Hey guys, I know that a lot of you are in a spot here where I was a few years 🎉 ago. You
really want to give poker a shot, but you're not sure what the best and most effective
approach 🎉 should be... So I decided to share a little bit of my experience and some tips
on how I would 🎉 do it on 2024:
First of all, here's my graph for my last 200k hands just
so the topic isn't all 🎉 text:
Graph
First of all, introducing myself, my name is Max
Lacerda and I'm a professional poker player since 2024, you can 🎉 find me at the
PokerStars tables under the screename of "maxlljr", I'm also one of the owners of BrPC,
a 🎉 cashgame staking and coaching Poker company.
I first got introduced to poker in late
2024 and it took a little more 🎉 than it "should" for me to become a pro, and that's what
I wanted to share here... I basically spent 🎉 too much time playing freerolls, then
getting the money in the freerolls to play live cashgames, then transitioning to
online, 🎉 then in 2024 finally getting a coach with Saulo Costa (my first and only
private coaching), and then things really 🎉 started to work out in the online
enviroment.
Even tho my journey was (and still is being) very nice and the 🎉 timming of
some things that happened was pretty awesome, I know I spent too much time at the
micro/low stakes. 🎉 And that comes from a few mindset leaks + lack of opportunities that
I had...
First about the mental leaks,
I was 🎉 very reluctant to pay for private
coaching, I didn't know the value of paying for knowledge, I truly believed that 🎉 I
could make everything on my own just watching free content + downloading some books
here and there. I couldn't 🎉 be more wrong.
The value of having someone that just
accomplished what you want to accomplish and can help you along 🎉 the way step by step is
something of extreme value, and because of my own biases + resistence to pay 🎉 money for
knowledge I couldn't give it enough credit.
Another mental leak that I had was my ego.
I really wanted 🎉 to say that I did everything on my own, I didn't need anyone's help and
I was the only one 🎉 resposible for my own success (which is extremelly stupid, because
since the day I was born multiple people already helped 🎉 me in my life, being the first
ones my parents - giving me education, a home, food on the table, 🎉 and everything
else).
Alright, so my first advice for you guys is to simply get rid of all these
stupid biases 🎉 that I had when I was trying to move up in stakes, it will just waste
your time and you'll 🎉 regret it on the future.
Now about the lack of opportunities at
the time...
First thing is, all the coaches were very 🎉 expensive for my budget, I simply
couldn't afford them, and I also didn't see anyone that I truly believed on 🎉 the
methodology - mostly from my lack of research to be honest. So even if I wanted, in
most of 🎉 my micro career, I woudn't be able to afford it.
The other thing was the lack
of opportunity to get coached 🎉 without having to pay for it upfront. I didn't know any
cash game staking team which would give me the 🎉 money to play + give me coaching in
exchange for a % of my profits. Most of what came close 🎉 to that were the CFP deals (a
bussiness model in which you play with your own money, get coached, and 🎉 pay for it by
sharing your profits), which I don't think is a very good deal for micro/low stakes
players.And 🎉 even if I wanted to join a CFP, I should already be playing NL50 or higher
to have a shot.
So 🎉 basically because of everything I wrote above, I believe I spent too
much time and the micros banging my head 🎉 against the wall, not knowing what was going
wrong.
So my advice for you guys is: get a coach as soon 🎉 as possible. At this day and
age, with all the opportunities that we have around us, it's a complete waste 🎉 of your
time to do everything on your own. Ofc, being one of the owners of BrPC I recommend you
🎉 joining us, with the new Microstakes division we accept players that are playing as low
as NL2, offering a full 🎉 staking deal...
But anyways, if you don't want to stick with us
for any reason, simply search for another staking deal. 🎉 If you get into a good one I'm
sure you won't regret it (and there are some very good out 🎉 there!), you'll achieve your
goals much faster than you would on your own. A lot of staking deals have a 🎉 lot of
cases of players joining at nl50 and playing nl500 after one year. By not needing to
build your 🎉 bankroll + pay for your private coaching, your evolution will be much
faster.
I'm not talking about hiring a private coaching 🎉 because most of you won't have
the budget to do so. I was extremelly lucky to have found Saulo at 🎉 the begging of his
coaching carreer and being his first student. If I had found him just 3 months after 🎉 I
did, I wouldn't be able to pay for it, and who knows where I'd be nowadays... But if
you're 🎉 able to find a good coach for a fair price, that's another very good option,
having full 1v1 attention from 🎉 a person you trust and that already achieved the results
you want is the nuts!
Also, even if you're in a 🎉 CFP/Stake/with a private coach, I see a
lot of value of subscribing to a site like RIO, after you know 🎉 what you want out of
your poker studies, navigating through here will be much easier and you'll make much
more 🎉 out of it!
So that's it guys, I wrote everything here from the bottom of my heart.
I really respect and 🎉 identify with people that have a great desire to succeed, I really
want to help them in any way, I 🎉 know what Poker was able to give me in my life, and I
know the change that it can do 🎉 in others lifes.
That's it guys, I hope I could help you
in any way, and for those about to put 🎉 in the hard and smart work in practice, I wish
all the success in the world for you, no matter 🎉 which path you decide to take. Poker is
an awesome opportunity for those willing to give it all, so let's 🎉 not waste it.
The
thing is, you want to have a successfull career, so start investing on it.
