In 2012, I ate dog food.
Today I own one of the largest poker staking companies in the world.
Here's a 3 minute breakdown of a 10 year struggle-to-success story.
2012:
Not broke, but close.
Grinding micros with 90% of my funds online.
It got real bad one week and I ate dog food, literally.
Low point.
Fought back to MSNL, learned game theory.
Worked under Matthew Janda as a contributing writer to his book, "Applications of No Limit Hold 'em".
2014: Matt recommends me to @RunItOnce as a coach.
Gained a small following.
2015:
Hit a wall with game theory, stressing every session, too many moving parts.
Got anxious, went bald, lost faith.
Another low.
Started a poker blog where I opened up about my struggles.
A big part of me wanted to know if anyone else could relate.
Blog went viral.
2016:
Got experimental.
Used Ignition's "exposed" function (reveals hole cards after the game).
Saw lots of bluffs from opponents in spots that I never suspected.
Went rogue, started hard-countering the pool.
+$100K in 3 months.
On to something 🤔
2017:
Idea💡
Started thinking about a new poker methodology that I was calling "mass-data population analysis".
Sought feedback on a major forum, got flamed.
Keep moving forward.
Hired a guy who could analyze large hand samples in Holdem Manager.
First prototypes were raw but promising, revealing more statistical behavior of the pools.
Went all-in.
Founded @PokerDetox, began publicly promoting data-driven strategies.
Released a few strategy packs, digital media products only.
They did well until pirates rushed in.
Back to the drawing board.
Got an e-mail out of the blue one day from a struggling poker player.
He was on contract with a Coaching-For-Profits program and wasn't getting proper support.
Trapped in debt without much hope.
It pissed me off and I promised him I would find a way to help.
Followed through on my promise and pivoted our company.
@PokerDetox Coaching For Profits:
A way to give small stakes players training and staking for zero money down.
Felt good to offer a service that I really could have benefited from back in the dog food days.
2018:
Enter @mobiuspoker, my younger brother Patrick.
Ex-physicist, gamer, genius.
Before him, no one had figured out how to operate databases with 100M+ hands -- software kept buckling under the pressure.
Pat cracked the code and gave us full vision.
2019:
Reloaded.
New strat protocols, big winrate gains.
Doubled down on recruitment and expanded to MTT's.
•strengthened community
•optimized systems
•built leverage
Next 3 years --> $10M+ in player profits.
New high.
2022:
Got married, settled down.
Dad life, play-doh, Blippie.
Mostly sober, too much to lose.
I'm touring preschools and I'm wearing Tom Ford now.
TL;DR
I didn't do anything remarkable over the last 10 years.
I stayed persistent for a decade and moved the right people into the right positions to perform.
Then they brought the vision to life as a team.
Here's a natural takeaway:
If you just stay persistent, with passion, you will wake up years from now and not be able to recognize yourself.
Your situation will be transformed, and whatever your unique version of my "dog food" story is, it will just become a joke that you tell to drive the point home.
🐕
Thanks for reading.
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