Lee Davy continues his confessions series with a look at the influence Bluefire Poker had on his writing career.
It was January 24th 2009 when I wrote my first blog post as a member of Bluefire Poker.
The first post was called Genesis and it was the first time I had written anything in public in my life. The blog itself was called God the Chingster Can Moan because back then I would complain about everything and people seemed to relate to that.
At this time I was trying to see if I could make it as an online grinder so I could leave my job to play online poker whilst simultaneously creating my own self-improvement business.
I joined Bluefire Poker because I wanted to learn from the best and I was magnetized by the charm, voice, intelligence, and overall aura of Phil Galfond. I wanted to be the best online cash game player in the world so why not learn from the best?
I started the blog as a way of venting my frustrations with the game. Then I added some personal stories about my family and how online poker was disrupting the balance of my relationships. It was also the place where my idea for the BLUFF Europe series: The Ogmore Poker Tour was born, because this is where I first started writing about that game.
On the 10th March 2010 I wrote a blog post called ‘Tuesday Night Poker – Bobby Eggs’. Instead of rambling about my poker life, this piece was a little different because it told a tale. It was a story, and I realized that I enjoyed writing about stories for the first time.
After that my blog posts changed completely and each entry became a more thought out article rather than a mini rant. Looking back now I can see that the Bluefire Poker blog was my canvas and it’s where I first learned my craft.
On the 30th April 2010 I wrote an article called ‘The Matrix’ and I received two comments that were so inspirational for two reasons: it made me want to write more about subjects that touched poker players hearts, and it inspired me to write more because now suddenly I knew that people were not just listening, but were actually being moved by what I was writing.
“This may have been the best blog I ever read Chingster. You really let us inside of your world. You are not alone on this journey everyday many of us make changes to our lives good or bad. I hope you continue to write more blogs like this. I got Goosebumps from reading it – It hit home with a lot of things I’ve changed in my life as well over the last 18 months as well.”
The “Matrix’ article was eventually published in Poker Pro Europe (PPE) magazine and you can read it here, along with all my old nonsense that I used to write on the Bluefire Poker blog.
It remains the most important thing I have ever written.
Most people can write.
The trick is to write something that’s different to what everyone else is writing. Take a unique spin on things and play with people’s emotions. What better way to do this than to have a really good fumble around your own emotions, and pour your heart onto the page?
There are seven billion people in this world and there’s a good chance that more people than just you experience the shit you go through each day. Showing these people that they are not alone touches them. It inspires them. It makes them followers for life.
You can change people’s lives with a few strokes of a pen.
This one article on Bluefire Poker defined me as a writer. It made me who I am today.
This wasn’t the only way that Bluefire Poker helped launch my writing career. Not only were the likes of Samoleus, DrGiggy, Jason Senti and Phil Galfond improving my poker game, but they gave me the idea to approach them about creating a training series that would ultimately be called ‘From Amateur to Pro.’
There was nothing like it on the market at the time.
Let’s take a beginning poker player (me) and create a series on the fundamentals that are required for him to master to become a professional online poker player.
My coach was Alan Jackson and he remains a mentor and a friend to this day. It’s also important to note that I never paid Jackson a penny for the coaching that I received. I say this is important because people often get derailed in pursuit of their life’s dreams, because they create limiting thoughts around money.
When I quit my job to focus on poker I got all of my coaching for free.
You have to be smart and think outside of the box.
Everything is achievable.
You just need to find a way.
By this time I was writing regularly for BLUFF Europe and my series with Jared Tendler was coming to a close. I pitched the Amateur to Pro series to BLUFF, they loved it, I got paid for writing about it, Jackson loved it because he got more exposure, I got more exposure because of the series, and Jackson’s free coaching was turning me into a winner on the felt.
Now that’s what I call a win-win situation.
As a writer in today’s business it’s no good to just be a good writer.
You can have all the credentials. You can be the grammar king. None of it matters if you can’t join the dots together. You need to be able to see potential and grab it. Take opportunities like free coaching and turn it into a video series for one outlet, and a writing series for another. Learn to get paid twice for the same material without breaking any rules.
Learn from everyone that is around you, and then mix it up, wipe your own DNA on it and share it with the world.
