Years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Jen Harmon; she revealed a truth that will shock many people. Everyone is coached. Her mentor was Chip Reese. Some people have a coach named “the school of hard knocks”. – They only learn by making mistakes and then hopefully learn from those mistakes. Others learn by forming a group; the old Texas road gamblers – Doyle, Slim, Moss, and Sailor shared wisdom and bankrolls. The Balfour group-Lederer, Zolotow, Harrington and Seidel learned from each other. “The Crew”, including Scott Fischman, Dutch Boyd, et.al. continued this trend in the modern era. Professional coaches have become more common in the last decade. I entered the poker world during an era when there were very few “professional” coaches. My mentors included the following professional players and friends.
After my children graduated from college (20+ years ago); my wife and I began to travel to Las Vegas and rekindled my passion for poker. Legal gambling arrived in Colorado at this time, but limited gaming made tournament poker more attractive. As my interest grew, I began to travel to Reno. The Hilton, and the Peppermill, each had 4 14-day tournaments a year. They became my school and The Mirage in Las Vegas became my office,
My mentors included:
Hans “Tuna” Lund: Hans* lived in Reno, and after becoming one of the best pros in the world, chose to semi-retire and play only in Reno. His wife had developed a drug addiction and the court gave him custody of two children – IF – he would stay in Reno/Sparks and raise them. He did, and I learned that there is always something more important than poker. He shared his poker experiences, passion for the game, and his favorite saying: “If you want to be a top pro you have to be able to push in all your chips into the pot with ATC (any two cards). Tuna passed away at age 59-18 months ago and is missed by all who knew him-especially my second mentor, his best friend, and WSOP champion Brad Daugherty.
Brad Daugherty** credited Tuna with teaching him. They remained best friends for over 30 years. Brad taught me what Tuna had taught him. Never give up, survival allows you to get lucky and apply your skills, remain aggressive, trap with the instincts of a predator, and play satellites to reduce your overhead. Through Brad and Tuna I met Vince Burgio, and he also became a mentor.
Vince Burgio*** grew up in Kansas City, and we shared Kansas experiences from our youth. Vince was a patient and observant mentor. He taught me to bring my patience to the poker table, he suggested starting hand systems (he introduced me to books by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth books); and he reminded me after bad beats that I was learning and talented. His confidence gave me confidence.
Tex Morgan**** is a professional player of huge stature (6’6” tall), of unequaled poise, and he developed the Texas Tears tournament system. Tears is a computer based system that allows the tournament director to predetermine by the minutes per round and blind structure when his tournament will end. Tex told me to control my temper, to accept the game for what it is, and he taught me that if you know the blind structure, and when a tournament will end, you can develop a good strategic plan.
Tom McEvoy***** was a regular attendee at the Reno tournaments, and a close friend of Brad, Vince, and Tuna. Tom reinforced the “survival theory”, and expanded on the value of tournament structure knowledge. Tom suggested that I calculate on the tournament structure sheet where I should be after each blind round. With his help, I learned that tournament poker demands balance between accumulating chips and a healthy respect for survival.
Asher Derie:****** As my success grew, I began to play more tournaments in Las Vegas. The Mirage was poker central. One evening, a few days before the beginning of the WSOP, a large number of players entered a tournament at the Mirage. As the tournament progressed, I was fortunate enough to make the final table with a rather distinguished group. It included Brad, the Australian pro Danny O’Dea, Kathy Liebert, and an Isreali I came to know as Aher Derei. My Aces held up against Brad’s Kings and I was the co-chip leader with Danny (six players remained). My ego, and my invincible voices were in full throttle. Kathy made a 3X raise and I re-raised with 10/10. I had 4.5 stacks of 1000 chips – 25 deep. Kathy bet 5000 into a 1000/2000 blind pot. My re-raise was the .5 stack (which preserved my beautifully arranged 100,000 in chips). The total raise actually was to 17K. Earlier Asher had bluffed someone off a pot and I had nicknamed him “old 7/3” the hand he had bluffed with. Asher took his time and re-raised all-in for a stack of 36K. Kathy folded, I folded and he showed 7/2. My image was shot, and my efforts ended in 3rd place. Asher invited me for breakfast and I learned that by betting the 17K stack instead of a 25K stack I had told him I would fold to his bet. And, by focusing on his prior bluff, he knew that I did not think he would bluff me. Over the years, Asher and I have remained friends, and I am often reminded of the multi-dimensional thinking top pros employ.
“Boston Billy” Duarte*******Billy and I became friends, and my description of Billy goes like this: Bill Gazes once told me that he and Billy seldom discussed poker. What he learned from Billy was how to be a better person in the poker world.
Dr. Alan Schoonmaker PhD********Al has become one of my dearest friends and closest confidants. He has been a constant reminder of the two most important lessons in poker…know yourself/control yourself and play your best or don’t play..
* “Tuna” won two WSOP bracelets and finished second in the main event
** Brad has 19 cashes at the WSOP and in 1997 won the main event
*** Vince has 28 cashes & 7 final table finishes at the WSOP and a bracelet
**** Tex has over 50 career cashes dating back to the early 80’s
***** Tom has 4 WSOP bracelets, 10 titles, and 128 cashes
****** Asher has a WSOP circuit bracelet and 4 major titles, he has 34 cashes in major events
******* Billy was a pros pro. Doyle Brunson said he was one of the 5 best players in the world.
******** Al is a low limit player, and the world’s most profound and insightful writer on poker
psychology. His books have been translated and sold in 7 languages.
