Hahahaha the room looks too familiar to me!!

Keep crushing! Will be following!

I thought meditation was supposed to encourage austerity, not $100/hr massages?

Thx bro

Put in 4h today, managed a 300$ profit, despite my ranges being a little off and spots not as instinctive as a direct result of playing live for a week.


Sure. Yet I do not believe it is as black and white as it is made out to be.

Outside of the fact that I was going to indulge a little bit in some form of excess after my Dawson summer ascetic grind, I think that some people jump too excessively in the monastic/self-denial discipline that can be meditation. I have met more than a handful of meditators that were outright denying their desires in an unhealthy matter all in the name of spirituality. Which seems counter-productive, me thinks.

I am more in favour of the middle path. Of going slowly. Of guilty pleasures. Of balance. This said, I am by no means a saint/monk. I come from a heavy past of drinking, depression and anxiety. I still eat meat. And am a professional gambler. And sometimes an arse. Yet I am definitely on the right path. Have noticed my temptations slowly dissipating themselves. My addictions, become much less stronger. And have just str8 out become a better person over the years (even if I still have a ton of shyt inside of me ).

Hummmm, writing these lines is making me quite excited about the next 11 days of meditation

Peace all

Getting Back

Hard to shake off the dust, brush away the rust and hit the virtual tables with the same clarity after sitting in a Buddhist posture, eyes closed, for 10 days straight, but was satisfied enough with my ranges/instincs in my game today

I have 3 weeks in Montreal before hitting the Old Continent : 3 weeks to spend with friends and family - of course - and enough time to settle into a stabilizing enough routine for the virtual grind. I think gunning for 35h weekly is easily realistic, netting 5k should be a decent goal, or at least enough to cover my MTT buy-ins and expenses during the WPT (3.9k + a 1.1k Bounty that am contemplating on playing...).

Been looking into purchasing some crypto but darn, did not think that it would warrant that many steps to purchase that shyt Also kicking myself for delaying this bitcoin investment, as it doubled in the past month, for fracking Pete ****ing sakes

If initially I was planning on visiting a few countries in Europe 20s backpack style yo , I now see myself more visiting 2-4 cities/towns, settling in, finding a comfortable cafe to write in the afternoon, going for walks in the evening and adopting more of a sedentary sorta lifestyle while on the Ole Continent . Any suggestions folks in Eastern Europe? Also been hesitating about going to the US of A after all this winter and might just skip out on Florida and NO in favour of more time spent in Colombia or Argentina... We will see.

Run good all

Sideway Perspectives

I dropped 2.7k in 3h today. What comes to mind in hindsight, is the ease with which I took the initial 1.7k in 2h hit this morning, barely feeling any negativity in the process. Nada. Zilch. Not a ****ing emotional dent. Kind of makes me grateful of my present state of mind when a thundery blow on the felt feels like a mama fracking Sunday breeze, yo

But it does bring up a few questions though. Stuff like : am I taking the swings too light-heartedly? Does the money not faze me enough anymore? Or more importantly : am I being too cocky? All of which are answered with a simple no, as being balanced and centered in the face of the storm, is the way to go yo

I guess this is probably what separates poker for other competitions - and perhaps sports in general... -, is that clear boundary in between will power and balance of mind. In sports, sheer determination might get you across the finish line... in the red zone... or underneath your opponent's skin... In poker, too much stubbornness might net with an unhealthy dose of tilting, where as a balance mind will permit you to make it through the tough evening, get up, smile, and live to fight another day

Anyhow, we are 2k down in 2 days, setting us back on our 5k Montreal mini-challenge which, in the midst of the macrocosm, Grand Universe and Great Scheme of things, is ****ing peanuts



Automn in Quebec




Run good all

One of the most important things in poker, which i ve learned the hard way (is there ever any other?)..
Mental strength - never play scared money and let the money affect ur decisions.

I still struggle a bit with the higher end of my abi on that (i play mtts) but i think is a gradual and constant improvement from my part.

Glgl rest of the "mini" challenge dude share some hands when/if you like

Cheers!

Yeah, I do believe this non-chalant of attitude of mine towards money, is one of the many benefits derived directly from my practice of meditation In fact, I act in similar fashion in life by tagging along with the flow - for the most part - and worrying less about stuff outside of my control This said, there is a (somewhat) more worrisome new trend of mine towards lower stakes that has seemingly nestled in... Stuff like dismissing a 330$ live MTT, for instance, as being too low of a buy-in to warrant the grind (while my ROI could possibly be in the 100-150% range)... Or looking beyond any 1-2 NLHE game, while the winrate might meanwhile be potentially superior than say a 2-5 or 5-10 game... In the end though, I guess it is like anything in life though where you need to establish a certain equlibrium in between being detached from the swings and letting your ego dictate the stakes/games you play.

As far as hand histories goes, I do not share many of them lately (outside of some rare ones that hold a ton of humour or a big WOW factor), adopting the standard 2+2er attitude of not wanting to make the games any tougher than they are already. Anyhow, thx for chiming in man

And oh, I wrote the following yesterday about one of my favourite shows of all time, Mr. Robot.

edit : and up 1.4k in 2h today, so looking much better

Fsociety

Worms. Malware. Trojans. A myriad of bugs crawling underneath the surface, underlining your every move ; itching, nabbing, biting at the pores!!!

In a virtual realm where accessibility and facility preceded any attempts at security, the users were always going to end up exposed, vulnerable and a victim for the taking on a F***ing stake.

Our democracy has been hacked






Are you a 1 or a 0? I ask again : are you a 1 or a 0?







Life is not that binary



Season 3 is back with a vengeance. Instilling that creepy tone. Surreal atmosphere. A dark, dreamlike spectrum. A binary-shizo-modern-shyt-land-of-Trumpist-reality.

Fun Society. F*** Society. F***ing Frack Society. And F*** those creepy crawlers that want to sneak in, infiltrate us, install a backdoor into our system, an open, infected breach. F*** them. Mr. Robot is back Fsociety

Always nice to snag a good photo from the comfort of an auto, the mist shrouded ridge looks a lot like the Shawangunk range just NW of NYC and our little section near Easton (hometown) the Kittatany ridge which makes sense because it is in fact the same ancient chain of rocks.

Are you playing anything besides NLH online? Do the Montreal casinos spread non Holdem games if so which types & stakes just curious. GL and hope you change your mind about FL it's a great time of year the bugs are starting to hibernate!

Poker Not Dead

2017, and poker still not dead. You can kick a good game down, inflict a ton of regulations upon it, attempt to delegitimize it with multiple scams, forbid it in numerous countries, segregate its poker pool, increase its fees/rake and reduce its exposure on television, yet you cannot keep a good game down. Nope. Nah. Not even in 2017.

The negativity around the table is another story all together though. As is the pros discussing too much pros stuff, not realizing that nobody gives a f*** about their artificially enhanced ego. Or the generalized fatigue. Omniscience of smart phones. And lack of direct communication. Yet, poker not dead.

It does help that the BBJ is just over 1 mil, yo Speaking of which, heard the following story courtesy of mfbKevin35 :

A few weeks back, the back beat jackpot was binked on the turn ; it went a little something like this : QQJ flop, K turn, the money goes in, 1 player has QQ while the other is holding 910 for the str8 flush. The cards are exposed, everyone at the table is absolutely ecstatic, most notably the future winners of 250k and 500k, of course But then, in the most heartless ironic fashion in the world, the river brings out How sick is that...




+2.2k online in 6h and +200$ live in 3h in the past couple of days


Just NLHE online. Omaha is not as popular in Montreal as it is in western Canada, which tilts the juicyness towards the holdem games, thankfully. As far as my game selection is concerned, I am just playing online and MTT events. I don't see much point in playing any cash games underneath 5-10 live - barring a desire for socializing.

Florida is a coin flip at this point, but will definitely let you know if I end up going Hank




This thing called traffic that I did not miss at all


Run good all

The Rooster

The grind has paled in importance in comparison to stuff like family time, getting my European trip ready or even just enjoying my time in Montreal, which might explain how I have rewired my schedule to be more in harmony with, you know, normal people Part of it though is that my folks are loud as frack in the mornings and pay no attention to night owls like myself ; the other is that I WILL NOT SHOW UP LATE FOR THE WPT EVENTS, will not mentally snooze at the table during the early levels, will not sleepwalk through the mid levels hoping to sneak seeminglessly into Day 2 Nope, nope and NO I will make a deep run and cash this time around, because, well, I am sick and tired of having no cashes to my name in buy-ins > 1.1k

Finally wrapped my head around the bumpy steps involved in buying cryptos Darn, while I did not actually think it was as accessible as being 1 click away, I did not begin to comprehend the funky spirals through which a buyer has to maneuver around in order to extract the coins offline On the + side, you won't see many babyboomers/old timers make a ton of investments anytime soon

Finally up for the week after digging myself into a 2.7k hole early on Also, on the subject of yesterday's BBJ story, here is a classic one definitely worth checking out if you haven't yet :

http://www.espn.com/espn/poker/colum...ine&id=2316427

Run good all

A little embarrassed to ask but are the dollar amounts posted in your threads in CAD or USD?

Options

As I was driving through Ste-Agathe, a town of 10k people located 86kms north of Montreal in the Laurentides, a couple of things became crystal clear :

- It is f***ing beautiful here

- And I could call this village home








After all, what is keeping me in Dawson nowadays... Certainly not the poker game... Nor the ample choice of single women... Perhaps something has to give... Perhaps next summer will be my last... Perhaps...


No embarrassment needed friend : it is in CAD. In fact, despite Dawson being an odd 60kms from the Alaskan border, I rarely use/think in terms of USD$. Outside of abundant American cruise tourists thinking in terms of Canada being the 51st State (or 52nd, depending on Puerto Rico, I guess...) and thus not always realizing they have entered another country using a different currency (I kid you not : everyday tourists complain about receiving their change in CAD$ ) and some USD$ to CAD$ exchanges at the poker table, I am more in tune with the fluctuations in Euros (I play online in Euros but have my account in CAD$), the price of gold and now cryptos. I did buy a few k in USD$ a couple months ago in preparation for my USA live grind this upcoming winter (got it at market price) and was definitely more immersed into the American dollar when grinding in Phils/Vietnam (carrying American monies) on 888, Stars and Party. Not so much anymore.


Run good all

Week 1 in Montreal

Pretty happy with my first week in La Belle Province overall, managing to get some decent volume despite grinding from 3 different households, hence being flexible enough to sneak in and out of the virtual realm without cutting into my other real life priorities over here. Also dug out quite convincingly of an early 2.7k hole +1.4k in 30h

Much of the same this week, as I will be aiming for roughly 30h (playing live on Thursday while catching the Habs game ), reviewing for 2h my MTT ranges in preparation of the upcoming tournaments (will be playing the 550$ 6 handed, the 1.1k Bounty and the 3.85k ME) and purchasing some cryptos - for the first time - and transferring it offline to a hardware wallet




It wouldn't be Montreal without some grafiti art, right Also, this thread is seriously lacking in old lady pics lately


Up 1.5k in 30m today, thus putting us @ 2.9k in Montreal thus far


Run good all

Early, Too F###ing Early

Repeat to self : "I am sick and tired of not cashing in high buy-in events"... Once again, like a mama-fracking echo..........

I am sick and tired of not cashing in high buy-in events...I am sick and tired of not cashing in high buy-in events...I am sick and tired of not cashing in high buy-in events...I am sick and tired of not cashing in high buy-in events...I am sick and tired of not cashing in high buy-in events...I am sick and tired of not cashing in high buy-in events...I am sick and tired of not cashing in high buy-in events...I am sick and tired of not cashing in high buy-in events

This said, I have been on point of making sure I wake up no later than 9-10 - AM - and snoozing at a semi-respectable time in the evening. And now that I find myself up 2.8k in La Belle Province, am setting my sights for a deep run, yo Anyhow folks, send some good vibes my way, will you




Am seriously lacking in good pics of Montreal, but will work on it...


Run good all

I see you were at mtl casino, how do you find it in comparison to playground?

Cruising along with the online grind and have booked a respectable 3.8k in 46h with still 2 weeks to go in Mtl I can't speak with the same ease about my crypto plans to conquer the world though, as it is giving a f***ing migraine and a half to set up my hardware wallet (done), iphone (not done ) and to finally process the purchase (massive headache ) ; but alas, the coins will soon fall through

I am assuming that you mean the overall action/juiciness? I really can't compare, as my sample size at both is lol. But as far as general observations about the game in Montreal vs the one out west : much, much better, especially for NLHE. The games are simply not what they use to be back there, notably in Van, Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon (albeit, both of the latter from secondhand/hearsay POVs). It is refreshing to see how the games have thrived in La Belle Province - which I assume is the Duhamel effect? and the French Canadian gambling genes as a whole - and it got me thinking about possibly returning here. Of course, live will not be my main game anytime soon - at least I hope... -, but it remains promising to see that we managed to get a list of 8 going for 5-10 on a weeknight at Le Casino de Montreal





Run good all

These are some cool photos! Especially the graffiti old lady!!!

Keep pushing man! Best of luck in November!

Edit: what coins u plan to buy? (If ofc u wanna share)

Ps: Europe plans finilized yet?

Midlife Tangents

I have been gone from Montreal for 18 years. Sure, it has always remained somewhat home - at least my second/third home -, a city where I would zigzag back to once/twice a year, I have family here, some strong and deeply rooted (since highschool) friendships and an obvious cultural identification to a Quebecois upbringing despite considering myself Canadian (and yes, I was a separatist in my early teenage/20s socialist/anarchist days ). Anyhow, when I come back here for a 2-3 weeks annual/bi-annual visit, I alternate in between hanging with different friends, hence catching up with some after a period of years.

I had not seen this buddy for 8 years ; a friend where we once indulged heavily in a few summers of drinking in Dawson, years back But before we get into his story, a little bit of background info.

Our mate is not your most physically attractive guy in the world : he is short, fat and despite having a jolly great personality and all, did not exactly stimulate a whole lot of salivating from the female gender So when he isolated himself in the hermit lifestyle that is camp kitchen work in Fort Mac (Fort McMurray is where the oil fields are in northern Alberta), he decided to to obsessively exercise and lose weight in the process. He came out, months later, slim, healthy, optimistic and horny as f***, of course A few days later, he met his wife to be. And while they did not exactly share common ground on many issues (she is a pretty girly girl, suburban, materialistic and simple, a far cry from his nomadic alcoholic blue collar/cook/Alaskan fisherman background), he fell head over heels for her Long behind were those lonesome nomadic days of finding yourself in South-East-Asia, for instance, questioning the purpose of going around in circles He was happy. Finally happy. But then life ensued. And with it, a certain amount of disillusion.

8 years later and our friend is living in the suburbs, is the son in law of a family he has no affinities with, works a factory job he despises, has no close friends, comes back home to 2 demanding and at times annoying kids, pops anti-depressant pills every morning to cope with his day and his only escape lies in a dreamy realm far away into the future, 20 years down the road, where the simple rural life of SEA hopefully awaits him...

This is the second ex-nomadic buddy of mine that tells me not to have children. A recommendation that I will keep in mind, as I slip into my 40s and the temptation of settling down might creep in... I mean, I hope this post does not come across as being condescending (I have a ton of friends that live a happy sedentary family life and are balanced and all), but it is just that that whole white-picketed-suburban-conformist-scene, would be the death of me. End of story. And pardon my reflective digression, but am happy to continue on this nomadic tangent of mine as a poker pro/meditator/amateur writer/traveller and it feels good to put it into words


Thx bro, that is comforting, giving that I barely snapped a few pics during my time here

Mainly bitcoin, but some ethereum as well. Going to try out an atm tonight (for the second time ).

Yeah, my European plans will be somewhat flexible, but my buddy has convinced me to spend more time in Croatia, then Sarajevo, Serbia, Romania and finally Budapest, where I will flying to Tel Aviv from

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=446

Where are you in Europe friend?




+5.1k in Mtl thus far


Run good all

Always a good feeling, isn't it, to login for a mere 4h everyday and average 1k a session Of course, I do realize the wave will come crashing down imminently ; but in the meantime, let's ride the high tide, shall we, and let's pretend that gravity, decay, old age and all that boring physics is 4 suckahs, alright

The cheapest bitcoin atm is in Gatineau, a 3h drive away. Since I good buddy of mine works for the environment ministry in Ottawa, I will combine business and pleasure, yo. Also, purchasing from an atm borders on the same fees as it would online, minus potentially having the hassle of both my bank and the Canadian government potentially scrutinizing my crypto activities.




+6.4k in 55h


Run good all

Week 2 in Montreal

Happy with the volume, the results - obviously - and my overall state of mind There are a few mornings where I woke up on the wrong side of bed, only needed a few hands not going my way before tilting/finding myself stuck a few hundred in a matter of minutes Both times I walked away from the grind though, meditated, took a nap, came back refreshed and ultimately booked some solid 1k+ wins I don't really have many time or volume constraints this upcoming winter, so playing my B+ game and feeling mentally fresh transcends any other game related concerns ; studying is another story all together though, as I have not spent any time in the lab at all in the past month : +5.4k in 31h, +7.3k in 61h thus far in Mtl

Darn, I have been avoiding to look at the recent surge of bitcoin ; what has it been, up 2k+ in the past 2 weeks, surging up 35% of something stupid I have managed a couple of small purchases, so will hit the road on Saturday and finally buy a decent chunk of coins

Ok, aiming for 40h this week and along with at least 1 cash in my 3 live MTTs





Run good all

The Walk of Shame

I hate live tournaments with a passion An ACUTE, WELL-DEFINED-AND-VERY-PRECISE-ANGRY-PASSION That feeling of being restrained to 1 physical table, seeing about 25 hands an hour - a bit more in a 6 handed tourney, but you get my drift -, of being stuck in an anti-social atmosphere where 5/6 of the players have headphones on (as did yours truly, but you know, I wasn't going to be the lone soul not listening to tunes, right ) ; but nonetheless, things are acceptable enough when you find yourself above average in chips throughout the tournament, pouncing nonstop, to the extent that all the other opponents at the table think twice before going to war against you... but then the bust out hand happens.... You pick up K9 UTG 5 handed, min-raise it, get the weakest player at the table in MP to call and the BB (also very weak) to defend.

Flop (8bbs)
AQJ

After the BB checks, you hesitate in between checking or firing a bullet... My standard is to check in this spot, but I decide to go for a 1-and-done by firing 6bbs... MP makes the call.

Turn (20bbs)
AQJ J

You were about to give up, but hit a gin card to continue ; sure, the J hits his range moreso than yours, but a second bullet will put a ton of pressure on a A or Q (and villain is a terrible hand reader ) ; so you fire 8bbs this time, moreso as a blocker bet and with enough behind to pounce heavily on the river, if need be... Villain looks visibly uncomfortable (he has being wearing his emotions on his sleeve all day long), which is a great sign for us ...

River (36bbs)
AQJ J 5

The 3rd never comes to the rescue, but it matters little doesn't it, as your plans to conquer the world precede everything else ; you push your chips to the middle, all 25bbs left in the clip. To your surprise, villain gets up from his chair, mutters "I can't believe it, I can't believe it", is visibly shaken, mumbles some more, putting on a show that would bring Phil mama-fracking Hellmouth to shame 90 seconds ensue, you feel comfortable with yourself, symbolically pat yourself on the shoulder, already thinking about the pleasure you will get when you flip over the missed gutter/flush draw... until villain sits back down, says "**** it, I call" and shatters your dreams, showing

Tournaments are painful. A dagger. It doesn't help that you have been 0 in a gazillion in MTTs in 2018, bubbling everything that is known to mankind and beyond I have bought in for the ME, but might just skip the bounty tomorrow and grind online instead, because pyjamas, caffeine and multi-tabling LARGELY outweighs single-tabling a live tourney End of rant. And much respect for those that can stomach the variance of single-tabling live MTTs, yo Peace.

On the other hand, The Playground in Montreal simply gets it. The free food. Booze. The comfy chairs. The numerous sports screens. The premium service. The hot-as-frack-sexy-waitresses The cheaper 1$/minute massages. The various promotions, like high hands, 3 BBJs and even 50$ every time the Montreal Canadiens score a goal





Run good all

Scrapbook

- Despite my (roughly) 2.2k downswing in the past few days, I feel confident for tomorrow's WPT main.

- Also, I really want to cash/make a deep run in it... which is definitely not a desired, balanced or rational approach

- you guys heard about Coinpoker, the soon-to-be-launched crypto based poker site :

https://www.highstakesdb.com/8277-co...mber-16th.aspx

- Going to purchase a decent chunk of ether tonight ; I decided to split my crypto action in between bitcoins and ethereum, given that the aforementioned coinpoker uses the latter as its main currency.

- Woke up at 9 am today, right on track to be in tune with the WPT early(ish) start. I did feel fresh(er) in the early stages of the 6 handed tourney last week, which should factor in tomorrow in building up an early chip advantage, yo

- I hope I can knock that first cash in a high buy-in off my bucket list, as it is taking an irrational/nonsensical importance for me in a high variance format

- Regardless, my trip to Montreal has been quite successful thus far : I invested in cryptos, spent quality time with family and friends, did well online and got stuff ready for Europe


Run good all

Whiffaments

Showed up with my A game today : woke up on the right side of the bed, didn't forget to put on my poker/grinding shoes, to flick "on" my spidey senses switch, attacked all the right spots, used blockers accordingly, got away with serial murders and even picked up on the weakness of OMC's EP 3x open, enough anyhow to convince me to flat my AA as to not encourage a fold/deter a squeeze, got him invested enough on the flop when he hit top pair

All in all, my passage in Montreal has been a success ; we did manage to cover all tournament buy-ins +2.5k which, combined with priorities like family time, investing in cryptos, writing, a meditation retreat and even contemplating future life plans, have made this trip quite satisfactory, yo Alright, next is the online grind in Europe before trying another whiffament, in Bucharast this time




You could buy into the WPT events with cryptos. They lowered their fees (making it the cheapest atm in Quebec), which made yours truly quite happy, as he went completely wild feeding the beast nonstop to purchase ether Had at least 5 people stop over and bombard me with questions, a fist pump (for my investment) or their own crypto adventures




It was a fun day and had some good/friendly people at my table




Hummm, still remaining forever evasive


Run good all

Sea - jet - lag

Slowly establishing a grinding routine, over here, in Split, Croatia, just by the shores of the Adriatic Sea :





Despite taking a 2h flight Frankfurt/Split this afternoon and running on low jet lag fuel/little sleep, still managed to put in 6h at the virtual tables, yo In order to reach my quarterly RB milestones, I will need to grind 30-34h weekly, a bit more time that I initially wanted to dedicate to poker, yet still not a legit threat to my travelling plans.




Decent grinding quarters in a value-friendly 30$ nightly apartment


Will be checking out the local casino tomorrow evening which allegedly offers a 1-2 game. Pics to come.

edit : it seems like my crypto investing days are just starting ; you guys heard of Virtue Poker? It seems that Ivey, Rast and Coleman will tag their names to the upcoming crypto-based poker site... It seems promising :

https://www.highstakesdb.com/8294-ph...tue-poker.aspx


Run good all