Sorry that the trip to Oz has been a letdown so far. Personally, I think I'm almost totally done with non-local mtts for multiple reasons, including all of the ones you've identified. That being said, seems like you're seeking opportunities for a big score before retirement/semi-retirement and that at this moment it's more about the hunt for that experience and the potential exhilaration of the journey than it is pursuing EV. Given how capable you are of getting the job done, I think it's a worthwhile pursuit and say godspeed. Find just a taste of that mtt magic from a year ago and anything can happen, GL.

The Walk of Shame

I actually was running good for once today ; the table draw was excellent, I was flopping more then my fair share of sets, hitting my draws, had a perfect seat at the table, navigated through 70% of the field as an above average stack and then... And then F**KING THEN shyt hit the fan violently af I opened 2.1x with TT UTG, short stack (20bbs) flats and button (solid player that would flair this obvious spot) 3bets to 10bbs, 53bbs effective (I have him covered). I mean, this is as shytty of a spot as they come : I do not want to flip for stacks and would rather go to war vs other players, yet folding is out of the question when he is pouncing on this spot all day (flatters range is capped af, I have been active, had just opened the previous hand and had folded to 3bets frequently), calling just puts me in a tough spot OOP on just about all boards when he has a ton of broadways (in his actual and perceived range) that are squeezing and our stack sizes are so fracking awkward for a 4bet I shove for 53bbs, villain uses up all of his 30 seconds (shot clock tournament) before calling with JJ FML

Yeah, yeah and yeah. Thx for the well wishes friend and yeah, after I have busted an event in the past few days and found myself walking back home while fracking tilting, I always make sure to remind myself that I am privileged af to be taking these shots ; even if I do not cash any events and drop 30k+, it barely affects my BR and certainly does not change in any way my lifestyle, outside of delaying that elusive semi-retirement yo By the time bedtime rolls around, the day's tilt of dropping yet another 2-5k is already behind me That said, idem as you, I am done. I will stick to 20-35k in BIs a year consisting mainly of Montreal, Alberta, the Yukon and perhaps small series where I happen to be (and maybe the WSOP ME next year though...). The variance in them is just silly

I remember last year in the WPT ME in Montreal where on day 2 I shoved 11bbs from the SB with K6o and got looked up by BB's KQo (all around standard). I did not get up from the seat as I knew that my 25% was going to get there I did not lose confidence when the flop came all blanks. Nor did I express any emotions when the 6 rolled up on the turn and villain let out a swear Nope. Because I knew the magic was coming. And that's what you need is fracking nonsensical magic to make deep runs in these silly events : you need your 20% to get there, to win your flips 3-4 times in a row and sure, to try to lower your mistakes in the process. At times, the luck is beyond rationality and yet tournaments remain the most marketable format in the poker world to sell the dream. So why do I expose myself to this tilt-inducing high variance...

When I was in Amsterdam and met up with my Canadian-UK buddy, he bluntly shouted out about my chosen career path and success of the past few years as :

- "F**king ridiculous, f**king stupid!!!". I was not to sure what exactly he was implying, so I looked at him dumbfounded as he pursued :

- "I mean this in a good way, but what are the odds that you get here again if you had to repeat the experience!?!". I mean, for my buddy, money talks. So if I was making 30-60k a year like I initially did as a new pro 7-9 years back, he might just frown, criticize my livelihood as being a form of degeneracy or at least not a wise career path, but the fact that I am scooping 6 digits in equity tax free every year (income taxes are over 52% in Montreal) while playing a fracking game of cards, is beyond comprehensible (and envious) for him Now here is the thing : it was beyond f**king silly for me to choose this path 9 years ago. So was quitting Uni with just a couple of courses left and my professor encouraging me to pursue a Masters degree... So was hitchhiking for kms upon kms and being broke all the time as a form of statement against consumerism... So was falling for someone as untrustworthy as X... And so is this live MTT journey that is alas coming to an end. All of them had so little equity, and yet this inner ineluctable force was driving me on this path, because such is human nature When it comes down to it, the personal stuff that defines our individuality, is so fracking silly beyond belief, yet pushes us to go beyond ourselves in this bottom-world... That fat guy that got fed up of seeing all those fingers pointed at him as a kid and then suddenly trains like an obsessive Mama-fracker as a young adult... That fellow that grew up poor in a middle-class neighbourhood who now will show the whole f**king world that his shirts are the most priceless, his car, spotless, his gf, a pristine doll And so on and so f**king on, right, because when it comes down to it and what separates us all, individuals - and perhaps creates this gulf of a fracking division in our societies... - is so f**king SILLY, yet soooooo HUMAN





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great gl

Good luck in the main my friend. Smoother sailing ahead.

Heart of the Melbourne Sun

Binking a ME 10k seat for 1-3k and min-cashing the ME for 20k, seemed like a very lucrative proposal and a good way to turn this series into a profitable one, except... I do not for the life of me want to be in the casino right f**king now That and perhaps it will be more profitable to simply buy into the 10K ME as opposed to grinding 10 handed 15% raked turbo 1k satellites Besides, exploring Melbourne in the sun while writing these lines from the comfort of a cafe, seemed like a higher life EV proposal yo

I went for a Thai massage yesterday (second day in a row ) and while the rub itself was sub-par, I really hit it off with the lovely Thai lady (older than me, but nice curves, amazing energy, beautiful all-around woman ) We spoke of meditation, ego, greed and whatnot and really hit it off. And then she came with me outside and their was this moment, you know, this common awkward-yet-thrilling-and-magical instant where time stops, both parties stare deeply and intentionally at each other and... given the circumstances (therapist-client), no kisses nor hugs were made, but the absence of the act was clearly left floating in the air... Anyhow, I might go back tonight and ask her out for dinner this week. Not sure I should be focussing on dating over here in Melbourne, giving that she is actually gf material and that I will be gone in 10 days, but a night(s) out with her would be sweet af and keep my mind of the (tilting) grind

So anyhow, looking ahead I have the 2k Bounty on Thursday, the ME on Sunday and then our fate in the latter will determine if I will be playing the 1k PLO Hi/Lo and/or the 5k 6 handed. I have yet to purchase my flight for Buenos Aires, but I should be switching continents some time next week...




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Hey man, don’t know how long you are going for, but here are my BA recs. Keep in mind I haven’t been there for 4 years.

Watch/learn tango. I ran hot and one of my exes was a pro tango dancer, so I was able to go to a lot of shows that were more on the local scene rather than the tourist one. That said a lot of the milongas (tango shows) for tourists are electrifying. Idk how familiar you are with the dance but it’s sexy af and tied closely to the culture of the city. I absolutely love it.

Recoleta cemetery - standard (huge) above ground cemetery, but get to see Eva Perón’s grave, and some of the tombs are pretty wild.

Barrios:

Palermo - make sure to stay here. It’s the most centrally located, it’s the quietest, there are the best cafes, restaurants, bars, the streets are lined with trees and there are nice little spots all over. Palermo Soho is slightly more happening than Palermo Hollywood (also slightly more crowded, and slightly prettier).

San Telmo - the old part of the city, one of my fav parts of the city. Way back when it used to get a little dicey at night, but there are lots of great bars here and a really cool place to walk during the day. There are some amazing cafes here as well, Argentines love their cafes

Boca - kind of overrated and touristy imo but something to see. What is NOT overrated is going to watch a Boca game in the Bombanera (Boca stadium). Every country says their fans are the craziest; Argentines are the craziest soccer fans in the world and it’s not even close. There used to be stabbings/murders on the reg here and they have to go to great lengths to keep it safe (home fans have to stay in the stadium until away teams and their fans are safely out of town) and it’s just a full on cool experience. The concrete stadium shakes the whole game because of all the fans jumping up and down the whole time. It’s one big adrenaline rush. You’ll not want to walk around at night here

Recoleta - the “downtown”, lots of businesses, old buildings. You’ll end up spending time here inevitably

Those are the main barrios en “centro”. A lot of the surrounding barrios have their charm as well, for varying reasons. Belgrado has Chinatown, which if you’re cooking, has the best vegetables, and is kind of a quirky thing to see anyways (some good restaurants too).

Getting out of town:

Tigre - the river delta. Nothing too special imo but nice to take a river tour and get out of the city. We used to come and rent islands, which is a nice thing to do if you want some time away from the hustle and bustle.

Uruguay - the beach towns up the coast are great. I’ll probably end up buying property here someday.

Rosario - city close to BA where the most beautiful women in the world are found a little dangerous tho, just know where you’re at

Food/bars:

Cafes: sitting outside at cafes in Argentina is a national pastime; won’t bother with recommendations as I’m sure you’ll find a good one.

Find a good empanada joint; there are a million but you’ll know when you find a good one as the quality can vary

I really liked La Carneceria when I was there last; modern parilla

- don Julio’s if you haven’t been. The best parilla in the city for the Full Experience (busy as f though, there are some great not-busy options).

- Harrison is a cool bar, speakeasy. Lot of girls. Read about the history of the Harrison name behind the bar

- Victoria brown - another speak easy-ish type place, I think you need a password. I used to go there a decent amount

- million, def should swing thru on the early side if you haven’t been. It’s a big mansion that’s been converted into a bar in recoleta

- gran bar danzón - another decent upscale lounge option

Tegui - probably the best restaurant in South America besides Central in Lima, I used to like the food here a lot

Sudestada - idk if you’re gonna be interested in Asian food while you’re there but if you are, try to hit this place if you can, for lunch or dinner. Simple and really solid southeast Asian food, it was right around the corner from my apartment and I just love the place

Bangalore - a Brit-owned place in Palermo that makes its own tonic and has Indian food. Completely out of place, I always liked going here when I yearned for that pub feeling. They also own another spot in San Telmo. I think Brits would frown upon its inauthenticity but I never cared

Other things of interest, just google them:

El Zandon de Granados

Malba

El Ataneo - worlds most beautiful bookstore?

Polo match

Bosques del Palermo/Botan garden

Cafe Tortoni or other old historical cafes in San Telmo

Muy importante:

**Right now its SUPER cheap to be there. Everyone in Argentina wants to buy dollars and you want to exchange at the BLUE rate rather than the official rate. The blue rate is just the unofficial exchange rate, the market rate. It can be up to 50% higher than the official rate that you will get in the exchange places. My friend, American guy, has owned a bar there for the last 15 years and will exchange all your dollars for you if you are keen. Lmk

Girls: They’re the stone cold nuts. Ofc a lot of guys that come thru will talk about the famed hard-to-get attitudes of the Argentinas but if you speak Spanish and are somewhat aggressive and confident you’ll have no problems at all. It also is a completely different story in a city like Córdoba for example where you will be more celebrated for your exotic gringo self.

Lastly, if you want, the country is beautiful and there are a ton of cool places to travel to. It’s ofc even cheaper to live outside of BsAs and a really cool way to experience a different side of Argentina.

I’m sure I’m missing a ton but this is what I could think of

I will be heading there this year for the first time in many, maybe you’ll still be around?

Da Blues

After taking a 3k hit online upon waking up this morning, this sense of dread crept in of "oh no, not again " and with it the normal - if distant and dissipated - doubts of "has the game passed me by... Will I ever win again" and all that dark funky jazz All I wanted to do is stay in bed and lay there like a f**king victim to gravity and all the physical oppressive forces of the God forsaken Multi-verses and Beyond ... But f**k that, right, as this might be my last time in Melbourne and besides, I ain't getting any fracking younger hence effectively making time become more priceless yo So I jumped in the shower, washed away any trace of sloth, sprinkled some magic gentlemen perfume on, slipped on my loverboy shoes and decided to head back to the spa to ask the Thai lady out yo And long and behold, the excitement of all the potential positive quantum outcomes of me branching realities from :

A) laying in fracking bed/observing the sadness through meditation to

B) pumping myself up with adrenaline in order to ask her out

fracking filled my day with joy again A grin of satisfaction spontaneously painted itself on her face when I naturally added after some small talk :

- "Listen, would you be free for some coffee or lunch in the next few days...???"



Thx for that exhaustive post of yours bro, there is so much useful content in there I will definitely get an AirBnB in Palermo to start things off. I got a 10 day meditation retreat starting on February 5 where I will be volunteering in the kitchen of the centre, so I will most likely create tight friendships with locals (as is always the case when volunteering) and take it from there Uruguay seems very enticing as well and might check it out...

Not sure until when I will hang around, but will be in Latin America until July-August. And yeah, definitely up for hanging out friend ; when are you coming?




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An Irony of Sorts

I don't remember playing this great. Like in the history of fracking forever Roughly 25/28 of my bluffs got through over the pas 2 days (not including standard cbets) as my sizing has been elite af I remember last year when I made a deep run in WPT Montreal (and finished 17th), my sizings became my archille's heel as utter fatigue took over and my weaknesses surfaced (that was perhaps my worst performance in 4 years...) ; this time around, it is the polar opposite yo I have been using overbets to amazing results (both as bluffs and value), my awareness levels are tuned in - and so are my caffeine levels... ehhhh . So I have been building monstrous stacks, only to lose flip, after freaking-fracking flip, after... Jesus f**king Christ Both of the past 2 events have seen me bubble, albeit I did get 4 bounties yesterday and since the min-cash was only 1.1x BI, I was gunning for a top 10 place and deliberately took the 99 < AK flip. In fact, out of the 4 bounties I collected, only one of them was a 50-50% with others being 70, 75 and 93% favourites And then I lost 8/9 flips, 2 of them being 75% and one 80%, fml

Level 2 yesterday, I am chip leader with 3x starting stacks. UTG opens 2bbs, I decide to flat KQ (would 3bet the offsuit varieties), CO calls as does the button ; SB, an extremely LAGgy player, 3bets to 14bbs (with 28bbs behind). UTG tank-calls. In this early stage, a bounty is effectively worth 67bbs and I presume to be flipping vs SB's range while clearly ahead/or get UTG to fold a weakish Ax : I 4bet to 70bbs. SB sighs, moans, seems in pain before mucking his hand ; UTG says "well, you have been in a rush to GII" before tilt-calling (we have history) with QT

I will be spending the rest of today resting before tomorrow's ME, as hopefully we have 5 lonnnggg days coming up folks, let's do this




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how is the ME going? hopefully, the lack of updates is caused by you going deep

Pretty much this : going back to Day3 with 55bbs, still a bit to go before the money (55% of us left get paid), had an absolute-utter table of death on Day1 (Shak, Mikita, Orpen and 2 more SHR ALL AT THE F**KING SAME TABLE, that is 50 million+ in cashes ), adapted, managed to be the chip leader, GII 87% favourite vs Mikita which of made me chip leader in the tournament, but... Playing great. Update soon

Ship it!

Can't wait until you start winning more of these big pots getting it in very good, day 3 would be an opportune time , glgl dub, sending some positive vibes your way

(Edit: btw, how cool is it that you got to have the experience of playing with these high rollers and holding your own)

found OP in the pokernews chipcounts, according to them he has 24bb on the bubble. Time for some run good!

Thx guys, bubble just burst, we are going back with 19bbs and could not do anything prior but desperately (and annoyingly ) watch the 2 SHR steam-roll the table/battle it out and increased their already sizeable stacks 2 levels left tonight, next pay jump at 72th (87 left). Let's do this

Had somehow managed to unsubscribe from this thread so looks like I've got some catching up to do!

Glglgl day4 crush it

Notepad Aussie Million Style

Alright. This. Is. It. The live MTT stint has thus come to end. With a somewhat positive finish to it, if we are to focus on recency bias and the pleasure of finally getting an Aussie flag in the most important tourney yo This said, I thought this was going to be my moment. A final table. A 6 digit score. A long awaited celebration afterwards.

I was hoping that my results might be a reflection of my play that has been tremendously good this week - justice, you know -, but the Poker Gods, when they went ahead and created the gambling world and all its multiple orbits, had f**king plans of their own What can you do right, as I even let myself daydreaming at the table once in the money, allured by visions of leaving poker essentially behind me and moving on to other priorities... Of course, I would always bring back my mind to the present moment (as meditation has taught me) and the task at hand, but a 68th place (I think...) is alas the best I could manage this time around (20.5k). Oh well, next time we will get this

Because I got too much random scattered impressions that populated my inner world over the past few days, here are some of them notepad style yo :

- Aussies are friendly af. We all know it, but it is never a bad thing to repeat it They make me think of Canadians, but more outgoing while still managing to not be obnoxious

- The Crowne is the nuts as far as venues goes. Unibet Open is the most player friendly series, Montreal has their shyt together/just know how it is done and Dawson has the most interesting remote scene/best staff

- Interesting to square off vs numerous SHR players Montreal attracts the mid-highstakes grinder, but not the nosebleeds as events like a 25k, 50k, 100k and 250k does. I really learned a lot from observing them and darn am I ready to square off vs the Highstakes grinders in Montreal

- This said, they stem from a different (financial) realm all together If the stakes I play and my nomadic lifestyle might appear somewhat lavish to some of my peers from Dawson, for instance, talking with SHRs/Chinese businessman is just fracking otherworldly "Ohhh, when my life lets me take a week of vacation, I go play a few 250k tournaments" says Huang, the eccentric - to say the least - fellow with a mohawk

- For all the fine peeps I met here, not sure about that fracking American lady that comes her as an outsider, yet still has the f**king balls - (anti) pun fracking intended - to criticize "the f**king Euros" in her openly racist words. I have a hard time with the folks that criticize the modern PC way of being, that believe that being a biitch or an arsehole is some form of admirable freedom of speech/political stance ; sure, let's go back to slavery, to accepted implicit institutional sexism, to the open exploitation of the lower social classes - not that we ever completely left that realm, mind you...

- Flight for Argentina booked for this Saturday. Am happy to go back to the casual online grind in pyjamas yo And becoming fluent in Spanish shortly (about 1-2 months away). I will perhaps be looking to start studying a 4th language by next year, once I got Spanish completely nailed down.

- This said, I will get back into the NLHE cash game lab. As soon as I get out of my meditation retreat in mid-February - yeah, also doing that -, I will be looking to study a min of 4h a week for 2-3 months. If my PLO and MTT game has improved tremendously over the past 6 months (studied both), my cash game has been stagnating.

And I got a shytload to add to the above, but will do so in future posts with some HHs, I fathom.


Welcome back bro




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Gliding Across Ponds

Last day in Melbourne where I will be exchanging currencies, going to check out the tennis and getting my AIR shoes ready for the flight yo Well, it has been fun. Tilting. An emotional ride, to say the least, and am quite happy that my MTT stint finished with some positivity Now if only I could turn around my online results where I cannot win for the fracking life of me (lost my 3 biggest pots yesterday of 800$+ as a 75%+ favourite )

That sentiment prior to exploring a new country, is an interesting one, isn't it, as I cannot fathom for the life of me what awaits in BA and Argentina in general And then, in a few months - years perhaps -, I will look back and the uncanniness will probably be replaced by the familiarity of images, like Lima has, for instance. Go figure...

I have accumulated lots of memories over the past 2 weeks at the Aussie Millions, but as a sorta of glimpse into the twisted-mirror reflection of the encounters that have been, here is a brief and completely random description of some peeps met during the grind :

- There was the young Melbourne recreational lad who was sitting at my table on Day 3 (he made it a few further then I did). The dude had no prior live cash, yet had a fracking BIG like the world and was one of the most active during the bubble as a mid-size stack Also friendly af, talkative, humble and str8 up did not try to pretend to be anything else but himself

- There was the Chinese lady that seemingly had deep pockets, a case for the jitters (stress related...drugs...???). She busted out on Day 2 ; great to see a rec Sooo immersed into the game yo

- There was the 2 French fellows (who became friends) that increased my geography knowledge by making me aware of a nearby island named New Caledonia.

- There was the humble Indian fellow who grinds in Goa and has a million in cash while still having India as a home base

- There was the SHR grinder originally from Turkey (#1 on HM from that country, obviously) who now lives in London. Pretty sweet that he has remained very conversational at the table and has not transmuted into a GTO bot (and congrats on his 400k score in the 50k yo ).

- There was the SHR arrogant little f**k who forgot to leave his American egocentric views behind when he would bluntly (and ignorantly) say "I am from Boson, Mass" when an Aussie would inquire where he is from before frowning in confusion to the Mass part of the answer. We got into it (a little) at one point, partly because he is Celtics/Lakers fan, but mainly because he is a little POS

- There was the Aussie friendly older fellow (Cohen) who I crippled down to 0.35bbs about 20 off from the bubble (QQ > T9o on T8x flop), but nonetheless managed to double up the next hand (57o > KK), quadruple a few hands later (AT), get a few shoves through uncalled, only to ultimately outlast me

- Then there was the sweet American black fellow, seemingly with deep pockets, who shared a tear when he spoke of all the winnings that he dedicates to a charity for homeless peeps.


Tutejszy, are you acquaintances with Dzmitry Urbanovich at all?




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Polish poker community is rather small-ish (esp. people who have played for 10+ years), so we have a lot of mutual friends and have met once or twice, but not really, considering he plays waaay higher than I do He is a sicko, though it's kinda sad that he's mostly known for his NLHE scores - by his own admission he is not that good at NLHE, but a true beast in mixed games, he even battled Isildur @ 1k/2k H.O.R.S.E. a while ago

oh, and intersting about Orpen, I always kinda assumed he was a rich rec (though a very good one from what I saw), had no idea that he acctually grinded his way up

Aussie Millions Closure

After posts dedicated to a few random notes and another one describing peeps met at the Aussie Millions, let's look back at a few interesting HHs before turning the page and moving on to another chapter, shall we not

Ok. We did not square off in Melbourne, but did so in the SHR in Montreal ; the dude has quite the table presence combined with this creepy stare that literally made me look away I am usually pretty good at staredowns, but his was sickening, tbh

It would not surprise me that he initially came from money and thus did not start from the bottom-up, like most of us have to do - yet I have absolutely no idea and he does consider the SHR to be very profitable... He is a very friendly fellow and enjoyed having him at my table for 2 days ... As a person, that is, because he was annoying af as a player He would 3bet me non-f**king-stop, to the extent that I had to tighten up my opening range, call his 3bet wider (obvious yet non-optimal adjustment) and start 4betting hands with a blocker like A2o

As an example, I open AK for 2.1bbs from the HJ, Orpen 3bets me 7bbs (of course ) in the CO and a capable fellow 4bets to 20bbs OTB. By the time it gets back to me, my mind is already made up to 5bet to 46bbs-fold to Orpen if he shoves, but call off a button jam (110bbs effective) ; Orpen snaps-fold, button sighs, tank-folds

Hand 2 : Before we get into the hand in question, let's go back to day 1 when a failed opportunity presented itself when I had opened KJo from EP, Button (a weakish pro) flatted, and Mikita 3bet me. I was contemplating 4betting him, but when he almost 6x and thus made my 4bet sizing that much more awkward and a bit too big, I decided to fold and wait for a better spot. WHICH WHY HE WAS FRACKING SIZING THAT BIG IN THE FIRST PLACE And I would of still only committed approximately 30% of my stack or so with a 4bet-fold ; but anyhow, when a similar albeit more committing situation repeated itself on Day2, I snap took it on yo

I (once again) open KJo in the CO ; Button, a tight-yet-capable OMC, flats me (capped range) ; SB, an active pro from San Diego, has been absolutely running over the table and decides to 3bet me. Now, I have been medium-active until this point (I have shown a wide range, but could not run over the table due to a middling stack of 40bbs), but there is no fracking way in the world I am not pouncing on this spot after yesterday's blunder of a fold ; I snap-shove for my 40bbs and both snap-fold On top of this, the sweet Asian lady at the table asks to "show the bluff" which I more than happily oblige to

Hand 3 AKA the bustout hand : I open A2o OTB to 2.25bbs and get called by both SB and BB. BB has just joined the table and has played one hand thus far where I opened OTB and he folded to my Cbet. SB is a rec, has a virgin HM, but has been competent, albeit not a frequent 3better. We are 38bbs effective, both have me covered.

Flop (8.25bbs)
A86

We check it through.

Turn (8.25bbs)

A86 Q

SB donks out 6.5bbs, BB folds, and as far as I go, I don't like the sizing, but am definitely not folding...

River (21.25bbs)

A86 Q 8

Gin At least when villain rapidly checks and I take little time before shoving roughly 1.5x pot. Villain goes solidly in the tank... 1 minute... I am sitting there very comfortably, hoping to fold away his chop, as he should... 2 minutes... At this point I am scared villain will call and the difference in between chopping and scooping is quite significant, especially with the juicy pay jumps of 5k each... 3 minutes... I say "I will show you if you fold" something that I said before to this specific villain before (he had called and I had showed the goods). "I don't know if I can fold this hand" he says before calling




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Playing with Fire

It was with little expectations that I landed in Buenos Aires, if not the standard projections of what I assume a South American to be (which is pretty good and a reflection of Lima, I guess ). So it was with delightful goosebumps that I roamed downthe tranquil streets of BA, the latter punctuate with Spaniard Colonial architecture (similar to CDMX in many ways) and street art yo I do believe I will enjoy my time over here, how ever long that might end up being

Back in Prague, I went out on a date with a Filipina lady that I had been chatting with for the past 18 months. The woman is absolute trouble, loves to indulge in the bottle and would not take no for answer. So anyhow, while I don't exactly have a tolerance zero policy when it comes to alcohol (I still take sips and use wine for cooking), I usually don't have drinks (and not more than one over the past 7 years). But she would have any of it and literally forced - kind of... - 3 drinks down my throat I got a decent buzz out of it, but mainly was bored with the tipsy feeling and wondered how I spent Sooo many years indulging in that sensation... On New Year's I decided to play with fire again, but literally this time : I had 2 cigarettes to celebrate the passage of time And then 3 the next day. Then 4. By the time I left the Phils, I was up to 6 a day Now I did not have one since (in 3 weeks), but f**k those little buggers are addictive af Anyhow, as far as alcohol goes, it is less so the physical addiction - at least at first - that lures, but that psychological component of wanting something more... A BUZZ. A HIGH. A little something-something to transcend that mundane feeling of the fracking routine, you know Something that has been on my mind lately, where I kinda wish I was in Canada just for one evening where I could consume legal weed

We will be aiming for 35h of poker this week, 2h of studying and 4-5h of Spanish (am watching Narcos Mexico, but catching a movie at the cinema should nail it). BTW, learning Spanish is one of my proudest achievements of the past few years ; that and making 1/4 million in 2018 yo




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Encounters in the Southern Hemisphere

Darn it feels good to be in a city where going to a Starbucks would definitely not be feasible given the coffee culture here and the abundance of choice Also pretty great to be tucked away on a (relatively) quiet street while being strategically located close to everything, a quietude that was severely lacking in Lima Sure, the food will never match up to Peru's and I have yet to explore the nightlife here - namely live music, dancing, theatres and the casino -, but I can fathom spending lots of time here in BA, especially now that I met an interesting lady friend

I don't want to jump the gun - like I have a tendency of doing, ehhhh -, but I like her and we will meet again on Friday. I approached our date last night a bit backwards as my expectations were pretty low - after all, most dates are bound to fail just out of a pure statistical approach... -, and yet everything about the evening surpassed them First of all, she is kind and a very kindred soul. Also pretty, elegant and very sensitive - she has these great BIG eyes through which transpire all the emotions of the Worlds and beyond across all spectrums, you know And I trust her. Something I could of never said about X whom, even in the midst of being on a f**king cloud on her behalf, I always doubted the nature of her intentions Anyhow, I will not let myself get ahead of mysel... hummmmm, forget it

On the felt, it is nice to be riding a little upswing yo Games have been tremendously good even though am still running about 3k under EV for the week. It is also the first time I am seriously grinding online since... Jeez, I believe back in Montreal 3 months ago, as I sparsely played in da Phils and Europe ; there is quite the difference in between immersing yourself for 6h+ a day as opposed to barely crossing the 15h mark weekly




+2.6k in 19h


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You continue to inspire me (and doubtless many others), dub! Really liking the BA vibe I'm picking up on from your posts so far. What's the live poker scene there like? Also, have you always been so talented at picking up the ladies? How did you meet this particular one?

Oh yeah, given I tend to be excited about things and then not follow up on them, take this with a grain of salt, but you have me considering learning another language as a hobby. I really enjoyed studying a bunch of them in college but haven't devoted any time towards it since. Spanish would probably be the logical choice for me as well; any resources you recommend towards that end other than watching media w/ subtitles?

Good luck with the Spanish! I'm sure you will get where you want to be soon. Any thoughts on the differences between Argentinean Spanish and Mexican/Colombia/Peruvian (which all seem fairly similar to me in structure)? I have a feeling I would struggle in Argentina and I've pretty much exclusively been consuming media from Mexico or Colombia.

kara, listening to as much content in your target language as possible is important: movies, Netflix, podcasts, music, radio, etc. Duolingo is decent for a grammatical base, but not too helpful if your goal is to get out and talk to people. A great resource is language partners. I love to travel, so I would pick a destination (France, Colombia, and Mexico were the 3 I did) and plan on staying there 3+ months. Before I would arrive in my country I would look for language partners in said destination.

By pure coincidence, all my language partners happened to be cute girls around my age . Usually we'd message on the sites for a while and then set up Skype or Facetime chats, half English and half Spanish (or French). Getting used to listening to natives is key to the learning process. After I got to know a few of the girls pretty well I would then meet up with them once it was time to arrive in the country. This worked especially well in France. One girl that was originally a language partner, I ended up dating for a few months and another ended up being a great friend and travel partner.

Dreamy Estates

Dreamt I was HU in a mid-tier live MTT for 250k for 1st, 100k for 2nd. Everything was in place for a successful bink : my opponent was weak af, I had a significant chip advantage. But then, alas, the reverie funkiness of the dreamworld naturally drifted into a haze where, you know, stuff like falling asleep (inside my dream, go figure ) and getting blinded out became a thing ; to also witness the eeriness of the dreamy slow motionless paralyze my actions/decisions while the inner (dream) brain of mine remains active af albeit essentially thrown to the background in pure helpless fashion... And in the face of the imminent defeat, I was trying to convince myself that while 250k would of precipitated my semi-retirement plans, 100k remained a decent boost after all... You kinda of wake up feeling drained from these state of unrealities, as you realize that all the struggle was for naught...

Much to my grand dismay, my state of semi-consciousness experience did not, alas, transmit to the real (virtual) world... : I took - damn, the words took and toke always f**king confuse me in English - a 1k hit online as the games were terrible and the variance even moreso cringe-worthy But ultimately it matters little, at least when across the bay window the Argentinan sun is blazing like the ATOMIC-NUCLEAR effervescence of a resourceful inspiration that he is, and that just behind that apartment door of mine, lies a Spirited Latino reality to be discovered yo


I am still getting used to the accent down here which has me frowning at times when the discussion happens to be swaying away from my comfort levels Mexican and Peruvian Spanish are definitely more neutral. That said, Argentina is still not as head-scratching as Spain where the accent differs greatly from region to region and particularly in Barcelona where (ambiguous) hints of Catalonia are thrown in the mix

Glad to see things are working out well with your lady friend bro, am sending you lots of luv

Thx friend, it is truly appreciated My history of dating definitely went through a sorta AHA moment where my teens gave me a nasty case of acne and it wasn't until the age of 17 (where I took acutane) that my skin cleared up, and lo and behold , suddenly I got not only the attention from the most coveted ladies from my genre (I was a grudge/hippie), but even the hottest preppie chics were digging me/stepping out of their groups to give me the time of day. Man O man, to go from being universally unliked (or almost) from the other gender to suddenly become a hot commodity, is blissful af Almost as pristine of a relief as beating depression through meditation... That said, I am now 42, less fit and while I still dig the success I get with my group age (this new lady is 36), we are still EONS away from our 20s, right

So anyhow, while I remain somewhat timid by nature, I never shy away from being social in almost all situations. So I do try to encourage certain day (or night) game encounters. This said, as an online introverted grinder, most of my meet-ups come from the dating apps. I went on several meet-ups during my passage in Europe (all encounters stemming from the virtual world) and I don't think I mentioned any of them ITT outside of X... Another considerable note : much like your dollar takes your further value-wise in certain countries of the world, so does your foreign status : you will simply get more attention in Latin America, for instance. Of course, depending on what you are seeking, you will need to slither your way through unwanted attention if you are craving a more genuine LTR, of course.

On the Spanish front : Fossilkid has exhaustively answered the core of it as far as linguistic interactions goes, but I would add the following for more individualistic material of studying : the ebook Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar which is tremendously helpful as far as a more technical approach goes, which also compliments dearly my more raw approach of socializing and subtitled movies. With the latter, I would prioritize either getting a Skype course from the comfort of your home (Live Lingua @ 10$/h) or, perhaps even more, finding a cute Latina lady near your place to tutor you Spanish is well worth it, especially in the USA (moreso than Canada) where so many Latino peeps live there and with the gateway to Latin America on the southern frontier




+600$ in 20h


Run good all

Cool street art