DAN'S BOOT - Red Hot Poker Tour Goes to NegreanU

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Let's say you’re an artist, with at best paint-by-numbers skills, living in Vatican City in 1510, and you get an invitation from Michelangelo to come down and watch as he paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. You probably grab your brushes and a notebook and get down there rather quickly. Or let's say you're a minor league baseball player, living in the Bronx in 1941, and one day Joe DiMaggio comes knocking on your door. "Let's go hit some balls," says the Yankee Clipper. You probably grab your cleats and clear your schedule, right?

Now let's say you're a novice poker player, living in Toronto in 2006. And one day there's an opportunity to learn the secrets of the game from one of its most successful and popular players. A player who just happens to be Toronto-born just like you. I'm guessing that you would happily spend five hours listening, and processing, all the information that he could offer.

Which is just what happened on Saturday, October 21st for 51 lucky Red Hot Poker Tour members and staffers. We gathered in a classroom on the George Brown campus, bright and early and eager to be taught. Upon our arrival, an old World Poker Tour episode was playing on a large screen. Before we knew what hit us, the reedy Canadian in the six seat -- the one playing three-handed for millions of dollars against Gus Hansen and Hoyt Corkins -- was in front of the classroom burning through material that would blow our minds and expand our poker games.

Daniel Negreanu, the reedy Canadian in question, was generous enough to invite the top 20 from the most recent Tournament of Champions, all past TOC victors, selected raffle winners, outstanding achievers from the previous season, and at least one person there to just document the occasion (your humble author), to his "Boot Camp", with the express purpose of using his experience and formula for success to make us all better poker players. And for one day Kid Poker turned into Professor N, and we were all wiser for the experience.

Professor N took his students through each stage of a poker hand: how to play before the flop, whether you're a beginner or an advanced player; how to play the flop; how to play the turn; and how to play the river. All this in the service of his main thesis statement, the notion that "poker is the struggle for the blinds and antes." The way you go about getting those blinds and antes is different in each situation, and Professor N covered just about all of them. His reasoning was clear, his use of math to back up his claims was spot-on, and if you think I'm going to get any more specific into just how this strategy works, you've got another think coming. Professor N's secrets will go with me to the grave... or to the final table, whichever comes first!

I can tell you about some of the lighter moments of the afternoon, though. Such as Professor N busting Randy for the overcooked acting display he puts on whenever he has a monster hand. "That kind of thing will get you eaten alive if you ever sit down with some pros," he noted. Randy, for his part, just blushed from his seat in the back row. We also had Dominic acting the role of teacher's pet, asking an endless series of in-depth strategy questions that had even Professor N reeling. Not just from the sheer volume of them (at times it seemed like Dominic had 3 or 4 mouths, so fast did each question follow the one preceding it), but from the breadth of knowledge exhibited by last season's runner-up on the leaderboard.

Once the strategy portion of the class had ended, an informal Q&A session broke out, focusing mostly on poker gossip and the search for inside scoops about the professional poker circuit. We got endless stories about how much Mike Matusow blows at poker (balanced by some genuine affection for the man), more stories about how much Phil Hellmuth blows at poker (minus the genuine affection part), and more than one story about how much Professor N owns at poker. When someone asked him why he never wore sunglasses at the table, Professor N gave one of his bare-bones, typically-modest answers. "Because I'm a REAL MAN!" he bellowed. And we all hooted in agreement.

All the fun and games was tempered, though, by one last nugget of Professor N's wisdom. "A player is only as good," he said, "as the way he plays when he's losing all the time." Thus shedding some light on to the up and down world that is the life of a professional poker player. No matter how well you adapt the strategies of the game, and no matter how skilled you are at reading opponents are calculating pot odds, having iron-strong emotional stability is the best tool you can bring to the poker table.

And with that, the boot camp was over. The assembled throng gathered together in front of the room to take the Boot Camp Class of '06 Grad Photo. Nobody got a diploma, but everybody took something valuable away from the experience. Now the trick is to apply Professor N's concepts the next time we're at the poker table. And maybe, just maybe, one of the 51 people in attendance will one day find themselves at a World Poker Tour final table, staring down Gus Hansen, Hoyt Corkins, or even Daniel Negreanu himself, using what they've learned to take home some life-changing money. Dare to dream, dare to dream...

Thanks, Daniel, on behalf of all of us in attendance, for being so generous with your time, and your knowledge.
 
 
(Curious about where you stand on the all-time points list?  Drop me a line and I'll happily forward your stats.  But just remember: the numbers don't lie).