Marbella

Unbeknownst to me until a few days ago, there are some rake races commencing in a few minutes that I will be dedicated myself to for the next 2 weeks. 1st pays 3.1k while 2nd and 3rd pay 2k and 1.5k respectively. I will be aiming for 35h+ a week and gunning for the top 2 places (it pays top 10). So anyhow, because of (in)conveniences and time restraints, I discarded the idea of slowly climbing up the coast towards Barcelona (no direct trains, time loss in between check-ins and check-outs, changing locations and AirBnBs constantly etc.) in favour of the nearby Marbella, like it was suggested ITT The latter should provide sufficient distractions/entertainment during my non-grinding time. Speaking of which, any suggestions on what to do in Marbella outside of the casino? Like good clubs with live music, salsa or reggaeton dancing? Massage parlours or somewhere to meet (non-working) women?

The rake races goes on for a period of 4 x 2 weeks, hence the next 2 months, during which I will most likely (heavily) commit to two of them (I will be in a retreat for and grinding in Romania live for the 2 others). So yeah, that's it for now, I will put in a couple of hours tonight and get a head start on my rivals yo




6.1k in 30h this week


Run good all

Asymetrically F**ked

Games have been amazing during Xmas - minus today ; but alas, you guessed it… I could not dodge a fracking bullet to save my life It has been quite the interesting graph as far as the virtual realm pertains (see below), with a crazy unprecedented (for me) online run good that climbs cliffs Alex Honnold style yo, followed by one of my top 3 worst run bad to date.





My good (rec) friend attributes a lot of perceived anomalies in poker as otherworldly, which of course encourages his superstitious nature. When he heard echo of my downswong, he tried to make me buy into his pseudo-voodoo thinking, to which I responded “no man, it only strengthens my respect for variance ”. Mathematics precedes all. Life. Nature. The World. The Universe. The fracking Multi-Verses. The All Mighty poker Gods themselves were but a mere Grandiose mathematical Equation preceding (or Transcending) the number Zero yo

Not sure why I booked an AirBnB in the middle of downtown Marbella as opposed to a (20$ a night) cheaper Studio in a resort down the coast… I guess I wanted to be close to everything, but now that I realize that the casino is actually 7kms out of town, it kinda defies the purpose a little… Oh well, at least it is MILES better than the first place which I almost booked that had no fracking wifi included (I realized just before paying for it ). Plus I can indulge in the cafes, cinema and Thai massages in the vicinity yo

After 3 days of grinding, I find myself 2nd in the aforementioned bi-monthly rakerace and 2nd in the monthly one (there is a decent chance I will bink the latter though…). I have been going pretty hard at it - at least for my 41 year old arse brain -, yet the leader pulls ahead whenever he wants to like a fracking youngling hare Kids, I tell you, kids

Chatted it up with a Kenyan-British lady on the bus : I am usually not particularly attracted to black ladies, but darn she was a smoking hot lady Voluptuous af, obviously, and a delight to converse with (but alas, she is already heading back to Malaga tonight/London tomorrow (sad))




Yearly graph including the above one ; -100$ in 18h (went on a 3k upswing since writing the above post yo )


Run good all

Glimpses of the Finish Line

Am moving along gracefully amidst the rakerace challenges while nonetheless - alas - gathering a decent amount of fatigue and stress along the way This said, I find myself within fighting's distance of first in the bi-monthly race (Day 4/14) and 3rd looming faaarrrrr behind yo I also pulled ahead of 2nd place in the monthly one and should be a clear favourite at this point The plan is to go hard this evening in the bi-monthly and thus discourage our rival from even wanting to put on a fight yo I do have the clear advantage during the Holiday period of not having any family around, and hence no commitments as far as dinners or other familial social gatherings goes. We got this folks, we got this

This said, I am falling behind in other areas, namely Spanish and da pokerz studying For some reason, RIO has not been working lately (no omaha studying) and I need to redownload PIO. The plan is still to study PLO until April (regardless of my 4 card game virtual results) to then switch back to some thorough studying of NLHE (Sulsky, Forester and PIO). In regards to Spanish , I should witness some significant strides when I will volonteer in the kitchen at the vipassana centre in Barcelona, and then even more so (hopefully) with a gf in South-America which will pay a ton of dividends Of course, had I stayed with the Colombian chick from Madrid, my Spanish would be a lot superior, but I just did not feel like tying myself down to a single location/lady for the time being...




+2.6k in 23h


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Chasing Fluffy Virtual Dreams

Volume has been good, results so-so and my play slightly above-average. I have dusted off some stacks due to some fatigue/tilt, but such will be the case when I put-in this much volume (and yes, 6h daily online while 8 tabling has become demanding for my 41 arse brain ). Tilt-control is usually the strongest aspect of my game. Not only have I beat demons responsible for that anger reaction when things don't go my way, but 2h of daily meditation over a span of 2 decades has made me quite aware when something disruptive arises inside of me. Like anger. Or that feeling of entitlement after a bad beat. Or just general fatigue. But alas, with more volume comes more mistakes

Anyhow, I find myself just about guaranteed to bink the monthly race (3.5k), so we shall no longer speak of it moving forward As far as the other one goes, I am in first while 2nd is just behind (15% lead) and 3rd also looming not to far away (33% difference). Because my two rivals debut their grind when I just about call it quits for the day (around midnight), it creates this interesting dynamic of me creating some breathing room for myself throughout the day, and them firing all cylinders in the early hours of the morning So the plan is to try to push on through for a couple of hours in the wee hours tonight, and to hence perhaps discourage them from eyeing first place... A bit overly optimistic, I admit, but I find that these races are quite psychological, with one of the rivals oftentimes giving up ahead of time and thus making everyone's life easier. Of course, since we are only on day 5/14, the plan is to make them settle for 2nd and 3rd (both pay dearly, but without much of a margin in between themselves) and leave me the frack alone I know, I know, I am dreaming and might just end up third myself




+2.8k in 28h


Run good all

Spotlight

Mission accomplished : grinded for 7h yesterday, ending with some epic HU matches vs numerous rec players (didn't think that was still possible without some other regs joining ) and some solid results and, thankfully, the 2nd and 3rd places in the rakerace barely put on a fight yo Hopefully they will party-party until the end of times for NYE so I can myself coast along and enjoy some time off I will go strong for the next couple of days which should create enough of a buffer... I think that when I get out of my meditation retreat in Barcelona and get involved in other one of these rake races, I will gun for 2nd or 3rd as opposed to binking it, as it is too fracking exhausting

Given that the grind has occupied my mind - a bit toooo much actually -, it comes as little surprise that my social life has inversely taken a hit. This said, there is still some developments on the lady front, with a heartfelt video chat with our Israeli lady friend yesterday Man is she ever a determined lady She runs every week (at least 10-20kms), she is studying Masters degree in law (on top of her pharmacist related job (she already has a PHD)) and voluntears teaching Hebrew to newly arrived immigrants Busy... Busy af I tell you Anyhow, we will keep in touch as you never what will unwind down the road (she wants to eventually move to Europe). South America seems out of the question, but she has nonetheless reissued her Tel Aviv invitation which I might or might not accept (I would go for 10 days or so after the tourneys in Romania).

There is also a sexy af (BIG boobs ) 29 year old Tinder chick that sent me an invite for NYE. Here is the thing though : it is a low key dinner with 5 friends, all of which are couples. Which is fine and I would snap-accept if we were to interact in French or English, but my Spanish is strong enough for group conversation. It requires too much focus. And this aptitude to adapt simultaneously to different tone of voices, rapidity of speech and even accents, is just too f**king taxing at this point ; I still need to listen attentively af to get the general sense, it only hence takes a little bit to threw me off my game I did invite her to dinner and a night out dancing just the two of us - ehhhhh, I do want me some of that action yo -, but she has not got back to me

My Mexican-Spanish teacher will for sure be tagging along for 10 days in Argentina in April yo She has booked her ticket (or will do so officially Monday), so that will be nice. She does have a bf who happens to be the father of her 1 year old son, so I will obviously approach this as being on friendly/platonic terms.

And oh yeah, there is this Peruvian chick that seems really interesting... You see, in the online dating world, you have to weave through a myriad of uninteresting and repetitive profiles - think copy-paste profiles of pretty chicks from Asia, Africa or Latin America looking for older men to provide them with citizenship/financial security. Nothing wrong with that, but my criteria differs greatly in the sense that I am looking for a smart, independent, pretty lady that would challenge me on a daily basis. An equal. Anyhow, this girl is 35, works in IT and is looking to do her Masters degree either in Montreal or Toronto.

As yall can tell, a big part of my social distraction for the past 5 days, has been of the virtual kind I have been walking around, writing, did get a massage and am hanging out in restaurants and cafes, still lets hope I can bink this rakerace sooner rather than later to let loose a little more yo




+5.2k in 36h


Run good all

Backwards Progression

Reminder to Self : I will not burn myself out gunning for 1st place when I come out of my meditation retreat in Barcelona

I mean, the games have been good and even though fatigue/tilt has been more of a factor than usual, I am nevertheless playing a solid B- game with lots of spurts of my A game. But I wake up stressed, my body always tensed and while meditation helps get rid of some of it, I remain a fracking corpse much like when I push myself during week long tournament events I should nonetheless be able to coast starting Tuesday, assuming villain gets drunk/hungover for NYE I will myself be going out from like 10-3 tomorrow evening (casino then checking out the clubs for dancing), but will nonetheless resume the grind upon arrival just to stick that dagger deeply into villain's aspirations

Looking forward, I will be moving around much more after Barcelona with plans to visit a couple of locations in northern Spain, followed by Italy and Malta. So will probably aim for 5 different cities during that 3 week stretch, before ultimately take a flight Malta-Bucharest. It sounds like a solid plan, a solid plan indeed Now if I could just get through another 1-3 days of intense grinding




+4.3k in 43h

Run good all

Costa Del Sol

Puerto Banus is richer than I expected it to be. Blend. Colourless. Flashy. But I am not sure what else I should of expected when there are some (relatively) biggish poker games running I booked an apartment just by the casino and while I do not intend of grinding much live, I will certainly go once or twice to play me some 2 card Omaha yo Now that the rakerace is all but won, I will have much more free time to dispose of yo

Speaking of which, it was pretty much last Friday that villain waved the white flag and called it quits on me. Which was perfect timing as, long and behold, I found myself nailed to the couch with some otherworldly food poisoning - ehhhh, this is my last time going into a sushi buffet I had it all, you name it... Cringe-worthy vomit. Glacier fever. Disheartening tummy ache. And this nagging temptation to sleep until the end of times And yet I still managed to login a few hours, if only to further dissuade villain from ever making a last minute attempt That’s it for now folks




+2.1k in 9h


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Banged Up

I have been in an emotional slump since being struck down by a flu over the New Years It is ironic : you find yourself on the other side of the world with a bunch of disposable money, free time, good health, decent physical looks, AKA in a situation that so many would dream of, yet… you fall into this self-loathing pitfall of lack of motivation, spending too much time in bed ruminating on "what to do" and "where to go from here".

Of course, these bouts of depressive solitude are pretty standard as far as long term travelling goes, even if they too often remain untold of… They disappear in the silent background of those ohhh-sooo magnificent sunset pics posted on social-medias… They are these unspoken words when we fail to communicate with family/friends back home for “just a few days”… I am usually not much inclined to indulge in this loneliness, as I am a fortified loner traveller and usually find peace within myself - or at the very least take pleasure in going inwards in most of my chosen activities -, so it was with an alleviated confidence that I approached the Holiday season despite being solo… But, alas, we are never above and beyond potential emotional downfalls, right

Needless to say, but this upcoming meditation retreat is approaching at just about the right time. And I know that it is with a renewed freshness that I will step outside of it, prompt to advance towards my dreams once again I did meditate for a much needed 5h yesterday and thus woke up happy for the first time in what felt like ages Anyhow, not going to dwell on this negativity, but I find it important to put it out there in words.

Am going to the casino tonight. If not, not much grinding this week, as my rivals simply let me run away with the rakerace yo




0$ in 17h


Peace

Live Grind a l’Espanol

Finally made it to the casino yesterday after multiple tries Disclaimer : outside of MTT events and playing in Dawson with familiar faces, I have lost that zest for live poker. The stakes make it less of a grind/appeal for me, and the atmosphere… well, can leave one pondering as to why the f**k he is there Casino Marbella was much of the same with 1 single table of action, a vast poker room left vacant, 1 lone tv showing futbol which, while I hold a TON of respect for the game, I just cannot get into it ; and on the other side of VIP section, there was a few whales silently (and morosely) gambling away at the highstakes BJ tables. Pretty dreadful, tbh. As far as the game went, it was a 2-5 which played fairly deep (max BI of 1500 Euros/300bbs), but the rake was just plain stupid : 5% capped at 25 Euros On top of this, the game was nitty af, there was no massage lady, no live music and I dropped 1.5k

I am slightly concerned with my virtual WR moving forward, especially when factoring in my run bad at the end of 2018, even if I did turn it around ultimately… I want to maintain an hourly exceeding 100$/h (averaged 150$/h in 2018), although I fear that this might be difficult for some reason… More on this in a couple of weeks though, as I will not be playing for the next 14 days yo

Because I will be waking up at 4-6am during my Barcelona retreat, I will not be sleeping tonight, forcing myself to remain awake until 11pm tomorrow evening. I do have some running around, shopping, hopping on a plane and the likes to do, so will remain occupied enough. The centre is located an hour north of Barcelona which I will head to on Tuesday morning.

I have been feeling much better emotionally for the past couple of days (mostly due to an increase amount of meditation), but I know that I need to release a good amount of shyt. Ohhhh, it never ends, doesn’t it, it is just a fracking eternally long path

The PCA 25k is on the way right now and darn, scrolling down the list of players, seeing all the Montreal regs in there, a few Western Canadian players, all the Leah-Greenwood's of the world, and I wish I was there Nonetheless, I am looking forward to playing some live events soonish




-100$ in 19h online and -1.5k in 5h live this week


Be well All

No idea how this thread doesn’t get more traffic, got to be my favorite pgc. You are living the dream man.

Live poker is an on again off again relationship for me. I had basically written it off, but was in Vegas recently and had quite a bit of fun playing a few sessions...even though I lost

I had that special congruence of events though with casual players, fun conversation, and 2-3 whales that did not fold pre for any sum of money.

I remember falling into these kinds of emotional slumps when doing the solo travel/poker thing a few years back. That you have such experience with this kind of lifestyle, and, of course, the invaluable art of meditation at your disposal, is great reason for you to remain positive about your predicament. As you know, it's inevitable that you'll feel this way every know and again (could lay claim to some negative life variance, perhaps).

Wish I had the ability to do 5 hours of daily meditation back then. That's some tough stuff! Wise as well.

+1 that this thread is massively underrated. I love the awesome travel pics and whimsical musings. It's so easy to root for you and happy to see that you slayed 2018!

Another (Sports) Rant

Sports commentary rant : I find myself enjoying how the NBA League pass offers the listener the commentary of the local team, thus splitting the air time in between the Raps commentators and the 29 other sports cities (I have been watching all games). Anyhow, even if we are deeply plunged into the day and age of analytics, I understand how sports reporting/journalism still needs to revolve around an established and coherent narrative as opposed to you know, embracing variance, statistics and other more insightful data, as the latter fails to create a good storyline, while sensationalism still does This said, can we f**king get rid of that standardized saying in sports that attests that a player "gave his 110%". Or even 150%, right, when he allegedly really, REALLY - LIKE F**KING REALLY - gave it his all and then some I mean, what happens to that guy that (only) gives 100% of himself... Is he a fracking slacker because he did not go beyond what was physical possible of him I mean, how overrated of a little entitled player are you that you did not defy physics, mathematics and whatnot by not transcending the laws that govern them End of rant

I got evaluated as intermediate-medium for my Spanish spoken and listening skills, which equates essentially to 5/10. It is alright, I guess… My ultimate goal is to be 8/10 (my Spanish does not need to be perfect, just fluid and conversational) and at least a 6 or 7 by August. I will double down on my poker studying when I step back into the outside world after my meditation retreat, as I certainly do not want to fall behind the curve in my livelihood (and my online midstakes PLO is still meh, while I have not studied the 2 card variety for a few months now). I will also be looking to cut down my expenses moving forward, not so much because that my financial future is forever uncertain (my BR can easily sustain excess spending for years, fortunately), but just to renew with a enhanced minimalistic livelihood yo

Thx bro and the luv/appreciation feels great, especially when one finds himself a bit more emotionally fragile lately, you know

Yeah man, word. They are indeed quite natural and to be expected.

On meditation front : because I have now been practicing vipassana on a daily basis for 15 years, it is impressive how a 6 hour stretch of meditation will release that sticky heavy depression yo God meditation is otherworldly and magical af

Yeah, for me at this point, live cash games require either good conversations, some live music/entertainment or an engaging sports game for me to stick around. It would be obviously different if my bread and butter was live, but fortunately I mainly rely on the virtual felt. That said, nothing beats a live 5k MTT as far as I am concerned. Those deep runs are unparalleled. The recs are excited to be there and the regs usually get it, at least those that usually make it to Day 2-3 (still many annoying wannabees on Day1s, at least from what I have seen).




+3k in 19h online and -1.5k in 5h live


Ok folks, I am signing off for 2 weeks.

Peace Y'all

Just come across your thread and need to do some catch up but your updates are great with good quality. Will be keeping up to date from now on good luck!

Same, but I can't be going over your entire history and the frist post doesn't explain much.

Take it you're playing mostly live in Spain, are you Spanish? What online sites do you play?

Thx bro, I hope you enjoy


I always recommend to start with this post, which takes us back just over a year ago when I was on my way to play Deepstacks Alberta, WPT Montreal and then crossing the pond to Europe

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=241

I am a French Canadian from Montreal, but I speak French-English-Spanish and have been travelling on a permanent basis for 2 decades now.

Ah nice. I always regret not going on the poker travel life when I had the chance back in 2013ish. Virtually busto now so canny do it

Nicely written, sir.

Bump. How's it going? Still in Spain?

Yup. And good. Just out of my meditation retreat and will update tomorrow, most likely...

Thank you friend and yeah, I can see this perpetual movement of mine slowing down somewhat in the upcoming years... And have definitely reached the end of the rope as far as single life goes (but do have a couple of dates this week in Barcelona ).

Glad to have you back in the thread! I hope the retreat returned to your life what you sought. I look forward to the future update(s).

Let's Not Gloss Over the Obvious... Or the Subtle, For that Matter

Intensity. Pain. Suffering. Revolt. Love. Compassion. Lust. Desire. Aversion. Despise. Frustration. Miscommunication. Injustice. Understanding. Growing Pains. So many seemingly irreconcilable emotions were expressed in various ways over the past 2 weeks, most of them innerly, obviously, but some overt and directed towards other peeps. In plain sight. Or even fracking disruptive like the biggest A Bomb ever dropped yo But in the end, the question alas remains : how long will I keep digging out this shyt for... How much have we accumulated... in this life and others... I will be posting a more dreamy/digressive post about my experience in my travel blog, so let's move on to some poker and Barcelona goals, shall we not

Spanish : Mi Espanol took obvious strides while volunteering in the kitchen at the meditation centre - and I certainly hope so, as it was certainly tough af at times -, so outside of my usual Skype courses, and some movies and your standard daily conversations, I will not push the subject furthermore until South America. I am pretty happy with my conversational Spanish atm

Studying : At least 8h in the omaha lab in the upcoming month yo

Dating : I have a date on Wednesday (Venezuelan chick) and Saturday (Filipina). I feel that 1/2 might cancel which is whatever as they remain casual meetings without any long term outlooks. I do have my mind set on going to visit a very interesting Peruvian chick I have been chatting with, even if I had not initially planned on going back so soon to that country.

Poker : We just started a new 2 weekly rakerace today (same payouts as the previous one), so while the grind will be on my mind, I am gunning for a more relax top 3 place this time around.


Thx bro I feel like I have SO MUCH I could verbally spew ITT today, but I don't want to further increase the size of this wall of text




+1.9k in 3h


Run good all

The Long Haul

Spend all yesterday afternoon visiting Barcelona on foot with a couple of vipassana friends ; good times, good times yo Coming from America, I am always impressed by how cultural rich are European cities , even if Quebec City and Montreal are nothing to frown upon.

I have not heard back from my Venezuelan date for tonight and I don't really care that much, tbh... I guess a big part of me is ready for something a bit more substantial/LTR, as opposed to dipping into the ephemeral, sorta speak

Darn, it seems as if the rakerace will not be a walk in the park this time around, as 3 of my opponents are putting on one hell of a fight I thought gunning for 3rd would be relaxing, but it seems that I will need to turn towards the virtual world more than I initially wanted to

There was about 1001 times that I was ready to storm out of the meditation retreat, tell someone to f**k the hell off or more The ego is strong af and simply refuses to let itself get dissolved without clawing back and literally fighting until death do us apart What a fracking journey




+5.3k in 11h


Run good all

Barcelona Grind

Things are going smoothly in Barcelona. While casually putting myself in a top 3 place in the rakerace (am 2nd and while 1st is out of reach, 4th is also miles behind), I did spend time with my vipassana friends walking around the city indulging in (numerous) coffees and good food yo I do get moments of fatigue those days that I grind 5-6h+ and these bouts do act as reminders that the balance of mind can be quite fragile when you are pushing the grinding limits... Nonetheless, all it takes is hanging out with a few friends to get that mojo going again yo

My date was cancelled on Wednesday and it would not come as a (major) surprise if the same happened tomorrow evening ; it matters little though, as I will either go to the casino or hangout with a meditator lady friend if not I do have a date lined up in Malaga as well with a Tinder sexy 29 sexy af lady

It turns out that that cool Montrealer fellow that I befriended at the WSOPE SHR final table (he binked that one for 100k), finished 6nd in the PCA 25k for a cool 1 million Am happy for him, the guy is a legit good and humble dude and deserves the best.

I will spend much of tonight grinding in a last 36h effort of increasing my lead in the rakerace before embarking on a 7h Barcelona-Granada train ride on Sunday (when I will be writing/watching movies). In other news : I will not be going to Malta after all. I'd rather just stay in Spain and perhaps look into South America for purchasing a place... Also, I will have 10 days free after the Romanian tourney events and heading back to Canada, so might look into going to Ukraine or perhaps back to Croatia...




+6.4k in 25h this week


Run good all

Do you have a pretty standard game when courting foreign women in foreign places? Like is it usually coffee/dinner/walking type stuff?

Funny how these ego-fits just float away, then reappear, then float away, etc. Congrats on reaching the end again and I'm sure you'll continue to reap the benefits (enlightenment is around the corner, of course, he-he).