Kay Says to Raise My Fee

Dear reader: I wrote this in 2009.

I’m in Vegas right now doing a four-day coaching program with a new client. At the end of day one, after doing coaching stuff all day in my hotel room, we went downstairs to the poker room to play some poker in the same game, for mutual observation. The plan is that I watch him and take notes so that the next day, up in the room, we can talk about changes he could make that would make him more money. These changes range from how he plays to what he says to how he looks at his cards and everything else.

The other reason we play together is so he can observe me as I demonstrate betting and behavior that builds a aura of confidence and shamelessness, thereby planting seeds of doubt and fear in the minds of the opponents, and reducing the frequency, duration, and depth of tilt spasms.

One area where most everyone has room for improvement is going broke. In this field of study, it would be dishonest for me to feign modesty. Going busto is something I am very good at. I’m so good that when I get felted, it’s a +EV situation for me. See that poor pitiful player over there stacking up all my chips? Little does he suspect that he just gave me an opportunity to flaunt my imperviousness. Touche! − I think to myself without wincing − Take that!

Last night my client and I played $2/5 no-limit hold’em. I bought in for the minimum: $200. On the first hand I played, I lost all my chips. I was ready for this. I gave my client a top-notch demonstration on not reacting poorly to getting all-in preflop with KK vs AK and losing to an ace on the river after my cards were face-up. I followed up with a demo of impeccably painless rebuying form, using the $100 chips that were in my pocket, waiting for this moment. Then came a round of patient preflop folding. In short, my client got a good show. And my solid image was solidified.

On break, I called Kay as usual to say all’s well and good night. Kay likes to know the score. “How are we doing in the game?” she asked.

I told her about going broke on my first hand, for the minimum buy-in of $200, and that it was good because the client got a good lesson from it.

She said, “It seems like you often lose your first $200 buy-in when you’re with a client, and then you always say that it was good that it happened, for the client’s sake.”

I chuckled. “I think you’re right. There’s a pattern here.”

Then Kay delivered the punchline. “I think you should raise your fee by $200.”