Dusty Schmidt may not be a household name to casual poker fans, but the man who goes by the name “Leatherass” at the online poker tables is a living legend in the more closed world of online poker. With a resume that includes $3 million in online cash game winnings; Dusty has remarkably never had a losing month, has achieved Supernova Elite status on PokerStars where he is a sponsored pro, and is a lead instructor at DragTheBar.com, one of the best online poker training sites.
Schmidt is a 28 year-old family man who lives in Oregon, and didn’t pick up the game until he was in his twenties. The former golf prodigy, who has worked in his family’s business, is definitely not your typical online poker pro: Not by a long-shot.
Schmidt is the embodiment of what many casual poker players want to be; a working class-stiff who becomes a self-made millionaire at the poker tables, starting off with little experience and a small bankroll. And now he has laid out precisely how he accomplished this feat in Treat Your Poker Like a Business.
Treat Your Poker Like a Business is part memoir, part self-help book, and part strategic guide. In Treat Your Poker Like a Business, Schmidt doesn’t pull any punches; you will be immediately challenged to look in the mirror and decide –as Schmidt puts it, “Are you in?” The goal of Treat Your Poker Like a Business is to lay all the cards on the table and tell you exactly what it will take for you to become a successful poker player: Focusing on dedication, hard-work and mind-set.
Treat Your Poker Like a Business teaches you how to take the knowledge you have, and turn it into a profitable business. Similar to how there are many excellent chefs in the world who can’t manage a restaurant, there are many quality poker players who simply can’t manage their bankroll, and all of the other responsibilities that go along with being a poker pro –which as Schmidt points out is no different than running a small business, with overhead, expenses, inventory, and so on.
Treat Your Poker Like a Business is a fun read, jam-packed with analogies, anecdotes and personal stories, that is full of poker wisdom. More importantly, anyone following the advice contained within the 200 pages is all but guaranteed to instantly improve their results at the poker tables.
The text is broken up into two sections; the first focusing on the business side of poker, and how to become the perfect “Boss” for your business, takes up the majority of the book –roughly ¾ of the total text. With 41 separate chapters this is but a taste of the topics that Schmidt details in Section 1: How to assign value to your time, how much you should practice/study, learning your risk tolerance, and using the proper metrics to measure your success.
Section 2 focuses on specific strategies that will give the reader a feel for how Dusty applies his business sense, and mind-set, to achieve results at the poker tables – the 45 pages of strategic play is broken up into two chapters: Ten Common Situations--And How To Play Them, and Five Effective Plays That Are Underutilized. These 15 strategies are easily worth the price of the book 100x over, and give you a glimpse of what Schmidt has to offer as a poker instructor at DragtheBar.com.
It’s not a stretch to say,Treat Your Poker Like a Business will replace any poker philosophy or psychology books that currently reside on your bookshelf, and unlike other books that are read once and then simply collect dust, TYPLAB is a great book to reference from time-to-time. This is the definitive poker book on what it takes to win in poker, from the work-ethic required to how you handle yourself at the poker tables. Schmidt has penned an all-time great poker book, and much like Super-System to is for poker primers, or Harrington on Holdem is for tournament play, Treat Your Poker Like a Business will be the basis of comparison for all books written before or henceforth on the topic of poker psychology and philosophy.
Check back tomorrow for my Interview with Dusty Schmidt where we discuss the current state of poker, today’s young poker pros, and more!
You can purchase Treat Your Poker Like a Business at DustySchmidt.net
To learn from Dusty Schmidt and other top poker players check out DragtheBar.com
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