Congrats man!

Thanks!

Yup, looked into getting an 'IBAN' which allows me to get a bank account in another country. Unfortunately, I wasn't staying in Spain or Italy long enough to make the .es or .it clients a possibility.

Speaking of Italy...

GF and I flew from Split to Venice, and then took a water-taxi to our AirBnB. This particular one was my favorite AirBnB of the trip, rather spacious and just had a cool vibe to it.



Truth be told, I liked Rome much more than Venice, but Venice still had its charms. We frequently got lost, but I think that's part of the fun -- Exploring the area in between the canals, over many different little bridges, with each twist and turn leading you to a new street with new shops, restaurants, and landmarks.



Had some 'Chichetti' which is Venice's equivalent of Spain's Tapas. And the coffee! Italian coffee is incredibly smooth, by far my favorite, and I was sure to drink a bunch of it. GF isn't much of a coffee drinker, but even she enjoyed the Italian version.



Venice isn't known for their food, so I only had a few things on my checklist. One of them was soft-shell crabs, caught fresh and deep fried. The process of making this dish is a bit barbaric -- They gouge the eyes out, then throw the blind (but still alive) crab into an egg wash until it drowns.



Still tho, I had to get them. They were on my list. For some reason I can't find the picture, but they were perfect. Wasn't even on the menu, but I had read TripAdvisor reviews that said to ask for them, and I was given a plate of tiny, crispy, bit size, golden brown, eye-less crabs.

Also wanted pizza, but Venice doesn't have any 'authentic Italian' pizza because wood-fired ovens are illegal -- out of fear that they'll burn the place down. Still, I had a hankering for pizza at one point and stopped into a random place only to have one of the best slices of my life. It had prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and arugula. So simple, but so good. Just look how engrossed I am with that pie.



And then we went to Rome. Hasta La Vista, Bridges.



We did more touristy stuff in Rome; saw the Colliseum, Roman Forum, and Vatican Museum. Despite the look on my face in the first photo, I enjoyed it.









I reeeeallly wanted to wear my 'BingBong' shirt to the Vatican, but my GF told me it was inappropriate. Apparently there's only room for one make believe being who helps take people above the clouds.

Food in Rome >>>>>>>>> Food in Venice. Not close. And it was much cheaper. One of my favorite spots was this 'Food Hall' in the Termini Train Station. Despite a not so appetizing name, it was filled with several top quality vendors selling pasta, pizza, sandwiches, gelato, meats, cheeses, and desserts.

Here, I'm enjoying this triangle shaped meatball sandwich. So good, I had it twice.



Had more delicious pizza at Bonci's, a pizza place that was featured on Anthony Bordain's show. Slice on the left was ~good, but it was the one on the right that made me want to go back. Owner is known for creating 500+ types of pizza, this one had caramelized onions, jalapeño peppers, and fried garlic. It's rare that I love a meatless pizza, but this one was perfect on its own.



Best lunch I had all trip was at a place my friend reccomended, l Vicini Bistro: Homemade pasta with tomatoes, burrata and basil, a charcuterie board with assorted local meats, cheeses and truffle honey (!!!) and freshly baked bread drizzled with small batch Tuscan olive oil. Just wow.



And pasta! We had tons of pasta, my favorite was from Tratorria Sora Llela: Small cannolicchi noodles with stewed pork cheek, garlic, basil, olive oil, and roman pecorino cheese.



Lastly, this is a collage of all the cannolis I ate while in Italy. Bought a sweatshirt the last day of my trip and my plan is to work out in it for the next two weeks. I thought it'd be a good idea to buy it in Italy so I could remind myself of how much of a glutton I was and how I need to get back to a good gym routine.



Overall, Italy was a 6-day food coma. And I was totally alright with that. Gorged myself on pastas, pizza, cannoli, gelato, and tons of other stuff. Would recommend Rome, if/when I go back to Italy I don't have any desire to see Venice again. Was nice to look at, but it was far too touristy for my taste and the food (while still really good) was better in Rome.

Alright, that's enough text/pics for now. Will do the Spain post tomorrow, hopefully. Once that's done, I can get back to poker updates.

Damn dude looking buff!

you mind sharing your workout routine? and strength stats? maybe also what supplements you take, just curious

also do you count calories? seems pretty much impossible when your travelling that much and eating out all the time.

Anyway great thread and updates as always, looking forward to your poker updates and your opinion about the new stars rewards aka rapeback and the impact it has on the Spin'n go games, Cheers.

The crab thing it's kinda fkd up...Why would you pay for that to happen? I mean i understand killing the animal to eat it but to torture it before is beyond me

What's going to happen between you and ben? RYE is bringing Psyduck to justice or it's a more personal pursuit that it happening? Is your stable going to survive?

The gist of it is that what Ben is claiming is not true.

Due to possible legal proceedings, I won't be able to comment in here/right now, but I did not attempt to steal any content and I firmly believe nothing I did violated the terms of service.

Your not violating our terms? yet you admit you shared the account

http://imgur.com/7gsFhaZ

clips from the shared videos showing your account top right
https://streamable.com/s/swfd9/mdadqj

https://streamable.com/s/uzwma/umpeke

These videos were shared using the videos your account copied.
http://imgur.com/JmLedSh

Screen Grab of content from your account shared on youtube (samurai account bottom right)
http://imgur.com/Y8Zp0t0

Screen Grab from the video showing Pysduck Staking in Skype call with members of Samurai Staking
http://imgur.com/N5RXtcn

We have logs showing you logging in from bucharest (matches your location according blog post) and matches the times shown in the shared videos. Not only did you share your account and the videos, now your calling us a liar for calling you out on it. From now on our communications will take place through our legal department.

There are many inaccuracies in those screenshots, I'd prefer to not address them in full but I'll respond to a few.

Not sure what the second and third screenshots prove, they do appear to be screenshots of my account but obviously I can't confirm that. If indeed videos were shared re: Samurai Staking (3rd and 4th screenshots), I was completely unaware of that and had nothing to do with it. I have no affiliation with them.

And regarding the final screenshot, I didn't notice a date. The 'Psyduck Staking' Skype account belongs to a group coach that worked for me from January 2016 until the end of May 2016. He has not ran a session since then. My RYE account was purchased in June. Furthermore, all of the players on call are under contract to Psyduck Staking, and have nothing to do with Samurai Staking.

I look forward to resolving this and clearing my name, hopefully BencB/Raise Your Edge will refrain from attacking my character and attempting to smear myself/my brand until they have all the facts. Until future notice, this will be my last public post on the matter.

Just a typo.
We meant -> ".. with members of Spyduck Staking".
This is a screenshot of an ICM group coaching Session
--> http://imgur.com/JmLedSh (see Video #8) (We also have the full Video)

We have all those Videos and they clearly proof that you guys are sharing Content.

Regarding Screenshot #2 and #3. You are not even taking a stand to it. You are just trying to talk it down and defending yourself. Those are short Videos which show how you record our Videos with Thundershare (see Icon bottom right corner), and not "screenshots".

We dont need more facts (even though we have). Everything is agreed with our legal department and those facts are enough to take legal actions against you.

Don't mean to disturb your discussion, but just want to say im happy i found your thread will def follow. Been a great read.

As a Swede, would i be able to relocate to Italy and play on their PS client?

Much appreciated man, best of luck

Thanks man!

Not exactly sure on playing from Italy, I believe that you'd need to switch your account over to .IT and that process might take a few days, even weeks.

Spain

Last country on our whirlwind tour was Spain. Originally my GF wanted to do Barcelona, Madrid, and Majorca but we ended up only doing one of those three -- Majorca. And while I'm sure we missed out on several incredible things to do in Barcelona/Madrid, it was quite nice to just chill in one location for five days.

Accidentally stayed in the German part of town, and that was an interesting experience. Here I thought I'd get a chance to use my Spanish and instead everyone kept speaking German to me. At one point I was able to tell a fellow tourist that I spoke Spanish, not German, and quickly realized that his Spanish >>>>>>>>>>>> my Spanish. Super envious of people who are multi-lingual, feel like it's a skill that opens up so many doors/opportunities both personally and professionally; if I ever had kids, I want them to pick up as many languages as possible.

Our hotel was rather nice, but there were some other hotels in the area that catered to the all-inclusive, shirtless, piss drunk, kind of tourist and I saw many people passed out on various benches during the day time. Had tapas a few blocks from our place on the first day and I fell in love with the table-side aioli. Other dishes were great too (Grilled octopus, Spanish meatballs, flash fried peppers), but it's the aioli I'm still salivating over.

My GF and I had both been to Majorca before, but she was much more familiar with the transit system/landmarks in the city center, so I deferred to her. Per usual, that was a solid decision.

We spent a fair part of the trip walking around downtown Majorca and it was gorgeous. While there were certainly some picturesque shots in Croatia and Italy, I thought Majorca was the most beautiful location we visited: Sunny, cloud free skies, majestic palm trees, and incredible architecture.











Just so happen to have a few cousins who are native to the area, and we met up with them twice; once for dinner and once for lunch. Dinner at the restaurant was so good that I requested we go back the next day for lunch. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the food -- Was too busy catching up, sharing stories about travel/life, and trying to explain how I'm able to make a career playing poker on the internet.

That meal tho, wow. Best meal of the trip. Bread was even better here, the garlic shrimp was incredible and I felt like I invented the wheel when I dipped the bread into the garlic shrimp oil. Also had some ham croquettes, a surprisingly good tuna tartar, and a super fresh tomato salad. They're known for high quality steak, so we obviously had to share a ribeye and a few bottles of wine because that's what you do in Spain. Admittedly I'm not a huge wine fan, but Spanish wine is my favorite simply because it doesn't give me headaches/hangovers.



Was a fantastic conclusion to an epic trip, and now I'm excited to settle back in to 'regular life' in Vancouver.

Subbed, GL!
Sick life, just don't drop the spins for bodybuilding

I'm probably closer to career in competitive eating.

First month without Rakeback is in the books, and thankfully there's no need to give up Spins yet. Even with the RB changes I've been doing reasonably well. It def sucks to lose out on the 28% RB, but with a 50+ cEV the swings aren't thaaaaaat bad and I can still pump out 30-35 games per hour.

Have been experimenting with Spins on other sites, will continue to mix them in but I'm finding it rather difficult to quit PokerStars.



I forgot how clean and smooth the software is compared to the competitors and was quickly reminded by clunky versions on Party and 888. Party's supposed to have a software update soon, and I'm channeling my inner Bart Scott.



But I do *need* to grind Stars a bit to allow myself enough liquidity to send xfers to horses. Few other backers are experiencing difficulty doing so because of PokerStars' changes requiring users to 'play through' the money before sending it onward. Makes things a tad more complicated, and that appears to be the trend when it comes to staking as more legislation and restrictions negatively affect the world market.

July Results:



Hours: 79
Games 2350
Profit: $11,500

Only grinded 80 hours this month but I suppose that isn't terrible given I was out of the country for the first 1.5 weeks and had to catch up on stable stuff. Should be able to improve on that in August; have a few small trips planned, but doesn't mean I can't squeeze in 4000+ Spins and 20+ gym sessions.

GL to all still grinding in this new era of online poker.

Hey! Nice blog. I have a few Qs. Where is more money and potential these days at spins or mtts? Do would you prefer spins because of more flexible playing hours? How many tables do you play at once?

Let's say you go broke or donate all your money. If you have to go for a deal at a coach stake stable how would you choose one? Would you prefer to build a roll on yourself instead? What if you don't have your current knowledge and skills? Thanks

Hey, thanks for the nice words/questions.

Personally, I don't worry that much about which game type has the best hourly, most potential, etc. While I do care about my bottom line, if that were my sole interest I'd have never shunned a potential legal career to pursue poker professionally. Money isn't everything, I'd suggest picking a game type you enjoy and that'll likely lead to more hours of grind + study, and an overall greater chance of success.

As for those two formats, I'd guess the attainable hourlies are higher for top end MTT players, but I'm talking about top-top.



Right now I'd guess that the best (5-10) Spin players are making $200/hour, but the top 5-10 high-stakes MTT players are having years well over $1M in earnings (Right?). I think my own earning potential is about the same in both formats, possibly slightly higher in MTTs, but the freedom of Spins is too alluring to pass up.

4-6, depending on regginess of games, multipliers, and how good I feel/tired I might be.

I'd probably look to getting a loan and not a stake, as I'm confident I can beat certain games/limits with my current skillset and wouldn't necessarily 'need' the coaching for that. But if wasn't where I am currently in my career and/or I was able to find an amazing coach who could significantly help my winrate, I'd have no problem working under them for a period of time as the skills I'd pick up would likely allow me to print in the future.

Well that's a lovely contribution to the thread, bless you

Yeah, sometimes I wonder if online poker is dead, but luckily I get daily confirmation idiots are still very real

Very true. I do idiotic stuff from time to time as well, both on and off the felt.

Month started off poorly; thru the first 900 games I was down ~$4000 and the cEV was hovering around 40/game. I've rebounded nicely since, but I had complained to a friend/fellow grinder about my downswing and he was kind enough to loan me a copy of Jared Tendler's 'Mental Game of Poker.'

Only a a third of the way through, but it's really, really good so far. Definitely recommend it to anyone who plays this game for a living, and even those who play recreationally.

I thought you would have read that book (and Volume 2) a long time ago. You can get a free audio book copy of one of the volumes through his website if I'm not mistaken. It is great material. I've not even encountered one bad comment on it. For me it was mostly a ldo experience, but still.

Whats the consensus on these new spin and go max things? Seems to me all the fishies will flock there for a quicker fix and slowly erode regular spins. Stars realised they were leaving too much money on the table to be won by players

Consensus (of ppl decent at math ): Unbeatable. About 20 hands for 7-9% rake with random and weirdly distributed price pools, with 3 hands per level and fast increasing blind steps.

Ppl are discussing that one here, some are convinced they will be beating them, but either trolling or yeah, just bad at maths

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...table-1682878/

I hope they'll not be dragging too much traffic from spins but don't worry too much. The rec/reg ratio in spins is still absurdly high, if they're not gonna rake them to death, they will stay grindable. And if so, hopefully Party etc. will step in

Gotta love when people describe a format as unbeatable. Same story as when hypers released, then spins

Don't forget Beat the clock... oh wait...

U're free to prove the opposite, if u can, grinders will certainly welcome that info. Also for spins it is technically possible to reduce payout variance, while it is impossible to have any influence on all-in shootouts after x hands, so the only solution to make money from these is getting a very high winrate (ppl will have calced how high that exactly is soon I guess). From a feeling, it will be impossible, but if it's not I'll welcome positive surprises. Also when 2nd place money is higher than 1st place e.g., ICM/FGS decisions might get weirdly counter-intuitive.

Clearly, no consensus yet.

On one hand, people did say the same things about previous games Stars introduced -- Turbos, Hypers, and Spins. Those games were supposedly unbeatable rake traps and somehow, I managed to make a career out of them.

This, however, is a solid counterpoint.

I'd expect the Spin and Go Max games to be profitable, altho I'd also expect that the edges will be lower than in 'standard' 6m/9m hypers. And it's not like those edges were massive, to begin with. If PS rolls out $60s/$100s+ I'll consider looking into them, but with the games currently capped at $15s, I think most of the rec population at $100s will still choose to grind 3-handed Spins to chase the 1M jackpot.

But who knows, by this time next year I might be a Spin and Go Max Hold'em Reg.