I Would Definitely Take The Bootcamp Again.

To give you all a little background on myself – I’ve been in the lair for almost 2 years now, going out consistently for the past year. In that time I’ve made a lot of progress in terms of approach anxiety, escalation and dates but I felt I was having issues with my mindset and attitude and as a result I still wasn’t getting the kind of results I wanted. I wasn’t planning on taking the bootcamp originally when Tony came to Montreal, but when a last-minute spot opened up I quickly jumped on the opportunity.

Day 1 – Day Game

I met up with Tony and one other guy Friday afternoon. We started off with a brief chat and then we hit the field. My first set was with some girl on the Metro. I was pretty nervous as I hadn’t done a day game approach in over a month and it showed a lot in my body language. Despite my nerves it went fairly well, we started talking in Italian when she mentioned that’s where her family was from. I bailed kind of early on this one so Tony sent me back in. Talked a little longer but it eventually fizzled out.

After that I opened a couple other random sets that didn’t really go anywhere. At some point Tony points out a girl sitting at a table and gets me and the other guy to rock-paper-scissors for who is going to approach. I lost so I got sent it, but the loss was actually all his because the girl turned out to be really friendly. I went direct with “Hey I saw you when I was walking by and thought you were really cute so I had to come say hi”. I sat down across from her and we chatted for a bit. She’s from Romania, goes to my school, blah blah blah whatever. At one point the other guy comes over (presumably sent by Tony) to tell me he is “going to the kino store”. It was kind of difficult to touch this girl since I was sitting across the table from her, but I notice her nails are painted so I ask for her hand. She complies and after a bit more conversation Tony comes over to remind me to close her, so I grab her number and go on my way.

A little later Tony sends me in to a hired gun set in one of those sunglasses booths in the mall. Since going direct is very comfortable for me we actually started working on going more indirect. I go over and ask her how her day is going. She had a really nice body but not such a great face. Also, she hardly speaks any English so I’m forced to talk to her in French. After some very basic conversation I remember Tony told me earlier that I need to SOI on indirect sets, so I say something like “Je voulais parler a toi par ce que j’ai penser que tu es tres belle”. Apparently she thought this was sweet so I asked if she wanted to hang out some time. She took some paper out of the receipt printer and takes my number down. I actually ran into her later in the day covering for a different glasses booth at the other end of the mall. She asked me if the number I gave her was for my cell phone. I tell her yes and take down her # this time (I’ve learned in the past that leaving numbers with girls gets a very low call-back rate). Tony pointed out that just before our second encounter she saw me approach some girl in a store. It didn’t even go that well (typical cold Asian girl) but the hired gun didn’t seem to mind. Anyway this is the first time I’ve got a phone number from a hired gun and we’ve been texting back and forth this past week to set something up.

Later in the day I chased down some girl with a big Aldo shopping bag. I went direct and then started talking about buyer’s remorse. I don’t really remember this interaction well but I took her number down at the end. There were also some other random sets that basically either ignored me or were not interested. Also a few where I should have pushed more for the phone number. In total I did 15 approaches, not bad for day 1.

Sticking points:

– Hands in pockets, slouching at the neck
– Kino
– Statement of interest on indirect sets
– Consistently going for the number

Day 1 – Night Game

We started out the night at Biftek. I winged the other guy on a big group set. One of the girls turned around in her seat to talk to me. It was mostly b.s. where are you from, where do you go to school-type conversation but I can tell from the eye contact she was giving me that she was interested. After maybe 5 minutes Tony came over and said if I liked this girl grab her number and keep moving. So I handed her the notepad I had with me and got her to write it down. I actually met up with this girl earlier this week one evening for drinks.
A little later Tony secures a pool table and tells me I have 2 minutes to find 2 girls to play with us. I ran upstairs and opened a 2-set at the bar. One was down and being receptive but the other was being stubborn. I tried to push it a bit but she wouldn’t budge. Tony said in that situation I could have said something like “Looking back how would you rather have spent this night? Beeing bored drinking alone or meeting and playing pool with some cool guys?” He also said it would have been fine to grab the interested one’s number right in front of her friend.

Did a couple other random sets before leaving Biftek, nothing particularly interesting. We then went to Korovas. Tony got me to talk to some group by going up to the guy who seemed to be the leader. Apparently they all worked together. I usually don’t do groups, especially mixed ones so this was good practice. Then I talked to one of the bartenders. I complimented her on her earings and asked her why the place was empty. She said “it picks up around 12”, so I tease her about how bartenders always say that when their club is dead.

After Korovas we went over to GoGo Lounge. A few random sets, nothing special. At one point we are sitting at a table and Tony tells me to go talk to the waitress who was standing around bored. She was actually really cool, friendly and super hot of course. I realized at this point that a bunch of people nearby were watching me talk to her which was good for building social status in the venue. This made me realize that I should try talking to the staff more especially when they aren’t doing anything. Makes me look good if I get to know them and people see me talking to them.

After Gogo Lounge we did some stuff on the street. Tony told me to spin some girl on the street and pointed to a group of girls walking towards us. I didn’t realize I was allowed to actually stop them first so I just tried to walk up and grab her hand which I think freaked her out and had her friends laughing. The next time I actually got it right. There was a group of people standing in a big circle, I go up and ask to borrow the girl for a minute and spin her around. I did a couple other spins that night before we headed over to McKibbins as our last stop for the night. Got 1 more number there before we debriefed and I headed home. Did a total of 20 sets that night.

Sticking points:

– Too much like Batman. Serious, down to business works for me but sometimes I need to lighten up
– Be more playful/fun. Don’t have to be super high-energy guy but it helps if I can incorporate it a bit into my game
– Kind of quiet, need to be more aggressive/ assertive for my batman style to work.
– Anger/frustration. Need to keep negativity out, stay positive.

Day 2 – Day Game

We chatted a bit and did some exercises before heading out. Very helpful stuff but I don’t want to get too much into his teaching style.

I did several direct approaches but I find they don’t work well unless I’m really attracted to the girl. We also tried some indirect stuff but I feel a little too phony when I ask for opinions and stuff like that.

At one point I opened a cute blonde girl who apparently had a boyfriend of one year. She was friendly and we talked for a few minutes before I left. Tony suggested I say something like “How’s that going for you?” or “Does he have anger management issues?”
Not many interesting sets. I was still really tired from the night before. Most of the day was spent experimenting with various indirect sets. There was one direct set I did where I chased down a really cute girl but I didn’t close. At the time I felt she wasn’t interested but in hindsight I actually think I had a good chance with her. I already put the time in might as well try for a #.

Day 2 – Night Game

Again we met up and discussed some points for a bit before heading out. We went to a bunch of bars on Crescent where Tony sent me into sets I normally would never open. Lots of group sets especially. At one point Tony sent me to talk to this super-hot waitress while he winged the other guy in a set. She was surprisingly friendly, reinforcing my epiphany from the other night that I should be investing more time into getting to know the staff. After that I winged the other guy in a set. He wanted to take them dancing but I kept my girl isolated at the bar so we could talk to them apart. I ended up getting this girl’s number. We went to a few more bars after that and opened some more random sets.

Conclusion

I know I didn’t write much for the second day. That’s mainly because I’m tired of typing right now. For anyone considering taking a bootcamp I highly recommend Tony. He was able to identify my style and a lot of my blind spots very quickly. He’s very professional and also a fun guy to hang out with. Besides that, if I could go back I would definitely take the bootcamp again.

A.R, 21, Montreal