Mindset Coach Sam Chauhan’s Hot Streak “This Is My Year”
It really is getting almost eerie the success “mindset” guru Sam Chauhan’s clients are finding at the poker table … not to mention in the MMA octagons. If you haven’t noticed, Chauhan is the non-player who has been showing up all over various poker places of late. He’s currently the subject of the cover story in the April issue of Bluff Magazine (by Lance Bradley), which tells how a guy who hardly knows the difference between suited connectors and a busted flush draw has helped turn around results for Antonio Esfandiari, Paul Wasicka, Gavin Smith, and the ever-tiltable Phil Hellmuth.
But since that story went to press, Chauhan has put up even more impressive results — most recently standing by the side of newly crowned WPT World Champion David Williams. In fact, three of the Top 16 finishers were Chauhan clients, two of whom made it to the final table. (Hellmuth went out on the TV bubble.) Away from poker, he gets credit (at least a small percentage, based on coaching deals we’ve learned about) for helping rising MMA star Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal take the Strikeforce light heavyweight title from Gegard Mousasi, who was a 3-to-1 favorite in the match.
That all kinda blows my theory that the key to Williams’ re-found success had everything to do with his new hair. Check out the video snippet below of a bushy-fro’d Williams stepping outside the Fontana room for some mantra and affirmation exercises before taking his seat at the final table:
Wow, that’s all there is to it? Didn’t realize winning at anything, let alone life, was so easy. Seems like if you could turn that into an iPhone app Sammy might really be able to help people. Chauhan, however, is not without his haters (just ask Google). But poker players know you can only get super-lucky so many times.
ALT HED: Mind over Variance
Check out his site at MindsetVT.com.
susan says:
May 18th, 2010 at 12:55pm
No one seems to consider that this man’s claim to fame and success is helping people who are already some of the best most successful poker players in the world “win”. But they were doing that already, weren’t they. He is coaching leading pros bracelet winners etc who have long ago proven their skills not to mention their winning mindsets by reaching the pinnacles of success. They were successful before this coach latched onto them to ride their coat tails to fame and $ in his pocket. He is using these players and providing them nothing new. He gets more from it than he has to give. It is all regurgitated from the likes of Tony Robbins. Positive thinking is a good thing but not an original idea. This man should be teaching marketing, not poker. IF and when he takes a nobody, or a failing poker player and changes their results by just his work then I will believe he is a guru. Instead he brags about “his” clients reaching final tables? Well what is surprising about any of these guys doing well in a poker tournament? Personally I think he is taking advantage of the poker community, and playing some of these people for fools. He is a failed realtor and mortgage broker “coach” (those that can, do, and those that can’t, teach?) that’s found a new pond to fish in. Why doesn’t anyone realize these people were all hugely successful before Mr. Chauhan and just maybe needed a hug. Telling Antonio not to party before playing isn’t rocket science! Give me a break from this self-promotion of Mr. Chauhan. I thought poker players were smarter than this!?! Phil Helmuth was seen crying after busting out of a tournament after coaching with Mr. Chauhan and Antonio regularly still tilts and even did so in the WSOP Main Event last year. They are the same people they have always been, with vulnerable moments with or without Mindset Coaching. My point is that Mr. Chauhan has not changed these people’s results, and he should not take credit for their success. He MAYBE should take credit for selling them something they don’t need. MAYBE he should brag that he has them believing he helped them. These players operate under difficult pressures and like the rest of the human race can benefit from support, positive thinking and motivation, however none of that was invented by Mr. Chauhan, and he should not take advantage of their generosity by self-promotion on their merits. Let’s keep this in perspective and see the marketing for what it is. When he “helps” someone without dropping their names to “help” HIMSELF I will be more likely to believe he does it for them. He claims to teach something called Subliminal Persuasive Linguistics, well he doesn’t seem so subliminal but he is apparently persuasive to the sheep that swallow this crap. Just look at where he comes from, teaching sales people to brainwash perspective buyers to do their bidding? Leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I’m becoming embarrassed for the poker community that is jumping on his bandwagon helping him to sell people what they already have. Marketing, maybe. Coaching? Hardly. A GURU? HA! He’s someone taking full advantage of his 15 minutes of fame helped along by continuous self-promotion, and sucking up to the wealthiest and most powerful people in poker. He will sadly adversely affect the careers of some of these people in the long run, and the next SAINT put forth with the endorsement of some good-hearted pros and the likes of Bluff Magazine and the WSOP Academy will hopefully be met with a little more skepticism because this only helps charlatans spread the word and find more victims. Many of his “clients” have invested themselves and their reputations in some shady deals with him so I wonder if he’s used his SUBLIMINAL PERSUASIVE POWERS to UNLEASH THE POWER of their wallets and reputations! It’s the emperor’s new clothes and guess what guys you look silly there parading naked. I thought poker players were supposed to smell when someone is representing ACES when they have, well, not that much. Let’s move on we’ve all heard too much about this “guru” already. At least CHARGE HIM for advertising! Don’t help him suck more people in until he has anything real to offer or sell. Thanks.
DanM says:
May 18th, 2010 at 6:14pm
susan, i hear what you’re saying … but even though the people you mention indeed all had accomplishments, i think all (save for maybe hellmuth) have acknowledged that they had reached a particularly low spot.
is it possible that a guy like sam knows how to take people who clearly have the abilities and help them “re-find” what worked for them before?
and what if it’s just a matter of IMPROVING their game? for example, you write some pretty compelling anti-sam stuff … but if I taught you how to break your paragrafs to make it all more readable, would their be any value to my teachings — even though essentially all I’d be showing you how to do is press the enter button two times at specific places in your argument?
Susan says:
May 19th, 2010 at 11:06am
Dear Dan,
Thank you for your input. I will be happy to implement your suggestion and use proper paragraphs. You missed that I should have spelled perspective prospective but of course without paragraphs that might be hard to catch. Maybe we BOTH should use SPELL CHECK 🙂
I was not so much trying to be anti-Sam as suggest that poker players are being very gullible and naive to swallow this as it is mostly marketing. Why does he need to saturate the internet about each new client he signs and take so much credit for their accomplishments as they have been doing these things long before they met Mr. Chauhan. It is getting a little ridiculous and as I said I am concerned and somewhat embarrassed for the poker community. Because of their power within the poker community, I think the WSOP Academy and Bluff Magazine should use caution endorsing him or helping him further promote himself to hook new fish.
I have been seeing this and finally spoke up because no one else seemed to state what seems so very obvious. I am not saying that support and objective redirection is not helpful to players only that this man is taking much more credit than he deserves especially since none of what he is offering is original.
BTW Sam Chauhan companies have an F with the Better Business Bureau and he has changed careers and subjects to sell more often than his underwear. I say “subjects” because he has no product to sell thus NO COST..he is selling NOTHING. (Emperor’s new clothes. LMAO!)He is also involved in Victory Poker which also seems to have a suspiciously nasty aroma about it. Victory Poker is all hype as well. Mr. Chauhan has managed to get his “clients” names to promote his new site which looks suspiciously like a pyramid sales scheme. These players worked hard to earn their reputations and they shouldn’t be tarnished by this man. Why should he use their accomplishments to promote and enrich himself?
I am hoping that he soon saturates the poker market and is selling hot tubs or vacuum cleaners in the near future. I saw him at the WSOP Academy and he used a ridiculous ploy to make players race each other to sign up, saying he would only take the first couple. Well I sure didn’t see him turning any away. He took every player that was taken in enough with his sales talk and pumped up enough to provide billing info. A couple people I know did sign up and they said there was very little follow-up after the sale. None of them seemed to suddenly make WPT final tables, but then they hadn’t already been doing so like all these that he is bragging on. He didn’t change any of these players that is my point. He did do a fantastic sales job on them, which is what he does. A salesman is not a GURU I am pretty sure!
IF I were interested in signing up with Mr. Chauhan (which I am not) I would make him sign a contract saying he would not use me to promote himself. I would charge him for that privelege instead. Antonio Esfandiari Phil Helmuth Mark Seif Paul Wasicka and all the rest should be compensated for the adverstising they are giving him. I mean, maybe next he can give Barbara Streisand singing lessons and then maybe he can coach say Bret Favre? Give me a break. Let’s not make poker players a joke at least not the BUTT of the joke.
I hope you like my paragraphs Dan. Have a great day.
Best Regards,
Susan