Words like Black Friday and Blue Monday sound so terrible, it’s no wonder that every online pro I run into looks like they’ve been huddled up in their houses crying. Now isn’t the time to start feeling down, it’s time to focus on the factors you can control and pointing yourself in the direction that you think is best for both your poker game and your life.

Put down the beer, pick up a poker book or magazine. Put down the joint, get your butt down to the casino to play. For those Americans not fortunate enough to be close to a casino, it’s no secret that there are a ton of sites with training videos you can watch. Review Poker Tracker hand histories from previous online tournaments you’ve played. When many are wasting their time sitting on the sidelines, do what it takes to improve your game.

I have to think all that has transpired this week is like hitting the fast forward button towards having online poker taxed and regulated in the good ‘ol US of A. Land of the free, home of the brave! It’s only a matter of time in my opinion until online poker is completely and fully recognized as a legal skill game. Write your congressman, call the newspapers and media, we have to get our voices out that Americans should have open access to online poker.

Actions speak much louder than words, so make it happen, nobody’s going to do it for you. Many people like to make excuses and blame all of their surroundings on externalities. Don’t let anything other than your brain control your destiny.

Get Mainstream! As part of the online poker community, we have to let our voices be heard:

ABC News
Phone: 212.456.7777

CBS News
212.975.4321

CNBC
201.735.2622

CNN
404.827.1500

Fox News Channel
212.301.3000

MSNBC/NBC
212.664.4444

PBS
703.739.5000

National Public Radio
202.513.2000

The Rush Limbaugh Show
800.282.2882

Sean Hannity Show
212.613.3832

The Los Angeles Times
213.237.5000

The New York Times
212.556.1234

USA Today
703.854.3400

The Wall Street Journal
212.416.2000

The Washington Post
202.334.6000

Newsweek
212.445.4000

Time
212.522.1212

U.S. News & World Report
202.955.2000

Associated Press
212.621.1500

Source: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=111

Thanks for reading my blog, have a powerful and productive day!!!

The cruise was great, but I’m glad to be back on dry land and getting back to my everyday life. Today I’m filming the “Real Day in the Life of The Maven”…for my media site TheMavenMedia.com…so I have a camera in my face as we speak:) I’ll be playing a full round of tournaments online tonight, I hope to see you on the rail.

Just got back from San Diego (again!) and had an amazing vacation. The plan is to spend the next two weeks either grinding online here or flying to Europe and playing the WSOP Europe Main Event. I’d say it’s 50/50 right now which I decide. At the end of the month I’ll be going on a 7 day poker cruise with my brother where I will be doing a free poker seminar. If you’re interested in details feel free to check out the site:

http://www.willetttravel.com/poker.html

Also, here’s a recent video blog from my new site TheMavenMedia.com

http://themavenmedia.com/videos/91/sep-2nd-video-blog

Anyhoo, thanks for reading my blog and have a great day!

http://www.themavenmedia.com/live.php

Had a great vacation this past week in San Diego with the girlfriend (incidentally, we just celebrated our 6 month anniversary, yay us!). I’m super duper rested and ready to give this boot camp my all.

About to start here in a few minutes, as always you’ll be able to watch me grind live via my new website:

http://themavenmedia.com/live.php

Thanks for reading my blog, do a little bit extra today and make today count. Take it down!

Secondly, the weather in Vegas is finally starting to cool off. Nights have even had a nice mild breeze which reminds me a bunch of Texas where I’m from. Yesterday I was noticing lightning in the background during one of my 5 minute breaks at the top of the hour. Sure enough, it rained here in Vegas yesterday (probably 5 to 10 times a year). The cat was meowing like crazy to go out on the balcony and check it out. My parents have been griping because I haven’t visited them in a while…which brings me to my last point.

I’m going on my 19th straight day of full-time playing online tournaments and I have no plans of letting up anytime soon. Things have been going very well, I had two wins in small tournaments and 13 total over that period. The schedule I’m running is great and because I’m eating right and working out (and have a low stress life)…I feel super fresh and ready to play everyday. Alongside and on top of playing tons of tournaments, I’ve been playing cashgames late into the night on Victory. It’s been a while since I played 70+ hours of poker per week, but now that I’m back into it I have to say I’m having a ton of fun.

Thanks for reading my blog, have a powerful and productive day!

I was interviewed by Marco from QuadJacks.com at the WSOP and it came out pretty funny, check it out:

http://quadjacks.com/videos/280/david-chicotsky-main-event-interview-quadjacks

I’ll be starting back up today grinding tournaments online and playing cashgames on Victory Poker late into the night. You can follow my every move by watching me at:

http://www.themavenmedia.com/live.php

Also, check out Victory Pro Antonio Esfandiari and his cool ass brother Pasha skydiving (I chickened out lol):

Lastly, wanted to wish Phil Laak a speedy recovery after a gruesome ATV accident as of late. If you aren’t following him on twitter (it’s a must as he’s super interesting) I’d recommend doing so he’s @RealPhilLaak on there. Get well soon big guy!

Thanks for reading my blog, have a positive and productive day!

Just pre-regged for another 30 or 35 tournaments today, about to get to work. I’ll also be playing cashgames on Victory late into the night.

You can’t see my hole cards (lol), but you can watch me as I grind along day after day playing 15 or more at a time via:

http://www.themavenmedia.com/live.php

Also, starting to look forward to the “detox” series of tournaments that tournament director Matt Savage is bringing to the Hard Rock Casino…looking to take one of those down.

Thanks for reading my quick blog here at BluffMagazine.com, have a positive and productive day!

Had a really good day yesterday, winning a tiny tournament, getting second in a 10k guaranteed tournament amongst other cashes. I’m up around $4k with an average buy-in of around $25 this week (if you put a gun to my head and demanded I replicate this, not sure if it would be that easy:) I’ll have to admit that beating up on the low-stakes players is uber-fun and definitely is keeping me coming back for more.

On top of tournaments, I’ve also played a total of 150 hours of cashgames as well on Victory Poker along with playing live cashgames here and there around Vegas. Can’t wait until it cools down a bit, it’s a sauna during the day and I’ve been running both air conditioners in my condo just to keep cool.

You can always watch me live at: http://themavenmedia.com/live.php

Well, back to work! Thanks for reading my blog, have a great one!!!

Have had a couple of thousand people on and off watching on my live cam:

http://themavenmedia.com/live.php

Yesterday was the first time that I did a group online training session (had about 10 of my previous students watching me play as I spoke into the microphone and explained detail for detail my thought process during the various hands as they remoted into my computer to see the hole cards. I’ll now be offering that for all previous students (when Ari gets back from Israel ((have a safe trip)) he will also be doing group training over the internet).

For all fans of comedy and life, don’t miss the first show ever for Quad Jacks Live. It starts in a couple of hours at 7pm pst, check it out b/c it should be hilarious! Marco and Micon clowning around to the max, watch it here:

http://quadjacks.com/live.php

Gotta get back to the grind! Thanks for reading my blog, take it down!!!

Today I will be training 25 of my previous students over the internet. They will be watching me as I play and I’ll be talking into a microphone while I play explaining every move in detail.

Big things are happening from the team of people I’m working with (want to wish my brother and Ari safer travels as they are both in Israel right now), this is only the beginning.

If you want to watch my online enduro-grind, you can view me in real time via my new site:

http://themavenmedia.com/live.php

Thanks for reading my blog, have a productive and positive week!!!!

I’ve set up a live cam that will run 24 hours a day overlooking my playing area, lovers and haters alike will be able to watch me while I play or am teaching private lessons by clicking the link:

http://themavenmedia.com/live.php

Thanks for reading my blog, I’ll be keeping you updated with what’s going on in my life. Have a great one!

Today I went with Ari to get kosher food and we talked business and poker. Always great to have someone you can trust to bounce business and poker ideas off of, that’s more than most people can say. He’s off to Israel to be with his family as his brother gets married (congrats!).

I’ve decided to get back on my horse and start grinding online much more as of late. All of you grinders out there, watch out, b/c you’ll be seeing much more of me in the near future.

Check out this clip of Ari from TheMavenMedia.com, enjoy:

http://themavenmedia.com/videos/27/ari-engel-clip-aggression

Thanks for reading my blog, I’ll try and keep ya’ll updated in the very near future.

Check out this funny clip of All American Dave and I paddleboarding at Lake Las Vegas, you know I’m brave when I had to stand next to All American Dave’s physique (congrats to him for winning the Tall Men’s Division and “Most Shredded” at this year’s Las Vegas Natural bodybuilding competition!):

http://www.bluffmagazine.com/videos/video.asp?vid=352

For more videos of myself, you can always go to TheMavenMedia.com as well.

I’ll try and give ya’ll a quick update in the near future. Thanks for reading my blog!

Well, got knocked out of the main event of the WSOP on the last couple hands of the night. Now it’s back to playing poker online, training private lessons and boot camps, and working on my online videos for TheMavenVT. Life’s good and I’ll be rooting for my students who are still in the main event to take it down…

My team also came up with a new tubesite this week, TheMavenMedia.com…feel free to check it out.

Here’s a couple of f’n hilarious QuadJacks.com videos that if you haven’t seen…well…pretty rediculous, featuring Phil Laak going for the poker endurance record:

http://quadjacks.com/videos/147/phil-laak-pt.-2-breaking-the-record-part-two-quadjacks-wsop-2010

http://quadjacks.com/videos/185/quadjacks-bread-and-butter-

I’ll try and check back in the near future and blog about what’s going on with me. Thanks for reading my blog, have a positive and productive day!

With effective stacks at around 20 to 40bbs average…we’re sure to see more and more action at the tables once play resumes.

If you haven’t seen Andy Bloch’s “Nose Off” interview on QuadJacks.com, this is literally the funniest clip I’ve seen in a long while. The awkwardness towards the middle of the segment, great. The end is literally LOL:

http://quadjacks.com/videos/135/andy-bloch-nose-off-quadjacks-wsop-2010

Here’s the link to watch in real time:

http://acejones.com/unabomber-poker.htm

All of us at TheMavenVT, Panorama Towers, and Victory Poker are rooting for him to keep going. Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rounder%27s-radio–ace-jones

Say what you want about Phil, but this is an absolute genius marketing stunt. Word on the street is he was down about 6K and out of nowhere bought in for 100K. You can see him from time to time stand up and move around to get the blood flowing…he’s bound to be hurting after 50 straight hours of sitting/playing. If you’re in town, you can also stop by the Bellagio to check it out. My nutritionist and personal trainer David “AllAmericanDave” Swanson is handling all his nutrition/meals. Hope he makes it the full 80 hours, what an accomplishment.

On a more serious note, there is a charity event benefiting those with autism tonight at the Golden Nugget. I encourage everyone to play and donate. Details below:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/events/2010/jun/04/11054/

Thanks for checking in and reading my blog, have a great weekend!

Good to have all the Victory Poker team back in Vegas after their trip throughout Europe. This way if I ever want to get my ass handed to me in racquetball, now all I have to do is call up Antonio. I haven’t been playing much on Victory as of late due to the WSOP. I made a deal with myself not to play any poker other than WSOP events and main events from the other casinos. The WSOP is such a long series, I want to be sure I’m able to show up with my ‘A’ game every time I play.

That’s it for now, I’ll be updating ya’ll in the very near future. Give it your all, take it down!

Now that the WSOP is in full swing, I’m back into playing live poker non-stop. One question that I often here is, how should I approach the beginning stages of a deep field tournament. As a general rule, it is often good to start out in a tournament relatively tight while opening up your game the deeper you get. This is true, but I would like to point out that early in a tournament is where you will often times run into the very weakest players. Meaning, if you are at a table with very weak competition – you should be looking to heavily exploit your opponents.

The idea of “looking to” play relatively tight in the early stages of a tournament is a good thing, but on the felt you must be willing to make adjustments to maximize your equity…many times this means starting out the tournament in a loose aggressive manner. So when you sit down in the early stages of a big field tournament, ask yourself, “How weak is my table.” If you can’t help but smile at how juicy of a table draw you received, be sure to punish these weak competitors right out of the gates. If the table is littered with pros and tough players, the default notion of starting out relatively tight might be the better option.

I hope this tip helps to get you less willing to sit down and start playing on auto-pilot and more willing to adapt to the poker conditions you are presented.

I’ll be blogging very regularly throughout the WSOP, I appreciate you reading this. If you see me at the Rio, feel free to stop me and introduce yourself. Have a powerful and positive week!

Anyone interested in details for my upcoming 2-day boot camp June 10-11th please check out:

http://themavenvt.com/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=860

It’s finally starting to get hot in the daytime here in Vegas…and finally not so cold at night (most people don’t realize that the desert is cold at night for half of the year). The condo I’ve moved into is facing the west and I’ll have to say I’ve never been a huge sunset watcher, but damn! the view is great especially when the sun is setting.

As many of you might already know from my facebook (David Chicotsky) and twitter (TheMavenVT) posts, I’ve hired “All American Dave” (twitter: AllAmericanDave facebook: David Swanson) as my nutritionist and personal trainer for the next three months. I found out about him through fellow Victory Poker Pros Antonio Esfandiari and Brian Rast who also use his services. All American Dave works out with me what seems like everyday of the week and cooks me six meals per day.

Alongside having mindset guru Sam Chauhan on my side, adding the services of All American Dave has given me just that much more of an advantage over my competition. Can’t wait to get to the WSOP tomorrow and start building some chipstacks!

Thanks for reading my blog, hope all of you have a very powerful and positive day!!!

Had a couple of amazing interviews with Shaun “F’n” Deeb, who won a couple of awards on the day for his exploits and overall prowess within the bar. I spent much of my time outside, as it was so crowded with players and spectators inside. At one point I re-entered the bar, towards the end of the competition and walked into what seemed like a possible riot. There was a woman with a mega-phone screaming down to the players and spectators. Shaun “F’n” Deeb is right in the middle of the spectacle screaming and hollering helping to get the situation under control. Apparently there was a discrepancy over a ruling… it was a crazy, chaotic scene in there.

I was involved in a couple hilarious interviews with Jason “JaspudUF” Lee (who previously made a rather famous video parody of my “A Day in the Life” video.) Jason and his partner Dave called themselves Menace To Sobriety and came decked in super short old-school running shorts (they told me the story, “They went into a department store, told the lady what they wanted to do and after trying on the shortest men’s shorts…they decided for sure they weren’t short enough, so they went to American Apparel and bought these), neon tank-top gym shirts, old school socks/Converse, headbands, and neon sunglasses. These guys were HILARIOUS!!! and stole the show…I hope they get coverage in Bluff next month. Though there was another team of players that had fresh grown mustaches just for this event…they were proudly stroking them for all to see as they walked around the room beforehand.

JaspudUF did a five minute interview with a homeless person that walked by…Quickly things got dirty and the man was telling stories of a recent sex foray and coming to Vegas for the “free beer.” The homeless person asked for a “Coors.” Jason’s partner Dave quickly ran in to get the man a beer, he came out with Coors Lights (obviously there is a big difference between Coors and Coors Light, but it was one of those beggars can’t be choosers situations).

Everyone’s energized, including me, looking forward to the upcoming WSOP. I pre-registered to play in this Saturday’s $1K event. This is my third WSOP and I can honestly say I’ve never been so pumped and ready to go entering the series, it’s going to be intense.

Thanks for reading my blog. Have a powerful and positive week, you’ll never have another one like it.

I played 20 events last year, with a close run or two…this year I plan on playing at least 20 events and absolutely giving them hell on the tables. I’ve never been more focused and ready than I am now; just lucky to be in the position I’m in and ready to make the most out of all my opportunities.

Before the WSOP I have a mix of relaxing/preparing and teaching on my agenda. I am hosting a 3-day boot camp along with my poker mentor and former #1 ranked online player Ari “BodogAri” Engel. I will also be holding a 2-day boot camp during the WSOP…for more info check out the links below:

Pre-WSOP 3-day Boot Camp: http://www.themavenvt.com/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=782

During the WSOP, 2-day Crash Course: http://www.themavenvt.com/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=860

I’m going to make a point to be blogging on BluffMagazine.com more often along with writing articles for the magazine…I can’t say enough about the team of people that make this site and magazine possible, happy to be part of the team. Best of luck to everyone in the near future, I appreciate you reading my blog. Have a great week, you’ll never have another one like it.

Also, Ari and I have been in and out of the LightspeedVT studios over the past week. We’re nearing the completion of our first virtual training course which we couldn’t be more excited about releasing.

I’ve been playing tournaments with more frequency on top of playing countless hours of cashgames on Victory. I think I was up somewhere around 30 buy-ins last week, which, though low/mid stakes…was arguably my most successful week (buy-in-wise) ever playing cashgames. You aren’t allowed to use tracking software on the site, so I’ve been paying extra close attention to how others are playing and taking a ton of notes.

Sold three private lessons for training this week and next week Ari and I are hosting a group training boot camp here in Las Vegas. If you’d like more details on the upcoming boot camp, we have two seats left, check out ArisTrainingCenter.com

I’ll try and keep all of you updated with what’s going on in my life in the very near future. Thanks for reading my blog. Have a great week, you’ll never have another one like it.

This was the first boot camp that BodogAri and I have run together. Needless to say, it was a much better deal for the students and much easier for me. Very appreciative to have someone so committed to poker like Ari in my life.

We were fortunate enough to have Orel Hershiser and his brother here training this week. What can I even say about Orel? He’s the coolest guy I’ve ever met and I’m basically adding him to my list of mentors/life coaches. To say that some of his comments to me are inspirational would be an understatement. Again, just glad to have such a great team of people surrounding me. Be on the lookout for my interview with Orel in next month’s Bluff Magazine.

The past month or so has been great for me poker-wise, I’ve played about half of the days and seemed to be able to put together a string of winning sessions. My game is feeling super sharp and I’m excited to be back in the saddle playing regularly.

Next week I have four days of private lessons lined up…so, will more than likely take the weekend off and relax in preparation.

Hope everyone reading this is doing well…thanks for reading my blog, I’ll try and get back on here in the very near future and keep you updated.

Make the most out of everyday.

Saturday, there is a $1K with a televised final table that should draw half of Vegas and others from around the country. Sure I’ll be meeting new people and enjoying playing poker, my brother’s also coming in town so I’m expecting to have a great weekend. I’ll have to say that I have yet to play poker at Red Rock and this will be my first tournament playing in the Heartland Tour…so, I’m looking to play hard and give it my all along the way.

Keeping this one short and sweet, thanks for reading my blog and I’ll be back on here updating you in the very near future.

oneday57
Posted: Sunday, January 10, 2010 8:23:41 PM
Rank: Official Student
Groups: Forum Member , Private Member

Joined: 11/7/2009
Posts: 13
Points: 45
Location: virginia

when i got mine cut , they gave laughing gas the whole time and a local . didn’t feel a thing . well the three shots in the roof of my mouth were a bitch . yeah , that hurt like hell. the needles about an inch and a half long. but after i got through that everything was ok. they let me bring headphones so i just keep it cranked the whole time. basicly they put a small car jack in your mouth and jack it till your chin touches your chest and they go in with a stainless steel screwdriver and push the gums down really hard to expose enough of the tooth to grab it with these wicked looking set of pliers. then they just yank the @#$! out of till it comes out . if you don’t like blood, i suggest you keep your eyes closed be cause it will be spewing like a slaughtered hog! it would fly out and hit my dentist all up in the face. then he’ll stitch you up with a needle that looks like something used to catch blue marlin with. he’ll rub your cheeks raw with the stitching string as if you’ve been hiking everest allday with no mask. but the nitros makes all this seem funny at the time.
and God help you if you get dry sockets. it’s the worst . yougot these gapping holes in your lower jaw , they have to pack them with awful, and i mean #$%^$&^%& awful awful tasting gauze about 1/4 ” wide and seems like 3 feet long. you have to go do it every week for like three weeks . all week long the guaze slowly works it way out and you have to keep cutting it with scissors cause you keep trying to swallow it. not to mention your cheeks swell up somuch from the infection it looks not like you’re chewing tobacco but more like your chewing boxing gloves in each cheek!! so try like hell not to get dry sockets!!
well i hoped this helped Ari, not trying to scare you, i know you said you weren’t a good patient, and I know las vegas is full of great orthadontist’s . one last thing i thought might be comforting for you to know was that the dentist that pulled mine was also the county veternarian!!!!!:)

just kidding! you’ll do fine!!! seriously though do not get the dry socket!!!
request the gas ! it’s awesome like being at a dead show

For the entire thread:

http://themavenvt.com/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&m=1724ڼ

As always, thanks for reading my blog.

After midnight I made my way over to Panorama to attend Antonio Esfandiari’s party…another fun time. Did a bit of dancing as well as talking with some of the other pros in attendance such as, Mike Matusow, Andrew Robl, Keith Gipson, Dan Bilzerian, and of course Antonio. Was also able to hang out a bit with one of my most recent and promising students Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel…mark my words, this man will become the best online tournament poker player in the world in the next year or two.

I made my way back home early though, as my plan was to begin hitting the online poker scene very hard starting the new year…and that’s what I’ve done thus far. Today was the first day since the new year that I didn’t play a full schedule…nice to take a day off…but, super excited to be heading into a big Sunday coming up.

Speaking of exciting, congrats to my student Jeremy “daisyxoxo” Fitzpatrick for winning Bluff’s 2009 Online Player of the Year Award. I mean, the man made over 500 final tables in one year,…my hat’s off to him.

The amount of time, energy, focus, dedication, etc. for him to win this award was astounding and I couldn’t be happier for him. Also, wanted to give a big shout-out and thank you to his girlfriend Shera for supporting him so wholeheartedly along the way…he couldn’t have done it without you. Can’t wait to see him on the front cover of Bluff in March!!! Here’s a link to a recent article on daisyxoxo’s 2009 OPOY title run:

http://news.bluffmagazine.com/jeremy-daisyxoxo-fitzpatrick-wins-bluff-online-player-of-the-year-8688/

On the student front, another one of my students has been in the news as of late, Nicolas Mamy was recently featured on the Face The Ace television show and won his first round match against Patrik Antonius. It was pretty funny after the match to hear Antonius tell the commentator that Nicolas basically played like a pro (well…I wonder why…??? Because he is a pro!! As he’s the 3rd highest ranked online player in France right now and a legit phenom talent).

On my end, the past month playing poker has gone really well. I put together a fantastic December, highlighted by chopping the $1K buy-in Ultimate Bet/Absolute Poker tournament 3-ways for $25K and change.

Like I said, I’m super excited to wake up and play a huge Sunday schedule tomorrow. My game feels unreal sharp right now, running on all cylinders, and looking to take it down!

Thanks for reading my blog, I hope you all have a great 2010. Stay positive, stay motivated, and give them hell at the tables.

David Chicotsky
TheMavenVT.com