Matthew Parvis - Editor-in-Chief, Bluff Magazine Blog

With the Main Event within one say of hitting the final nine, I thought I’d share a little story about my friend, and Bluff contributor Antonio Esfandiari, who is currently still fighting with a tad over $4 million chips.

The story starts last October, when I was introduced to Mindset Coach, Sam Chauhan by my buddies at the WSOP Academy, who thought Sam would be a good fit for Bluff. Upon meting Sam, I was instantly sold on his teachings, and to be quite honest, I didnt even have a clue at the time how powerful they could really be. When he was nineteen years old, Chauhan’s interest in understanding why people do what they do led him to study the mindset technologies. Sam used these skills to help him succeed in business. He has a unique ability to build conscious and subconscious rapport with anyone, making him a valuable asset to individuals and businesses alike. Chauhan has quickly become a highly sought after speaker, recently speaking at an event with Deepak Chopra and Ben Stein, and works with celebrities, MMA fighters, and now poker players.

Sam has since become a regular Bluff Magazine contributor, and we’ve become good friends in the process, so when Antonio mentioned to me about a month back that he had met with Sam, and was contemplating working with him, I didn’t hesitate to give Sam my glowing recommendation. In fact the conversation via text went a little like this:

Antonio: What do you know about this guy?
Me: He’s the nuts, for sure.
Antonio: In good way, or bad way?
Me: Definitely in a a good way.
Antonio: You scared me there, but thank you for the recommendation.

According to Sam, the next day, Antonio and he came to a six month coaching agreement, where Sam would do all he could to help Antonio refocus on poker, not his poker skills, mind you, but o not allowing any outside distractions into his life when poker needed to be the priority. There were some new rules for our resident lifestyle columnist, and Antonio would no longer be allowed to have his phone with him while he played, let negative thoughts deter him from playing his A game, or party while he was still in a tournament.

The next tournament Antonio played was the $3,000 buy-in triple chance event, and I saw a group of rubber bands on Antonio’s wrist, a sure sign he was practicing Sam’s teachings, and had bought into his system. After day one, Antonio was one of the chip leaders. Antonio went on to finish 24th in the event, and was thrilled about his first cash in the WSOP this year. Sam and Antonio continued to work, continued to focus on getting Antonio in the best mental shape of his life before the Main Event; Antonio was becoming a Mindset machine. As a fan, and friend I kept an eye on his Main Event progress, and after each night, I’d notice his name still in the mix, still fighting. Of course, some things never change, and Antonio missed his Bluff Deadline, begging me for more time, and for me to hold tight for him to make the final table. He was so focused on poker, that he hasn’t yet had the time to write.

Yesterday was a tough day for Antonio, he got short a number of times, and instead of giving up, he constantly fought back, doubling up when he needed to at all the right moments, continually giving himself the best possible chance for success. This resurgence from Antonio, is nothing short of phenomenal, and I could not be more proud, or happier for him going into today. You may think it’s all coincidence, but I know better, and to me the proof is in the pudding. Hopefully his performance opens up the worlds eyes to what it takes to succeed on the highest level in poker; its not just the cards, its not just his pre-flop, or post-flop play, its how he handles adversity, how he handles being a chip leader, how he handles his twenty minute, and ninety minute breaks, how he handles himself when each day is done, and each morning begins, and right now — with Sam’s help, there is no one more locked in mentally than Antonio Esfandiar (**note** Phil Ivey may not be human so he doesn’t count).

Tap into the powers of Poker Mindset yourself by checking out an archive of Sam’s articles right here at BluffMagzine.com

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Well, true to form, I like to make things short and sweet on Main Event Day 2. Coming into the day with only a tad over 15k, I wanted to make Team Pokerstars proud, and chip up to give myself a shot, although I knew with that strategy, there was a good chance I’d bust rather early. My second hand of the day, it folded to me on the button, and I raised to 1400, with 10-6 off-suit, I felt the table was still not ready to play poker yet, and on a 10-A-4 flop, the BB checked, I bet 2K, and he folded. Good start, I thought, and the small pot put me almost to 17k. I made a few good, patient folds, telling myself to not panic, before my bust out hand.

I was in the BB, for 500, with 250/500 and a 50 ante. It folded to the button who made it 1,300 straight, and I looked down at 10c-9c and flat called. The flop was Tx-3s-4s, and I checked to the button, figuring he’d lead at this pot 100 percent of the time, and lead he did putting out a 2200 bet. I didn’t insta-shove, I counted out the chips for a call, shuffled, and thought for about fifteen to twenty seconds, before announcing that I was all-in. My opponent, asked for a count, and the dealer counted out that it would be 12,400 for him to make the call, and the longer he tanked, the better i felt that I might get a call from A high, or maybe a pocket pair below tens, and double through here. After about two minutes, he finally made the call, and I was a bit shocked to see pocket Jacks tabled. Unfortunately, i didn’t suck out and that was the end of my Main Event run.

As I tend to do when busting from a big tourney, i replayed the hand about a thousand times, thinking how I could have done things differently… Should I have just folded? What if I led out for 2,500 on the flop, he’d surely raise me, and maybe I get away leaving myself with 13k or so. If I flatted the flop the turn brought the 6 of spades, completely flush, and straight draws. If I shove there does, he fold? Probably not — i have to remember my stack was less than intimidating. I finally came to the conclusion, that I am OK with my bust out hand, and I think if I ran into the same spot again in the future, I might just play it the same way.

Obviously, I want to thank Pokerstars for giving me a shot, and hopefully one of these days I’ll be able to capitalize in a big way in a major event. Be sure, to check out the August issue for a full recap of my main event.

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It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog, instead of filming one, so I figured it may be a nice change. Yesterday, I headed over to the Venetian to play there $330 buy-in deep stacks event. The Venetian runs these events four times a year, and during the WSOP they have tournaments every day from the end of May through the middle of July. With a nice playable starting stack, and a good structure it a great way for players to get more bang for their buck while playing a lower buy-in tournament.

I arrive around 11:40 or so for the noon start time, and was surprised to see a huge line for registration. I over heard a few guys in line saying we may be alternates, and that the fields have been huge for the $330 events, but I was pleasantly shocked that not only did the line move very quickly and efficiently, but that I would be able to start on time and not be an alternate.

I settled in to my seat, at Table 61 seat 5, and made my goal to play super patient early on, not getting into any questionable spots. There was a lot of action at the table off the bat, with the older gentleman to my left, limp calling essentially every hand. My first taste of action was when it folded around to me in the SB, and I raised the “old man limp caller” with A8 off. He called, of course and we saw a 955 flop. I led out, he raised and I folded. A few hands later he lost a huge pot with a turned two pair, with his Q6 off, and pocket Aces counterfeited him when the board paired threes on the river. Shortly after that, this gentleman raised for the first time, only to get re-raised, upon which he went all in for another 10K or so (blinds are 50-100 btw), the three-bettor called with two Kings, and the old lunatic had A8 off, and bricked. I was sad to see him go, since I got zero of his chips.

My stack never made a trip upwards, with the exception of a flush made out of the SB where I won about 2K. From there on it went something like this: I raise from cut-off with 9h-10h, get three bet and, I fold. I raise with AQ from 3rd position, get 3 calls, and a re-raise, and I fold. I call a raise with (Insert small pair here) brick the flop and fold.

At some point through my miss-flop-fold-fest TJ Cloutier sat down at the table. TJ’s book was the very first book I had ever read on poker, so It was pretty cool to get a chance to play with him. He was playing pretty loose, and seemed to be enjoying himself at the table. After the first break, we came back to 100-200 blinds with a 25 ante, and my stack was sitting at about 4500 or so. TJ bumped it up to 700 UTG, and it folded to me on the button, where i looked down at two Jacks. I felt that I didn’t have much of a decision to make here, TJ was UTG, so his range was calling my shove most of the time, but I thought he could have anywhere from pairs like 77+, AJs, AQ, AK, so I’m only behind against QQ, KK, and AA, and in decent shape against the rest of his possible holdings. He flipped over Queens, and that was it for me.

I was genuinely happy with my play in the tournament, as I never got out of line. I kept my composure even when things were miserable, and never deterred from my initial game plan. If anything, I may have been too passive. I may give another deep stack tourney a crack before the Main Event which starts in about 10 days or so. If you’re in town, and looking for a great tourney, definitely give the Venetian a go, its got great value, and some seriously swollen prize pools for your money.

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