Adriatic Sea (Sick)

You know you are doing fairly well for yourself when the extent of your concerns is that the supposed apartment that you booked in the south of Croatia by the Adriatic Sea, is actually a room with a small kitchenette and no workplace desk... Or that the wind is glaciar af and strikes you down like no tomorrow... Or that you would of preferred to stay in Zagreb after all, a picturesque city with everything needed at your disposal...

Dubronvnik is pretty as hell - a big part of Game of Thrones was filmed in this location -, but I do believe that I will get a little bored here... Kind of unfortunate timing as I had not planned on playing a ton of poker this week, but this reality might have to change... - ehhhh, my back is already stiff from grinding lying down on the bed while my monitor sits on a minuscule bedside table But I mean, first world problems, right, and my upcoming schedule of a tourney in Gatineau, a dinner date with my lovely Japanese lady in Calgary and a subsequent 3 week meditation, is exciting af Well perhaps not meditation, exciting is not the right word for it... Painful, tough as nails and tremendous beneficiary might be more accurate adjectives...

And because I have nothing else to add today, here is a sweet quote taken from God knows where about the emotional rollercoaster reality of being a fan of a mediocre sports team, especially Quebecois teams, you know, the same teams that go on to win-it-all after they leave La Belle Province like, cough-cough, Les Nordiques and Les Expos :

“The reward of being a fan is experiencing true joy, but the price of true joy is a lifetime of psychic torture in the interim. That’s about as fair as humanity gets, I suppose.”




+800$ in 13h


Run good all

King's Landing

- "Are you from Siberia... Or Alaska" were the words of the server as he tried to direct me toward the indoors of the restaurant, but saw me turned my heels towards the outside patio instead.

- "Yeah, I am actually from northern Alaska on the Canadian side of the border" I answered, a little amused, as the waiter stared at me dumbfounded, as if I had already lost all traces of humanity (or at the very least sanity) in his eyes

For him Dubrovnik AKA the fictional realm of King's Landing has most likely lost its lure over the repetition of, you know, daily life , compounded with the hivernal temperature of 9c (48f)... But for yours truly, would he rather sit within the comfort of 4 fracking walls no matter how hot they may be, or enjoy the breezing sound of the crashing wave underneath the settling sun...





Alright, because I am yet again bummed out by getting smacked in the face by a 2 outer AKA 4.5% on the river, here is a reminder why this game has been tremendously positive to my life :

- The thrill : Nothing compares to live MTTs when the first cards are being tossed around the table and every single still participant still has his eyes set on the top prize yo The excitement is palpable. The dream, collective. And even if this illusion of Grandeur will come tumbling down for all but one of us, at the beginning, we all fracking have eyes wide like the world out to conquer yo

- Freedom : I mean, the vastness of the world... Various cultures... Across different venues... Enuff said, right

- Competitive Nature : In this game (as in life), we set out on a self-self journey, which the existential component of da pokerz greatly accentuates. This said, when will I transcend the self in favour of a non-self vs a self dynamic... At what point the strictly ego-centred advantages of this game will become unfulfilling in a selfless sorta way...

- Da Monies : Lest not forget those positive variance weeks/months when we can scoop in a (few) year(s) worth of an average Canadian salary, shall we not

Of course, when one looks at the above list, outside of its entertainment aspect, the lack of social contribution rapidly shines out. Which brings me to something that I have been wanting to do : does anyone know anything about charity poker events? I would love to partake more into these, if possible...

-600$ in 13h


Run good all

I remember watching an episode of Poker In America where some people at the table (who I won't name) were talking about all the fun they had playing that charity poker event last year; the plane ride, the caviar, the after party, etc.

I know *nothing* about poker charity events. But I think (?) I know enough about poker to realize I wouldn't trust a single thing about anything concerning charity and poker. Guilty of being a cynic.

Got me thinking about the greater good and all that. Case A: guy runs and sets up a charity thingy and pockets 90% of the $1Million raised for his own good, but gives $100K to the Boys and Girls Club. Case B: Cheap self-absorbed pricks like me who don't give a single cent to the Boys and Girls Club. Who's the better guy, buddy?

GI'mnotyourbuddy,guy!G

Notepad, Dubrovnik Style

- Games have been really dry online lately and I do not remember this ever being the case at midstakes over the past couple of years

- This said, I have booked one strong winning session that has put my 2019 (relatively) back on track, so all I need now is one (or 2) of those 30-50k months in April-July

- Alita was pretty darn satisfying ; glad to see there are some solid films in this superhero era that are compensating for the Michael Bay's of the world

- Seen from above, at bird's flight, isn't everything so fracking beautiful...





- Am ready for my Canadian stint/putting an end to my European one.

- On the charity MTT subject : it would be nice indeed to diversify my experiences within the poker world, see to what extent the vibes of such an event would be different or even if a little can be given back (even if I would never delude myself on the efficiency of such a gesture...).

- In regards to only contributing 10% of the raked fees : yes, it is a significant number. And I am not cynical enough to come to the conclusion that that 10% is a poor justification for the 90% of greed or whatever


+3.4k in 7h

Run good all

(Futile) Passages

This (hypothetical) player I know is the most superstitious guy to ever walk the earth. Not only is he full of these parapsychological POV's, but he creates all these inner narratives relating to the 2 or 4 card variety of da pokerz Like lucky seats. Idem for dealers. And crazy/nonsensical reasoning for random variance. And God knows what other voices speak to him, or quirks that might inhabit him/come to fruition as he prefers to internalize his most insane/off-the-wall theories as oppose to share them I mean, the dude is obviously a rec player, but remains a small winner (in LLSNL), game selects like a fracking nit and also has one of the most underrated skills in poker, me thinks, of being self-aware of the limitations of his skill level and thus what games he can handily beat and, alas, knowing when and how to quit when ahead. From a first-hand experience, I have seen a lot of these marginal winners leave the game behind over the years, right, as poker got less profitable and the novelty of it all faded away ; I mean, how long can we dodge the effects of variance when spending that much time in a toxic environment and our winrate barely justifies it... But anyhow, what interests me about this generic story, relates more to the importance of narratives in life as oppose to quitting the game of pokerz

Humans desperately try by all means to permanently insert themselves into reality, as futile as it might seem, when they try to deny the ultimate faith of fading away. But to what extent does our story as a species matter… If we were to suddenly vanish, would their remain traces of us… Outside of returning back our energy to matter and (perhaps) indirectly contributing to this renewal of a cycle of life-and-death in a different life form (from a strict physical POV), would anything remain of our human past identity…

When you are sitting there at the poker table and you cannot fade for your f**king life that 2 outer on the river, it ultimately matters little that your equity of over 95% vanishes into ether… Sure we would like to bring significance to our lost of equity, to blame the temperature outside, the dealer’s grandma or whatever fracking story that helps our misfortune matter somewhat, but nothing remains except superstitions and annoying bad beat stories… But alas, if you just manage to let go, to accept this GREAT BIG BLACKHOLE that is f**king VARIANCE, then perhaps - and only perhaps - can you find peace.

End of daily digression yo Am on a transfer in Zagreb, flying to Montreal tomorrow and then will be running around in the next few days trying to make ends meet in between Mtl-Gatineau-Calgary. Back soon with a conclusion/flashback look upon my European venture.




+1k in 15h


Peace Y'all

This is a great character description, for sure. The small winners in low stakes games often seem to be much more interesting than big winners in high stakes, especially as the sw kind of exists in an anonymous space (just another face at the poker table). Reminds me a little of DGAF's acronyms (the NEDs and ALs). I also loved the idea of someone who I pegged as being a small loser actually being a small winner (i.e. me wanting the unorthodox player to be rewarded). The nit factor is the hardest part of the equation to take on board, though.

Spinning Around

So I had initially decided in between Morocco (which had a direct flight to Montreal on Air Canada... sigh) and Zagreb, the latter having no direct planes to Mtl but nonetheless offering routes via Frankfurt (which implied an airport transfer + 2 transfers total) or the Istanbul, right, with a convenient direct flight to Mtl after a 2h layover. Anyhow, when I arrived in Turkey and had to go through security once again, I thought it was kind of an overkill... But whatever. And then thoughts of my Turkish lady vipassana friend flashbacked when I was asked to see a man security guard to search me as opposed to woman one standing just in front of me - ehhhh 2019 yo, fracking wake up - and those words of my friend came storming back on how she was treated as a lesser being for being a woman amongst her Muslim brothers… How a ton of anxiety developed from this singular treatment, along with low self-confidence levels… But whatever, you keep on carrying on, right... Until we were forced into another 3 layers of security, with the last one being a full bad and body search Note to self : never f**king coming back here

So anyhow, before stepping back unto the Canadian sphere, I want to look back at what was this European journey, especially in comparison to my previous one last year.

Da Pokerz : The game has been tough. Since August, in fact, my run bad has been nasty af. If I dealt with it like a champ for the first couple of months, managing somehow to play my best poker of the year despite clearly running like complete arse (and downswinging to the tune of 25k at one point), I can now see signs of my C game showing its nasty face In fact, I am uncharacteristically affected by short term results lately, feeling lighter and almost liberated when I go on a few k upswing, to losing my mojo at the mere sign of some standard run bad Ehhhhh yeah, it is time to turn this thing around… I did manage to book a small win in Europe (approximately 15k), but not enough to cover my expenses that have gone through the roof

Savings : The recent back-and-forth with IntheNow about savings/finances made me look back at what I had put aside last year, and while I did manage to save 6 digits in 2018 and north of 50% of my income, my expenses have become ridiculous. Think nightly 100$ hotels. 50$ meals (no wine). And a ton of flights and transportation fees. It is easy to dismiss our lavish spending habits when the BR is constantly growing and some travelling expenses or another justify it, but I was shock by 10s of ks that were unaccounted for

Happiness : Fading is that delightful and liberating feeling of being single. If I absolutely my previous European journey (think 8.6/10), this one was a bit more mundane, perhaps at a 6.8 clip...

That's it for now, been running around for the past few days in Montreal-Gatineau (dropped 3 bullets in the 1k tourney : fine play, soft af field, tremendous runbad ) and am hopping on a plane to Calgary in a couple of hours (dinner date with Japanese lady friend tomorrow yo ). Might be back for a last update before the 20 day retreat... If not, until then Y'all





Peace

It's amazing how $$$$ can just fly out the window. Like, literally. Last year we bought 11 new windows for the house. $14K. Um, ok.

I'm checking the bank statement from last month and one of wife's credit card is like $7K, how the **** can that be? Oh yeah, car insurance + car repair + purchased new computer, and add a few meals out and there you go, about $7K.

It's like, I'm in the most enviable position ever in my life financially, and yet at the same time I feel like I'm a year's worth of spending from going broke at the same time.

Gmadeofmoney,butspendingallofitG

Airport Lulls

Alright Y'all, here is another post as I am killing time in the Toronto airport

I am approaching this upcoming meditation retreat kinda backwards… While I know that once I find myself in the midst of it, I will happily indulge in the blissful moments and all, but find myself reluctant to put in the effort right now… This will change, of course

Once in Lima, I will be focussing on my long term plans which involves purchasing a place most likely in the South American sphere (tbd and discussed with my accountant/regulations, taxes and legal implications to be looked into…), lowering my expenses etc. I will also renew my NLHE cash game studying to the tune of 4h weekly ; if the past 7 months have been amazing in terms of live MTT and PLO cash game improvements, nothing has been done for my bread and butter midstakes NLHE games. These are not getting any better, people are figuring out stuff and the field is catching up (somewhat) to yours truly. A trend that I find kind of lol lately :

Peeps are finally catching up to range advantages and realizing that it is standard af to overbet turn after cbetting flop as the PFR on a K927 board, for example. Problem is, they are widening their bluffing range to the moon and showing up with ATC where it becomes debatably profitable af to raise/shove a 9x here on them Trends going to trend until trendy becomes lame af yo

Dialogue of the day : so when I zoom to the airport in the rental car and drop it off, the salesclerk kid asks me :

- "Any accidents with the vehicle like someone crashing into you or you crashing in another car…?". I grin and, like a wiseman (most likely) once said when facing a dumb question, always answer with an equally dumb if not dumber response, I respond :

-"No man, no accidents as my trip was lacking in action and adventures, unfortunately" which got a chuckle from the French couple waiting in line

#DumbarsesgonnaDumbarse

yeah man, it is shocking indeed I can totally relate to everything you just wrote... The last thing I want to do though, is repeat the mistakes that previous players made while in the midst of heaters and being shortsighted, and I am hence thankful that I have set myself up good in the short-midterm and (almost...) longterm

Yeah, agree. I initially started describing a specific friend of mine but ended up coming up with a more generic subset of small winners in LLSNL games that share similar characteristics/faith. The nitty part is not in terms of playing style - definitely not -, but moreso in game selection and BRM. Hence them quitting when the games become less profitable/variance catches up/that downswing becomes too fracking looonnnnnggg





Run good all

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of coming out of an intensive retreat, is the conversations that follow, especially when this occurrence takes place subsequent to a long course where all the participants have been digging inwards for years upon decades Think conversations on ayahuasca, integral theory, non-lieux, the death and the renewal of the human species and other funky-pseudo-mystico-off-the-wall vipassana talks

So much to speak of in the wake of 3 weeks of silence and yet so little desire to pound away on my keyboard I got 2 days in Calgary before flying to Lima for new adventures ; in between running around doing errands and checking out the Habs game vs CBJ tomorrow at the casino while peeling down at 4 cards (a must win for Le Canadiens to make the playoffs ), I am sure I will be back to, you know, put some thoughts down





Be well All

Glad to have you back around, Dubnjoy.

Wife and I are thinking of doing a Montreal / Quebec City vacation later this year, and we'll probably try to revolve it around taking in a Habs game. Carey Price is ~sorta from around my neck of the woods (he grew up in the middle of nowhere, it's amazing how he succeeded, imo).

GcluelessfrenchcanadanoobG

In Through the Outdoor

Walking through the lines of slot machines vibrating like fracking manic jukeboxes with zombies pouncing on the buttons was quite cringe-worthy after 3 weeks spent in the pureness of deep meditation And the poker room was not much better, tbh, as traces of fatigue crinkling up the facial expressions and that nervous addictive energy was invading every body, every hand movements... No, I will never go back to grinding da live pokerz for a living, if not MTTs

If the Habs toke a sick beating in the tune of 2-6 - fml -, not only did one of the alternative tv monitors display the Raptors-Knicks spanking - -, but I crushed the 1-2-5 PLO game like nobody’s fracking business, getting my bluffs through and squeezing the living shyt out of every ounce of EV like this game was but a GIANT lemon yo There was a 5-10-25 PLO game running, but I didn't feel comfortable enough in my 4 card game for higher than 5-10... If it had been a 10-25-50 NLHE game though, I would of definitely carved it up yo until the weeeee hours

My Japanese massage lady friend was also at the casino tonight, but things will remain at the platonic level ; she is a great chick, but she would need to be a GREATER-than-great one for me to ever envision moving to Calgary Also, there was an awkward moment that arose a month ago when we dined together ; we were enjoying our conversation and took 3-4h to make it through our meals, as the flow of our dialogue was punctuated by some slow nibbling, but never pressured in any way... So when the bill arrived and was placed at the centre of the table, I was in no rush to grab it, instead focussing my awareness in the moment... And as I was about to say :

- "You don't mind if I get the bill", you know, as the equalitarian gentleman that I am... but she made a go for it and promptly interjected :

- "I guess I will get it since I am welcoming you to Calgary"... WAIT WHAT!?!?! FML Again, I am all for women rights, am a feminist and all and a fracking modern man, but this just did not feel right. At f**king all Especially not while trying to court her A small incident, mind you, but one that I still regret a month later


Thx bro Am back in the real world just in time for some upcoming NBA playoffs yo ; GL to us both, OKC and Toronto respectively


Yeah, just outside Lake Williams. Man I hope he gets some success in Montreal as he did in Junior league...

Cool about your upcoming trip. One activity that I would highly recommend in Mtl even if it happens to be a little hippyish, is to go to the Sunday Tamtams by the statue on the Mont-Royal mountain ; this Sunday drum gathering of a few thousand (upwards of 10k souls some sunny summer Sundays) is the biggest in the world and reunites some of the best jugglers, Capoeira practicers, acrobats and other artsy stuff of the world It is a must. As is Le Lac des Castors on top of the same mountain (there is only 1 mountain in Montreal).




+100$ online in 4h and +1.1k live in 2h


Run good all

OMCs Hell's Bells

It only took 2h (and some excellent run good in the process ) to meet my quartly goals yo But, alas, instead of taking advantage of the softness of some virtual weekend warriors, I decided that it would be WAY more fun to go battle it out with some OMC’s in a nightly 105$ tourney So I put on my OMC MTT grinding shoes, laced them up, went to the mall to do some final pre-Lima errands, deposited/exchanged all my CAD$/save 2 bullets for the MTT and proceeded to the casino with a grin on my face yo

#MakePokerFunAgain

It is kinda cool to reflect upon the fact that live pokerz went from being my bread and butter (there was a time when a 100-200$ live SnG would be part of my grind as were 1-2-5 games) to a strict form of entertainment

In other more mundane news, being back in Samsara comes with its own brand of challenges, does it not… I was never one for wanting to completely transcend the material world or aspire to put on the (monk) robes or whatnot, but this time around, I have less cravings for the outside realm that I usually do. Opening up my computer to scan 2 + 2 or getting the latest news on the Raptors/Montreal Canadiens holds that much less appeal… Finding out if Trump has perhaps blown up half the planet has loss its usual curiosity upon me…. To see if the Brexit plans have succeeded or if the UK has simply drifted into the Atlantic Gulf simply leaves me completely unfazed… Even Quebec’s new centre-right government and their half-arsed racist agenda (almost) flows over my head, that and the fact that some French Canadian peeps confuse ambitions of national revolutionary leftist dreams of Grandeur with xenophobia… But then the question remains : is this worldly detachment not a tinge too nihilistic… Does this peaceful acceptance of what is come at the detriment of assertive action…

Now that I got some of the outside world jitters out of the way and am looking ahead to a new Latin American adventure, I will be back in the next couple days to detail my 2nd Quarterly goals AKA Peruvian style yo. At first glance, it seems I will have a full schedule occupied not necessary from the grind, but from other areas like meditation, studying (both Spanish and poker), exercising, creating my own website and going fracking deep into the Spirit world on ayahuasca yo




+5.4k in 6h online and +1k in 4h live


Run good all

Ayahuasca ceremony is on my bucket list, interested in hearing about your experience. Have you been to Machu Picchu?

LayOvers

Well, if I was avoiding taxis by privileging buses in the last stint of my European trip in the name of saving monies, such has not been the case in Calgary where I booked close to 300$ in Uber expenses Of course, knowing that I should not go beyond the 10k in expenses for the next 3 months kinda brings me back to a carefree attitude yo

4h + 8h of flights with a 4h delay in between in Montreal is today's flying itinerary. I will also have to pass Peruvian immigration, collect my luggage, jump in my organized late night ride and most likely arrive at 3am in San Isildro ; that said, one should definitely not complain about Mtl-Lima direct flights, especially when it means avoiding the USA immigration office where I would of spent an extra hour+ being interrogated for past marijuana usage/arrests

Am meeting up with my Peruvian pretty lady friend tomorrow in Miraflores where we will consume some lovely ceviche before strolling around underneath the (hopefully) delightful sun Good times I tell you, good times

I will definitely share it ITT (or the travel one), no doubt. Had I linked before my Medium article about my previous Aya journey...?

https://medium.com/@jeansergebaril/b...wn-9f0123584e1

I had an interesting conversation with a meditator fellow a few days ago about plant-induced psychedelic journeys. According to this guy (and me as well), a different Spirit is associated with each plant... I have only done Ayahuasca, but I do know from experience that 2 distinct Higher Spirits are indeed linked to each of Vipassana meditation (Dhamma) and Aya, the latter being female while the former is male. Lol @ monotheists beliefs

Yup : https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=504




+5.4k in 6h online and +1k in 4h live


Run good all

Lima Style, Part 2

Alright, time to leave behind all those aspirations of transcending life and death, right, and fully engage Samsara again So without further ado about nothing (or everything…), here are my 2nd quarterly goals :

Da Pokerz : While I will be splitting my attention moreso than I did in 2019 (and will be aiming for a floor of 6 digits, not 1/4 million), the game still remains at the core of my livelihood. So I will be gunning for a modest yet respectable 25h+ weekly (with 2-3h of live thrown in there as entertainment value). As far as winnings goes, 50k would put us comfortably on track for the year, but anything over 30k is just fine

Studying : Reaching for the heavens here (for me) with a projected 3-4h a week in the lab (mainly videos but some Pio work). I realize that when combining poker with my other extracurricular activities, this load will be heavy. But I have never been one to take things lightly, so if I manage to maintain balance in my life, the happiness levels should be high enough yo

Spanish : Will not force the issue here, but an hour Skype course per week with 2h of television (or a movie at the cinema) should be decent starting grounds. Of course, I should LARGELY surpass this basic level and given that my weekly Skype lesson has been more of a social activity than anything else (we just chat it up which no longer requires a great level of effort from me), this should be easy moving forward. After all, the hardest part of integrating myself in Espanol is now happily behind me yo

Exercise : Will again set my sights pretty low here with 1 session of either tennis or Bball weekly. I think the latter is more likely as it only requires from me to go purchase a basketball and head to the hoops with no partners required (I do enjoy running around shooting hoops by myself). I would also like to include running in my regime, but perhaps only if I get a flat with a gym…

Weight Loss Bet : I should be in the vicinity of 198lbs right now, hence approximately 6lbs away from binking the bet with still 5 months to go ; easy-peasy game yo I will aim for 190lbs by September though in order to play it safe. My ultimate goal is to set my ceiling at 185lbs (by end of 2020, I guess…).

Writing : So the plan is to not work that much on my novel until 2 years down the road where I will (hopefully) have reduced to 12-15h/week my poker volume, and thus be focusing heavily on meditation/volunteer work/writing instead. What I do plan on doing in the next quarterly though, is to create my personalized novel-writing site while continuing to put my name out there through this blog and other socia-media platforms

Meditation : Along with my standard 2h a day, I want to do some volunteer work within the Vipassana community in Lima. Which should be like a full day of service once a month. I will also continue with my 1 day retreats when my fatigue/mental exhaustion become overwhelming. This said, I will not do another long term in retreat in 2019 and perhaps not in 2020, save 10 day of service in the kitchen of a meditation centre, for example.

Ayahuasca : At least 1 journey. And to go f**king deep to scrutinize at its root level the origins of mind of matter yo, that is what I am seeking as Spiritual truths this year

Love : If things work out with my Pretty IT friend, than great, if not, I guess it would be foolish to aim for anything else than a 1-2 month relationship. I will most likely not remain single though, even if it remains more at a short term level.

Other : Trying a ton of different restaurants, visiting Lima’s attractions (the lookout on the mountain, the islands, the zoo etc.) see theatre plays/music shows, go dancing and checkout a few destinations missed last time like Iquitos, or perhaps the north…




+300$ in 3h this week



Run good all

Landing on My 2 Feet

Just barely set foot in Lima that I have already made out with a lady, put on my shorts for the first time since last summer, got me a phone #, an apartment for the first month (albeit quite pricey, but tranquil ) and am rolling my Spanish tongue like a mama-fracking gangsta yo

It seems like being productive will be much easier with a stable life. Not that I was lacking in the production department previously, but I am just excited about what I can accomplish in the next quarterly

This week will be dedicated grinding, studying, finding a bball court, going to catch a movie, play some live pokerz, purchase some glasses, having dinner with my lady friend and doing something different this weekend (which will involve exploring new parts of this city ).




-100$ in 3h


Run good all

Sedentary Grounds

Well, it’s done : I booked my apartment in San Isidro for 2 months, thus committing myself for the long haul in Lima. As much as I appreciate the districts of Miraflores and Barranco, San Isidro simply outclasses them in terms of tranquility yo Anyhow, even if things do not pan out with my lady friend (and they are off to a good start), I can definitely be happy as a single man over here (if anything, my 15 minutes on Tinder got me a few matches and dozens of likes ).

It’s been a productive past 24h with a 3k+ profit in 8h of grind, 2h of studying (a Spanish course and a Sulsky video), some exploring of San Isidro, but perhaps the most remarkable, has been the lack of idle time involved in mindlessly surfing online that I usually partake in... Too often I find myself seeking by all means to consume right upon awakening instead of meditating and getting my day started with purpose. I usually browse for an hour or so the bball news, 2 + 2, other socia-media before finally sitting in a Buddha position. So anyhow, I want to pursue this more mindful approach to my day, hence instilling all my actions, be it virtual or real, with intention as opposed to passively getting sucked in…

I will go purchase a basketball and a scale tomorrow, both with the intention of binking that weight loss bet yo I will also go check out Atlantic City Casino and Marriott Hotel to take a look at the games, to see if they have a tourney worth playing (300-500$+ once a month would do) and what nights PLO is being played on (a 1-2 game, but could be decent if we can get the 5$ straddle going). I will by no means be playing more than 3-5h weekly live, but it remains a good social outlet/a way to further practice my Spanish.

That’s it for now ; hopefully this Lima run good continues (we have just crossed the 50$/h mark for 2019 and would like to be beyond the 3 digit threshold at some point during this quarterly yo ).




+3.5k in 11h


Run good all

The Bank

Things are going quite smoothly insofar as expenses go ; I should be easily able to stay within the allocated 10k for this quarterly yo Most of my expenses will be dedicated to lodging (40%) and all these fancy restaurants I love to indulge in (although I usually tend to prefer a local joint that offers magnificent ceviches/parihuellas, even if I just reserved at Maido AKA the 7th best rated restaurant in the world for end of May yo ). Nevertheless, it feels good to have cut by half my expenses that were mounting up in Europe and having made 5 digits online in the past week yo

The nearest basketball court is located 35 minutes walking distance away, so not sure if I am willing to go out of my way just to shoot a few hoops… I did message a German expat yesterday that was looking for a tennis partner, playing a few tennis sets being the ideal scenario that I would prefer doing. Regardless of which I end up doing, I will probably do a combination of walking-running to get there/uber to get back. In the end, with whichever I end up choosing, I will stick to it at a minimum of once a week, as part of having more stability in my life is to indulge in a more healthy and productive schedule yo

I will go check out the casinos tonight to also establish a live grinding night. Along with these 2 activities, I will be adding a weekly Vipassana group sit (held in a household of a meditator within which usually 10 of us meet up. This gathering will not only add to my social outings, but permit me to do some volunteer work within the community) and then a combination of cinema, theatre plays, dancing, musical concerts, dining and visiting. Pretty cool to have so many leisure activities to do when as I got pretty bored floating around as a tourist on the Old Continent a couple of months back




+3.7k in 13h


Run good all

Your threads are one of the best here on 2p2, very good reading.

And love Peru and it´s cuisine. Can´t wait to go back there, hopefully this year.

Keep posting good stuff as always, and GL!!!!

Freeing the Princess

Running good is so easy Da pokerz becomes smooth again, you forget those 500k hands that you just ate shyt hand after hand after han... and become an entitled little f**k again, right, where you (innerly) start whining when you fail to fade that 80-20%, completely oblivious to the fact that you dodged the previous 10 in a row Once again you play any Reg HU, challenging them, their siblings, their grand-children and friends of friends You manage to play a 3h session str8 without a break even if your doc would never in a fracking blue moon recommend to put your 42 year body and brain through the exposure And perhaps more importantly, the world belongs to you again ; from the top of ur throne you oversee ur Kingdom, expanding from one multiverse to (through, around, across...) another yo

So the 20-40 NLHE game has apparently come to termination... But, I mean, how long can you sustain such stakes consisting of a couple of handful of peeps in a 2nd world country... The pro(s) are going to eat up the ecosystem, especially if they don't get it, and the recs will need a damn good reason to come back outside of positive variance sometimes going their way. Anyhow, outside of the standard 2-2 NLHE games (raked at 4%, capped at 13$), their is a 5 card PLO 2-5 (10) game (min BI of 400$, raked at 3$). So my weekly live grind will consist of splashing around in this game, most likely on Thursday-Friday's, as their was only 5 peeps yesterday in it. They do require for you to play a minimum of 3h (to prevent hit-n-runs), but since they also have massage ladies this year (40$/h), this will not be a problem for yours truly


Thx for chiming in friend, it always feels great to get these kind of compliments

Which reminds of a 2 + 2er from Romania who sent me a PM when I was in Bucharest - shout out bro -, we met up, had a great dinner/discussion and I got to hear about his life story and vipassana meditation retreat which, man, it always feel great to get the feedback that this blog has influenced - as minuscule as it might be - someone to dip deep into meditation




+7.6k in 19h


Run good all

Routines

Am really happy with my volume this week (and even moreso with the results ), a standard I will be looking to duplicate this quarterly (25h+ online-3h live). I might be able to put in a few hours this WE, but will be most likely looking to free up my Saturday-Sundays.

I saw my lady friend yesterday and while I enjoy our friendship/time together, I do not think this will be a long term thing... The spark is simply not there, even though she is a really cool chick and has these qualities I (logically) seek. While I would not mind being casual with her (already am), the attention that I keep getting on Tinder and other apps, is just fracking tempting

My journey with women has been an atypical one, to say the least. If I was called pizza-face and other not so endearing terms during my teenage years - ehhhh my acne was pretty severe -, when my face cleared up at the age of 17, I just could not ever fathom that I could ever get this much attention from girls I mean, even the hottest chicks gave me these luscious looks and God I was suddenly bathing in a Paradise of lustful delicious pleasures yo

These trend continued in my 20s, but my 30s saw me gain a lot of weight and, you know, get fracking old and whatnot. I did manage to reverse (a little) this gaining a tummy tangent (am semi-respectable nowadays), but - ehhhhhh, how to put this... -, long and behold, I gradually lost that coveted attention that I had grew accustomed/entitled to You know, apparently there is this thing in physics called entropy that f**king pushes you in an irreversible linear (ageing) direction and you wake up one day and the mirror returns this unrecognizable image of a fracking wrinkled old man But what I failed to realize, right, as we have this toxic tendency to still desire the 20 year chicks as if we did not get older every year (while they stay the same age ), is how much attention I still got within women of my age Like a lot. Across the world. Or in Canada, as well. Everywhere. I had never lost it, really (minus a few years of being overweight...), I had just (naturally) grown along my ageing generation It sounds like simple math, right, but sometimes we are just that dumb... Or at least I am If I remain still stoopid af this week, I nonetheless ran like a fracking God yo




+7.4k in 26h online and +100$ in 2h live


Run good all

Da Peruvian Grind

Week 1 in Lima is in the books yo and am pretty happy with my overall poker results Perhaps more importantly, I managed to engage A TON socially while still being productive af, to the extent that I wonder where was all this extra time wasted upon during my previous Lima passage... I seem to remember a slight uptick in the poker volume, sure, but not enough to justify my lack of social activities as compared to this time around... I believe that part of it is that nowadays try to be productive upon waking up in the morning as oppose to mindlessly browsing online... We will see, right, as this is just the first week and mayhaps I will get bored of this city and thus revert to my old habits...

On the dating front, I went on a date yesterday ; however, call me superficial and whatnot, but it is pretty annoying to know upon first contact that this will never go anywhere to the extent that you start thinking about the exit plans I do hope to settle into a mid-term relationship sometime soon, but in the meantime, I got a shytload of dates lined up

In other (sports) news, after the Habs last minute elimination from the playoffs - gggrrrrr -, it is soon time to turn our attention towards the NBA playoffs yo The first round for our Raptors should be a breeze - for once, right... - leading to a VASTLY more interesting potential 2nd round matchup vs Philadelphia. The fracking overrated 76ers, might I add Not as OVERRATED as the Boston Celtics, for sure, but nevertheless some spoiled little fracking media darlings Of course, I would of preferred to gives the Celts a spanking, but Philadelphia will do And the conference finals should deliver us Milwaukee Bucks, fml The question is : will Leonard remain if we lose in the 3rd round, or is making it to the Finals necessary...? I think the latter would be (almost) a lock given his public statements lately, while the former would provide us with decent odds/AKA a coin flip slightly going our way... like 22 vs 34, you know, where we are seemingly (publicly) not seen as the preferred destination, but nonetheless hold a 1% advantage to everyone's dismay...




+8k in 27h online and +100$ in 2h live


Run good all

Starting Lines

And so starts the 2 weekly rake-race... Ready... Set... GO!!!

I put in a solid 3h yesterday evening to put myself ahea right off the gate ; but, alas, I woke up to find myself unexpectedly in 3rd It did not take along to boost myself in my rightful leading spot though

This is the second race of the 4 part bi-monthly rakerace (I finished 8th in the previous one, while however only playing the 2nd week of it) and peeps seem to not dedicate themselves much, hence I hope they will do the same in the next 2 weeks yo

Outside of the grind (which should see me cross the 35h threshold in volume...), I have a packed week with social activities yo Like 3 dates lined up, 2 of them with gf material ladies (a 42 pretty Yoga teacher and a 35 Engineer that loves travelling ) and a hot (seemingly) gold digger chick Even if I still enjoy somewhat the dating process (and am a foodie after all, so I always enjoy the company yo ), it would be nice to settle down into something semi-substantial...




-700$ in 6h


Run good all