happy birthday


will try to response a little bit more to your updates if it helps to stay you motivated

saw the trailer from Polytechnique,seldom that i see such a good trailer from a movie which i didn't see before..couldn't find a working download link tho :/

hey old man happy new year!

Virtual Refuge



Despite taking a few days off the grind, got into a fight with the gf, turned towards my room, my computer, logged in and found a safe haven in the virtual world... Long behind was the irrational female outlook on life... Worlds away was the emotional outburst of the consistently-inconsistent female cycle... Clicking, betting, raising and getting into reg battles made more sense then the fully engaged war zone opposing Filipina rage versus French Canadian stubbornness +2k in 30h.

Studied for 3h and really happy with the rapid improvement of my game. Also adopting moves to incredible results that I have not seen any other of the 100z regs apply yet... Also located a humongous leak of the 100z player pool (that I also suffered from) that I can now exploit. Things are looking on the up and up


Thx man, I hope this run good continues as well As far as Dawson goes, I will probably skip Juin this year, as the live action does not warrant it... Probably the start of July and spend 10-12 weeks over there (still trying to find a room for that time span, as my usual room is not available this year...).

This made my day The creative act of blogging is self-satisfying - for me, myself and I -, but comments - and the interaction - provide it with much more purpose.

Thx man, I will take it as it comes with this blog, and most likely straw away from my initial plan of making daily updates...

Great to see some people interested in my movie reviews Revisited Polytechnique last weekend ; such a powerful/existential film!!! Denis Villeneuve is a master at his craft and so happy to see him make some noise in Hollywood.
Thx Jimbo


You know you are running good when you manage to bluff fish

After it is folded to me, I decide to widen my opening range OTB, considering the weak tight player in the BB (22/11/4), and make it 2.25$ with J7 ; BB defends.

Flop (5$)
54T

After villain checks, I bet half pot. He calls. Not really sure about cbet bluffing on dry boards vs stations in the long run... I think it might be neutral/slightly +EV, assuming you can get him to fold on later streets.

Turn (10$)
54T 6

It goes check-check.

River (10$)
54T 6 A

Villain leads out for 5$ on this scare card which I find that too many weaker players use as bluffs ; I utilize my str8 and flush blockers and make it 17$


Challenge : +4898.14$

The Cyclic Life of Patterns

I remember back in grade 9 when the math teacher tried to elucidate to us the purpose of learning math.

- "Math is not just abstract", said the old man, "but nature and everything in life can be understood through its lenses.".





"WTF are you smoking, you MFKing geezer!!!" instantly went through my mind. What a bunch of crap





As I couldn't make sense of words holding a grasp beyond my unripe reach... And of course, it is much easier to dismiss something unintelligible then to contemplate it.





Those words have since adopted a new meaning. Patterns, formulas, recurrences, oddities are everywhere to be found in nature, it is just matter of being open minded. But no other truth strikes me more than the correlation in between putting unexpected volume into the grind and the degree of intensity with which the lady is pissing me off +400$ in 8h.


The Art of Running Good :


MP reg opens to 2$, I call OTB with JT, BB reg tags along for the ride.

Flop (6.50$)
Q93

Feels like Christmas all over again with a ton of unexpected monies soon to be made available for the taking MP bets 3.83$, I call, BB makes it 12$ (which is almost always Ax or he wants to take initiative, being OOP and all, with a made flush). Only I make the call.

Turn (34.38$)
Q93 K

Midnight at Christmas yo , time to unwrap me dem presents. When villain leads out, I see no reason in slow playing and shove


Challenge : +5255.38$

Playing Poker Professionally in 2016, Yay or Nay?

2 of of the biggest misconceptions in poker that often get pushed around - online and live -, is the delusional "if only it was 2006 again, I would be crushing" and "you shouldn't play poker professionally anymore", both broad statements severely lacking fine nuances.


If it was 2006 again : Come on man, grow up, Santa does not exist, long gone should be those juvenile regrets and incapacity to accept the present reality : WITH SUCH A MINDSET, YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER CRUSHED IN 2006.





The Golden Years of poker were never going to last and, in hindsight, might of lasted longer then expected seen through a virtual time frame prism... Which brings us back to today, and to play or not for a living.


Playing Poker Professionally in 2016 : Is the stress, financial insecurity and dim future of this trade worth it in this day and age? It depends on a few sub questions... Do you have or want children? Are you in it for the money? If you answer yes to any of these 2 questions, then poker is not for you. There is still some decent money to be made in this game, but one should do it for the incredible lifestyle benefits that it provides : not answering to a boss, having a flexible grinding schedule and being free to roam the world. I would recommend to very few people to play for a living, yet am immensely grateful to be doing so.

For a low stakes grinder to be capable of averaging a top tier first world salary (after taxes) in a game you love, is something to thankful for, me thinks. Sure, the future in this game is bleak, yet for someone that would fancy living in a log cabin close to a meditation centre of Vancouver island - roots yo -, I do not feel threatened by the lack of security (especially after spending half a decade in the third world). Sure, at times I do not feel like studying 1h/day and it would be sweet to print monies like back in the day, yet if not poker, I would be studying something else... Anyhow, end of digression


Movie of the Day :


I try to introduce great films that I feel that a lot of you guys will not have seen/heard of before ; Short Term 12 definitely falls into this category.





Produced on a budget of 1.6 mil, this movie explores the modern day tribulations that delinquent teenagers most face. The story takes place in a group facility where the kids have been exposed to your standard sexual abuse, drugs, street violence, psychological abuse etc. The movie does get melodramatic, but not to the extent of lowering its quality. One of my top 5 movies of the past decade.


Challenge : +5034.47$

Twisted Paths

Well that was fun : dropped 1400$ in 2h, stood up, went for a run to the beach, jumped in the water, got knocked down by a wave, grounded myself, before grinding back all of it and some despite having crossed the stop loss mark (wasn't tilting, so didn't quit). It went a little along these lines :





Before somehow finding some resemblance of symmetry within this twisted virtual reality of heavy swings, and finally seeing the light at the end :




+600$ in 23h


Run Good Hand, yo :


Rec player (32/11/6) opens to 3.50$ from hijack ; I defend in BB with AQ.

Flop (7.50$)
JKJ

A few hands are brewing on other tables, so I promptly come back to this one, fire a standard cbet with the intention of barreling before seeing villain min raise me and thus making me suddenly realize that I am not the preflop aggressor Oops But since I am laid great odds and all, I make the call hoping to bink my gutterball...

Turn (22.50$)
JKJ K

Well, "I am done with this hand", I think to myself while nonchalantly checking and focusing on the other tables after villain checks back. "Unless of course"...

River (22.50$)
JKJ K T

Binkage baby I see no use in inducing with a small bet and decide to go for world dominance by shoving 4x pot (to extract max value from Jx as well)


Challenge : +5667.23$

In b4 it's 2019 and we both live in log cabins somewhere in the midst of Canadian wilderness!

Did you ever explore Alberta in your travels? "The Revenant" obv made everyone really want to go there!

Aforementioned "Coherence" was made on a 50k budget btw

Top 10 movies of past decade?
Top 10 movies of all time?

Adversity

Bah, a day quite similar to what the rest of the week has been : lost 700$ in 3h only to make 500$ back at the tail end of the day, thus putting a closure to a very mediocre week : +600$ in 37h, 4h of studying.

Was chatting with a buddy back in Montreal, to whom I answered his question on "how is poker going", by "not too great man, made 5k in 7 weeks. Running really bad.". He did put things in perspective by reminding me that "things are looking pretty good when you can book 5k during a bad stretch.". Thx buddy, that was a refreshing perspective that does contribute dearly to a positive hindsight outlook (given I run good soon...).


Yeah, I spent 4 ski seasons in Alberta (Jasper, Lake Louise and Nelson, if we move the Albertan border a few kms ) doing a bunch a mushrooms, cooking and writing a ton. The Revenant was pure cinema, especially as far as the picture goes ; the long camera takes, travelling shots and the mesmerizing beauty of it all, left me in awe, despite a very average script (and mythical-like exageration).

Man, you made my day when you ask for those top ten lists


Top Ten Movies of the 2110s : 2012-14 have been great years in movies - with the pinnacle being in 2013 -, so unsurprisingly, the bulk of my list will come from those 3 years.

1 - Her : Joaquin Phoenix is perhaps the most accomplished actor of our generation and Her touches modern day themes that are rapidly becoming unavoidable : Singularity Moment, Technology and the ensuing Solitude.

2 - The Master : A drunken Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman shot entirely in 65mm by Paul Thomas Anderson, 'nuff said.

3 - Short Term 12

4 - Mr Nobody

5 - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes : The first 20 minutes of the movie where an objective anthropological outlook on the lifestyle/natural evolution of the apes is sublime. Love any movie that revisits the role and purpose of mankind.

6 - Birdman : Speaking of Alejandro Inarritu, since I studied in literature and all, I love it when fiction and reality become this blurry undefined line, both realms being intertwined... Much like this next movie...

7 - Black Swan : where schizophrenia becomes the subject of not only a play, but of a young dancer that plunges deeper and deeper into the shadows of a dark realm.

8 - Drive : A solid neo-noir ambiance created by Ryan Goslings criminally inclined character.

9 - 127 Hours : Inspiring story based on the real life tribulations of a hiker that had to cut off his arm in order to survive.

10 - Cloud Atlas : An ambition script exploring the parallel lives of multiple characters across different time frames, and somehow linked together through their struggles.

Honorable mentions : Interstellar, Inception, The Social Network, Ex Machina. Most surely forgotten some. Will do the other top 10 in a subsequent post.


Challenge : +5426.81$

Hey OP... subbed after seeing that last post! (movie fan here)! GL!

French Roots

I have met a few fellow Quebecois through the medium of this here thread, a connection that is gratefully welcomed, considering that I left Montreal's soil a good 2 decades ago. One of them was back in October, when I sat down at the Edgewater poker table in Vancouver, stretched my legs, saw a few flops, some turns, only to engage in a conversation with my fellow neighbor that went a little along these lines (or close to ) :

- "Hi man, where you from... bla bla bla... and you? Long story short : #hashtags# #Montreal#Dawson#Asia#Meditation#" to which he replied,

- "Are you Dubnjoy on 2 + 2?"

Haha, felt pretty cool to be recognized by a random player sitting beside me - felt like a virtual gangsta, you know, or something like that... -, albeit feeling intimidated by knowingly having a stranger peaked into areas of my soul that I decided to lay bare on a public forum, while I don't know jack**** about him So anyhow...


good to have another fellow Montreal poster following And in order to underline it, a movie that I am sure you have seen, but others not :


Movie of the Day :


It was in May 8 of the year 2000 that Dede Fortin took Quebec by storm. A dark storm. Not the ones that swiftly pass by, leaving nothing more than a breeze... His suicide left us in pain, grasping at our collective chest, desperately trying to remove the stabbing knife, anything, really, to reverse the symbolic Japanese seppuku suicide... His girlfriend had just left him. He felt abandoned. Empty. His death opened up a breach into which the sorrow of a whole nation bled into.





Dede, a Travers les Brumes : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnWH-oI3Rs


Needless to say, but the movie - as this post - was an emotionally charged journey. Would be curious to get the feedback of the movie from a non-francophone (to be watched with subtitles, obviously).


Challenge : +4522.82$

Happy to increase the number of Montrealers following the thread

Excellent movie you're referring to, saw it at least three times I think...

Closing Gates

I was reluctant to commit myself to this challenge back in December, just before inaugurating it. Part of it was the perhaps the excessive transparency of putting my results on a public forum ; secondly is my impending situation with my taxes and non-residency demand. Anyhow, I did rule in favor of testing the waters, the desire of writing publicly (thus being read) outweighing these minor hurdles. Then came this 2 months run bad, making me question my initial intention and cringe about updating here...

I hence decided to put an end to this thread. I might update it now and then (in Dawson, for instance, where I will be grinding 50-55h/week) or in June, when I plan on playing a live tournament event. In the meantime, I will look in updating my travel thread more often and perhaps working on a new long term writing project...

Anyhow folks, thx for following and talk soon

Peace

I killed the thread

Trying to bring back the Old Lady in a new thread, assuming there will be enough interest : http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...inues-1604291/