaning he should get on average $77, and I should get $63.

Fast-forward to the river: I lost, and he won $140.

So, I am $63 below EV in this hand. In the future, I should somehow get this $63 back, right? Not so fast.

We did not actually go all-in preflop. So let’s take a look at the flop.

As you can see, on the flop I am a 93% favorite to win the hand – if we go all-in here, I should get $130 on average. Since I lost the all-in and got nothing, I am actually $130 below EV.

Her we can already pause and think a bit about what the EV line is telling us.

Same cards, same board, same opponents, we go all-in both times, and same turn and river come. But in one scenario my EV line will say to me I was unlucky for $63, and in the other scenario it will say I was unlucky for $130.

But the hand is the same, and it would have played out the same no matter what I did on the flop or preflop (assuming villain doesn’t fold his 99 at any point on the flop or preflop, which is a reasonable assumption in any kind of aggressive HU match).

The hand takes another twist on the turn, when the 9 hits, and I become a 14% dog to win the hand. EV changes again, if we go all-in now.

Pause and think about what this all means in practice. What is the EV line really telling you about how much you are supposed to win or lose in poker?

If you think long enough and forget what you think you know about the EV line, you might reach the Socratic point of wisdom and realize, you in fact do not understand the EV line in all of it’s complexity. You only see the tip of the iceberg in the orange line on your PT4 or HM2 graph, and YOU give it meaning.

It has no meaning. You are not lucky or unlucky. There is no such thing. There are just different ways to measure the outcome of what happened. EV line is one of them, but it is useless.

I will tell you which one is NOT useless.. The GREEN line.

Why?

Well, I don’t have to tell you that, really. Because it’s the one that pays the bills.

The green line buys things, the EV line is irrelevant.

So that’s the measurement you should focus on. That’s the only REAL way to measure your poker game and results.

EV line is just an excuse. You see it, you don’t understand what it really means, but you tell yourself a story about it. That story has nothing to do with the reality of how the game of poker functions. It has EVERYTHING to do with how you think and act in your life, whether at the tables, or away from the felt.

So do yourself a favor.

Watch the video above, understand that you do not know what the EV line really says about your results, and how to account for all the possible variations of it even in one single hand – let alone thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of hands…

And then remove it from your PT4 and HM2. The green line is all that matters in this world.

P.S. If you are a 6-max player (or playing any game where 3 or more players can get all-in), it’s not just a meaningless stat – it’s actually incorrect, for different reasons. It’s not calculated correctly for 3 or more players getting all-in, but that’s a different story altogether.

Today we meet Radoslaw “arianik”, a bank manager and a family guy from from Poland.

He is our 6-max student, and currently on a mission to beat the NL10 and get into the Intermediate 6-max group. He is right on the edge of it, currently holding a top 5 spot on the February Micro rankings. He was number 1 at the time of the interview, but the Micro guys are a competitive group and things can change quickly at the top.

Radoslaw is a competitive guy himself, being a former volleyball pro, and has not said his last word yet.

Now, being a bank manager means he won’t quit his job for the micros any time soon, but his plan is rather to make a second income from poker, a game he enjoys. He did already get a taste of playing poker for a living a few years back, grinding the 18-mans and 9-mans SNGs to pay the bills.

After taking a few years away from poker, he decided to come back and switch to cash games, mostly due to more flexible sessions which makes it easier for him to spend more time with his young family of 3, and soon to be 4 (congratz!).

In his free time, he also likes to do some photography, with his favorite muse these days naturally being his daughter.

He says life in Warsaw is good, everything he needs is close by, 15 minutes from home.

He lives in the green part of town, so he can enjoy some relaxing barbecues, and hanging out with the family.

There won’t be too much of that in the near future, though, if you want to win the Micro rankings and climb up in stakes!

GL on the journey up!

Here is the CFP leader-board after the 3 weeks of February:

Two Heads Up guys leading the charge in front of a newcomer to the rankings form the PLO 6-max camp, YuriyBoyko.

XcreminatR, whom we met not so long ago on our blog, is making big progress in the past 2 months. There is much work to be done ahead to start hitting those $10k months, but things are looking more and more promising after a bit of a slow start to the project.

Alloin, currently in second place, is finishing up his 60k CFP, and will likely be joining the finishers in the next week or so. It would be nice to see him go out with a bang, and win his first monthly ranking!

YuriyBoyko joined our PLO 6-max last month, and is already making his presence felt. After a losing first month in the program, he is running strong, and is a favorite to crack the current CFP PLO 6-max monthly record.

Graph doesn’t look too sexy yet, but focus on the last part and you will see the magic.

These are the main contenders to take down the monthly ranking, and the HU guys are outnumbering the competition at the top. Will we see another HU player taking down the rankings, or will Yuriy put the PLO camp on top?

Alloin finishes CFP 60k!

Junuss “Alloin” from Latvia finished the 60k HU CFP with yesterday’s session!

You can see a steady graph of progression towards the 60k (well, some rakeback and un-tracked hands missing from the graph) after a slow start. 

For comparison, during his first full month in the CFP last February, he made 524 EUR.

Fast-forward one year to this February, and he is on top of the monthly rankings with close to 8k winnings for this month (which is not over yet).

As the tradition in BPC goes, he will compete for the rankings until the end of the month, even though he actually completed the project yesterday.

It would be great to see him take down the rankings for the first time in his last CFP month, and it does look he will manage to do it this time – the only question is will he hit the $10k or not? With 6 days left, he is definitely on track to finish the CFP on the ultimate high!

Alloin comes from Latvia, but currently lives in Maribor with a few other (former) BPC grinders, Goodfake and ImaChampion.

He plans to stay there for some more time grinding, before moving to the Philippines in the autumn, where he plans to grind more than just the poker tables…

He started playing poker after watching the black jack movie “21”, and realizing you can make money playing cards online! HE played a freeroll the next day on PKR for the entire night, winning 15 cents, and the rest is history!

Before joining the BPC team, Alloin was grinding the micros up to NL20 for a year. In the year after joining, he moved up to NL600 – a nice step up, but it can always be better, as he was the first to say.

Here’s his recent video blog from the Maribor grindhouse, together with another CFP champ Goodfake:

Congratz to Alloin, well done man, and GL with your future challenges!

Today we want to introduce you to Miha “Crazyhorse” from Slovenia (but living close to the border with Italy, as is obvious from his hand gestures :), one of our 6-max Crushers.

Miha started playing Poker after getting introduced to the game by his friends at university. His next step was to become a dealer in a casino, where he got to know the game from the other side of the table.

At that point he actually started to study the game.  He deposited 10 EUR on Bwin and got very lucky in his first MTT. He placed 3rd out of 1100 players in a $5 MTT, and scored 360 EUR. Of course this night will stay with him forever.

Then he switched to cash games, and grinded up his BR to a couple of thousands.

After that, it was time to go pro – not for the money, but out of love! His girlfriend lived in another city, and as he already had many hobbies, he needed a flexible job to have a chance to spend some time with her.

Speaking of his hobbies…

Living in Nova Gorica, a small city on the Slovene-Italian border, he is close to the mountains, which gives him great opportunities for paragliding. In fact, as he told me, he lives close to one of the best spots for paragliding in Europe.

Not bad. Besides that, he also enjoys hunting and outdoor photography. The town is surrounded by nature, making it a good place for outdoor activities.

In fact, being active outdoors actually helps him with his game as well.

He goes running for 6 km each day, which he established as his pre-game routine to stay focused and relaxed at the tables. Miss a good run, and tilt creeps in…

Miha is currently closing in on 4k for the month, which does not satisfy him, which is as things should naturally be, at least in BPC. His goals are higher than that, and he knows just how to get there.

In his own words: Work hard and never give up!

The main break-through stories of the recent weeks are coming from the HU camp.

First, there is Alloin, who finished the CFP this week and is fighting to win his first monthly ranking in his last month inside the program.

He is approaching 8k EUR in winnings for the month, and is on the way to also break his personal record month.

Then, we have two players who moved up to the advanced HU group, one a couple of weeks ago, and one just today!

We met XcreminatR a couple of weeks ago, and since then he has moved to the advanced HU group, and starting to work on getting that first 10k month. He is currently closing in on 7k EUR, so there is still some way to go…

He too already broke his personal best for the month, as did the next player: Aleksandar “hITthAT”.

Aleksandar cracked the 5k EUR month for the first time, and practically doubled his total winnings before February in this month, and is one of the most improved player in the CFP in February, if we just look at the progress made.

It was a month of personal records for these players (and some others in the program), and there is more to come in the future months, as they really kick it into gear and go for the 10k!

Now that you understand the value of doing it, here are some tips on how to improve your hand posting in practice:

• Post everything clean and very readable. It shows you respect others’ time
• eep things as short and simple as possible, but not shorter/simpler. Get to the point, and cut the BS.
• Provide important reads that are helpful for the situation
• Your coach or other posters are NOT your cleaning lady. This means, don’t just throw out a question and wait for a magic answer. The secret to success lies within YOU. This means, do your best, make assumptions about ranges, do calculations (equilab, flopzilla). Your coach is here to give you feedback on your assumptions and NOT to do the math work for you.

How to do it:

1. Clean hand history posting. Stop the hand history at the point where you have a question (put in a spoiler, so your coach can always check results)
2. Ask your question
3. Provide an answer (see the guide in the blue box below on how to provide an answer for your hand)
4. Look at results, and let others know what, if anything, would you do differently next time based on what you have learnt (put this part into a spoiler so they don’t see the results!)
   • Sometimes we learn nothing, because Villain just had AA preflop or was going all-in with the full-house on the river
   • Sometimes we learn something that Villain does (he slowplays a set, cold calls with AA pre, floats very light)
   • Sometimes we learn something that Villain does NOT do (he does NOT fastplay a set – so when he does raise on the flop, he is more likely to be bluffing; he does NOT reraise AA preflop, so we can assume his 3-bets have more bluffs, and we can 4-bet him lighter; he does NOT fold much on the flop)

Stick to these guidelines every time you post a hand on the forum, and many good things will come out of it.

You will start finding more satisfaction in posting the hands, by going deeper into the situation, and actually learning something from it, as opposed to just copy-pasting the text and coming back the next day to see if everybody else would have done the same as you did.

You will start developing your thought process, and most likely realizing how much you actually know already – if you only take the time to think about it for more than 2 seconds! This could also help your attitude at the tables, especially if you are guilty of insta-clicking or auto-piloting at the tables. 

The more you think about the game, the better understanding you will get. 

Don’t rely on others to do the work for you. You might get the results, but not the benefits (or satisfaction!) of doing the work yourself.

At BPC, we prefer teaching people how to fish, as opposed to just feeding them fish (pun intended!).

Get your hand posting right, do it regularly and properly, and you will be surprised what a little bit of consistent effort can do for you over the long run.

Today we meet Aleksandar aka “hITthAT” from Bulgaria.

Aleksandar is in our HU Soldier program, and last month moved up to the Advanced group, after hitting his first 5k+ EUR month at the tables.

He is a lawyer by trade, but after graduating from the law university and realizing the monthly wage would leave much to be desired, he found a more profitable way to make a living – online poker. He knew you can make good money in poker, as his brother was already a professional player, grinding NL200.

This was the point when Aleksandar decided to give it a try and jumped to the tables. He does not regret this decision, as poker is tax free in Bulgaria and looking at his graph, the future of his poker career looks bright. His motivation to play poker everyday is his family, as they are most important for him. Last month he had a break-through, scoring 5.4k  and almost doubling his profits until that point in the CFP. 

Often in the program a student reaches the “aha” moment, and shoots up. This could be Alexandar’s moment, and no telling where the limits are from now on! 

Outside of poker he loves spending time with his girlfriend, he plays basketball and he goes fishing. He comes from Krumovgrad, but is actually living in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

He says Sofia is an awesome place to live, with lots of things to see and do, like museums, theaters – and of course football matches. He is a fan of CSKA Sofia, the football club from Sofia and enjoys going to their games. 

During the winter he visits “Separeva banja” 2-3 times per month,to enjoy the thermal well in an outdoor pool with water at 38 degrees, while outside it’s freezing cold.

If he could change one thing, it would be that the Bulgarian politicians would stop thinking just about their own benefits, but instead would make people’s live easier and would not let young people leave the country.

Good luck Aleksandar, finishing the CFP soon is realistic, but about the politicians changing, well not so much…

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BPC is International: Bogdan from Romania

Today we meet Bogdan “Marvolio”, one of our HU Soldiers, famous for his work ethic and insane hours he puts in consistently at the felt. As is clear from the photo, he likes to grind the wheels when he is not grinding the tables.

Marvolio jumped into poker because of the profits this game brings if you play it well, and at the same time he wanted to have some fun.

3 months prior to joining the program he had quit his job as an engineer after 7 years. He was learning 6-max, and getting close to NL50, when he found out about the opportunity to join BPC’s HU Coaching for Profits program.

He had no idea about HU poker, but it did not stop him from joining the CFP, the decision he explained in his own words:

“I wanted fast results and a professional environment. Improving on my own would probably take forever and maybe not even get the results I want. BPC showed and proved they can turn anyone from zero to a champion. So for me it was a no-brainer: why waste time and not join?”

He is roughly half-way through the 60k program, and aiming to hit his first 10k month. He is the first to admit his game still needs improvements, and that is what he is focusing on.

Marvolio lives in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, where he has lots of options for anything he wants to do.

He is a cyclist and part of a big community of cyclers in Bucharest, from beginners to professionals – sounds like BPC, huh?!

Many of his friends are part of the cycling scene as well. They enjoy taking rides or trips together. He is cycling every day – at least for 1 hour in the morning after a short workout.

Up until 2014 he even used to occasionally race as an amateur just for fun, but right now there is no time for it, as he is putting a lot of his time into poker.

The cycling experience also helps him stay motivated and working towards high goals:

“Since I have endurance sports background I know we can do a lot more than we think or we know we can do. Our mind is the most powerful tool possible.”

Awesome quote.

He points out that Gordon was an inspiration to him and he got a lot out of last years Dubrovnik seminar:

“I have to mention here our BPC founder, Gordon, who taught me last summer in Dubrovnik that we should always set goals very high, even if they seem unreachable, and build our path methodically toward success. If we really want something and we give it 100%, we always find a way, sooner or later. It’s like the universe will help you eventually. There is no room for giving up. If you do not succed, it is because you did not try hard enough.”

The attitude is there, the commitment is there, the tools are there. Sooner or later, the $10k months will be there as well.

Today we meet Igor aka “igorbr”, our 6-max student from the  Crusher program, who lives for poker.

Igor started playing poker in the summer of 2006 after he was forced to leave his job in the printing industry. So he made the decsision to learn poker instead of trying to find a new job.

It turned out to be a smart decision, because by the end of 2006 he had earned close to $11k – twice the salary in his previous job.  He started playing limit Holdem, but as the results were not that great, he decided to switch to NL 6-max after two months, where he played until he joined CFP.

He joined BPC in December 2015 and is planing to finish the program until the end of 2016. The decision to join came out of his love for poker and his hunger for more, as he was sick of playing on the small stakes – his dream is to reach on the level of NL 1k.

He says he is more than happy with program, where he also realized that he has to work hard towards his goals.

He lives in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. He likes the city very much, as it is a great ancient city with 15 centuries of history and many great places to visit. Up until the military conflict, life was not bad.

Nowadays it is quite cheap to live in Kiev, he says. For less than $10 two people can have dinner in a local restaurant. However if one is dependent only on the state pension of $50 per month, this could be a small fortune to spend. Luckily Igor does not have to worry about that.

When he is not grinding the tables, he meets with friends for barbecue, watches the newest movies in the local IMAX cinema, or read books, especially from his favourite novelist Erich Maria Remarque. Last summer he also spent a few months in the suburbs of Kiev to grow his own vegetables.

What keeps him motivated for the daily grind is the wish to buy housing for his adult son.

Among people who inspire him he counts Gordon BPC and Brian Townsend – because they set goals and reach them.

We wish you all the best Igor and are certain that you will reach your goal NL 1k as well!

Today we have an interview with Matt aka “olmaters”. He is in our 6-max Micro program and doing pretty well. Meet Matt.

Matt with his wife

When and why did you start playing poker?

For my entire life I’ve loved poker, and even when I was a kid many of my favorite old movies were the old westerns about the traveling gambler. I always loved the idea of that type of life.
I first started playing Limit Holdem back from the early 2000’s to 2011. I played very sporadically, I’m guessing that in all those years of playing I played around 60k hands.
I started back at poker in mid 2014. It wasn’t anything serious but I had heard that there were some poker sites that Americans could use. At that time powerlifting was what I was dedicating most of my effort towards. After several back injuries that pretty much ended that pursuit, I decided to finally get serious about poker. In October of 2015 I finally decided to learn NL and get going.

Why did you decide to join BPC?

I decided to join BPC after a couple months of playing on my own.  I had looked around on twoplustwo and BPC seemed like the only coaching program that had a real vested interest in whether their students make money or not.  I also like the way Gordon was always talking about “working hard and not being lazy”.  I felt confident that if that’s all it took, I could do that.

Where do you live and how is it to live there?

I live in San Diego California.  I guess I like it.  I’ve lived here my entire life.  The weather and scenery is great, and most of my and my wife’s family live here.  I’ve always wanted my kids to get the chance to have close relationships with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Plus I have a good job here.

How do you spend your freetime besides poker?

I do work a full time job and I don’t have a ton of free time.  Usually, I like to hang out with my wife or kids and do whatever their doing.  I like old movies.  I can’t do a lot of regular weight training anymore, but I do get in the gym a couple days a week…  Mostly to train my grip as silly as that probably sounds to most people.  Poker is what I do with most of my free time.

What motivates you or do you have tips for others to get motivated?

What motivates me is to always be improving until I am the very best or the best I can be. Obviously one can always improve so in a way it’s an unattainable goal. However I can live with whatever results I get in poker or life as long as I know that I gave my very best effort and did everything I could to do to achieve. I am obsessed with spending my time in the way that gets the most value out of it.
I don’t know how to help motivate others. I really can’t relate with people where are unmotivated. There is so much to do and so much opportunity, I can’t believe the way some people don’t want to work for the things they want. Last week (almost two) I’ve spent some of my vacation time from work and have had the opportunity to play full time. I can’t understand people that have the time, but don’t put 40+ hours into poker every week. Poker is such an awesome challenge!

Every time a fish sucks out, an angel gets his wings

We all know the feeling.

You’ve been waiting to set up the stupid fish forever…

The moment finally comes. You play your hand perfectly, and manipulate all the table dynamics in your favor. The guy stacks off with his silly hand on the turn, and… Binks river.

Jesus fucking Christ!! … Right?

No.

When a bad player sucks out on you, you should be happy.

That’s right.

I’m not saying you should not care, because that’s the nature of the game, and in the long run things will even out, and all that. No.

You should actually be happy if a bad player sucks out on you – and here is why.

Let’s say you get it in as a 70% favorite, and lose.

First of all, you won money in EV, the so called Sklansky bucks. So that’s great.

Second, the weak player didn’t bust and leave the table (as they often do), but actually doubled up. So now he has even more money, with which to make bad decisions!

In other words, you made Sklansky bucks AND you are in a position where you get to make more Sklansky bucks against the fish with more chips right away.

If you bust him – that’s it, he is gone. No more Sklansky bucks to be made.

So if you understand this reality of poker, you should be rooting for the fish everytime you get all-in.

Now this takes discipline, of course. The natural instinct is to curse when they suck out on the river.

Many players get tilted when the fish sucks out – indicating a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.

In an ideal world, you would be winning all of your all-ins against the equal and better players, and losing all of your all-ins against the fish.

This way you would keep the fish playing and playing (donating Sklansky bucks to you hand after hand), and you get your EV back from the regs.

Think about it. Not only would this keep greasing the fish merry-go-round, it would also frustrate the other regs, and possibly make them into stupid moves against you (or the fish).

It’s the best of both worlds.

So the next time the fish sucks out, don’t try to control your emotions, don’t tell yourself that such is poker, and in the long run you will win because you are better.

No! High-five the monitor, and get busy making more Sklansky  bucks against the fish!

Today we are speaking with Gordon, the founder, CEO and head coach of BPC. We met up with him to discuss some of the recent changes, the future of BPC, state of the games today, and more.

In the past week or so, there have been many coaching sessions by guest coaches in the 6-max programs, which is a new addition to BPC.

BPC is constantly growing, and we are always on the lookout for things to improve, offer more to our students and the BPC community in general, and the addition of a few extra quality coaches to the 6-max programs is one of the things we implemented.

We picked only the best guys, who fit into our culture and systems well. One of our Micro coaches is our current Crusher student Lateralus. Alan Jackson is already working with us for quite some time now (he is the database scientist who checks our standard lines and takes care of our mega-million database to find the best lines), so he has been a part of the community before. Maintaining the continuity and our approach in coaching students is crucial, it’s why we are so successful.

So there will be more coaching sessions for the students in the future with the new coaches?

Yes. Nobody should ever be able to say that he did not get enough coaching. The students who work hard deserve extra attention. It’s one of the main reasons we brought on extra help on board. Long gone are the days when I was running BPC as a one-man show. Coaching 6-max students was one of the things I still could handle on my own, but the program is at a stage now when we can bring in a few great coaches to help us kick the bullshit out of the students ;).

In practice, this means even more coaching for the students, but of course also more work for those who can handle it and push higher and higher. There are certain requirements on how to prepare for coachings, and the students have to follow them 100%.

We don’t believe in serving the students all the answers on a plate. The student has to work for it himself. Rather than giving you a fish and feeding you for a day, we want to teach you how to fish yourself, so you can eat forever.

One of the coaches taking over some of the Micro session is Lateralus, currently in the Crusher program

Yes, that has always been the model at BPC. We do not only teach you how to make money at the tables, we are a great community and encourage students to get involved on many levels.

The coaching in the Heads up program is done by our best former students, for example, and has been so for quite a while.

Aleksandar »Lateralus« is a great guy and enthusiastic about helping other students. When i hear students emailing me stuff like “i just had a review session with lateralus” (no money involved!), i knew this is somebody who loves teaching and reminded me a bit of myself. He already helped many guys who were struggling, and and I’ve no doubt many more will find it very helpful to follow the advice of one of our own, who made the same steps before you.

Of course i’m the first to say he still has to become a better player himself (although last update was a 10+bb winrate at NL50) and that you can only help others when you were able to help yourself first. So keep on pushing Alex!

How does your role in BPC change with all of this?

Not that much. It’s true getting extra help will free some time on a daily basis for me, so I can focus even more on improving the quality of the program and focusing on its direction.

There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes where i can have an even bigger impact. Some things that can’t even be talked about, but have a big impact on the profitability and security for our players. If there is one thing that the outside world (and some “haters”) do not understand is the brainpower and enormous work and costs going into something that in the end looks “simple”.

We spend a lot of time thinking about improvements at BPC, for example the big population analysis we do with our database expert Alan Jackson, to improve our lines and adapt constantly to the environment at the tables.

I will do less coaching on a daily basis, though I’m still doing video reviews and of course my door is always open to anybody who puts in the time and extra effort.

You mentioned population analysis. Reviewing the databases and seeing a lot of hands across many different sites, you have a good grasp on today’s games. What’s your opinion on the state of online poker, with all the recent changes at Pokerstars and other rooms as well?

I hear complaints about poker not being profitable anymore, “everybody is solid”, or “it’s not 2012 anymore”, and similar bullshit. It’s nonsense. Of course things change, as in anything in life. But everybody being solid? I have to laugh at that. I see so many mistakes done even by our students – who still make lots of money despite the mistakes, btw! – that i KNOW there are thousands of idiots at the tables out there every day.

Just because some poker geek makes a GTO range for a paired board or whatever, doesn’t mean everybody is now unexploitable. That’s just bizarre to think like that. Most players will never hear or look into any of the advanced stuff. Out of those who do, most won’t bother to go past a few pages or a few videos. And out of the very few that remain, maybe a percentage point, some of them will really dominate the GTO stuff and become super good poker players, better than anyone was in 2012 before all these tools and theory was available, I guess.

So if you want to be the best in the world, yes, it’s gonna be harder than ever. But if you want to make money, it’s maybe easier than ever. Most people don’t care about the theory. They play because it’s exciting, and fun. They will always do that, and it will always be profitable to play against them, if you put in the work yourself, of course.

People think you need to be a GTO master to make money at this game, which is complete nonsense. And the irony is most GTO “masters” make less money than our students, we checked it. I know real results, so the hype doesn’t fool me at all.

So you don’t think poker is dying, or HU poker is dying?

Of course not, quite the opposite. Those sceptics have been around forever. Every year i have been in poker people say this stuff. Just like people saying the economy goes down. Sure, about once in eight years they are right, but they are wrong 7 out of 8 times!

The people who keep improving and learn from mistakes in the “bad year” are those who are best to thrive in the good years.

It’s funny how people who made no money, now make 20k+/month playing HU. Then the poker economy drops by 20% and they make “only” 16k/month. Tough life!  #Firstworldproblems

Part of the reality is of course acknowledging that things change and yes, recent changes on some sites did not make it easier on HU. So what?! I see the numbers, i know the potential.

More and more guys play online, USA is slowly but surely coming back, people play on mobile phones, tablets.. I think there’s like 20 million regular Zynga poker players alone, and they already wanted to switch to real money games. We have Indian players in the program, who tell me the Indian poker boom is coming. China is next, Brazil as well. These are huge countries with lot’s of people looking for fun ways to spend their money. Online poker is one of those ways.

Or look at technology. Don’t you think it’s ridiculous that people pay thousands of dollars every month (RAKE!!!) to play a card game on a software? Historically the price for software goes down and becomes a commodity. I don’t want to speculate too much, but tell me a reason why there won’t be a site tomorrow that charges 10Euro/month and no rake. Combine this with the rise of cryptocurrency and you can see growth you have never imagined before. Yes, it’s not that easy, but i’m simply making a point.

Look, there is one point i want to stress on top of this. Speculating and whining is not very productive. What you learn at BPC is also something that is useful everywhere. My multimillionaire clients (the “rich business men”), normal students and part-time players with a full time job regularly tell me that the poker knowledge at BPC is top notch. But what they most appreciate is the attitude and the secondary skills they have learnt through working with us. I feel humbled when receiving compliments from clients (actually i should pay them…) who are so far ahead of myself in life.

The ultimate strength as a person is to not have to worry about what will happen next. Your goal should be to be SO STRONG that nothing can kill you.

And then you will know that no matter what happens, you will be prepared and willing to adapt if you have to. THAT is the ultimate strength and self confidence people should aim for.

I know this was very long, but i always tell students that their biggest opponent is not the Villain who runs good, but the Villain between your own ears.

Last but not least, let’s talk about the coming BPC Poker Camp in Malta. These meetings are becoming legendary, what can we expect from this one?

Busted jetskis and gokarts! Lot’s of fun and hanging out with fellow poker grinders. We have some special things planned as well, which will be revealed later. One of them is our own poker tournament with lots of bragging rights attached.

The meeting won’t be as “serious” as the last one (you don’t have to wear suits), for those who don’t want it. In Dubrovnik we went 100% hardcore. Work hard, play hard. This year we have a bigger community, so we will have something for everybody. And for those who want the hardcore experience, we have the Baller package.

Is the meeting open to anyone, or just your Coaching for Profits (CFP) students??

It’s for everybody who enjoys poker and wants to chill on the sunny poker paradise of Malta for a few days in the summer. You can also meet everybody in person that you have spent a lot of time online with over the year.

We already have non-CFP people booking their place, which is great to see, and another sign that we are growing and on the right path.

Thanks for the time, i know you have been telling me something in our last meetings about something you observed… wanna make it public?

With all the positive news and growth, there is also something i have to say. Many players today are weaklings and big time CUNTS.

I had players emailing me that they can’t play for the next week because the cat of their girlfriend is sick (NO JOKE!!!) or players showing me a 60k break-even graph and asking if they can move up to a higher limit.

This being one week after i coached them with 43 degrees fever, losing my voice in the process and being transported into a nearby hospital.

I wanna say to everybody: Push yourself harder! I see so many lazy people wasting their potential by pissing away their time for stupid things. And then they don’t do the EASY things which would really change their lives.

Even some of our students, it’s embarrassing. Most people think playing a few hours here and there is a lot. It’s nothing, ok. If you wanna make it, you gotta put in the time. Then it’s easy.

Don’t believe me, ask EVERYBODY who has made it big anywhere. Even if they talk the “balance crap”… they played 20hrs/day themselves before they became big. That’s just how things are.

Next, i love skiing. Did my first big mountain free-ride in the french alpes. Another time i was skiing with a BPC partner and his wife and had to leave early, because i had a coaching scheduled.

Ask yourself, what has to happen for you to miss a coaching? Your pussy getting sick (i’m talking about the cat of course!) or do you want success bad enough to not miss it even with a broken leg? The answer to this question is the answer to how your future will be.

So don’t be lazy, go after what you want. If you don’t know how to make it, join our programs, we will teach you. If you are already in the program, push harder. Now is the best time for you. With the new additions, there are more opportunities than ever to improve. So take advantage!

Last word, last thought for today?

Obsession is something good. Don’t let anybody hold you back. When the masses are against you, keep pushing. Later they will tell you how lucky and privileged you are!

Understand that real fun is not being lazy and being passive. Fun is doing something, working hard and then enjoying the fruits of your work!

Develope a sado-masochistic pleasure in beating others at the table and beating yourself at coaching.

Last, but not least: Be 100% honest with yourself and your results!

Today we have an interview with our 6-max Crusher student Jesse from United States, aka “Kounterfeit”.

He enjoyed the possibility of going within his own pace in the program and started off in our 6max Micro Program and here he is now in the Crusher program, grinding it up: Meet Jesse.

Jesse with his daughter

How did you get started in poker?

I think the first time I played poker was with my parents and a couple of their friends when I was 15 or so.  It was just some change that had been saved up that we would toss back and forth.  At the time I remember losing and wanting to get better.  It wasn’t until like a year later dad had the WSOP on TV, and I had noticed it was sponsored by Pokerstars.  So I hopped on there and deposited.  I was only 17 but I figured I would lose, and that the repercussions would be minimal.  But that’s when it really kind of started.

And why did you decide to join BPC?

Well I’ve always played online poker, and I wanted to start playing it a little more serious and make a decent profit.  After seeing some of the results of a couple other students, I had to do some research.  I had a family and a full time job, so I couldn’t commit a huge amount of time.  BPC seemed to have the best results, and the leniency in time to progress at my own pace. So I decided to team up with them.  BPC also has the materials I wanted, such as charts, lines, and videos to utilize on the days there wasn’t any coaching.

Good choice to team up with BPC, huh?!

What do you do outside of poker?

During the summer I work a lot. I live in a tourist area so summers are pretty much work. During the off season I watch a lot of football, and hang out with friends and family. My wife and I also rescue dogs when possible. There’s been a few dogs that we have rescued from pretty crappy situations.
Oh and football would be American football, not soccer.

Good that you pointed that out for the Europeans  

Where do you actually live and how do you like it to live there?

I live in Bar Harbor Maine Area. It’s an island and the summers are beautiful. One of the most popular national parks is what attracts all the tourists. So a lot of hiking, some rock climbing and so on. I wished I could enjoy the summers a little more.  Winters are cold and just not much to do.  A lot of the business’s are shut down because they’re seasonal.  I think the population is around 2,000 during the winter.  During the winter a lot of people take off south. People who don’t have snowmobiles or ATV’s, go ice fishing, and some cross country skiying. I’m not much for the snow or cold so I tend to stick inside.

The beautiful National Park on the island.

And how do you motivate yourself to grind and do what you do? Do you have any suggestions for others? Or a motivational song or even rital before playing?

Well motivation is one thing I’m not lacking. I want to progress as quickly as possible, and I guess that could be part of my motivation. Poker is long term results and that’s what I look forward to.

Rituals is something I probably should do, but don’t. I have a lot going on in my live with my kids, and we now have 3 dogs, so it’s a pretty busy house. Time is a valuable thing at this moment in my life. So rituals has been kind of at the bottom of my list.

As for suggestions, just follow the fish. We don’t really make money off the regs. Even if we do have a slight edge, a lot of the edge is eaten up by rake, especially in the micros.

At the end of this interview I want to thank Alex G (this is our 6max Crusher student Lateralus, who is also a coach for the 6max Micro students, who really enjoy his coachings). He has been a great help to me.

Thanks a lot for your valuable time to answer some of my questions and keep it up!