The Quick (not so quick) Update 2022 Style Yo

Been on quite the upswing in the past few weeks (close to 50k) and just about crossed the 5 digit mark for this year. It would be nice to prolong this sun run, much like we did at the beginning of 2021, as to comfortably coast results-wise henceforth without much added pressure yo On the live front, as much as I love me da live lol pokerz and want me dat Argentino HM flag, we went from 1-2k daily covid cases a couple of weeks ago to a WOMPING 95k cases as of yesterday Personally, I would just go ahead and roll the barrel and gun for it (being vaxxed and all and Omicron being a weaker variant), but I do have to also factor in my gf's POV which is on the more conservative side of things, so...

I have been coaching my Argentino buddy over here who just started his journey on the 4nl cash streets on recently. He has a year or so of hardcore (free material) studying under his belt, is extremely disciplined and also a serious (Vipassana) meditator. So we chat daily and am quite emotionally invested in his success, given that he is a good friend combined with the fact that crushing 25-50nl (and even 10nl) goes a LONNNNGGG way in these parts, but mainly because I want to give back a little. This path of providing knowledge is much easier than volunteering in a kitchen soup, as (tribalistic) human nature makes it such that one prefers working on his own house, yard, purchase new family goods or simply spend his time increasing his tennis abilities (or invest himself in other areas of personal growth like a sailing course, a self-defense course and the likes), as opposed to truly altruistic (and boring) and selfless personal management of time.

Speaking of the vax politics, been straying away from the socia-media streets (or at least from posting my POVs), as both sides are just completely wacko atm For the record, I am pro-vax yet anti-strict lockdown measures (like the curfew in Quebec) and do criticize (somewhat) the passport mandates. So I do think vaccines are the best options, am open to the benefits of ivermectin, am critical of how things were handled (especially here in Argentina and in Quebec) and certainly do not judge by any means those who choose not to get vaxxed. This said, I find peeps on both extremes to be quite irritating, both the NWO truthers who dedicate all their spare time propagating the good truth to awaken peeps , to the proud vaxxers/lockdown peeps who shame the social defectors. Anyhow...





Run good all

Da Bias of Hindsight 20/20

In hindsight everything looks so crystal clear, doesn't it... The motions drifting ah so sloooowwwwly... they feel palpable, albeit dreamlike... You can almost grasp the mishap incident (frozen in time), modify its outcome, avoid all those murky consequences... In the case of Dubnjoy000, he grabs his dog before she bounces on the face of the 16 month old baby, preventing it from chewing 4 teeth marks just underneath the infant's eye... In his revised reverie, he does not remain powerlessly sitting on the sidelines, having to watch like a helpless lad while the animal takes a bite out of this gloomy faith...

We spend too much time revisiting moments that negatively impacted our present outcome. Even if those occurrences pop up at a mere 0.01% percentile, much like was the case as both I and the mother of the child were beside my pooch and her little girl before the incident happened... I mean, who would of thought my pet (who has no prior precedents of being aggressive with humans and especially children) would of been capable of such an act after just giving a kiss with her tongue to the little one... Or that it could suddenly leap without previously growling (like she usually does) or without some sort of warning that would of gave me the requisite time (about half a second or less) to wrap her up with my arms... Of course, in the revised hazy scenario of the events, I put a hand on my animal, gently calm her down before she could ever spring into an attack mode...

The fact is, several of our most crucial life defining moments, lie within the bottom infinitesimal part of the percentile of occurrences. Think about a precise moment that defined who would become your future life partner, or your ensuing work carear... A moment in high school where you met your best friend that would eventually open up certain social doors as you were the new loner student in grade 10... When I look back at L and I and our potential odds of making our relationship work - think meeting a single mom online in a different language and stemming from completely a different culture during a once-in-a-century-pandemic, and the odds are nanoscopic at best, amirite - or several other defining isolated (and taking in a vacuum) existential instances, all of them fare WAY below the 1 percentile threshold. Now, regardless or not if we believe in faith/destiny/karma, it does not change the fact that the most critical moments of our lives happen to be outliers... except, we only deliberately trouble ourselves to try to change the negative outcomes in our thoughts, leaving the positive ones tucked away in the forgotten album of time...





Run good all

On APT's, Weed and Friendship

Hey folks, it's been a while Anyhow, a lot to update, so let's gooo!!!

I have been coaching a good Argentino friend of mine in da poker cash game streets. He is starting WAYYYY down the ladder, @ 4nl, but beating 25nl and even 10nl substantially would go a lonnnggg way financially in this country! The problem is that our friend is not a proven winner, is short on cash and, well, is having either issues applied new concepts or str8 up mental blocks, sigh! Furthermore, I have invested myself emotionally and financially, but have come to terms with the fact that this outcome will turn out negatively more often than not.

Speaking of friends : I finally got a solid social circle going, most of which stemmed from a Vipassana retreat yo I had originally booked this week to visit my folks in Florida and my gf was going to tag along, but changes in plans - thx omicron - saw her visit her mom in Paraguay and me hop in my buddy's car, drive down the 100kms or so separating us from La Plata, and hung out for a couple of days with other buddies yo A couple of days acting much like teenagers, might I add, as we passed along on joint in the park, cooked asado till 3-4am

Da pokerz has been steady, seeing us pass the quarter mark towards 6 digits for 2022 in a satisfying fashion yo I had plans to go grind a 500$ two day event at the local casino today, but opted not to when the temptation was just not to the rendez-vous, even when factoring in that I still do not possess that Argentina flag on my Hendonmob, you know This said, there will be an MTT series that visits six different Argentino cities starting next month, with events focussed on a week long ME (about 400$) and HR and SHR (usually 1-2k). So I will play the B.A. SHR next month and aim at 2-3 other SHR in either Rosario, Neuquen, Bariloche, Santa Rosa and/or Iguazu. I am not really concerned about booking a profit in the process - if at all -, but moreso on planning to travel to the said city on the WE with my gf and then grind the HR or SHR during the following weekdays. Thus being an excellent way to visit cities that I would usually skip out on




Also went to the APT with L and ate in a TREMENDOUS restaurant as well


Run good all

Nope, more failed attempts / wait lists, and I applied the very first day each time! A couple of times, they called me a week before the retreat to see if I was still interested and made it seem like I had a shot of getting through, but I never heard further from them either time. I think the pandemic has caused a lot of logistical problems with retreats here. I'm hoping that centers closer to where I live open up soon. In any event, I'm definitely still interested, hopefully my odds improve a lot when things get closer to normal.

Glad to hear you have a sangha developing! Also, grateful for the update and glad things are going well.

Gravity

Swinnnnggg upppp, swingggg down... Swinnnngggggyyy af

Da pokerz that is, as life is steady as can be. After an impressive upswing at the start of the year, I hit a 20k downswong a couple of weeks back over a 10 days period, to then essentially make it all back in a few days, only to drop all of it back in a couple of days this week!

Swinnnnnnnnggg!!!!!

Even with my contentment of staying at the same stakes for the past few years (with a more than satisfactory WR) and never had any ambitions of moving up, I have been playing deeper recently, worked on my omaha game to the extent where I only play tables of 400 open (whenever I can), and play just about anybody shorthanded/HU.

Swinnnnnnnnnngggggggsss

I have just got back in the NLHE lab - I know, I suck at studying, but again : no ambitions on moving up - and have already added a couple of elements to my game/worked on my sizing a little to keep up with the latest tendencies. As far as live goes, that Argentina flag remains alas elusive and will play another tourney next month while contemplating on going to Santa Rosa to grind the tournaments... Probably not though, as we have booked a house for Easter by a lake in rural Argentina, which happens to be the WE prior to the CAP series, so with me being older and whatnot (as far as traveling is concerned), I might skip this destination and wait a few months for a more appealing one...


Running bad friend, I can't wait to hear from your experience when you do make it!!!




Lollapalooza. Jane's Addiction cancelled at the last moment, sigh


Run good all

The Taboo that is da Poker Realm

Poker has offered me a lot. Like A TON. Think of the financial freedom as opposed to the monetary ceilings (and physical four walls) of a chef kitchen gig that was also wearing me down emotionally and spiritually. The luxury of roaming freely around the globe and visit multifold countries and participating in HS tournaments just for the hell of it. The freedom to be here, presently, in Argentina, in my pyjas this sunny afternoon, with my dog napping beside me while typing out this words from home, you know. The freedom to partake in meditation retreats, to leave for a few days on a whim to a buddy's place, to fly to whatever destination I fancy. A ton of fracking of freedom. But for everyone like myself, how many attempts at being a pro have ended up in vain... A hundred per one, most likely...

Nonetheless, nothing compares to the shadiness, scamming and degeneracy in our industry, especially coming from certain pros (think of that fat arse Patrick Serda) or agents in the poker industry that have made it, bring to the limelight ; sigh and a thousand times sigh For every Maria Konnikova or Eric Seidel that shine bright light on our industry, there is a Poker Triad in the world Yup. Unfortunately.

For those of you that have not heard of PT, he was a frequent poster in the Cambodia travel thread (and in fact its most important poster for the past several years), as well as a poker room manager in Cambodia (in at least 3-5 of them) and a Poker Bros agent. The latter is where he scammed peeps for low 6 digits, leaving a sad trail of unpaid players/other agents along the way Pretty fracking tilting but mostly sad (for me), as the guy's posting was sincere about the whole degen Asian scene, having a wife (that was previously a bar girl), wanting to raise his family right as opposed to being forever broke like his dad, meanwhile while living it up balla style eating out, having 2 apartments, frequent trips with his many (paid) mistresses, gambling it up in the 5 or 6 card PLO games etc. Yet, what stood out was his kindness (by multiple accounts) and sincerity (in narrating his degenerate tales). So it is great deception that when one looks back at his helpful posting in the Cambo thread (or his own PB & G), it is hard to put away those cynical lenses and not see it exclusively as being shilling for his own business that ultimately ended up being a scam... Sigh

On a personal level, been playing MUCH more tennis lately, as far as taking 4 x 1 hour classes and an hour long match this week. Needless to say, but my game has improved TREMENDOUSLY, to the extent where my serve is quite significantly better than my coach's and that he is now playing about 80-90% capacity vs me (his drive and reverse are still elite af ). Pretty fun times and making me enjoy that much MORE the game yo

We got a little trip planned for Easter by a lake and will then look to do an MTT stop here in Argentina. Fun times yo, fun times




Idles @ Lollapalooza


Run good all

I'm reading the stuff about PT and feel bad for all the players left hanging. To be honest, I was looking for an agent a while back and I came across his operation, but then I remembered who he was on 2+2 and decided against. Something about posting revealing photos of unknowing hookers while you have a newborn baby just seemed a little weird to me, even if the honesty is refreshing. I guess I dodged a bullet.

I hope that you didn't have any dealings with him.

Flip Flop

Oooffff, swingy times indeed : after sunrunning the start of the year in the tune of 30k, dropping 20k and making it back in the span of a few days, we yet again dropped 28k, bringing our year to almost nil Oh well, am not really emotionally affected by it tbh - if at all... -, except for the fact that I remain mostly numb to every session ended up a losing one and always expecting the bad beat to ensue when I am 70%+ in the biggest and most significant pots of the day - and just about being always right But, as a wiseman (most likely...) once said : da pokerz iz just a game And not even the most important one at this time of the year, because...

The Toronto Raptors vs the 76ers!!! I feel that not only we got this one in 6 or 7, but that Vegas will foolishly overlook its unassuming neighbor of the North and offer fracking juicy odds for the Raps Game 1 has already a lovely line of 2.5x for our Raps, which should contribute a bit more to my already solid bball sports betting results over the past several years yo

In other (mundane) news, I booked a flight for Canada this upcoming August-Sept. Should be a blast to revisit the ole country, although leaving my people behind here in Argentina will be somewhat emotionally demanding, me thinks...


Nope, I didn't. But quite the bummer to (virtually) witness this happening and to have to revise his contributions on 2 + 2 to mere shilling and scamming as hindsight 20/20 demands of it, sigh





Run good all

Will be going in Rosario for the CAP tournament series in 12 days. Am planning on updating this thread regularly during that stretch. As to document the series/share a little HHs/deep runs. Am planning on playing the ME (800$), HR (1.3k) and SHR (2k) and then perhaps a Knockout or Seniors (300$). Let's do this

Well with PT , having read a bit on how he treats his wife and kids / talked about that relationship , should not come across as a huge surprise how he ended handling his business relationships.

Unable to judge a person but was always able to know I would not bet a single dollar in his poker clubs and honestly if supported that guy with his businesses I think its well deserved with losing money , no pitying from me .

Good luck, rooting for you sir!!

Looking forward to the updates/pictures (best on all of PBG)

glgl on that hendon mob flag chasing

I did not approve of his lifestyle, but I felt it was quite refreshing that someone stemming from the hooker & blow scene in Asia spoke of it so candidly and, for once, was not actually a pure egotistical arsehole in general aspects of life - the cheating on his wife and posting pics publicly of prostitutes unbeknownst to them not withstanding. By all accounts and from the perspective of some personal friends of mine that befriended him, PT was a nice guy. In hindsight though, it is hard not to view his actions through a cynical prism and associate his posting on 2 + 2 to pure shilling ; and him helping out expats, as a pure PR move. Sigh and a thousand times sigh

Thx friend

I actually finally got my hendon mob Argentino flag, but, alas, it did not feel satisfactory by any means. Instead to sticking to HR and SHR like I was doing, I decided to reg a couple of 200-300$ tourneys, proceeded to become the chip leader for several levels in both the bounty and the Seniors, collected 3 bounties along the way, but lost 2 flips and an 85% for sizable pots near the bubble. I also ran pretty bad in the Seniors, but still managed to squeeze in a min cash. But yeah, this time around am looking to play the SHR (2k), HR (1.4k), the ME (800$) and Seniors (300$). I got an AirBnB booked with a buddy. Rosario is about 4h away from B.A.. This should be fun

Bottom Percentiles of a Shyt Run

So here's the thing about running bottom 2% in da pokerz : it (technically) happens once yearly, you drop in the vicinity of 20k, yet you always come back from it and proceed to never (emotionally and financially) look back. Of course, sometimes this run bad stretches out, encountering a bottom 10-20% percentile over a month... a couple of months... or perhaps even 3-4 months... Nonetheless, you ultimately rise. This year, not so much. At least not yet...

Even after - I guestimate... - just short of 10 million hands of poker played in this bottom world, the swings still surprises me. Shocks me. And in fact, simply completely-spirals-off-the-wall/out-of-orbit my comprehension of Mother Variance . And hence has been my year thus far, starting off STRONGLY off the gates with a 30k uptick in the first few weeks, dropping it in the span of a few days, recovering it in a week's time, pursing to (re)lose it shortly thereafter, taking a month to recuperate and... alas, you guessed it : dropping more then half of it last week And this is solely of poker variance that we are speaking of, it does not include the latest BTC drop nor the collapse of the markets where I have a great deal invested in both

Two thoughts in regards to the NBA playoffs : on one hand and coming from a fan's perspective, the playoffs are elite! Unpredictable. It is anyone's championship. Well, only four teams can win it at this point, but in a world where the Lakers don't even qualify for the play-in tournament, Brooklyn gets swept in the first round and Phoenix goes down in the 2nd getting destroyed by 40 pts, anything can fracking happen!!! And this anyone-can-dream parity should also carry-on unto next year where not a single team will emerge as a clear favourite, hence leaving ten teams or so as potential contenders. Good times, I tell you, good times, especially when seeing my young Raps have a top 12-20 player in Siakam, several top 50 players and a Superstar in the making in Scottie Barnes This said, on the gambling side of the NBA stratosphere, things are a bit murkier

Injuries. Injuries upon injuries. And to stars, nonetheless! Such that my net winnings for the year went from +14k to -700$ in the span of a few weeks Sigh and a thousand times sigh I mean, since the bubble/pandemic times, stuff is just f**king harder to predict. On the plus side though, the line has been quite off on several occasions, but then again, because short and midterm outcomes are just harder to foresee, that 10% juice just seems nastier then ever to overcome

Anyhow, just booked my bus ticket to Rosario for next Monday (with my buddy) Pretty excited about it, albeit the schedule seems quite draining, given that certain Day1s are scheduled to run until 6 am!!! The first event will be the 2k SHR ; let's do this





Run good all

Whatta playoffs, indeed. Despite his awe-inspiring game, I was still shocked that Luka crushed the Suns in a game 7 in PHX. I feel like he's drawing dead against the Warriors--and hope that I'm wrong.

GL in the Rosario donkaments!

SHR Day1

Going back to Day2 of the SHR with just short of double average with 31 players (should pay top 12) ; pretty fascinating one can go from COMPLETELY dominating his table while instilling the fear of God in his rivals for 8h before getting switched to a new (tougher) table, not winning a hand in 4h and being the victim of accumulated fatigue - 6h of train/bus/uber to get to Rosario - and an ill-planned tournament schedule (tournament started @ 19:00 and finished @ 6:00) . On the plus side though, because I was such a MASSIVE chip leader heading into the last 4 levels of Day1 (when I did not win a single hand) and barely (could) VPP'ed, my stack is still a top 10 yo




Rosario has perhaps the third nicest casino I have planned in, falling short to Melbourne's whatmacallit home-of-the-Aussimillions and Bucharest's Merrit hotel/casino

Let's do this

Quite random that Rosario would have such a nice casino

GLGLGL

Definitely, and quite counter-intuitive given that 3 taxi drivers have told us to not walk more then 2-3 blocks nighttime, as motorbikes will pull over, press a gun to your head and rob you . But, yeah, elite looking casino/hotel.

Bubbled the final table of the SHR for a slightly better then min-cash score (3.5k). A good start to the series, but a disappointing turn of events, given I was the chip leader but saw my set get cracked and proceed to lose a few hands in a row. Tomorrow is the Seniors which a ridicule 300$ event, but soft af, so decided to play it. Let's do this

Good advice, one does not want to press his luck in Rosario at night.

On the other hand quite entertaining the almost mythical status Rosario has amongst Argentines for having the most beautiful women in the world.

Not looking forward to the day when a gun is pressed against my head... I do hope I keep running good in that aspect...

Yup, that was actually the first thing that caught my eye upon arrival . Funny story : this known Argentine pro (who is usually loud at the tables) showed up with a couple HOT af escorts, one of them literally having her HUGE boobs hanging out of bra All eyes were upon them, both men and women, the former with their tongues hanging out, the latter discussing and criticizing the situation

Where are you from?

The ME starts in a few hours and here I am, sleepless in bed, after waking up from a 3h snooze at 5:30. Kind of bummed out that I bubbled the live stream ft... I mean, I will never focus my in game decisions on extracurricular factors - sort of speak -, but also realizing post mortem that my last hand was a small ICM error and the fact that a bunch of people back in Canada were following as Well as L, are quite the fracking bummer in hindsight But here's the thing : live tournament series are always going to be like this, that even after a decent score and whatnot, you will always look back (with those results-orientate hindsight 20/20 eyes) and wonder what could of been in an alternative reality... The fact is, unless you are the last man (woman) standing, a heavy sensation will remain in your tummy, you know.

Anyhow, still the ME and HR to go, so let's do this

edit : also ironically, I have made much more online in 2h of play and a few clicks of basketball bets then I did in the SHR, but such is life of da pokerz worldz, that even if clicking buttons online bags one more monies than in the live realm, the public eye (and recognition for the decade+ of workload that you have put in professionally) only has sight on the latter.

Going back to the day2 of the ME with 1.5x average, about 30% of the field left. Played a crazy arse hand calling down a tripple barrel on a Q82 4 A board with 66 vs... 55 for half my stack

Presently Present/AKA itm

Yesterday I lost. At tennis. You see, my rival, a buddy of mine of 53 years old with whom I square off against every Thursday evening, is clearly an inferior opponent. Slower. Hits with less velocity. His serve is sluggish and exploitable. Yet a smart player with a precise forehand. So I had yet to (technically) lose versus him and in fact, usually took the opportunity to practice facets of my game at the detriment of my overall results, like being a tad too aggro chasing winners, attacking the net, forcing a first serve while serving a 2nd (and thus getting more double-faults) etc. Which would usually mean that we would find ourselves @ 3-3 or even slightly behind 3-4, before rising up, taking a determining stance, and defeating him 6-4, 7-5. Not yesterday. Nope. When it was 3-3, I dropped the fourth point after we tied @ deuce about five times. And then lost 4-6. But here's the thing : it did not matter a single bit

It's all about the present. The moment. This moment. The entropic movement of causes and effects, without thy ego interfering, you know! And alas and a thousand times alas : anything that impedes itself against the drift of the tide, becomes (innerly) conflictual, leaving one with the option of embracing the nature of things, or be at odds with the drift of things, to oppose oneself as this suicidal undertow to the inexorable mounting wave that is the flow of life...

When I was losing 3-5 and down 0-40, I did not feel the immensity of the moment. Nor the ineluctability of the imminent defeat. Nope. None of it mattered : I remained in the zone, playing the best of my capacity, regardless of the results 15-40.. 30-40... I would go on to lose the next point, but, nonetheless, remained tremendously at peace, playing my A game, even if my physical state was vastly depleted and thus out of my control.

And hence has been my year thus far. Learning to live more in the present. With da pokerz as well : if my year started off on a tear results-wise, I have since encountered 3 x 25k downswing, just now coming back from the recent one. But here's the thing, it matters little if this year I fail to crack 6 digits. Nope. Just as long as I am fine with the tides, I will ride that wave just fine yo

Up starting tomorrow : Puerto Iguazu and another week long of live MTTs, AKA the CAP series. Let's do this





Run good all

Was in Iguazu waterfalls a couple months ago and was greatly surprised. I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I'm a city person but once there at the waterfalls I was moved -even to tears, not ashamed to say- for some reason I'm not sure, but some other guys that were on the same tour group with us mentioned the same. It probably has to do with the feeling of being so small and "nothing" compared to the inmensity of mother nature all around you.

You said Puerto Iguazu so Im not sure if you go to the waterfalls or just the city, I guess (hope!) you visit the waterfalls if you got there for any other reason. Glgl and have fun.

My friend used to work at a gym and I'd come over after it closed and play racquetball with him. He would play left-handed unless I got within a few points of winning then he'd switch hands. I only beat him twice that I can remember. It was fun, probably wouldn't have been as fun if he just destroyed me right-handed from the start.

Good luck.