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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 made that would make him more money. These changes range all the way from how, when, why he looks at various things, 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.

Well it so happens that one of the things that most people could do better at at no-limit is go broke. And in this area, 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.”