Day 17

Considering that I have the flu and all, am really happy with my 650$ winnings in 5h (3h online, 2h live). My foggy brain did make me play horrendous in certain spots, particularly multi-tabling online :

100 NLHE

Villain 1 is the spot at the table around which the game revolves, so I am raising about 30% of my hands from CO (when he is in BB) and do so with Q9o (bottom of my range) ; button calls as does the V1.

Flop (9.50$)
KJ10

Gin I cbet to 6.50$ and get called in both spots.

Turn (29.00$)
KJ10 A

When BB pots it, I simply call, but button folds.

River (87.00$)
KJ10 A 8

When villain pots again, my blurred out/flued out brain snap-calls Of course, we are chopping often enough, but rake is capped and villain only has 75$ behind...




By far the most photographed building in Dawson (along with Jack London's Cabin...). It is owned by Park's Canada and was restored in order to demonstrate the effects of permafrost on certain houses


I am presently making 2.5x more online then live, so will focus on the virtual grind until action picks up at the casino.

Also, not getting a ton of feedback ITT, but I get the general feeling that people want more pics and perhaps a surface/light anthropological outlook on the town of Dawson... So I will try to provide some material in the next week (feedback welcomed).

Challenge : +3280.87$

I'm enjoying the thread, motivating me to do some grinding of my own. More info on Dawson would be awesome as well

Day 18

OK, blame it on my cold, my headache, a lack of stamina or impatience, but things were still going good until I sat at a new table with a 100 NLHE spewtard (1000$ in front of him) who was giving his money away like it was Christmas all over again Yet I still managed to dump 600$ to him FML

Sure, I ran cold as **** against him (QQ < QJo AIPF, top 2 < bottom set etc.), yet deviated from my standard preflop range vs spewtards to include suited connectors and gap connectors to my usual showdown based Broadway cards, Big A and pocket pairs ; maybe I forced the issue a little... Maybe this flu and 7h grind got the best of me )... Perhaps, but I did not think it was overly terrible to add nut potential connectors, as 4 other regs were in it to bust him...

What do you guys think? Only play showdown-valued solid opening ranges (broadway and pairs) or include connectors? The problem with adding connectors, is you easily double the hands you play preflop...

Oh well, I will make up for it this WE... hopefully... On the + side, did manage a solid volume online, will hence reach my monthly goals (and thus cancel today's losses when I get to cash in my points on Party ).




One of the many abandoned buildings in Dawson. In fact, if you were to investigate the old Eldorado creek where the original gold rush was launched, 100 years old cabins are still holding their own


Challenge : +2825.05$

Day 19

Live pokerz sucks balls Was probably the driest, nit-infused Friday I have ever experienced here in the Yukon Oh well, considering that online is going pretty well (as are my shots at 100 speed), I will see less of the casino until it warrants my attention...

Interesting scenario tonight, as this dude called about 12/12 of my 3bets (I have a tight opening range, but a wide 3bet one) ; considering he plays his hand face-up and is a fit or fold player, I gladly welcomed his grudge against me

+170$ live, +400$ online.




Yup, it is a cartoonish Western town. Preserved as a heritage and presented as a slide show to the tourists, this is loonyville

Challenge : +3400.85$

Enjoyed reading this so far.

Just curious, from your writing style was wondering what your background is?

I studied in French Lit (English is my second language) but never bothered getting my degree (had 2 courses left to finish, but the road was calling me ). I worked my way up the ladder in the kitchen world (until chef) for 16 odd years, peaked, snap-quit when poker became more profitable (and provided me with the luxury of roaming freely around the world ). That was 5 years ago.

I am working on a post for my travel thread about the kitchen grinding days ; will link it within the week... When you mention my writing style, I take it I should take that as a compliment Thx for following

No it is a compliment . Keep crushing

Day 20

Another day, another loss. Am nevertheless happy with this small loss for a few reasons :

- We finally had some action worthy of a weekend. We crossed the 4k mark (money on the table) for the first time this year. It nonetheless took 5h of play (on a good night, we cross the 5k within 90 minutes, meaning an all-in every hand ).

- Finally picked up a couple of massive leaks on 2 winning players. Considering we play against each other every weekend, can you say print some money baby

- In my 8 week stint last year, I managed 13k in profit, which remains under my normal EV. A similar projected return in 15 weeks would bring us to 23k before the season ending tournaments ; not too shabby, not too shabby at all

- Dipping momentarily into a C game - due to my flu - makes me realize that I have been playing solid lately. Variance will come my way, BABY and we will succeed

- I am not too hard on myself even after making some marginal errors tonight. Being the perfectionist that I am, a bad session can often spill over in my life and hinder my happiness level I am thankful for my recent equanimity.


Crazy hand played :

After a straddle to 5$, I decide to open Q10 from MP1 to 25$ ; a very loose open, I concede, and one that I regret instantly (but instantly brush off the hindering emotion). I get called in 5 spots including 1 shove of 15$.

Flop (93$ main, 60$ side)
347

When the SB bets 15$, I call as does another player. The donk bettor is THE ONLY player I can profitably float a ton of holdings against, as he bets any flop that hits him somewhat (gutter, fd, bottom pair and even overs), while playing weaker/face-up on later streets.

Turn (93$, 105$)
347 7

When villain fires 15$ again, I am the only caller.

River (93$, 135$)
347 7 9

When villain checks, I bet 95$ ; he snap-folds and I claim the side pot. I am about to embarrassingly say "well, I don't have too much" when the all-in player mucks his hand Then things go awry... Dealer says "no, no, you got to show", the player unwillingly flips over A10o and I am forced to muck my hand (not without bitching at the dealer ). A strange, strange outcome, but one that will surely contribute to my future river value bets




View from the Dome, at bird's view on top of the town of Dawson. Many stories can be told about this mountain ; interestingly enough, lots of them involve Japanese tourists They have this myth that successful copulation under Northern Lights on top of a mountain leads to auspicious births... You see where this is going

Challenge : +3070.76$

Day 21, Summer Solstice

Wow, that was probably the most fun I ever had playing poker (and not just because I made 1k...). It is a tight-nit poker community up here, and, despite the competition, a solid camaderie has established itself over the years Even if I had to take a 25-50$ hourly pay cut (did so last summer), I would still show up regularly to play with these great people

Hand of the day (or how I get away with murder)

I limp in CO behind 4 limpers with 76, call the BB squeeze of 7$ (he does that with all his range simply to bloat the pot and add some gambol gambol ), as do 5 others.

Flop (49$)
KJ7

The squeezer cbets 15$, me and the button call.

Turn (94$)
KJ7 5

Villain bets 25$ this time, I make the call.

River (144$)
KJ7 5 A

Villain bets 50$, I raise to 165$, he snap-folds.




Summer Solstice seen from the Dome. Dawson gets officially 21h of sunlight, yet the sun just circles around the mountain, preventing any darkness from reaching us for almost 3 months

Challenge : +4130.94$

Great pics; excellent writing.

Crush, crush, crush!!

Sick play! You have such a nutted range when you take that line on a board like that. Who says live poker has to be ABC? keep it up!

Variance

Note :

Variance. In life, as in the game. The upswings. The elations. The ecstasy of being on top of the world. Yet, it always comes crumbling down. Death. Downswings. Bad beats. Uncontrollable events that simply put hurdles on our path : our inexorable destiny, this downward spiral towards decay... Yet, like a dog chasing its tail, we pursue happiness while forever dismissing the darker aspects.

Winrates, goals in life, anything, really, to create a sort of stability. A median. But all that is ever guaranteed, is permanent change. And this rollercoaster ride. Why do we play this game again?

Perhaps our existential/hedonistic nature thrives through the ups and the downs... Perhaps nothing really matters except a fix, a good shot in the arm... Perhaps we will always hide ourselves from the true nature of life, of the game... I don't know, but I, for one, do embrace variance.




Another colorful house in Dodge ; this town does not lack personality, one must admit


+100$ live, 150$ online in 5h.


Challenge : +4411.73$

Day 23

Thx for following I always appreciate the compliments and feedbacks!

Yup, after having played with some of these guys for a decade, you get to know their patterns/tendencies. I do get away with murder at times, but I don't over do it


Yukon character of the week

Alright, lets pursue this weekly thing with an individual that, while having quite the story/background, is not exactly a Yukoner... Sure he spent 3 summers over here, but this was a decade ago and he has not since returned (except for a brief visit) ; yet, I believe that given the nature of his story, his inclusion will be quite accepted...

Summer of 2004. As I am chilling on the Cliffside of the Dome - getting high, sipping on wine and being one with nature - I hear a racket making it down the pathway... Well if it isn't Josh speeding down like no tomorrow on a mountain bike The dude sees me, breaks at the last second (just before the certain death precipice), gives me a look and says (mildly confused) "oh, the path doesn't go further down!?!". Josh man, I know you like the thrill of the ride and all man, but come on, you were an inch away from plunging to your death buddy




Dawson seen from the lookout point in question


I guess it didn't come as a big surprise to find out that Josh ended up in a wheelchair, a few years later... The dude was always a bit on the reckless side and apparently did a flip too many while skiing. It was obviously hard for Josh to overcome his newfound handicap, yet he is now a dad, has since won multiple medals in the Paralympics and thus found peace in his life (a sentiment that was previously lacking).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Dueck

Challenge : +4163.52$

Day 24

Somehow got convinced to babysit the kids today. Things were going just groovy - them watching a kids movie, me grinding away on my computer - when we got hit by a power outage... Sigh No worries though, as it was time to go explore the outdoors anyways.



Yukon River. It drifts all the way to the Detroit of Bering in the Pacific Ocean




Fisherman's cabin. I assume that a good quantity of booze is being had in that cabin




Uncommon site : old tourists being hippies all over again


Booked a 700$ win online in 5h. I tried to start the game at the casino, but when a couple of players bought in for 20$, I snap-quit.

Challenge : +4899.12$

Day 25

Managed to put in 7h of volume online, which was great in terms of rakeback and reaching my monthly goals, but meager in terms of profit (150$). No games at the casino once again. Miners are just starting to sluice, so July should be action-induced (with some gold dust flying on the felt ). June has not been worth it though for live action (good to be back on Canadian time for online though, as Asian time sucks!!!).




Klondike River. Dawson is at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike rivers


edit : here is the link to my latest post in the travel forum, pertaining on the good ole kitchen grind : http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=264

Challenge : +5045.66$

Day 26

Maybe it was the grey skies. Or the rain. The cancelled tennis. But things were looking sluggish when, within the first 20 minutes of the grind, I made 2 dubious calls that even my grandma - or my grandma's grandma - would of known that villains had nutted hands I did get a grasp of myself though, managed to find balance again, center myself - breathe in, breathe out - and refocus on the task at hand. Online, -100$ in 5h.

Perhaps it was the canoe race on the Yukon River, from Whitehorse to Dawson, that brought up a multitude of souls... Perhaps it was the Old Crow folks coming down for a few days (for those of you geographical unaware, Old Crow is the North-Northy-Northernest peak of the Yukon, so far up that polar bears are used as domestic animals ), but the action was definitely not lacking : we collectively crossed the 5k mark within 75 minutes .

Pretty happy with my night and was up 1300$ until my set got cracked by a combo draw in a 1300$ pot Up 450$ live in 6h.




My first full stack of greens for the summer - let alone 3 of them -, but alas, ultimately witnessed the vanishing of half of them


Challenge : +5459.34$

Day 27

Life tilt-tiltity-tilting is how I felt after seeing 3 players hit and run for 1-1.5k, us being submitted to the turtlesque speed of training dealers (about 15 hands/hour ), and the most obnoxious poker player to walk the planet sit on my direct right Yup, we saw it all this WE, even a drunken player snap-puke in his pint bear, thus instantly killing the feeder game in the process

Nevertheless, booked 200$ online in 2h, whiffed the tournament for 200$ to then make 900$ in the live cash game. Solid week so far...




Yukon at bird's eye

Challenge : +6288.53$

Jeez, I think I am heavily immersed in these northern wild parts : edit, the fellow puked in his pint of beer, not bear!!!

Day 28

Exhaustion is what I felt, after a weekend of heavy grinding, on the virtual felt as on the live one... Yup, even those friendly faces and familiar chuckles were not enough to keep me at bay from my bed, where a million of zzzzzzzzzzs were waiting for me ...(at 10 pm ).

Pretty happy with the grind It was fun, it was tilting, it was demanding to feel powerless while the monies was lying there, for the taking, in front of fish that managed to cash out before me going in for the kill It was poker folks

+500$ online in 2h, whiffed the tournament for 150$ (got to learn how to flip better ), made 125$ in 3h cash.




The dike. Green area by the river where dogs roam, hippies lay in the grass and kids... well are kids

Challenge : +6771.01$

Day 29

I kept hearing today how I missed out on some crazy action yesterday... Oh well, exhaustion had the better of me... And - like my favorite poker saying goes - it is one long session after all : the game runs everyday.

Played some tennis today ; had no equity whatsoever in that game. Showed up with my D game. Drawing dead. Micros meets Noosebleeds. David, Goliath. 1-6 and 0-6 was the result




Always found it curious how they built a tennis court in a redneck town... At least it remains vacant at all times for us Good idea on the skate park next door, so the kids have somewhere to get high

Booked a 200$ win live today in 3h, breakeven in 6h online.

Challenge : +6956.01$

just reached Palladium on Party and Platinum on 888 (literally within 10 minutes, I reached both milestones ). Most of the grind was done in the wee hours last night (+600$ in 8h) so, considering it is only 4 pm out here on Pacific time, I will go enjoy the rest of this sunny afternoon on a patio, from which I will post my monthly report. Too bad I don't drink anymore, as this would be an ideal opportunity to get hammered like no tomorrow!!!

Back in a couple of hours.

Challenge : +7567.20$

Day 30

Month 1 in Review

Live action : Well, the action has finally picked up, which is directly correlated to people seeing their net worth increase in the past few weeks : the summer is indeed in full throttle

We will have our first 10-20 Omaha L08 game on Thursday, which I am quite excited about (hells, I would play 20-40 if others would ). Things are looking on the up and up.

+3869.00$ in 118h. Am satisfied with these figures for the first month, but they should significantly increase in July.

Party Poker : I actually thought about quitting Party during June... As far as online goes, Party has usually been my go to site for a decade now, but changes upon changes (BWin screwed everything up) have seen me diminish my action there. This said, I have made in the vicinity of 22-25k single-tabling the 100 NLHE CCG tables since they inaugurated it a year ago. But the action has since dried up. Still somewhat content with this single table though, at least for the time being.

+1239.03$ (I still have another 225$ rakeback to come this week).

888 : I have only started playing the Snap tables 2 months ago, but it has been a profitable discovery. The fact that you cannot use a hud at the tables probably has a lot to do with my 5bbs+/100... perhaps I review more my sessions than the other regs or am a better note taker, but this hudless game suits me just fine I do add a 100 table to my 3 X 50 NLHE tables quite often, but am stuck 500$ at 100 NLHE . It will come, it will come.

+2459.17$

online : +3698.20$ in 111.25h

Mental State : I am really happy with my state of mind, especially in handling variance, entitlement tilt issues and the long hours. Part of it is meditation and the art of focusing. Another factor has been eating half ass well and exercising somewhat.

Projections : Am pretty happy with the first month of the challenge and considering that at this pace I should find myself at 26.5k before the season's closure tournaments (where I usually make 2-4k during those 4 days), things are looking pretty good. This said, I do want to crack the 5 figures for July, and will put everything in the works to do so.

Run good all

strange,OP from canada? didnt notice any canadien reg on the snap tables..both 50 and 100

Im mfbkevin35 btw

Where are you from? Which time zone you play in? Sent you a pm with my user name.

oh that was you, always thought that was a russian reg.

just lost QQ agasint your AK allin pre two days ago ) guess i made the contribution for your challenge :PP

im from montreal btw

gl