Congrats on the GF man!

Thanks!

She's from Canada. The whole development of our relationship was pretty interesting. I'll probably write about it at some point. I always feel a bit strange talking in-depth about relationships on here.

---

I had a bizarre experience a few weeks ago that I forgot to write down. Here goes;

So, I arrive in Sydney and I'm seeking to get a bike, get a room, and save all the $/time on city dwelling. I get a nice bike at a great deal. The bike has clip-on pedals and shoes. The first day I get the bike I am biking around on a new bike in the city with clip-on pedals.

This situation is quite simply a very extremely dangerous activity. I'm in a new city-- I dont know where I'm going. Everything is backwards, I occasionally am looking the wrong direction. I'm on a new bike and haven't biked in awhile. I have clip-on pedals. The whole situation is a death trap.

The second day I'm biking around the city (to save time versus walking) to see potential rooms. I have my cell phone in my pocket. While I'm riding around, my phone misclicks. The nature of the misclick is absurddd. The misclick opens my facebook, checks me into the local hospital, and adds emoji "feeling impatient".

So.. how about that for a coincidence! Anyways, imo, this event is so highly unlikely to be coincidental. I believe most people on facebook thought I was doing this as a one-off to solicit attention.

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In other news, I butchered my new years resolution a couple nights ago. I made a very big mistake towards the tail-end of a long session. I snap quit, and proceeded to beat myself up with extremely negative self-talk. I kept trying to go over why/how it occurred and explain to myself that it may have seemed as a large mistake on the surface but it wasn't that horrible given history, fatigue factor, and meta-assumptions.

This type of negative self-talk / beating myself up and expecting perfection is something that I still am struggling with and suspect it will take a long time to improve.

Expecting perfection is so unreasonable. Anyways, I was on hour 10 of a session and only staying at the table because the game was 8/10+. I knew starting that hour that the potential I played my B or C-game was higher. In the hand, I ended up making a semi-ambitious river bluff. I did so for a few reasons. One, I had the nut blockers and couldn't think of many hands that I could be bluffing on the river. Two, I passed on the last few similar spots for river bluffs and had reminded myself earlier in the session that people are over-folding in these spots (and to me as tight preflop play tends to make people think my betting range is super strong). In game I was playing versus what was a whale which had only been at the table for an hour and I seemed to miss how loose he was, so justifying finding bluffs to put in heavy value range is completely irrelevant. I made the -EV river bluff, and got snapped off by the middle of his range.

Given how I came to that spot in the session, and the info I had, its not that horrible of a mistake(although, its certainly a -EV play), but it is horrible to beat myself up as if I were to not going to make mistakes in that spot. Sigh.

Also, while I'm on this topic.. I find it very hard to find ways to practice being nice to myself after making mistakes. The expecting perfection element seems like a great way to improve my skills, but also seems to also be the main source of this self-destructive mistake tilt. Anyways, this is probably my largest leak in my game at the moment.

---

Yesterday I bought a $1500 main event ticket for $1300 from a guy who won a satty. Win.

Hmmm, I happened to have a conversation about this with 3 different people in the past week- interesting to run into this topic here too. But yeah I'm no longer a fan of how the poker community tends to condone the mentality that it is theoretically possible to always play your A game and never make a mistake, which is... I mean just think about it. Clearly false.

~~~~~~~~

Regarding interdependence post, I've also recently been thinking about partial breakups (but have not spoken to anyone about this topic yet). In any relationship, there are parts that both parties like even if they both agree to breakup. Why must it always be all or nothing in our world? Why can't we agree to maintain the aspects of the relationship we want to keep? Of course there is monogamy/getting over things/etc but in general it seems underutilized. Can also extrapolate to not just in terms of breakups, but also forming new relationships- people are always looking for 1 partner to fulfill all their needs.

Great stuff.
My thought on interdependence is that some of this actually goes on at the lower levels to some extent. I agree with the three levels, but would modify getting there step-wise to getting there gradually.

It's good that you've thought about it.

I've never played in a bad live PLO game. The hourlies are bigger but the edges are still considerably smaller than no limit. I guess 100BI would be ok if you never had more than 2 BI on the table... but that never happens in any good plo game worth playing. Everyone has like 3+ bi on the table and it's all live.

Yeah, there is this sense of ownership towards romantic partners in our culture. The sense that someone "is mine" "one and only" etc. I'm not a fan of it. It seems unnatural and unhealthy to me.

I've been talking/thinking of relationships recently. I approach romantic relationships in an atypical way. I believe that if I'm in a romantic relationship with someone and they meet another person whom they believe would have a more and/or different positive influence on their life than me that they should explore that relationship. At the end of the day I want the best for whomever I love. It seems unfair to me to try and keep/own someone for myself.

As long as there is open and honest communication between aware individuals, it seems like the best strategy to me. I haven't found many people that share this stance. I think its because most people are afraid of being alone.. so losing there one and only romantic partner to another person would cause extreme pain and suffering. Also, there are a couple other reasons. Insecurity being the main culprit. If an individual is insecure they probably believe that finding another compatible partner is very difficult, so the prospect of doing that daunting. Also, if they are insecure they probably feel very uncomfortable with their partner being with another person, because deep down they don't think they are enough and that the other person will provide more...

100% agree with your perspective, I think it's bad to have a possessive and jealous mentality when dating. Polyamory seems the best approach to dating as long as all parties are responsible and everyone is using protection.

I'm not sure if that lifestyle is totally practical for people in the phase of life of raising offspring.

sup tyler its been awhile. you coming over to the philippines again? im playing PLO now. maybe we can talk when you drop by and visit

I am not a true bleiever in "true love". I think men and women are compatable with one another to the point where they want to share thier life together, but theres nothing else holding them together. Same reason why I am very skeptical of religion, magic, higher power etc. That is why i view marriage as not a symbol of love but a signed document saying they are both dedicated to being together, no cheating etc. I view the opposite sex mostly as a best friend that I can get preggo and carry on the circle of life. Whether or not I stick around for the baby doesnt matter. Like in the animal kingdom the parents sometimes take turns hunting for fish while the other stands guard the child (penguins). I would get pissed if while I was a penguin catching dinner I came back to see the mother of my child having sex with another penguin not looking after my kid whos cold!

Thats because that whore didnt make a good decision reguarding the child. Men also view women on a scale of how attraxtive they are in part by how healthy/ fertile they look to give birth and raise a child. That is why younger women are way more sought after 16 years old +, wheras mens age doesnt matter much and doesnt make them look much worse. Girls do not appear to age as gracefully as men as a result. That is because the man just plants his seed, and is expected to provide and defend, and generally the older a man is the more weathly and wise. TLDR: LOL

Yo!

Amen.

Probably not Philippines bound anytime soon.. Hope all is well and the money printing machine is working well!

It appears you have watched the national geographic documentary on penguins! It's quite a fun watch and exposes the unusual mating dynamics of penguins.

Sharing your life experiences with someone is a great reason to be together. Its one of the reasons I'm with my girlfriend. I rather experience life events with her than alone. That said, it isn't the only reason we are together. I think expressions of love are awesome and provide more +net postivie emotions than expressions of self-love. Something as simple as putting effort into making a delicious meal for someone you love.. Or crafting a simple gift. ****, even taking time to bring a woman to orgasm. I find expressions of love make me feel good(as the giver). It makes the other person feel good too. Net +emotion are the best. Plus, It tends to generate a natural cycle of giving/receiving love.


The key to this "cycle of love" is to give without expectation. I find that keeping conscious awareness of the balance of love expressions tends to destroy the cycle rather quickly. I think this is pretty typical of frugal-types(me included), and that its a pretty destructive habit for relationships. I believe It's only worth noticing if its way out of balance. Also, I think that the a major factor in the livelihood of the "cycle of love" is based on each parties relative desires/capacities to give and receive love. If one party slightly prefers receiving love than giving love, and another party strongly prefers receiving love its going to be a challenge to keep the cycle alive.

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So, I played in the $5k in Sydney yesterday. I have to say that I am continuously impressed by the value of life MTTs. My table started off with 4-5 fish and 2 okay regs. This just seems incredible to me for a $5k MTT, but it doesn't seem to be unusual-- other tables in this MTT were of similar value and my experience in the aussie millions was similar.

I had a couple interesting decisions:

1. First level. I have an aggro image as I 3b 89o btn v co (blinds were dead seats), and got to showdown with 2p v T9o.

Villian(aggro fish) opens MP, hero calls CO A9o, BB(fish) calls

Flop ($950)

9d6s3c

bb check, villain check, hero bets $650

Yeah, I like this, I think against 2 fish I should bet larger with my value-- maybe even $750.

turn($2250)

4d

BB check, hero bets $1500, villain calls quickly.

I like this bet too, I think the sizing is good vs pair+fd, 9x, and maybe some 6x

river ($5250)

7x

villain looks at her chips and checks, hero ($9000 back) ?

Also, I dont put too much emphasis into live reads, but generally weaker players that visibly think about betting the river are very weak.

So, I think with my image and the info I had (live read + she looked like a fish-- but no showdowns yet) She has 98-k9 and maybe even some 6x that will call $2.4k more frequently than she has better that calls or bluff raises. She may even blocker bet some of her 2pair or lead some of her straights on the river, which makes her range even more 9x heavy. In game she had J6o and would have folded(probably?). Small mistake.

2.

200/400 (50), hero(17k) hasn't been that active lately and has a losing image.

Fish(35k) opens to 900 in MP, reg(40k) slow calls HJ+1, another reg(50k) fast calls HJ, hero is in the CO with KQo and pauses/tanks. Btn sometimes shows his action when I am tanking. In this hand he shows no indication of folding.

reads: HJ reg has cold 3b merged when deep with fish in the past. HJ+1 seems tricky and I think his tank call range is actually weaker than his snap call range.

Right, so I think this is actually quite a good spot to 3b/f as I think the regs are rarely trapping. I think she folds ~50%(and the regs will fold ~90%). Making it 4200 is close to chip+EV and also I think she will 4b QQ-AA/AK and may flat or fold TT-JJ/AQs instead of 4b, so I can sometimes win postflop, too. In game I decided to fold because the btn was nitty and probably only interested in the hand if he had 77+ KQs, AJo+.

In game I folded. The btn 3b to 4k and it got through.

3.

200/400(50) I have 14k, folds to me in the HJ, I open QJo to 900 folds to BB(fish) who snap 3b to 2300. Hero tank folds

This was a strange one, I think its probably a +chip EV call in position.. but I have a stack that I want to preserve, and villain wont fold much post.. so I was thinking I needed something highly +chip EV to justify calling on this stack. Also, this fish seemed happy to defend 80% of hands in all previous defend spots.. so I thought her 3b range was value heavy (like, QQ-AA/AK heavy with this sizing).

I tank cry folded and villain showed AA.

4.

I played a hand against a good reg. I believe hes a good player, and I think he thinks I'm a good player-- but I'm not sure.

blinds changed to 200/400(50)
Hero(15k) and there is a fish on the btn and sb, good reg in BB.
hero has ThTd and attempts to raise to 750(I thought it was the previous level), and makes it 800 instead. Folds to BB(15k) who asks how much I have and calls. (I think this weights his range to weak hands as he has a great 3b/f opportunity with stack sizes)

flop ($2000)

6h5d2h

villain check, hero bets $1000, villain calls

Yeah, I like this bet with most of my range.

Villain calls relatively quickly. I think he c/r all combo draws, 2pairs and NFDs, so his range is super 6x/5x heavy

turn ($4000)

Ac

Villain check, Hero bets 1800, villain calls.

I think this card absolutely smashes my range. Most of my bluffs on the flop just got there. I have 89s, T9s KQo and suited broadways which are like ~40 combos and have decent equity/playability against 6x/5x. That said, sets, 2p, and 77+ is like 120 combos. So, I think in theory, with 3:1 value:bluff and sizing ~1/3 on this turn makes the most sense against a good player. Perhaps ~2.5k is best as an exploit.. because he may perceive me as checking some 77-KK or a8s in this spot, and/or having more bluffs than I should(QTo/JTo).

He called, river was 3x and I checked back TT. I snap checked back TT, which maybe is a mistake. Perhaps betting 99+ on this river and no pair for ~half pot is best given how the 3x is a "scary" card for me, and given how wide his range could be with my small turn sizing.

nice blog

Thanks.

I played amazing in day1 of the APL $1.5k sydney. Lost a big pot to be at 22bb starting day2. I managed to punt off my stack making a huge mistake. 2k/4k/500 BB is good reg who will defend wide. I raise to 9.5k with 77, folds to HJ+1 who goes allin. only 1 read on him. In one hand, he c/r river as a bluff with A8o, so perhaps more aggro than most. Hes ~45 pub player, bit overweight and has a friend railing him.

I ask dealer how much, he says 48k. Im thinking 30k in the middle, 38.5k to call. I probably have 33-40% equity. Need 36% and its really close. If I fold I have 19bb, I'm the BB next hand and blinds go up in 20min. Given that he lost the river c/r and is short I think perhaps he has some 22-66 and I'm closer to 38-40%. I call. He has KK, I lose the pot. I think its probably a mistake to call off most my stack when I have 1-3% equity. Small mistake, meh. Then, the dealer asks for 8.5k more. He has 58k and I either misheard the dealer or he told me the wrong amount. Obviously I would fold if I thought it was 58k. A few hands later I jam 5.5bb, run into ATo and lose. Although, I would have won the pot without showdown if I had 17.5bb. Sigh.

Tilt.

Sydney trip report time!

I've been in Sydney for ~5 weeks. I've done quite well in regards to my mission here. I've played 230 hours of poker, which is a bit more than full time. I managed to get a girlfriend, which has been awesome and interesting and I imagine will continue to blossom. I wanted to minimize my cost of living, and I've managed to get my cost of living in the heart of one of the most expensive cities in the world down to around $2300-$2500AUD/mo.

I've slacked off in regards to learning and exercise. On a weekly basis.. I've listened to 4-5 hours of podcasts, watch a couple hours of youtube, and haven't read much. That amounts to far less than usual. For exercise, I've straight up ignored exercising for ~50%+ of days. Almost all days involve 10-15minutes of biking. I practiced yoga a few hours a week, and went on a few bike rides-- that's it.

Poker variance has been weighing on me emotionally, which is unusual for me. I suppose its also a bit more extreme lately. I'm down in PLO cash and I've bought into $5-6k worth of MTTs and bricked everything.

Ive been resolving to be less critical with myself in general-- particularly when I make mistakes. This has been an area of emotional pain for year. Since I got here I've been softer with myself that I usually am.. but still occasionally engage in self-hate.
I'm spending a few days recovering after a couple weeks of heavy poker volume.

We went hiking in the blue mountains yesterday. We followed a creek down through a deep valley. It was a sunny clear day. The hike was pretty challenging. There was lots of rock climbing / jumping. We saw some lizards, birds, and snakes. We both felt great. Bushwalking is the best.

I'm fasting today. It's not a "true" fast. I have coffee/cinnamon/salt in the morning. I find this flushes my system and gives me energy. This afternoon/evening I'll be drinking lots of water+lime. I find this neutralizes/cleans my system. I will go through a light yoga practice or long walk later today. This will help burn **** out of my body. Tomorrow, I'll have a big breakfast (notice the word; break fast). The idea is to reset my internal clocks.

Today, I plan. My tourist visa expires on the April 11th. I'm thinking of going to Bali to visit some friends, practice yoga, and play/learn MTTs. There is another live tournament series in Sydney late july/early aug-- so I think I should allow myself to be in Sydney for that. Thus, the plan is to spend ~April9-May12 in Bali. This will give me enough time to play the first week of SCOOP with some MTT sickos in Bali. A month in Bali gives me the option to do a yoga teacher training program if I feel so inclined.

Anyways, given that +$20k (after cost of living) from poker for 2017 becomes less likely as time goes on... I suspect I'll need the full 6 months of degeneracy before moving on to the self-sustainable housing project.

Fast is over. Fasting is interesting. The desire to eat is so mental. One can spend weeks without food. I didn't feel actual hunger during the fast, I only felt hungry when I thought of food. I did feel quite low-energy from 8pm-midnight last night.

Bali is booked. I will be heading there in 26 days for a month. I'm planning on spending the first 2 weeks with some friends (mtt pros) who have a big place and a pet monkey! I'll spend the second half with another friend in an airbnb place. I won't be doing yoga teacher training. It's too intensive and expensive. It's $400-600 in India v $2k-4k in Bali. I will be doing informal yoga training in Bali.

I have 26 days here in Sydney. Looking to get in >150hours of poker.

pics of pet monkey plz

Yeah, thread needs moar pics.

Made a monster mistake a few nights ago, got in 80bb pre with bad KK in a min backraise/min 4b 3-way spot where it was breakeven with ~40-55bb(depends on range assumptions), and certainly -EV at 70bb. Ended up winning the pot.. maybe I should be adjusting my strategy to play poorly

I suppose playing poorly and running bad has its benefits.. I've got set up on two "club games" in Australia. These are basically mid-stakes PLO games on a poker app. I'll probably play on these in Bali. I'm quite certain the regs here see me as somewhere between a decent and good reg, which is good for getting invited into these games-- as they probably assume I mostly be paying rake and not taking much from the games. I dont plan on playing on the app over the next few weeks. Ill be focusing on the live games when I'm in Sydney. I'm a bit skeptical of the app games as there is default risk and I'm more subject to it as I am more of a outsider.

Not too much to report on. I've been on that live grind in Sydney. The live games have been dying down a bit since the series. The best games over the last week have been random weekday afternoons-- so I've switched my grind to 1:30pm-~9pm.

I took a shot at the 25/50 game yesterday. The 5/5/10 game looked like a 3/10, and the 25/50 game looked quite good(2 fish, 2 strong regs). Those are the ideal situations for shot-taking afaik. The game was up for a couple hours and I managed to play multiple 10k pots. Overall I played alright. I raised a cbet in a headsup SRP on K98r with T976 1bdfd with spr=10. I think it cant be -EV, but I think its more +EV to flat when spr is 10 as I can get into very +EV situations on 9/J/5. I like jamming>flatting when spr is <6.

I find I tend to get a little more aggressive when I shot-take with familiar villains. My thinking is that people are b/fing wider versus me because I'm perceived as a ~nit at 5/5/10 and probably even nittier at 25/50. I don't have nearly enough sample to verify this.. in fact, my short experience has shown the opposite. Of the three big pots I played I ran into the stone cold nuts twice and got a dry-A bluff through on the river. On monotone boards, I rarely see people fire twice and give up river, but I often see people call twice and fold river.

How much you buyin for at 25/50?

Counter-intuitively I find that most guys spazz more when they shot take bigger games fwiw. I don't think that much of the player pool is aware of this though.

$5k-- would buyin less if possible.

interesting-- I suppose maybe against good players who have seen others take many shots before its best to be a bit more passive.

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Had a few interesting experiences lately. One I will share;

I am sitting with my legs crossed at the poker table. The reg next to me points down at the floor at a $1k chip on the ground and asks; "Is that yours?" The $1k chip is lying directly under my pocket and I normally keep chips in my pocket so that I can top off. I immediately assume its mine, pick it up, and put it in my pocket. Later, I top-up and realize that I had more chips in my pocket than I had bought in... I check my backpack and while I'm stuck $3k, I only have $2k less than my original cage purchase.

Sweet!! I'm thrilled. Finding $5 on the ground is fun, finding $1k is even cooler. (for those thinking I'm a luckbox-- I'd like to mention that the day before I found $5 on the sidewalk).

10 minutes later an asian guy from the table behind me stands up, moves to behind my chair, bumps into my chair, and is loudly talking to a supervisor about how he thought he had $3k in chips, but now has $2k. He thinks he lost a $1k chip. He is sitting ~10 feet from where the orange chip was laying on the ground, and was speaking in Chinese to someone at my table that saw me pick up the $1k chip. I am frazzled, not sure what to do, and decide to walk to the bathroom. I come back, 10minutes later they are loudly talking about cameras and trying to figure out what happened.

I ended up sitting around for ~2hours, wondering what would happen. No one ever approached me or asked me any questions, even after reviewing cameras.

Anyways, not sure what is best here. Fwiw, I felt that the man was being honest and not trying to angle the $1k with his Chinese friend. The fact that neither of them asked me any questions directly seemed very odd to me. I think keeping the $1k isn't morally wrong, but I certainly think the noble play is to give the man the $1k. Also, if it was $5 and the same circumstances, I would have just given it back-- so I'm not acting on principles here, but simply acting selfishly.

Also, I have experiences similar to this regularly. I rarely seem to have people shorting me money, but often I get given too much money in various transactions. This is the first large $ value, and the first time I have been dishonest in awhile..

People delude themselves into thinking everybody is making moves etc and **** the bed

Wtf why wouldn't you just give him the 1k chip.

Instead you go duck off into the bathroom.

Quite the short stack ratholer you are huh

There's not even any strong evidence that it belonged to that guy, it could belong to a 3rd person and op's not at fault for keeping it for now

There's also >0% chance that it belongs to op given the camera didn't even pick up anything

I once dropped a $1k chip on the ground that was in my wallet when I was trying to pay for a hot chocolate. After looking for it on the ground for a minute, the dealer asked what was up and I told him so then everyone at the table stood up to check. Thankfully it was found by someone at the other end of the table and he returned it.

1. it obviously wasn't his as he said it didnt match up with the chips he bought from the cage

2. who knows if they even reviewed the cameras. also cameras dont catch everything and can be hard to see at times.

3. maybe they didnt speak the best english and were embarrassed and didnt want to make a scene/ cultural differences

4. maybe OP is some big intimidating dude

5. maybe OP is some homeless looking dude and they felt bad and let him keep it

6. maybe they decided they will just stab him next time they see him

i mean seriously 10 minutes after he picks it up a asian guy comes over looking for it. why would you believe it wasnt his? that some other guy at this table tipped him off within that 10 minutes to set up a scam to get it back?