Vasily aka Ravic85, a 2СardsCollege poker school coach, has been ahead of the pack in Russian PocketFives rankings since the end of WCOOP.
Ravic85 won $400,000 by placing fourth in the Main Event of the World Championship of Online Poker, which had a buy-in of $5,200. In the middle of November, he drew attention to himself again by winning the $109 Turbo Cubed ($5,000), $215 Turbo ($7,000), and Sunday Supersonic ($43,000) in back-to-back-to-back days.
Vasily is known in the Russian community not only for his specialty in turbos, but also his thoughtful posts about his career as a poker player, his attitude towards money, and his life values.
2CardsCollege‘s editorial office carefully summarized the life rules of the coach.
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I wasn’t born tiltproof. I made it my habit.
Your worst months shouldn’t knock you down financially or emotionally. You should be ready physically and mentally, as you’re going to experience them anyway.
I’m ready to play poker for my entire life if I am to win. I like this lifestyle. I’m a player to the backbone.
I get a little frustrated by hands where I deviated from my standard play, although I played in a way that strong regs would and got severely punished for that.
I would nominally divide my mistakes while playing into two types. The first type: I gave it a lot of thought and made a decision which turned out to be crap. The second one: I technically knew the right line, but decided to play differently or just without thinking, and it was crap. I’m not ashamed at all by the first type of mistakes. And I really am ashamed by the second one.
I do care whether I lose or not. But if I lose in cold blood, if I don’t let the losses affect my behavior, I’m winning in some way.
Could there be anything worse than second place? Yeah, third place, for instance.
What’s the difference between an MTT grinder and an office employee? You have to spend a certain number of hours in the office and if you get lucky enough you bust out earlier. A grinder busts out earlier if he gets unlucky enough.
Even if it is too hard, even if it is too long, it is better to advance slowly but steadily rather than stand idle. You only live once and you don’t have the right to cease trying to become what you want to be. You don’t have the right to cease trying to get what you want. I think it’s a terrible crime against yourself.
Funny, but after almost eight years of poker I sit again at the tables not just to use my +EV, but because I want to and because I enjoy doing it. I never force myself to play. If I had no desire to play, I wouldn’t.
A good top reg should realize every moment how weak he is compared to the ideal and how much there is to be done in terms of working on his game.
Socializing dances and box are cool! Just like beer, Singapore slim, and MTTs.
Latina partiesare way too cool: snifty guys dance with snifty girls to snifty music.
Be it grinding or rocking at a party, every night is yours.
I have more of a “gambling” attitude towards poker than a “sports” attitude. Maybe that’s the thing that keeps me afloat.
In cheap tournaments or in tournaments with little prizes, don’t do something you wouldn’t do in more expensive ones. Don’t take it out on the cheap tournaments. Otherwise, why would you play them in the first place?
The first sign to stop a session: when you look at the table, see three or four cards on the board, and look at your pocket cards, which have nothing to do with the board. Then, you realize you have no idea who was the pre-flop raiser, who’s in position and who’s out of position, and whether someone has checked before you.
I think whining on the forums is pathetic. It is an unmanly and unprofessional thing to do. Complaining, being hysterical, and insulting your opponents: it all is women’s and little kids’ domain.
Sunday isn’t Sunday without blowing your wad!
Professional players who are successful in games with elements of luck are doomed to face frequent losses and defeats. And since we can’t avoid it, we have to take it firmly, calmly, and with dignity. After busting out of a live event or leaving a cash game table with a loss, I often say “Good game” and offer my hand to an opponent, wishing him good luck. My adequate behavior is a kind of compensation for my losses. Deep down I’m always glad I managed to save face even after having lost.
Several years ago, my friends and I were habitues of night and strip clubs, “saunas,” and brothels. It seemed quite a natural and logical lifestyle for a poker player in Moscow casinos. Now, I think wasting money and health is not worth the doubtful pleasure of it all.
A person with a knack for gambling can earn his living by playing, if desired.
A professional poker player who passed the stage of building a bankroll and is now in the stage of grinding his working stakes should manage his activity in such a way that the only concern is his annual result.
A player loses his expectancy not when he is in downswing, but when this downswing makes him go astray from the grind.
It does not really matter whether you have invited a girl to a restaurant with a $50 or $300 average bill. It’s whether she likes you or not.
The habit of being frank and open in writing and speaking your mind is a benefit only when you know how to choose the right moment for it. This choice is based on a good motive, not a bad one.
There was a guy who borrowed money from me two years ago and had the cheek not to return it, though he had enough funds. As a result, I had to address his boss, with whom I was on good terms, and the debt was deducted from the debtor’s pay.
When I make presents for my mom or my girlfriend, I guess it’s me who gets the most happy and excited.
A player is usually considered to be strong if his А-game is good enough for high stakes. It means a person is likely to be profitable in a high-stakes game given that he has enough money to buy in and he’s in his optimal state. People who used to win in the past but who have no bankroll today and don’t play high-stakes are still considered by others (and themselves too) to be good players. It sounds as stupid for me to consider a man who shows no results in sports to be an athlete. “A good player without a bankroll” is as absurd as “a good athlete without muscles.”
All this poker, box, and bachata are the puzzles of life that I decided to assemble. Drinking hard, smoking a lot, and waking up in the evening were obviously in the way of that. I don’t think my lifestyle is optimal for everyone, but that’s the way I like it.
Most of your problems exist only in your imagination. People who have real problems are the handicapped and the sick, but they are often successful in fighting their problems.
If your girlfriend left you, start looking for a new one! Why suffer?
In poker, it’s profitable to be emotional over something you could have influence over. Even mistakes are excusable if you spend enough time analyzing them.
A poker player should possess more significant capital than a person with a relatively stable income. An office employee earning $10,000 a month is actually way richer than a poker player with $10,000 EV and results fluctuating from minus $5,000 to plus $25,000. That’s why we shouldn’t look up to the people whose wage equals our expectancy.
If someone made a lot of money in poker but failed his health, lost his friends, or ruined his private life, it means that he was doing something wrong and the money is just not worth it.
I don’t drink more than two alcoholic beverages a day. It’s very easy to stick to that rule… until you drink those two beverages.
If I see a good structure, I’m in.
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This article was prepared by editorial office from 2CardsCollege Pro Poker Training. Join the club!
Also on the topic:
The Life Rules: Patrick Leonard
The Life Rules: Phil Ivey
The Life Rules: Alex Fitzgerald (Assassinato)