Poker Training Site Names New Instructor
Emerging poker-training site DragTheBar.com (www.dragthebar.com) announced today that leading online player and coach Dusty Schmidt, aka "Leatherass9," has joined the company as a lead instructor. Schmidt's first blog was posted on the site earlier in the day.
"Dusty is one of the top mid-to-high-stakes players in the world, period," DragTheBar.com CEO and professional poker player Hunter Bick said. "He's played so many hands at such a high win rate that his depth is simply unmatched. But as good a player as he is, he's an even better instructor. It's unusual to find someone who can do both. We don't want our site to just have good poker players as coaches - they must be well spoken and great teachers too. Dusty embodies those qualities better than anyone."
Bick, who founded DragTheBar.com in June with partners Phil Nagy and Korey Gillis, said Schmidt will blog, make poker videos and actively participate in member forums.
"Dusty is a huge asset," Bick said. "Just a few years ago he was playing low stakes, so he knows where those players are coming from and he can help them accelerate their learning process. Our members will benefit greatly by having such an incredible instructor at their disposal."
Schmidt comes to DragTheBar.com on the heels of a three-year tenure as lead instructor at Stoxpoker.com, from which he resigned last week.
"I couldn't be more excited about coming to DragTheBar.com," Schmidt said. "I was feeling as though I was getting away from my teaching roots a little bit and this allows me to do what I love and do best. The relationship just feels really, really good. They support my interests, and in turn I'm looking forward to watching this site become the finest in the world in very short order. I can't wait to get involved with their members and watch them improve as poker players."
Schmidt's story is the stuff of poker legend. A renowned "grinder," he's played nearly 7 million hands of online poker over more than 10,000 hours during his five-year career. He's won over $3 million over that period, and has never had a losing month.
In 2007, Schmidt achieved Poker Stars' SuperNova Elite status in just eight months while playing high-stakes cash games exclusively. He posted the world's highest win rate in both 5/10 NL and 10/20 NL in both 2007 and 2008. In a four-month period between Nov. 2007 and Feb. 2008, Schmidt won in excess of $600,000 in high-stakes cash games. In Nov. 2008, Schmidt posted a 1.2 million-hand graph on a TwoPlusTwo.com forum which some called the greatest graph in online history.
Prior to his start in poker, Schmidt was a top-ranked golfer who broke two of Tiger Woods' junior records. He was the leading money winner on the Golden States Tour when, at age 23, he suffered a career-ending heart attack. He first took up poker as a means of paying his mounting medical bills, putting his last $1,000 online and playing as many as 400 hours a month in an effort to get ahead.
Today Schmidt, 28, plays as high as 25/50 NL, often playing as many as 20 tables at once. A successful entrepreneur, Schmidt recently released the top-selling book, Treat Your Poker Like A Business, available at www.dustyschmidt.net. The book focuses on teaching players to monetize their poker skill and creating a significant revenue stream by employing tried-and-true business principles.
"Poker has done a tremendous amount for me in terms of the independence and quality of life I'm able to experience now," Schmidt says. "I like to think that I have something to offer all poker players, from those who view it as recreational to aspiring pros who want to turn the game into something more serious than a hobby."
Schmidt becomes the 11th coach at DragTheBar.com, which boasts some of the world's top online-poker instructors, as well as affordable membership and rakeback options at a variety of poker rooms. The site's poker-training videos and poker software are not digital-rights managed and are compatible with iPods and other MP3 players. The site also features games besides poker, including backgammon, coached by world champion Bill Robertie.
"Bringing Dusty on adds even more depth to our already outstanding coaching lineup," said Bick, who himself has been a poker instructor for more than two years. "The future is very bright."
