28.12.22

How Frank Escurra overcame a downswing of 70 buy ins

After a few years stagnant in the 50NL, Frank Escurra was encouraged by a friend to join Metagame. Two months later the player, based on all the content and methodology of the team, managed to move up to the 100NL that he managed to beat without major difficulties.

Frank then made moves up to the 200NL and that’s when things changed. “The first few months were decent, but without consistency. Soon after I had a downswing of 60 buy ins and that’s how things started to go down”, said the player. 

The big downswing and without the mental strong enough to understand and get through that low period, generated a snowball in Frank’s professional life and personal life. The bad phase continued, and the player found himself trapped in a great make-up and without mental and emotional structure to overcome the moment. “Today I can understand that at this stage I was without confidence in my game, the result of a “mental weakness”, and it made me wake up every day thinking I would lose and then when I lost any pot it reinforced this idea that hurt me even more,” he said.

“This attitude saved my career”

The game change came when Frank understood that he needed help and looked for Metagame co-founder Mateus Zinhao and team psychologist Scipião. 

“This attitude saved my career. I started working with Scipião and structured my little school of studies and grind, in addition to the mental part of the game and in life. That was paramount to get me out of a 70bis make-up in just three months and since then I’m much better,” Frank said. 

The player, who is currently in Tier Elite, beating the 500NL, said he even thought about giving up his career as a poker pro, but that the difficult phase was also responsible for his strengthening and resilience to pass the swings of the game without affecting himself. 

“I remember a phrase that Scipião told me: “this year was the best thing that ever happened to you.” At the time I thought it was crazy of him. How would being makeup, suffering, without confidence and even thinking about giving up my career be the best thing that ever happened to me? But today I know it’s true because it was thanks to this moment that I was able to ask for help and direct my life, professional and personal.”

After winning this one of this difficult phase, Frank now has a new take on Poker which, according to him, is a game in which the main villain is not the skill of technical and theoretical knowledge, but rather mental skill. “With a strong mental you can go through everything and stay profitable. It is also necessary to have a support network, in my case the team helped me a lot, I also had support from my girlfriend, and I was able to count on the patience and encouragement of the coaches and friends of Metagame who helped me a lot”, concluded the player.