Diego ‘Die Ventura’ Ventura talks about how the DeRose Method has helped his poker game

Professor DeRose
began focusing on techniques like breathing education, concentration, and meditation in the 1960s. Now, he’s known for the DeRose Method.

The DeRose Method’s concepts apply to a variety of fields. Take business, for example. According to its website, the method “teaches techniques that develop vitality, efficiency, concentration, and a better management of time and stress. Our concepts fine-tune especially the management of relationships and how to optimize them.” Business applications? Check.

In the world of sports, the DeRose Method emphasizes mental and emotional control, which improve a person’s emotional management, focus, concentration, physical performance, mental attitude, and how they deal with pressure. Acclaimed paddle-boarder Luiz Guida said the concepts he learned while studying the method increased his paddling speed 10%. So, if you’re a stand-up paddle-boarder, the DeRose Method might be exactly what you need.

Then there’s Peruvian poker player Diego ‘Die Ventura’ Ventura, who has used the method to increase his ability to concentrate for longer hours, just one example of how he has managed to improve his game. Whatever the DeRose Method is imparting on him, it’s worked, as Ventura finished second in the PokerStars Sunday 500 on March 20 for $63,000, his second largest score ever.

“I found the DeRose Method through Gabriel ‘verve.oasis’ Goffi, a poker player who is now a high-performing entrepreneur,” Ventura said. “I also talked to my friend Yuri ‘TheNerdGuy’ Martins, who has been practicing it for some time. They both influenced my decision to become part of it.”

If you check out first-hand anecdotes of how the DeRose Method has changed lives, you’ll find results like better concentration, emotional stability, and physical fortitude mentioned over and over. And if you’re a poker player, better focus, stunted tilt, and a healthy, balanced lifestyle can add generously to the bottom line.

“I think the DeRose Method helps you improve in all areas of your life, and that is something I’ve always wanted to do,” Ventura said. “It has helped me in many ways, especially being more focused for longer hours and keeping myself awake and calm during tough, deep runs. I am not an advanced student, but all of the techniques I am learning have helped me have a better emotional control. I became more aware of what is good for my mind and body even though I still need to improve and learn a lot.”

It’s time for a real world poker example. When you’re at a final table of a big-time tournament, whether online or live, nerves come into play. Whether it’s looking into the virtual lobby and seeing six-figures up top or sweating under the bright lights of television cameras, the adrenaline starts to kick in. But is that necessarily a good thing? What if you had a way to control your body’s response?

The DeRose Method patriarch

“One good example of the method’s applicability in poker is respiratory re-education,” Ventura said. “Before I learned about the DeRose Method, in a deep run or a big bubble I was nervous and my heart would beat hard. I was afraid of being exploited and made mistakes many times. After I learned to breathe properly, managing my breathing helped me stay calm in high-pressure situations.”

Managing his breathing doesn’t involve a rescue inhaler. Instead, as he put it, “Timing your breaths is important because you can control your breathing and, at the same time, you are more conscious of it. For example, breathe in for five seconds, hold it for five seconds, and exhale for five seconds. That calms me down. Normally in pressure situations, your breath goes crazy or you stop breathing, so when you control it, you’re more likely to be calm.”

The DeRose Method is taught in 95 schools in 10 countries around the world, including cities in South America like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. However, Ventura takes Skype lessons with a Brazilian instructor, Danilo Chencinski, three times a week and sometimes practices on his own. His at-home work includes physical exercises, techniques, and theory.

DeRose Method instructors have backgrounds ranging from consulting to marketing to sports. Marcelo Marini, the COO of Marini Agricultural Machine, is one of the method’s students and said he improved his company’s sales by one-third using the theorems behind the DeRose Method. It also resulted in a promotion.

Another poker player who has taken the method to heart is the aforementioned Gabriel Goffi from Brazil. Goffi, a cash game player and, as Ventura said, an entrepreneur, emphasized the benefits of the emotional control that the DeRose Method preaches. “In cash, it is hard to see successful professionals because so few work on the theory of emotional control,” he said on DeRose’s website. “For me, this is the most important factor for a successful professional poker player.”

For Ventura, the method seems to have helped him both prolong and accelerate his poker career. He has $2.2 million in career online winnings and three of his five largest online scores have come in the last 12 months. He also has over a million dollars in live cashes to his name, according to the Hendon Mob, the bulk of which came after a runner-up finish in the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event for $907,000.

“I’m going to keep playing online and live,” Ventura said. “I will be in Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final and will also play SCOOP and go to Las Vegas for the WSOP. I have big objectives and intentions for this year. In life, the most important goal is to visit my family in Peru and then travel with them. I also want to win the football league with MAMBO FC and keep improving as a person.” Continuing to grow using the DeRose Method will be integral to a successful 2016.

“A very special thank you to my wife, who has been very supportive and a key factor in my success,” he said. “I love you amor. Also, thank you to my instructor Danilo as well as Elliot Roe, who helped me overcome many emotional blocks. To my family and all my friends who always support me along the way, thank you.”