Today, we went to Phuket Town, specifically to Her & Him, to take measurements for a suit.


I have never ever worn a suit and I all but intended to keep it this way for the rest of my life, but alas, my sister is getting married and she insisted. So.. $250 bucks later I decided on a fairly basic suit but with good fabric (wool & cashmere and some silk) and we're going for the fitting on Saturday. The tailor and his daughter were amazingly friendly and welcoming and helped me with everything I needed to know. The reviews speak for themselves:


We also booked a tour to the elephant sanctuary in the north of Phuket tomorrow, that should be fun! There's no elephant riding or bathing (both are not good for the elephants) but I expect to feed some and get close to them and it's ethically run.


As for poker.. even more 5PLO and 6PLO, +$421 today. There was one interesting hand:

PokerStars, 5 Card Omaha Pot Limit - $1/$2 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Pokeit

Dic Dr (UTG): $245.08 (123 bb)
H_P_M 12 (MP): $694.16 (347 bb)
aacheckmate (CO): $200.00 (100 bb)
Sky.ReVo (BU): $200.00 (100 bb)
check_lol (SB): $260.83 (130 bb)
Maclinic (BB): $300.27 (150 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero (Sky.ReVo) is BTN with 9 J Q A A
Dic Dr (UTG) calls $2, H_P_M 12 (MP) calls $2, aacheckmate (CO) calls $2, Sky.ReVo (BU) raises to $13, 2 players fold, Dic Dr (UTG) calls $11, H_P_M 12 (MP) calls $11, aacheckmate (CO) calls $11

Flop: ($55) Q 9 6 (4 players)
Dic Dr (UTG) checks, H_P_M 12 (MP) checks, aacheckmate (CO) checks, Sky.ReVo (BU) bets $43, Dic Dr (UTG) raises to $86, 2 players fold, Sky.ReVo (BU) calls $43

Turn: ($227) 3 (2 players)
Dic Dr (UTG) bets $146.08 (all-in), Sky.ReVo (BU) calls $101 (all-in)

River: ($429) 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $429 (Rake: $2.75)

Showdown:
Dic Dr (UTG) shows 6 9 8 A 4 (two pair, Nines and Sixes)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 38%, Flop: 44%, Turn: 26%, River: 0%)

Sky.ReVo (BU) shows 9 J Q A A (two pair, Queens and Nines)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 62%, Flop: 56%, Turn: 74%, River: 100%)

Sky.ReVo (BU) wins $426.25

The flop is the interesting part. I think there are arguments for checking behind, what do you think? Once we bet, against anything but the click-back we're now committed, but with the click-back, I think calling and then folding on terrible turn cards is the best option.


I was wondering if I could get some opinions in: What do you like to read more about? Travel stories, live poker stories, general poker strategy, more hand histories? Online poker assertions?


Anyways, off to dinner we go. Talk to you tomorrow!

subbed

Well, my bitcoins are getting severely ****ed. Soo.. that's not great. Haha. We are living in interesting times right now. Is anyone willing to loan me a quick $100k so I can buy stuff?

Anyways. We went to an elephant sanctuary today! It is the first (only?) ethical elephant.. thingy in Phuket where they rescue worker or entertainment elephants and provide them with everything they need to enjoy the rest of their lives.

We prepared their food ourselves, fed them, bathed with and scrubbed them down and then applied some herbal balm mix to their skin.. it was an amazing experience getting so close to them and see them so playful and yet gentle. Well, the baby (4 years old) was a little rascal and very clumsy.. but she did her best!



As for poker... more 5PLO, ofcourse. We're up another +$378 but I'm fairly certain we're down in EV as I've not been playing very well. First a hand I found relatively interesting:

PokerStars, 5 Card Omaha Pot Limit - $1/$2 - 4 players
Replay this hand on Pokeit

UTG: $765.35 (383 bb)
BU: $337.24 (169 bb)
SB: $122.30 (61 bb)
BB (Hero): $498.53 (249 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero is BB with 8 T A J A
UTG raises to $6, BTN calls $6, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets to $25, 1 fold, BTN calls $19

Flop: ($57) 2 2 Q (2 players)
Hero bets $35.68, BTN raises to $86, Hero calls $50.32

Turn: ($229) T (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $132, Hero raises to $264, BU folds

Total pot: $493 (Rake: $1.25)
BB (Hero) wins $491.75

Maybe it's standard but I spent quite a while thinking during the hand.

And here's a few screen shots of the big pots:



Oh yeah, and we went to an Irish Pub that hosted a pub quiz, another first for my mom. It's great to see her light up with excitement over all these new impressions and we had a lot of fun (although we lost by a mile!)


I'll update tomorrow, y'know, if the world and the internet still exists by that point, judging by the markets, it's roughly 50/50.

Have a great day everybody!

Chill day today, so I decided to do some theory - and I stumbled upon something I want to talk about, so... here I go:

You see, my youngins and rascals, many a year ago, before the time of GTO and solver work, we used to study the game in an entire different way! Instead of trying to perfect our own game against other people who supposedly played perfectly, back then we used to try to find popular mistakes our competition made and then figure out how to maximize our profits by exploiting them.

We called it: POPULATION TENDENCIES

And you see, in my wise old age, I think that we have since lost our ways. Your generation likes to pretend that everyone is playing well and hence, our frequencies must be pristine as to not to be exploited! And yet, nothing could be farther from the truth. If you look beyond the solver facade, you will see a different world. A world of patterns, of flawed thinking and misapplied theories that is prevailing at the tables. And you are best to adapt to it, because else, champs, you will be misguided in your efforts!



No but seriously, I've spent half the day today parsing through hand histories of my recent sessions looking for the odd plays and exposed cards at showdowns that I may have missed in the midst of a session - and what can I say, it is eye opening to see that the 27789s hands are opened from UTG, that paired boards are so rarely contested even for small bets etc.

All your solver work is futile when your assumptions are wrong from the start. And if you believe that your opponents, at any stakes (!), are playing well, they definitely will be. Solver slaves are working to compete in a game they really shouldn't wanna in in the first place.

Maybe it is time to finally get back out of the lab and onto the felt, into the real world.
_______________________________________________

Anyways, session was good, we are up +$933 today.

For me, what appeals about this blog is the variety of stuff. In other words, I would love it to continue in this vein, not become too focussed on any one type of post.

Keep the stories and pictures about life in SE Asia coming. Wouldn't mind some more No limit hand analysis

Every topic you wrote sounds good, so post whatever you like

Really fun following your exploits so far. Thank you for that. I’m curious about your background and how did you decide that poker and travel was what you were going to do?

Thanks everybody, I'll keep it coming as is then.

My background.. mom and dad working people, blessed childhood tho. I was absolutely miserable in school - not challenged enough and severe problems with authority - and developed depression during puberty. I never wanted kids and hated the prospects of a job and a house since I was very young (I read Robinson Crusoe when I was 11 and it had a huuge impact on me.) Some day, at a LAN party playing warcraft 3, found pokerstrategy and took the $5 for free. Ran that up fairly quickly and decided to make it a side hustle to fall back on.. and fairly quickly it became the main hustle! I have always been talented when it comes to games, my grandma taught me Canasta and chess and Mühle and Dame from the time I was 3.


For today.. started playing at Kings again, trying to avoid Chinese and the double board variants - and some 5PLO on Stars. +$300 and +$216 respectively. Hooray.

Unfortunately, the hard drive of my laptop died and I had to get it replaced. Which was quick and painless, but I had to pay 150 bucks for a new Windows 10 key because my other one is in Germany. ****. Oh well, now I have two, I guess. My mom is getting a 90 minute foot massage every single day by now ($13 lol), she absolutely loves it here.

Then we went to get our suits fitted one more time. At this point, I'm actually excited for how it will turn out, these people are really dutiful at their jobs and the pants already fit really, really well.


And then we went to the Phuket Town Weekend Night Market and stuffed ourselves and bought a bunch of clothes and cosmetics and, for me, a new wallet. I love my old one but she has seen better days... I'll have to have a ceremony for her!



I am gaining so much weight here, it's actually concerning.. but I don't know what I'm supposed to do, it's all so delicious and full of carbs and when I go back to Cambodia, it's gonna be free! ****.


All in all, pretty eventful day and I'm done. Thank you everybody for joining me today!

Another day in paradise!

We went to Rawai beach today, which is on the East side of Phuket. Now, for those who don't know, the west side has all the beautiful beaches people dream of, Kata, Karon, Surin, Patong. But ecologically, they're empty, there are no fish there. The west side's beaches are not as beautiful.. but the water is loaded with nutrients and therefore it's filled to the brim with fish. In addition, while the former are swarmed with tourists, the latter are authentic, Thais go here to picnic and eat seafood. If you ever come to Phuket, check out the piers!


______________________________________

I have also played some poker.. and what can I say: I am either on a huge upswing or I'm the greatest 5/6PLO player the world has ever experienced. I would say it's roughly 20/80!

Up $580 on Kings and $605 on Stars for a total of +$1185 today!

I decided to take a day off and stay at the hotel, look a little bit at the news regarding economy (so much scarier than the virus imo) and play some poker.

Ended up +$403 on Stars and -$720 on Kings for a total of -$317.

I'm currently in this weird situation where .5/$1 feels to low to play and $2/$5 I'm still a little outpriced because 5PLO is so swingy, so I basically have to hope that $1/$2 is running. Haven't figured out what to do yet really, maybe I should just play .5/$1 4PLO alongside it to improve my game there for cheap, since I wanna play the $5/$5 live PLO in Cambodia when I go back.

It's surprising to me how little I miss Chinese, and SWC/bitcoin for that matter. Might have to do with the 50% drop recently, but as much as I hate Stars still, it's fun to not have to hunt for a game.

Where and what are you guys playing currently? Any hidden gems you are willing to share?

PokerStars, 5 Card Omaha Pot Limit - $1/$2 - 5 players
Replay this hand on Pokeit

UTG: $403.25 (202 bb)
CO (Hero): $200.00 (100 bb)
BU: $448.07 (224 bb)
SB: $200.00 (100 bb)
BB: $305.33 (153 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($3) Hero is CO with K A 9 Q 6
1 fold, Hero raises to $6, BTN 3-bets to $21, 2 players fold, Hero calls $15

Flop: ($45) K J 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($45) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $35, Hero calls $35

River: ($115) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $112.25, Hero ???

Opinions?

Guess I jinxed myself. -$1191 on Stars today, I literally didn't win a single all-in.

+13k on SWC, which apparently is $65 now. lol.

I'm tilted right now, so... see you tomorrow.

Enjoying the thread man.

How has this covid-virus not blown up in Cambodia / Thailand (especially with how Chinese travel for Chinese New year there)? Are they just not testing / not care?

Hm..

Okay, so I know this is gonna be a super unpopular opinion, but it's mine, so..

I think this will go down as one of the largest overreactions in history!

I can definitely tell you why it has not blown up in Cambodia - there are simply no old people there. They had the Khmer regime and some civil wars, the average age there is 24.9 - sure, they may have cases, but these age groups are just not at risk at all. Italy and Germany have a very old population in comparison. Additionally, Asian people have a much better diet and are therefore much healthier as a whole. They basically don't eat refined sugar at all, so much seafood, balanced. We know of SARS that diabetes increased the chances of complications.


As for Thailand and other countries, here is my take: The average age in most Asian countries is much lower than that of Western countries. It is hot and humid here, which is good for your lungs, whereas Germans, for example, sit in their rooms in cold, super dry air that, in itself, attacks the respiratory tract. Buy humidifiers, people. China (Wuhan) is an exception here because the air pollution there is absolutely terrible. If you look at this map:


...and see all these red numbers in China (and Iran, btw.!), you can basically say that every single person there is a smoker and therefore at risk. Compared to SEA where it's just not (that much) of an issue.

Third factor: In SEA, people don't shake hands, they don't kiss cheeks, they are very distant in day-to-day interactions. Compare this to Italy and Iran, the latter where people apparently kiss and lick shrines (?!) and other Western countries where people shake hands.. there is no amount of hand washing that compensates for all the **** you transfer that way.
Additionally, here you get surgical masks when you present at the doctor or a pharmacy (well, used to..) and everyone has them at hand at home. Case in point, just yesterday we asked the reception if they could get us some and they just opened a drawer and gave us five, free of charge.

And lastly, there is the US.. I mean, at this point you're a lost cause. No healthcare, "freedom fighters" going out anyways, Trump at the helm of the crisis.. you're doomed, what can I tell ya.


Iiiiin summary: I believe that instead of shutting it all down, it would have be much more advantageous to separate and isolate the elderly and people with pre-existing diseases, educate people on the use of face masks and the dangers of handshakes and kisses and stuff (instead they tell them not to touch their faces which is ****ING ******ED, everyone does it dozens of times a day involuntarily. Can't touch your mouth/nose through the mask tho..) and otherwise, let the young get infected and build immunity. It is much easier to isolate and care for a small portion of the population than the whole and what's gonna happen with this 30-day self quarantine is that people there's gonna be a second wave of infections when people finally can go back out.


Sorry this is rambley, I just woke up and I'm not in the mood to structure it better. But basically.. Asia > Europe > US when it comes to Corona, I'm happy I'm here.

___________

Up +$421 on Kings playing BigO headsup.

Just went for a swim and decided to add an even more unpopular opinion:


Again, I am all for protecting the elderly and otherwise compromised people, what I am trying to say is that in a society like Germany where every second person is over 45 and every fifth person is over 66 (German source), a virus like this naturally appears to be more deadly than to a society like Cambodia. But that's not necessarily because the virus is particularly dangerous, I would argue that a demographic like that is fairly unnatural and unsustainable.

Again, I don't wish on any of these people, but I believe that it is healthy to atleast acknowledge that at some point, any disease will appear to become "more deadly" to a society that is mostly constructed of old people who lived very unhealthy lives (on average).

I'm not gonna comment much on your second post as it gets into a deep philosophical debate rather quickly, but I don't think there's much in the first that's particularly unpopular, especially regarding humid climates. It's been suggested by a number of health care professionals that covid doesn't thrive in humid environments. From a layman's pov everything else in that post seems well thought out as well. No offense by that either, almost none of us are experts here and its obvious you've given it enough thought to make reasonable decisions.

Hey guys.

Hectic couple days. Thailand has decided to close all bars and massage parlors for 14 days, the former mostly effecting Dieter and the latter my mom lol. Everything else is open still and life goes on here pretty much undeterred.

Yesterday Dieter went on a diving trip and my mom was going to get a 3-hour massage package (fell through), so I got to chill and plan the future a bit. Right now, it's unclear if I'll be able to extend my tourist visa here in Thailand and whether I will be able to enter Cambodia. The guidelines say:

which would mean I'm fine, but I'm hearing stories that merely having a German passport might be enough to be turned away. So I've contacted the poker club and they'll try to find out what's up. Another option would be to go to Myanmar for the time being. Going back to Germany is definitely not an option for me, but right now what'll happen is pretty much up in the air. My visa is up April 5th, so I got some room to breathe. Mai pen rai, as the Thais would say.

Pokerwise, I can't really reconstruct my results for the last two days.. so let's say I'm even.
I have decided to stop ***** around with other games and focus my energy on Omaha, specifically 5/6PLO. I find myself browsing different site's games too much and playing too little. So for the time being, I will play all the .5/1 and 1/2 games on Stars, 100/200 on SWC and if that's not enough tables, I'll fill it with 4PLO from Nitro or Nat8.

I still don't feel comfortable playing 4PLO again, it really feels that by playing 5 and 6PLO, I fked up my 4PLO game.
_________________________________________

Oh yeah, and we visited Wat Chalong, the biggest temple complex of Phuket! Here's some pics:

Little no-poker update (haven't played any):

My mom fell two days ago and we went to the hospital yesterday - turns out she has a splintered fracture in her foot.


We got her crutches but that means no more activities until they head back to Germany. She also has my Kindle now and massage parlors and bars are still closed, so that leaves me with poker and the pool... Oh well.


Some words on the hospital here - we chose the smaller one because I was expecting the larger one near Phuket town to be very Covid focussed now. And I was right, but even the smaller one had the whole main building shut off for Covid, so we were treated at a make-shift building nearby. Everyone got their temperature taken and during the two times I was there, I saw two people immediately shipped off to the main building.

The care was still pretty good though! And a little anecdote just to piss the Americans in here off a little bit:

Admission, diagnosis, x-ray, treatment and medication: $120. And they'll get that back from insurance in Germany! Crutches: $25. What would that cost in the US?

Oh, and we went to get our suits!


I like it, the fabric is amazing, super soft and light, June in Germany can get scorching hot. The shoes and shirt I'll have to get in Germany.


Well.. that's it for now, hope you have a productive weekend!

Where is op?

I'm here, I'm here. Sorry for the little hiatus, things are changing daily right now and I'm busy organizing and fixing ****.

For example, my mom's first flight Phuket -> Bangkok got "cancelled", so I had to book them a new flight but then it turned out it wasn't cancelled, just changed, so now they had two, so I tried to cancel the second one which was a hassle so they decided to just keep both to be sure. On the plus side, they were sleeping in one of these tonight:


and I'm kinda jealous, I always wanted to sleep in one of these capsules. Oh well.

Then yesterday, we booked a taxi for 4 hours to go to the hospital again to change her cast for the flights and we ended up finishing early so I decided to use the rest of the time to go to immigration to find out if/when I can extend my visa.
And hoooly ****, was that place busy. There were literally hundreds of people on the main lawn, they set up open tents and a large table where people could file for emergency temporary stays. Definitely no social distancing here.

For me, I can just extend my visa normally, but I'll have to go back next week because right now, they only process "urgent" cases (3 days left or less). I'm not looking forward to going back.

Anyways, I'm alone again now. And by that, I mean really alone, tomorrow literally the only other tourist family left here is leaving. Then it's only Thais and me. Sooo, time to make plans for next month:

• I've decided to try to read 10 books in April. I figured, no better time than now, right? I've bought some Discworld books, Michelle Obama's biography "Becoming", Stephen Hawkings' "A Brief history of time" and some more onto my Kindle.
  
• Pools are still closed, but I have made a deal with the receptionists that I can go for swims both right when they open (8am) and after sunset since government doesn't check then. I can tell you there is nothing more motivating than not knowing whether you can do it again tomorrow or not.
  
• As for poker, I have decided to spend the next month finally acclimating to Kings. I admit I haven been kinda erratically with that site but it has the most relevant games for me. It's time to go at it a little more systematically.
  
  To be honest, I have been in a pretty big slump lately when it comes to poker. I have noticed before that whenever action is booming (either big tourney series, winter time or now Corona), I don't feel like playing. I don't know why, it just feels more hectic and more like I should play, which just immediately makes me not want to.
  
• And for the blog, I have some topics I still wanna write about in poker rambling style, so expect more of that in April.

Travelling is just not an option right now, so don't expect to many adventures or pictures of that in the foreseeable future. I'm lucky in that my visa will be extended into May 4th or something and most travel restrictions are supposed to be lifted April 30th, so hopefully I can continue then. If things turn even more sour, I'm actually considering just going back to Germany early and spending May/June there instead of June/July.


Soo.. that's my update for now, I'm hoping things are cooling down now that I'm back on my own and I get to update more frequently. See you later.

If I were a betting man, I might wager that travel restrictions won't be lifted on 30 April.

I take pride in the fact that I've almost always been able to spot new trends and opportunities relatively early. The main reason that I have developed this ability is that I am utterly and profoundly lazy. I have always liked my money easy. And after many years on PokerStars, I had at some point made the discovery that the money there wasn't easy anymore. In fact, it was incredibly tough.

So I looked for new horizons and at some points, I had more than 15 poker sites installed and settled in to most of them nicely. So, here are some tips for you to do the same and finally leave AmayaStars.

• 1.) Discovery & Research:
  You cannot join a site you don't know about. I guarantee you that there are sites out there that would be perfect for you, but you just don't know them. So your first job is to find them. If you have poker friends, ask them for recommendations. If not, your best option is to search in forums such as this and just DM the veterans. They will know and they might help you.
  Once you know a couple sites, it's time to download them and take a look. How do they feel to you, how many tables can you play, what can you customize, does it feel right?
  
• 2.) Make a plan:
  I know this is a common theme to every post of mine, but it's crucial - what are you looking for? Is this gonna be your new main site? Then it's gonna need significantly more traffic than if you're merely trying to fill screen space. Find out what time zone is most active, maybe you're asleep at that time. And if you want to play 6PLO but only Hold'em is running, that's not optimal either.
  
• 3.) Deposit & acclimate:
  For most humans, even if they think they can rationalize well, the first impression of something makes a huge difference. If you play on a new site and immediately start with a big upswing, chances are you will like the site. If you start playing Omaha and you win the first 4 all-ins, there's a better chance you will look into the game further.
  Vice versa, if you play on a new site and take a loss that hurts, chances are you're gonna be wary of playing there more. I believe this is what happened when I first started playing on Kings. I already have a lot of prejudice towards agent sites, they don't feel as natural to me, and I had a lot of weird plays against me that "miraculously" worked out.
  
  Here is my proposed cure - start low and slow. Say you usually play 3/6 4-tabling on your usual site where you know all the regs and fishes. I would recommend playing .5/1 2-tabling on that new site. There is a MUCH higher chance that you will book some inital winning sessions (or losing sessions that don't sting as much) and the money you lose out on by playing lower will be made up longterm by having a good experience and continuing to give the new opportunity a chance.
  
  Additionally, I think setting a budget you're comfortable with and handling your expectations is a smart approach. Chances are, you're not immediately gonna be winning huge. Dynamics change from site to site and it'll take time to adjust.
  
• 4.) Focus, repitition and making it the "new normal":
  You've been playing a while and it didn't go terrible. Instead of maximizing your winnings right away, you should focus on making yourself comfortable. Ideally, after a while you'll feel as relaxed joining this site's tables as you would sitting in a homegame with friends. You can load up a bunch of tables and play them for a couple hours without getting exhausted.
  
  This is the phase where you get into the nitty-gritty of getting to know your opponents. The more familiar you are with your opposition, the less effort it'll take to grind. On SWC Poker for example, I know basically every relevant player, who I should and shouldn't be playing and what games I have an edge in against whom. You could wake me up at 3am after a night of drinking and I could still comfortably beat these tables.
  
  Kings on the other hand feels more foreign to me, decisions on what tables I want to play take more time and effort and I can autopilot fewer decisions.
  
• 5.) PROFIT!

Hopefully, that helped a bit and I can get some of you to try a new site or two. Trust me, it's most likely a good experience if you follow these steps.. as I intend to do with Kings next month. I will let you know how it goes.

_____________________________________________


In other news, I have decided to switch my result reporting to weekly or bi-weekly, following the advice of a good friend of mine. It's not really relevant anyways.

Hope you all have a nice weekend!

Thank you; this is very useful advice in your latest post.

Hey guys.

I've been relapsing on OFCp, hard. I think I've played roughly 16 hours of Chinese in the last 24 hours. And played a bit of the Quarantine Series on SWC Poker but have yet to cash.


Despite all these hands, I'm down ~$100 (17k chips), mostly due to the tournaments tho.


I have to say, the situation here is starting to impact my mood. Not necessarily because it's bad, Phuket is still a paradise, but because the situation seems to be changing basically hourly. Tomorrow, I will go to immigration to get my extension, but just now I talked to a racist French guy who showed this article saying they may extend all visas to June. Maybe. Or not. But probably not if I go tomorrow. But I only have 3 days on my visa left.. no idea what the maxEV decision is here and there's potential to lose a lot of money. To flights and visas I might not need etc.

Right now, the plan is to just extend for 30 days and as soon as I have that, book a flight back to Germany for early May. Not necessarily because that's the best move, but because it finally gives me peace of mind to grind in April, which in itself should hold quite a bit of EV.

Anyways, I understand that this is a first world problem, sorry for whining.

The guy who owed me 48k chips for months (and still hasn't paid back 5k of it) reappeared and just said this in chat, among other nasty stuff:



So I don't mind making his name public anymore. Do not loan or trade with this guy, he is borderline scummy and never apologized for being months late. ****ing degens man.


As you can see, my mood right now is not the greatest, so I'll leave it at this. I hope two days from now I have it all settled, then I'm gonna be better.

Random discord invite link again, I need entertainment while playing Chinese: https://discord.gg/qaDpZCH