Hello everyone,

About me:

I am a 22 year old Canadian that just graduated from bcomm:finance and passed CFA level I. I want to take a break from school and pursue my passions. My passions include traveling and poker.. so I devised a euro-trip.

What I am doing;

I am traveling Europe for 6-12months. I want to do a few things;
1-Pay for the entire trip by grinding live poker.
2-Learn french.
3-Have the time of my life.


1- I hope to do this by playing 18-25 hours per week. I will be aggressive with my bankroll and I have no problem going broke. My bankroll is 9k euros and I'm playing mostly 5/5 and 2/4.

2- I am spending the first ~3months in France. I know the basics already. I will be couchsurfing with people that don't speak english. I will also being searching for a french girlfriend.

3- Girls, Drugs, Sex, Alcohol, Playing high stakes poker.

Poker history;

I have a sample size of just over 300 hours. Most of it is 1/2 some 2/4 and some 5/5. At 1/2 I ran at $24/hr over 200 hours. 2/4 and 5/5 my winrate is 37.77 euros over 100 hours. I think I may be running a bit over EV and expect my actual WR to be closer to 25-30euros/hr.


I have been on the trip for a month and have been running a blog at ; www.canuckpokertour.com

Most of my friends and family do not know how to play poker. This makes it hard to post about poker related things on my blog. I wish to post my poker experiences/progress/hands in detail in this thread. If there is interest I will also post experiences from "section 3" that I wouldn't want my grandma to read.

Cheers,

Tyler

Hey folks.

It's been 6 weeks in Europe and thus far I've paid for all my expenses and sent 2000 euros home.

Stats:

I've logged 137 hours at the tables.
Total earnings is 5742.50 euros.
Hourly WR is 41.92 euros/hr
I estimate about 30 hours at 1/2, 10 hours at 2/4, and 97 hours at 5/5.



On another note.. rake here is 4% uncapped. I play a TAG style. When I win a 800euro pot I'm paying 32 euros in rake. I think this cuts ~3-6euros/hr into my WR.

I will be heading to Barcelona tomorrow and hope to play some 2/4 with a more modest rake.

Tyler

Got into Barcelona a few days ago.

The game here is as soft as France. Unfortunately, the rake is just as bad. 5% capped at 20euros. I got stacked for the first time in a few weeks. The hand is here. I lost with TPTK to a runner runner straight vs a mega-fish. I am getting mixed reviews on my play but the general consensus is I should have folded the river.

I am still running well over-all;

Total hours: 159
Total earnings: 6947.50 euros
Win rate: 43.69 euros/hr



I'm hoping the weekend games are soft in Barcelona.

Tyler

Did you find a french girlfriend?

Not really. For a night, yes.

hi
Ill be in barcelona in about 3 weeks and was thinking about visiting gran casino. Are 1/2 tables running daily or its an exception?

thanks

I think this is a pretty great idea. Looks like its working out for you, GL.

WoW. Looking forward to follow this thread. Living the dream are we? ;-D

Sorry on the late response. Yes they are. They start at about 4pm and run until about 4am. You can register for table at around 3pm and then chill at the beach for a bit

I left Barcelona a few days ago for Valencia. There is a festival going on here including daily firecracker shows, fireworks shows, parades, and drinking in the streets. Thus far its been a good time.

I spent way too much time partying in Barcelona. Ended up having a couple short lived romances that took my mind completelyyy away from poker. I'm flirting with danger, quite literally.

I only got a couple sessions in on the last 2 weeks. 1 session was terrible and I ended up turning a q high flush vs. and ace high flush, getting outkicked on flopped trips. Somehow I didn't get stacked, but managed to lose 388 of my 500 euro buyin before stomping out of the casino and getting wasted in the hostel.

I decided I would rest up and grind hard in Valencia. Unfortunately, this is impossible. There are no cash games in Valencia this week because of the festival. Crazy Spaniards.. big festivals = less gambling? So-- I'm pokerless for the next 2 days. I leave for Madrid on Friday and I have verified that there is a casino with NLH. The rake is a bit better than Barcelona.. 5% capped at 10euros. Better... but still terrible.

Right now I am promising myself to ignore Madrid nightlife and grind all weekend unless a situation comes up where the chances of me getting laid exceed 50% (yes, this is subjective, whatever.)

[Edit: Also played another hand.. was a beauty-- QJs in a raised pot, flop comes QJ8, I get it allin against 910 who happened to flop a straight.. Turn is a blank, river is a jack! 800 euro pot.. ship it!!!]

Total hours: 181.5
Total earnings: 8135.50 euros
Win rate: 44.82 euros/hr

Valencia didn't have poker so I've only played a few sessions in the last week.

I played poorly two nights ago and ended up butchering this hand. I also got 4bet with AQo and folded. Villain showed 104o. Grrrr.

I sucked out with KJs against AJo on a jack high flop against a Villain with 50BB. Lucky me

I got sucked out on with Ax Jd on an Ad Qd 7d flop against Ax 5d for 70BB. So lame he hit his 3 outter on the turn and I didn't re-draw the river. This has gotta be a 90-95%er I got sucked out on.

Total hours: 190.5
Total earnings: 8363.50 euros
Win rate: 43.90 euros/hr

So last few days have been pretty ****ty. I ended up having my bag stolen yesterday. Items stolen include; my laptop (all my poker history), iphone, and camera (with some photos that arn't uploaded). Out about 600euros.

I also played a terrible session today and was down 400 euros. Got sucked out on 3-4times. Got bluffed out of a 1000 euro pot with air. See the fun here

Villain showed q8o to win the sidepot.

I was so angry I was literally steaming for the 30minute bus ride home. I had to run around the block a few times before coming back to my room to post on 2+2. I am currently sweating, in a skype convo, typing this, drinking a water and vodka, and I just spilt some on my bed. Kill me.

Sucks to hear that!

Relax, maybe take a day off to clear your mind? Get back in there and do your revenge when your head is sorted.

May the guy stealing your bag, get hit by something

Played in London for a few days. Played 2 sessions at the Vic. The level of play at the 1/2 Vic reminds me of a tough 2/4 or 5/5. I was very impressed with the skill level of a few players at the 1/2 table. I ended up only making 120 pounds over 8.5 hours.

I played a session at empire casino. The table was the complete opposite. Total fish bowl. Yet again I ran like **** at the fishy table. I got 0 premium hands in 6.5 hours and ended up running into a near nuts hand every FE bluff I made with a marginal hand. Bought in 400, cashed out 493 6.5hours later.

I discovered I have a major leak in my live game. It has come to my attention recently as a result of losing successive pots in the exact same way. When I have a tight image and I'm facing a 50%-150% pot river bet I give too much credit to my opponents. The hand I posted above (AKo vs super aggro mega fish) is one example, It happened the session before that with a marginal hand, and it happened my last session. I just spent a few minutes working out the hand on paper and it was a terri-bad fold. Here is the hand;

1/2, loose passive table. Hero gets dealt QJdd in MP. Hero hasn't seen a face card in an hour and has an ultra-rock image.

Pre: aggro fish limps in MP, hero raises to 14 to iso, folds to aggro fish who calls and makes a speech about donating chips.

Flop ($30) : 10d 7d 2c
aggro fish checks, hero bets $20, aggro fish calls

Turn ($70) : Qh
aggro fish checks, Hero bets $50, aggro fish thinks and calls.

River ($170): Kh
aggro fish fumbles with chips and manages to aggressively splash-donk bet $93 into the pot, hero folds.

Give villains range on the river and his image I should have snap called. For some reason unknown reason I had thought his most likely holding was K10 on the flop and turn, so, the river scared me. Dumbo logic. I should have taken some deep breaths, more time, and made the call.

Villain showed A2o.

Since my laptop was stolen I have lost excel and my excel doc. I will update via text until I figure out how to recreate the graph.


Total hours: 209.5
Total earnings: 8127.50 euros
Win rate: 38.79 euros / hr

Agreed! I spent the following 5 minutes searching the surrounding streets ready to knock out someone with a similar looking bag. No such luck.

GL. There's a cardroom called "The International" in Islington which has no- rake.

It is a cardroom so the games aren't soft per se, but identifying the LAG players and the rocks are quite easy and very profitable...

nice! gl op.
may the girls be easy and the games soft.
and no rain.

6 days in the UK, 0 rain. I run guuuuud.

does this place have a website? If so do you mind posting it or messaging it to me?
I just googled it and couldnt find it. Sounds pretty good lol

Pretty awsome 6months-year you have planned!

How are you travelling about? trains?
I was thinking of doing something like this over the summer. Pressumably at the tables everyone speaks the language of the country so how do you understand them?

Hey eddieah,

I hitchhiked through France, trained through Spain, and I'm busing through the UK. I do whatever is cheapest. I dont plan more than a few days in advance.. if we want to do something similar, but more organized, buy a eurorail pass.

The floor will always speak English. Most of the dealers know basic english in France and Spain. The games are juicer in non-english speaking countries from my experience.

I spent a few hours learning the basics in Spanish and I know a bit of french. I'll probably learn basics of the other languages I go to.

Let me know where/when your heading over here. Travel buddies always welcomed

Will do.

Yeah i used an inter rail pass just travelling around Europe last year with my girlfriend, but couldnt go to any casinos much to my huge disappointment.

If you travel around UK last minute used www.megabus.com if you havent already, can get tickets for £1 if your lucky

Just had my worst losing day of the trip. -700 pounds. The fun part was.. it happened in less than an hour.

lost a 175 pot with AKs after 3beting pre, cont beting dry flop and getting put allin.
lost a 150 pot vs super aggro donkey who hit a 4 outter on the river
lost a 500 pot... with KsQs on a Js10c6s... cpt fishcakes called my 4bet allin on the flop with JdQh.

Good god, ******ed.

stats update soon. hourly win-rate probably closer to 30 after this ludicrous.

Okay, stats update.

Total hours: 233.5
Total earnings: 7479.50 euros
Win rate: 32.03 euros / hr


Second worst WR since trip began. Worst was on my second day. Yikes.

I'm re-focusing today. I did nothing wrong yesterday but I want to be on-top of my game tonight. I'm going to do a little workout, eat a healthy meal, and hit the same casino, same stakes today.

Oh and I'm back in London for the week. If anyone lives around here and wants to chill/drink/play poker hit me up

Played my longest session ever yesterday. It was one of my worst too. I was in for 650 pounds and I wasn't up a single pound until the last hand. About 6 hours in I was ready to go home until a fish and super aggro mega fish sat at my table.

This guy was the jackpot. 75% preflop raise, calls 50% of 3bets. River bluffs 100-150% of the pot whenever he misses a draw/senses weakness.

I ended up 3betting 50-75 on any premium hand and shipping it on nearly any board. He ended up spiking top pair twice. Once I 3bet with AK, calls with A9 and hits the 239 flop and I lose 300. lol. Another time, AQ he spikes an 8 with A8 after I 3bet pre and shipped river. lol. Finally, I 3bet with AJ and we both hit the ace but I out kicked him for a double up. 'bout time..

Down between 100 and 500 for the entire session and battled up to a 25pound profit. Despite having a wage equivalent to a sweat shop slave worker in Nigeria, I consider the session an accomplishment.