I'm in the process of signing a deal with an online training site. Some of the biggest names in the industry are associated with it and I'll be happy to be a member of their team. Sometimes just getting your foot in the door is literally half the battle.
The first time I ever met Ari, he was sitting in Calvin Ayre's living room playing in a cash game; chain-smoking, playing very LAG, and wearing his trademarked yalmika. Everyone at Calvin's house, whether playing in the game or watching, had heard about Ari and his exploits. At the time, pocketfives had him ranked #1 and he was brimming with confidence.
Almost immediately, I knew I wanted to get trained by Ari. I asked him that night if he trained anyone for a fee, etc and he basically brushed me off..."I've trained my landlord, but only because he lives in the building and is a nice guy. I'm not interested in training anyone and besides, I'm very busy these days playing live and online."
"NO" is the one word I don't like to hear. It just makes me want to dig down and try even harder. So...after returning back to the states I emailed Ari and again asked to be trained by him. AGAIN, he said no...his excuse, specifically, this time was that he had a live 10k event he had satellited into coming up and would be busy/traveling. (I remember thinking to myself, wow, a $10,000! event...one day I'll be playing in those). No problem, what's the worst that can happen...he said no!
About a month goes by and I'm playing online in the $100k on Bodog one Sunday. Ari is seated at my table. As the tournament begins I start up small chatter with him to break the ice and get the ball rolling. And once again, I ask him if he'd have any extra time coming up where he could train me in mtt's. To my surprise he said YES! He tells me to pm him and he'll respond with his address. I booked a flight and was at his door-step within the week.
I spent 6 days sleeping on a mattress on the floor right next to his computers. Every waking minute of the day was mtt's...he literally played from 9am to 4 am non-stop...I'd never seen anything like it. Long story short, after training 6 days with Ari I returned back to Texas. The very next week I made $15,000 profit, including a 3rd place in the $100k on Bodog for $9k. I continued to play for another month or two, paid off all of my credit cards and headed strait to Costa Rica. I was only planning on staying a week; I ended up staying 4 months! Needless to say, my career was finally on track and I couldn't be happier.
The info Ari gave me was the closest thing to a magic trick I've ever seen. I went from a break-even basically clueless player to an advanced 'A' player in 6 days. The following summer, I went and visited Ari in Vegas for a week during the WSOP. I had the opportunity to train from some of the best players in the world, including gboro780. I've met and been able to train with many of Ari's friends in the meantime. A memorable trip was when Ari and I traveled to the Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL for a dual training session with a Bodog player. While we were there we hung out with Chad Batista. I was able to ask him a litany of questions and again, I immediately changed my game for the better (played way way more aggro than before) and had my first $25K month immediately thereafter. Obviously, many thanks to Ari and everyone else who's helped me along the way. The moral to this story is to never give up. If you know it will improve your life, do everything you can to make it a reality. Everyone Ari touches turns to gold...obv, for anyone interested in stepping their game up to the next level...I highly recommend his training services.
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Beginner Meditation Exercise: Beginner level meditation. Intended to last exactly five minutes. Sit down on the ground in a comfortable manner. Close your eyes and remain motionless. Concentrate on the feeling of your breath entering and leaving your nose. Sit up straight to align your back and energy centers of the body. Concentrate on the feeling of your breath entering and leaving your nose. Relax and enjoy the moment. Clear your mind. More exercises to come...
Thanks to everyone for their support. As always, comments are appreciated. More to come in the very near future.
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