I thought college was about getting laid, doing various drugs, making friends, and maybe learning a thing or two.

There are few opportunities in life where you have a large collective of 20 something kids with no inhibitions.

They could name their price for me. I'd pay.

Scrambling Around in Ash Canyon



First off I think I should rephrase what a meant about "institutional education". I was primarily referring to K-12 public schools. No disrespect intended toward graduates or teachers. I have nothing against college and I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers about how to fix public education. I was just trying to say I'm confident that there are plenty of avenues to find success without formal education given the immense advantages we have that were not available even 100 years ago.

I suspect the profit motive can adversely effect the present day system of higher education in some aspects. Tuition rises so much faster than inflation and students are encouraged to take on massive amounts of debt. Most people can't quite conceptualize the gravity of negative compounding interest.

Gotta respect the Blues and Jazz, no Rock n Roll without Blues and Jazz, no Punk Rock or Metal without Rock n Roll. I try to keep an open mind and draw inspiration from eclectic sources.

I agree for some professional career paths such as medical, the college system is imperative. Let me correct myself, I over generalized.

I have a brother and sister that went to college and they aren’t presently better off, college doesn't garuantee employment.

For my interests music, art, video editing and poker as far I can tell I college isn't necessary. Could I derive value from taking certain courses? I am sure I could.

But who knows, maybe someday education will be like Neo in "The Matrix" just downloading files into ours brains to learn kung fu haha!

I am sure college can be extremely valuable to those that can afford it. I understand that engaging and networking with peers and professors in person would be awesome. There is some ability to network online, we can message just about anyone on instagram or twitter.

Fair enough, I bet I would benefit greatly from a little outside pressure. You are right that self education does have it's drawbacks.

There are still places to debate and discuss online as well.

I haven't ruled out taking courses and I do plan to invest money in my education when I am not tight on cash.

When I was in the Army at 18 I did envy the people my age going to college because of the social aspect, my intention was to serve 3 years then use GI bill benefits to go to college. We did party hard in the barracks on the weekends but the girl to guy ratio in the military isn't very favorable. I did catch up a little bit with the young adult rites of passage after leaving the military and getting involved in the underground music scene back in the Bay Area.

Found 2 of your paintings I really like, do you give a discount if someone buys 2? I'm still a few weeks from having the money to buy 2. They are well priced but I just thought I would ask just incase. It might speed up my time in which I could purchase them.

Can't just get 1 now as I think the 2 I want go together.

If they are still for sale when I can order them. Hope they don't sell. Thanks and hope all is well in Vegas

Here is another artist interview with Las Vegas artist Amber Curry Young



I want to offer anyone who reads my thread 20% off all art in my ETSY SHOP, just use coupon code TWOPLUSTWO at checkout.

If you have 2 in mind I can reserve them for you, just comment on the ones you are interested on my INSTAGRAM I also throw in free gifts to all orders.

Someone went to school and got their money's worth.

I never felt that someone who listed education as a goal would consider the suggestion of earning a GED an insult.

Ego deprecarentur.

Just getting caught up, reading some great comments on here. Re education:
I have a brother who dropped out of college to become a stay at home dad.
After high school, I received 13 years of additional "institutionalized" education.
I have only a few regrets, one -not playing poker sooner.
My brother seems bitter.
For me, I chose the right path.
I value my religion, freedom, knowledge, and family.
I think my ideal employment would be teaching students who cared, physics, OR playing poker tournaments. I haven't decided which.
For me, life is more than just making money.

"There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live." -Dalai Lama

Chihuly and Reflection



CP and Mirage



Happy equinox!

I've been playing a little more poker this week, so I'll try and post a few interesting HH if I play any hands I deem worth posting.

Latest Vlog:



Art:



Suggesting that a 28 year old man go back to learning high school curriculum is pretty offensive, but hey I'll give you props for a solid needle.

Education to me is learning about things I'm interested in, my daily habit is to read books every night before bed. I also learn from friends and mentors. I love learning new things, the internet puts infinite knowledge at our finger tips and we mostly take it for granted.

My Dad graduated from UC Berkeley, my Mom used to teach and raised 4 kids as a stay at home parent. They both have lived pretty good fulfilling lives I believe.

I have always been kind of an outcast, I don't measure up to societal standards. I never fit in in high school, in church, in the military. I guess I don't really like authority, I like to think for myself, and I value independence. Poker is a fitting gig for an outcast.

Mini Challenge #7

[41.5] Work 55 hrs
[18] Run 30 Miles
[2] Upload 10 Videos
[9] Fitness
[10] Nutrition
[10] Education
[10] Meditation
[10] 8 hrs quality sleep

2017 Goals

[271] Work 2000 hrs
[202] Run 1000 miles
[ ] Travel to as many new places as possible
[ ] Date and have fun with some new girls, be the best guy I can be
[7] Poker Player Volunteer Organization Meet ups
[28] Upload 365 videos across all channels
[63] Fitness
[62] Nutrition
[63] Education
[63] Meditation
[69] 8 hrs quality sleep

It's incredibly laughable to anyone who has risen above a societal slave mentality. What would you even do with a GED? I can't even tell you where my high school diploma is, if I my mom were to come across it when cleaning or something and called to ask me what to do with it, I'd tell her to do whatever she's doing with the rest of the useless trash she's coming across.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V26ABKDwssM

The GED means something to people who take the time and effort to obtain one. It means going back and obtaining some basic knowledge, and some to continue on with college. People drop out of high school for many reasons, and some regret dropping out. I would NEVER put anyone down for getting a GED, nor would I make negative comments about those who get their GED.
And yes, there are some people who should never had made it through high school or college. And many useless degrees.

I agree, it means they believe they will need it to advance themselves further in their work/career path. Regardless, I wasn't speaking so much in generalities as much as I was speaking about Carl specifically. Generally speaking however, anyone that goes back to get their GED is not looking to become or really has much chance to become an entrepreneur or artist. Not bc the opportunities aren't there but simply bc the mindset required to make someone believe that's a worthwhile endeavor is in line with working 40-60 hours per week for someone else as opposed to starting your own business, working for yourself, or creating something. That isn't a put down or a negative comment, it's simply a reality. Anyone who believes a GED is meaningful or worth something has the mindset of an order follower, not an order giver. There's nothing wrong with that, businesses need employees and not all people are created equal in terms of their potential, that's what makes the world go round. Sugar coating reality with fake niceties doesn't do anyone any good though.

You consistently post some of the worst garbage I've ever read lucid. I can't tell if you're trolling, delusional or maybe you've ran insanely hot thus far in your life. It's a toss up and might actually be a little bit of all three.

A GED or any other type of certificate or degree is a stepping stone. It is way to get to where you want/need to be. It alone does not automatically make you worth something or guarantee you will be successful. However, it certainly does teach extremely critical soft and hard skills that can help you become successful. Without them you will not get anywhere in life.

I don't know why you're spouting garbage about not needing any degree or at the very least a GED in order to be successful/ be an entrepreneur. Unless you're a multimillionaire, or score off the charts on tests, or have super rich friends that would invest in you despite you being to ****ing lazy to even complete a high school diploma... those dreams of being an entrepreneur will stay dreams forever. That's reality.

We get it. You're some alpha / PUA poser, at least that's the persona you give off. Have you ever heard the phrase "those who want to lead must first learn how to follow"? There's a reason for that.

Getting a GED is the first step of MANY more steps to be successful the tried, tested, and true way. For every bill gates or Steve jobs there's 20 million douche bag high school drops that are too cool for school, learning from others. And of course they have ****ty lives / jobs / outlooks and keep themselves going by deluding themselves they'll make it. Lol. Pathetic.

I'll give you some benefit of the doubt and say I guess I get what you're trying to say. Some people are just insanely smart, have an incredible work ethic and drive and comes from within, that needs very little guidance or support. Those types of people typically crush it from the very beginning.... for the rest of us.. there's the tried and tested way. If Pure was was category you're talking about.... wouldn't he already be where he wants to be? And not struggling?

Conventional education is not for some people. Proving you can memorize and regurgitate some information you read back out is meaningless to me. Sure, you can point to the people it actually has some meaning for because they want to do the following....

Step 1) Get GED
Step 2) Get college degree
Step 3) Get job that requires college degree/more institutionalized education

Cool, whats you're point? Carl wants to make art, play guitar, and play poker...and from what I can tell his level of time and energy he devotes to the 3 goes in roughly that order as well. Let's say hypothetically he were to spend his time completing Step 1....what do you propose Step 2 would be for someone in his shoes and tell me how his Step 2 requires or is benefited by him getting a GED.

Again, of the 20 million douche bag high school drop outs that are too cool for school, what % of them are going to be self employed+ in life as a direct result of getting their GED? That's my point. I'm not saying it's not a worthwhile endeavor for even the majority of them, I'm actually saying it probably is a worthwhile endeavor for most of them bc they won't be self employed+. Carl doesn't seem to be on the path of GED to college to career needing a degree tho so your advice to him seems completely irrelevant to his current situation.

I spoke to the mindset of someone that would need to get a GED, not the validity of getting the GED itself. We are looking at a specific situation here for a specific individual, not playing high school guidance counselor to the masses. Nice ad hominem attack, I hope your college degree wasn't in debate. More reading comprehension, less emotional spew.

The bolded is spew my friend. It's almost as if you copied and pasted it right from some bs pua / red pill/ frat boy site. I hope you don't actually buy into that bs.

Even today, much more so than in the past, you need proof of conventional education to open very important doors. Without a GED you can't even get a a minwage job, or probably even get a basic loan, let alone a business loan. You definitely can't get into networking circles/ rich/ smart friends that get connections/ investing opportunities etc. You need a piece of paper, some sort of validation of your intelligence/ knowledge in order to get you through doors. It's just the way it works. Without it, you are totally ****ed and stay ****ed until you start jumping through the minimum amount of hoops.. unless you're the next bill gates genius which is pretty much zero percent... or your family already has serious cash.

Maybe memorizing and regurgitating information might land you a low paying soft skill job. But in a real hard skill career, memorizing might get you the degree, but if you don't know your **** inside and out, you wont get the high paying jobs/ be forced out of the business real quick.

Pure said he he's applied to 300 jobs and barely got any offers. He also said he doesn't want to play poker and be a street performer all his life. Doesn't sound like he has any other plan... and entrepreneurial ventures require quite a bit of capital or the ability to qualify for loans. Something he can't do being unemployable. Logically, the next step to getting out is getting the GED and going from there. As I said before, if you don't want to jump through extremely low hoops in order to be valuable to society, you better be a god damn genius or already filthy rich because you're going to be ****ed and stay ****ed up until you get with the program.

i get it. some people are anarchists and just want to **** the man. well, they're also living really ****ty lives with no outs. they can continue to live in poverty and have dreams of opening a business that will in all likelihood remain a dream for the rest of their lives... or they can get with program... jump through the hoops, get the cash and education, and the experience needed to become successful, and then do the entrepreneur deal when they have a REAL, solid, good chance of having it having stick and work out for them.

I already earned an equivalent HS diploma after 11th grade which was accepted by the Army. I also went to the Art Institute in SF back in 2009 after I got out of the the Army before I got locked up. Traditional college education is still a possibility. At this time I believe the skills for the fields I'm interested in can be acquired online, from books and from mentors. I think I was born with sufficient intelligence even though I may have tempered it a bit with substance abuse.

From wikipedia: The California High School Proficiency Exam (CHSPE) is an early-exit exam for high school students in California. Students who pass the CHSPE receive a Certificate of Proficiency from the State of California. All persons and institutions subject to California law that require a high school diploma for any purpose must accept the certificate as an equivalency to a Californian high school diploma.

Subbed. FYI about all this GED talk, I was in all AP level courses in my 10th grade when I left High School. I proceeded to graduate Cum Laude from California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly SLO) and was hired as an analyst for Wells Fargo Commercial right out of college in their FA program which is very desirable and lucrative and at no point in time did anything pre-college mean jack ****. So yea.

PPVO Volunteer of the Year 2016



Poker Player Volunteer Organization: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...ation-1539274/

Yeah I figured employers only really consider higher education. Thanks for the sub, nice to meet you at Bellagio.

Here is another quick guitar lesson

I figure this thread needs more poker content and less GED content

Here is my first HH of the year.

2017 Hand 1:

1/3 NL (7 handed)
V1 (300)- loose
V2 (400)- tight
Hero's Image (550)- tag

Preflop (4):
Hero is SB dealt QQ
V1 raises to 10 UTG, V2 3b to 20 in MP, Hero calls, V1 calls.

Flop (58):
Q83
Hero checks, V1 checks, V2 bets 40 Hero calls, V1 folds.

Turn (138):
9
Checks through

River (138):
K
Hero bets 100, V2 folds.

I feel like flatting is best preflop to let the loose player in, if we 4b I don't think we are getting called by too many worse hands of the tight player, maybe AK and JJ. OTF I am expecting a bet from one of them. We have the board crippled, so I just call. Turn completes a gutter but I still think V will bet KK+ and might bluff with worse so I check again. After V checks turn I don’t think he has much but If he does have AK I can go for value so I bet 2/3 pot and he folds.

You could exploitatively lead turn there, reasons being, he's not likely to bluff again anyway, a "tight" player may check back the turn for pot control cuz "omg some draw got there", and river might come a 4-liner or another bad card to kill your action. If you bet the turn for like 50-60% pot you could also get his JJ or the rare AQ to call (AA/KK never folding either), as well as bloat the pot more for a bigger river value bet.

As played obv fine too. So what do we think he folded there? Aa/aq/jj?

Never relying on a non aggrotard to build a pot for me. If he has air he has air....

True, I think leading turn could be good. Checking does give V a chance to catch a straight or hogher set but also gives underpairs and overcard hands a chance to improve so it's a trade off.

I also had some friends suggest a c/r OTF. I think this might fold out almost everything except overpaid but maybe I'm wrong. Also, possibly sizing smaller might got a few more calls like 70 instead of 100.

I doubt he folds AK or AA but I suppose it's possible and we block Qx so most likely TT or JJ.

Good point, what do you think is the best street to seize initiative?

Preflop is fine given your image I guess, it's unfortunate he sized it so small. I would also flat the flop for a bunch of reasons. Board crippled, better value hands to do it with, unlikely to get much action. If you want to bluff this board a lot, you may need to include QQ in the x/r range, but it depends on your strategy. I'm guessing in your games with your image dramatically over-bluffing this board will be super profitable. Exploitatively, you can still flat QQ anyway.

Leading turn has some merit, but checking is okay too. If you lead, it should probably be pretty small - $50 works. As played, I don't like your river bet-sizing. If you think he'll call with JJ/TT, bet small enough to accomplish that ($65?). This could also induce a bluff. If he'll only call with AK, bet maybe $125, which you can get called by AK anyway. Unless he'd 3-bet KJ/KT and would be more elastic to your sizing up to $125, in which case your sizing is fine.

If you really want to post hands that will be maximally helpful to you, my suggestion would be to pick out three bluff spots per session and post them (whether you take advantage of them or not). Explain your thought process, and get feedback. Eventually, start pulling the trigger more. This might help you get more value when you have a set.

As of 3/20, you should have had 430-435 hours in to reach your goal for hours worked. Has most of the 271 been poker, and the other stuff hasn't gotten going yet? Or are you trying to get the sleep/nutrition/etc together first?

Donk bet 25 on the flop. It's 1/2 against randoms you'll probably never play against again.
If he has KK+ he'll raise you and you'll get stacks in on the turn. Readless you don't know if villain would cbet TT-JJ, AK... for a small bet they will definitely call at least once. It should also induce some multi street spazz a non 0% of the time.

i think you bet too much on the river.

"Success isn't something that just happens - success is learned, success is practiced and then it is shared." -Sparky Anderson

Vegas







I have been getting in a few more poker sessions the last couple of weeks, had my best month in a long time but still not amazing by any means. It's a slight confidence boost as opposed to more breaking even. I've been concentrating a little bit more at the tables and working on some leaks.

I messed up my knee hiking in the canyon, so a took a lot of days off from my fitness routine to let it recover. It is feeling a little better but still not 100%.

We've had 9 Poker Player Volunteer Organization meet ups so far this year, staying steady with that.

I was lagging on posting my stats, I'll just post my stats for MC #8 and MC #9 to get back on track.

2017 Hand 2:

1/2 NL
V1 (260)- nit
Hero's Image (400)- tag

Preflop (3):
Hero is MP dealt AK
V1 limps UTG, Hero raises to 10, 2 LP callers, V1 calls.

Flop (38):
Q75
V1 bets 20, Hero raises to 65, fold, fold, V1 tanks and ships 250 total.

In game I just shrugged and called it off, I should have decent equity. After thinking about it vs this super snug guy my hand is actually a lot weaker because he is never shipping worse draws, so his range is KQ at the worst so I think flatting vs raising is probably a better play. When a super tight guy leads out into the pack that is almost always very strong.

Latest Vlog:



Art:



OTR I am basically targeting AK, don’t think V is calling with underpairs. Maybe he would call a little bigger of a bet than 100 if that's what he had.

Sure I'll post a few more bluff spots. You're right, meta-game is a consideration and constructing a more aggressive image could lead to me getting more calls. Thanks for the feedback.

Looks like am at 367 hrs of work YTD or about 73% of my target pace, I'll have to play catch up. I haven't played very much poker so far this year, still haven't felt super fired up to play but I do plan to play a lot over the summer. I've been extremely diligent with my daily habits which I think is a huge positive, now that they are virtually automatic I will focus more on being industrious and building that habit.

Thanks for the thoughts.

Mini Challenge #8

[46.5] Work 55 hrs
[9] Run 30 Miles
[2] Upload 10 Videos
[5] Fitness
[10] Nutrition
[10] Education
[10] Meditation
[10] 8 hrs quality sleep

Mini Challenge #9

[49.5] Work 55 hrs
[3] Run 30 Miles
[2] Upload 10 Videos
[2] Fitness
[10] Nutrition
[10] Education
[10] Meditation
[10] 8 hrs quality sleep

2017 Goals

[367] Work 2000 hrs
[220] Run 1000 miles
[ ] Travel to as many new places as possible
[ ] Date and have fun with some new girls, be the best guy I can be
[9] Poker Player Volunteer Organization Meet ups
[32] Upload 365 videos across all channels
[70] Fitness
[82] Nutrition
[83] Education
[83] Meditation
[89] 8 hrs quality sleep

Pittman Trail



2017 Hand 3:

1/2 NL
V1 (400)- tight, having seen him play any big pots during the 2 rounds I've been at the table
Hero's Image (300)- tag

Preflop (3):
Hero is LP dealt AJ
Hero raises to 8, V1 calls in BB.

Flop (16):
T54
V1 checks, Hero bets 10, V1 calls.

Turn (34):
Q
V1 checks, Hero bets 20, V1 folds.

I cbet HU IP almost always and I think vs most opponents this will show a profit. I get called, turn brings an over card and I pick up a gutter so I think it's right to keep barreling. I expect to get folds a lot and occasionally get called by unpaired FDs and our A high might be good at SD.