Month 2 in Review (Day 52)

Must... spew... less There is a reason why I skipped out on over half of the action on a busy weekend at the casino... There is a reason why I keep seeing the dark side of poker lately, despite riding this absolute upswing... And this reason is called : FATIGUE. Time for an imposed vacation. Away from the table. Far, FAR away from the felt, in greener pastures, where being one with our surroundings feels natural, yo





Alright, so we are 6 weeks into this challenge, about at the 33% mark of the 4.5 months, while conveniently having crossed the halfway mark of our monetary goals (25k+) Things are looking quite good, especially considering that the action will only get better live Of course, it does not mean that the desired 50k is in the bag - pretty darn close though -, as much of our outcome will be depend on our online variance. This said, July will see us scale back significantly on our volume, I will aim for weeks of 45h while taking almost a week off midway through the month Anywhere in between a modest 5-8k in profits would do the job, tbh

Live Pokerz : Being detached (somewhat) from the financial results definitely helps the mental balance, and I have been enjoying the social/communal aspect of the live games. Am pretty content with my play, my mental balance, table positive (giving) energy and general play My volume on the live felt will increase over the course of this challenge, especially in August and September, where the chips will be flying folks +5351$ in 172h

Online Pokerz : Riding the wave folks, a wave that started back in September, and then kept on rising throughout the winter (which saw me move up and crush 200z ), a Tsunami sort of wave that is only starting to peak while seeing no end in site... but could nonetheless crash at any given moment folks, but in the meantime, let's just ride the living shyt out of it, shall we +20k in 198h

Exercise : Slowly increasing the jogging and tennis sessions while watching out on food intake, while eating healthier. Aiming to lose 1kg in July and 2-3kgs from here to October.

Studying : It's official, I will spend the next 2 months dipping into some PLO theory - the great game of Pot Limit Omaha folks -, as until I upgrade my RIO to elite and start studying Sauce again, my NLHE would remain at a standstill.


Challenge : +25, 510.91$

Day 53

Just came back from a good match of tennis I mentioned this before, but it feels great to have a tennis court over here - AKA a non-redneckish sport in a redneck town (situated just by a skate park) :





I just purchased a modest canoe ; that 4-5 day Kluane camping trip of mine, might see the light after all Which is well needed, as not having a full day off in 53 days is starting to get the best of my sanity +500$ in 4h online





Definitely don't have the mind on the grind - I never do lately -, but will still login for 2-3h because, you know, a fellow has got to work for his bread and butter, right

#DaSkillzToPayDaBills


Challenge : +26, 047.56$

Day 54

Here is the deal : you login online for 2h, make 1.2k in the process - easy game yo -, jump in the shower, scrub yourself real good - not really -, put some pants on, a shirt, head to the casino for the Tuesday tournament, accumulate da chips, become the chip leader, only to bust out after losing 2 flips and then feel soooooo bummed out I mean, you guys remember - not too long ago - how elated you would feel for having a 1k+ day... It was not that many years ago, that binking a tournament online for 1k+ would put a smile on my face, make me walk on clouds and float on air and stuff Yet here I am, up 4 digits for the day, and still bummed out on the couch... Of course, we all know how it goes : the sentiment of loss is much - Much MUCH MUCHER - stronger than the one of gain... Kind of an EV existential bummer, when you figure to lose much more in life in terms of relationships, health and ultimately life itself, then you are to be compensated emotionally by material gains...

When I first showed up in Dawson a good 54 days back, I was sleeping like a baby. Despite initially being on a 2 week downswing - if you guys remember -, I would get my 8h of snoozzzing every night, wake up refreshed, smell the roses and all that jazz ; still, here I am, on quite the upswing, yet sound sleep eludes me, and this overwhelming fatigue clouds my general mood, like this ****ing omniscient demon Sooooo, anyhow, will focus on getting my mental state back to a more acceptable equilibrium in July (strictly for life reasons, as my game doesn't seem much affected by this emotional lethargy...). -100$ live in 2h, +400$ online in 5h





Challenge : +26, 364.89$

Modern Day Polsters (Day 55)

After the shyt-show that was Brexit and the Trump election, the reputation of polls have taken a hit, to say the least... Like a an absolute-smack-in-the-face-hit , right, much like the (too) oftentimes name tag of "fake news" being distributed around, thrown here and there, when opinions/articles happen to be not suitable to our taste... Anyhow, pardon the digression... Yeah, polls, I was saying, like the one ITT where people seem to prefer voting for the extremes, similarly to in my previous 25k in 15 weeks blog :

- "This guy will crush it yo, because we like a success story "

or...

- "This guy will fail miserably, because we like to witness someone crash and burn "

Either or, both fit a certain established narrative and, perhaps more importantly, more fun then say vote rationally for the middle where logics and statistics would rationally point towards... (especially given that the increments of 10k in between the 4 possible outcomes, are wide enough to merit consideration...).

Another observation : Pollsters that have been following my thread for a few years, and who happen to have a better idea of my winrate, have skewed towards the 50k+ selection ; thx the faith guys, much appreciated




+100$ in 5h online

Challenge : +26, 472.42$

Day 56

After I finished my online grind yesterday (and my post-grind meditation), I hopped in the van, brought along some blankets, a book, and ripped through the early morning, sneaking up on the early 5am sunrise in the process before reaching my favourite nearby camping spot





God it feels good to get away Even if it was short lived, and only consisted of a couple of reading and meditation sessions (punctuated by sleep), God did it ever feel refreshing Suddenly the right play for that failed semi-bluff X/shove vs a polarized range become so clear, pristine clear that is And a good dosage of serenity became the norm, an inner sentiment that had eluded me over the past couple of weeks... +300$ live in 3h, -200$ online in 4h


Challenge : +26, 598.66$

Good job, give me five bro!

Also voted on that answer in the poll, just because I want a high five bro!

Day 57

Boy, it sure aint easy to get yourself a girl in this town Sure, things were peachy when I was in my 20s and 30s, pounding back the booze, hanging out in the bars, letting my dreads down and stuff, but when you make the unpopular move of putting the bottle down in a transient town, casual encounters naturally become much rarer... My biggest social outlet remains the casino, where a ton of pretty ladies work there, sure, but are either taken or a bit too young... +600$ live in 5h, -300$ online in 3h

As far as studying goes, I will focus on Phil Galfond and his incomparable PLO videos this month, to then study 40h of Sauce in August and September At least, that is the plan


Indeed, like you soooo eloquently pointed out, I did omit the word "high" in my poll selection, as it was meant to say "Give me High Five Bro" ; but anyhow, thx for the vote and following bro





Challenge : +26, 854.94$

Day 58

Really happy with the nonchalant/detached way I am handling my swings... Up or down, I try not to engage too emotionally, and especially live, where my results are not matching up to my normal standards. It does come back and bite me though on evenings like tonight where I got smacked in the face, but would an added 500-1.5k$ worth of equity merit a change in my chillax attitude? Certainly not, but perhaps I should restrain from opening toooooo much my range, which at times might have more to do with an urge to gambool-gambool then one of exploiting thin edges... (even if those gambling tendencies are not very strong). -1.2k live in 5h, +100$ online in 4h





Challenge : 25, 736.70$

Week 8 in Review (Day 59)

The focus at the casino lately, has been to introduce poker to new players (which will have me skipping Mon-Wed, but that is a different story...). Anyhow, there was a bunch of young kids tonight - running like God -, whom you could tell were affected by the stakes

Lol story of the night : a shortstacker goes all in for 80bbs, he gets 3 callers, and while the post-flop side pot was being played, the kid refuse to look at the flop, turn and river (he was first to act) by checking blind (he had his head tucked towards the floor) and had everyone check behind him There was 4s on the board It was great to see all that enthusiasm, excitement and stress

#ForTheLulz

What was not so great though, is seeing those kids hit n run after doubling up their stacks That's why a game combining the regs to these kids will never be compatible in the long run...


Live Pokerz : I think I kind of reached a point where I want to focus more on results, winrates and the likes... Widening up too much my range in the 10-20 Omaha 08 game was a clear leak, especially given that it was executed mainly to serve my gambool-gambool desire We are now averaging 27$/h live for the challenge, a number that surely will cross the 45$ mark by the end of this challenge, but that remains nonetheless too low thus far : B- game and +100$ in 20h

Online Pokerz : Results have not been great this week, but still maintained a solid game, if not for that big pot where I raised-called river vs a reg with Jx on QJJ44 in a single-raised pot 110bbs effective : A- game and +400$ in 49h

Exercise : Lost my main tennis partner this week (and good friend ), so only played once and went running a single time as well. Will aim for 2-2 this week with 1 overnight camping trip.

Studying : Got my 1h in with a ton of reading and have now been studying the GREAT GAME OF POT LIMIT OMAHA ,




All these latest pics have been of Kluane National Park, located in the southern Yukon, just by the Alaskan border and where I will go camping in 2 weeks (it is a 10-12h drive)


Challenge : +25, 630.52$

You omitted the word 'HIGH'' ....Got it bro

Did the same few years ago and now I understand the feeling...

Day 60

A nice start to the week - +1.3k in 4h online - which feels comforting, soothing and a nice way to ease myself into the upcoming days without putting too much pressure on my shoulders as far as results and volume goes, me thinks... Just purchased an iphone 7 unlocked directly from Apple ; I did not want to strap myself to a carrier, given that I travel 5-7 months a year outside of Canada.

It wasn't too long ago that we had no cell service up here (10-12 years), laptops were unheard of (or at least rare...), technology, an invention of the south... But times have changed, indeed, and now Dawsonite teenagers are much like the youth across the world (except stranger) : plugged in Before September 11, 2001 (where Whitehorse had snipers on the rooftop of its airport), we were cut out from the rest of the world, newspapers would get here a few days late and nobody gave a rat's arse what politicians did down south


#TimesAreChanging


Am actually working on a post in my travel thread about the life outside of town which, while standard in these parts, can be quite surprising for, you know, civilized folks

On the subject of tips : I had a waitress tell me this week "you do not have to tip me everytime" This is actually not the first time I hear that statement at the casino. Us, northern poker players, are astounding tippers, think 2-15$ for each pot, the standard being closer to 5$ a hand in a fracking 1-2 game . The thing is, we all have known each other personally for years, and when we hand out a tip to our dealers, we do not think of it as being "madatory", "a black hole similar to rake", or even "-EV", but more in terms of increasing the hourly of the dealer The same goes with the waitresses, as far as I am concerned : sure they do well for themselves for being in their early 20s, yet I remain the guy that has the highest hourly in that joint, so I do like to tip 2-5$ for each time my coffee is brought over, my pitchers of ice cold water are topped off and my diet coke finds my seat Bah, end of digression





Challenge : +26, 999.58$

Da Swwwwwiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggsss (Day 61)

Played my funnest game in ages online in the wee hours in the morning, when there was this absolute-utter-titanic-maniac @ 200z who was ridiculously bloating the pots pre and potting it/overbetting post On top of that, every time the fellow would lose a significant hand, he would start tilt-open-jamming 200-400$ pre, effectively making the game a 1-2-300$ affair Problem is, our friend ran like a flaming Supernova vs me, burning my retinas in the process . I did manage to bust him out in the end though, after grinding 3h str8 nonstop, essentially making it my longest virtual session without a break of this challenge ). The dude had deep enough pockets, as he kept on reloading to what added to be about 2k, until his final bullet, which was just short of the capped 200$

The same can be said of my grind today - minus the end comeback - where I ran like a ****ing blinded turtle turned upside down , and couldn't win a pot for the fracking life of me and thus dropped 1.6k in 3h




-1k in 5h


Challenge : +25, 940.04$

Day 62

Well, I sure am happy that I set (very) modest goals for July, right, ehhhhh If the image of crossing the 30k mark in July was all but set in stone back at the end of June when we were riding/peaking a fracking surfer's paradise size of a WAVE, things have settled down, haven't they To recap, here has been our ride in this challenge thus far :

- the first 2 weeks saw us dip down 2k, to the extent of enticing certain pollsters to vote against us succeeding in the challenge

- We then took off, didn't look back and blasted sky-high through the fracking skies, yo, riding a 4 week complete-utter upswong for 28k

- To then come down, settle down, and be stuck on a breakeven stretch in this ****ing quicksand for 2 weeks

On top of that, it is looking more and more like I will not be using my 5k package that I won a few weeks back and will thus exchange it for bonuses (and hence lose 1k in the process). Will adjust the challenge results once I cash in the package, but in the meantime, will go camping overnight to get away from all the shyt, you know,

Peace yo



+200$ live in 2h, -100$ online in 5h


Challenge +26, 095.23$

Day 63

Without realizing it, the Phil Galfond videos have imbued my brain, polished it in the process, making my sizing more acute, ranges clearer, spots familiar... Given that the Omaha game is NL and not PLO, it increases the flexibility that one has preflop by allowing him to open-raise to ridiculous amounts and still get lots of action. I am really enjoying this game, but realize that the variance is bigger and my edge not as titanic as in NLHE. +400$ live in 7h, +400$ online in 4h

That's it for tonight's post folks, as it is the first time that I close the casino (@ 2am) in a couple of weeks ; will grind an hour online, meditate, then hit the sack for some MAJOR SNoooooooZinnnngggg, you know





Challenge : +26, 921.31$

Day 64

Well, make that 2 nights in a row that I close the casino It was such a fun evening for the lols, moreso than for the action, especially for yours truly who could not pick up a playable hand to save his life... +200$ live in 7h, -600$ online in 3h

Given that I find myself in third place (for the first time ever) in a rake race, I will postpone my camping trip until August. It might be more optimal time wise as well, as it will split this challenge into 2, rejuvenate me before the final 2 month stretch where the live games are bound to be quite juicy





Challenge : +26, 802.05$

Day 65

Hummm, the game was not great at the casino, I busted a few bullets, the biggest of which saw my AA < KK when a K rolled up on the river (AIPF), and I knew that life had come to a stop, the world had come to a halt and all beings ceased to exist, you know Given that I had a bit too much gambool-gambool in me and that the caffeine seem to have quite the stimulating effect, I just decided to call it a night after 3h, -1k live and -1k online in 4h

Crazy how July has put a new perspective on this challenge, isn't it If at the end of last month, I started thinking about the 60k mark and gave myself a 90%+ chance of succeeding on the 50k challenge, I now give myself odds of 65-35% of hitting the latter.





Challenge : +24, 846.57$

Week 9 in Review (Day 66)

Ehhhhh, that was painful Yesterday saw me drop 3.5k when I got it in good, time after time... but alas!, never to any avail Sure, fatigue and disappointment settled in, yet the games were too good to simply retire for the day... Anyhow, time to leave this week behind us, focus on the rest of the month and to reestablish a decent pace to this challenge. 2 elements to keep the favourable state of this challenge in perspective : primo, the juicy live games will be starting from next weekend on and secondo, we nonetheless remain (slightly) ahead of the pace needed to reach the 50k, despite the abysmal week that was

Live Pokerz : I have been putting a little effort to improve my results on the live felt ; this said, some tilting and spewing have sparsely punctuated the week that was. Still a solid showing and the results should be there in no time : B game and 0$ in 19h

Online Pokerz : Played acceptable enough, yet an underlining fatigue was the main issue this week, as finding myself 3rd in the rake race for July made me increase the longevity of my sessions. Will try to take more breaks this week, as fatigue-related spews can be costly : B+ game and -1.8k in 31h

Where I find myself in the rake rack will dictate my online volume for the end of the month, but perhaps I should take a break at some point, as I feel the fatigue creeping in and affecting my game... That's it for now folks, am pretty bummed out





Challenge : +23, 747.80$

Routines (Day 67)

You folks know why the illusion of the passage of time seemingly increases when we get older... Because of ****ing routines We get up, eat the same bowl of cereal for years, put on those-all-too-familiar-clothes, jump in the same car, ride the goddamn repetitive traffic day-in-and-day-out, go to the that decade old job, punch in the time card, put in the hours, pass go, collect 200$ , sleep with the same wife everynight, touching those all-too-familiar- curves, sticking your penis in that same hole, all of the this, while walking through life like a mama-fracking zombie That is why time flies folks, because we forget to stop and look at it as it flies forever fleeting out of our grasp

As far as I am concerned, it goes as the following : meditation, grind, jogging or tennis, live grind with the familiar faces, back home, meditation, virtual grind, movie, sleep. While I have enjoyed this schedule in the past years - and was quite happy with it, tbh -, I find it fracking boring atm I do miss those random stumbling evening of drinking until the end of times, accumulating God knows what forgettable-blackout-memory, coming back to consciousness while in bed with an unknown chick

I am not sure if I will be doing a challenge next year ; sure, it is great for motivation, discipline and the results, but adding 10-15k to BR really doesn't change my life (I am a simple guy, it just all goes in the bank for retirement), but it does as far as life Happiness EV goes Thankfully though, I will be going camping with a sexy German chick (friend of mine with whom I made out in the past) for a few days in early August +800$ in 7h online





Challenge : ?

Day 68

Tuesday's Nightly tournament at the casino has been switched to a smaller buy-in turbo SnG format. My ego originally wanted nothing to do with it last week, as I stubbornly wanted management to bring back the 100 + 50R buy-in, as oppose to this 65 + 30R This said, the structure appeals to the math geek in me. There are 3 x 45 minute blind levels with a final chip count at the end (pays top 3 in the tune of 50-30-20%). We start with 300 in chips @ 5-10 blinds, then 10-25 and ultimately 25-50, hence making stuff like limping quite necessary and a higher EV/lower variance play, or 3bet shoving the way to go. At the end during the last hand, one finds himself in a situation where he might have to theoretically shove 100% of the time, the 2nd player have to (theoretically) call 100%, as should the third and fourth , but given that most fail to realize the ICM implications, I usually find myself in a numerical-exploitative-paradise, sorta speak -100$ live in 2h

Despite the (contrived) volume that I have been putting online, I found myself 4th in the race rake today It might be a blessing in disguise, mind you, as now I can naturally decrease my virtual volume, take more breaks, play more live (which I enjoy more), and all of this to the benefit of my winrate Listen, I might not crush this challenge after all, and find myself making 42-49k (or something along those lines...), but so what if my ego is hurt : life and general balance is more important yo -600$ online in 6h





Challenge : +20, 301.96$

Day 69

The past few day have been mightily productive, despite having the black water tank of my 5th trailer overflood today, and literally pooh underneath




This said, I managed to do my taxes, clean up my place, go for ice cream, have a coffee by the Klondike River,





define somewhat my winter plans,

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=442


and catch up on some well needed rest before this hectic Dawson Music Festival Weekend (which will obviously bring in a ton of party-until-the-end-of-times kids ). We find ourselves at the low point of this challenge, with our hourly dipping just under 45$/h and beneath the estimated threshold of 50$/h needed to achieve the 50k mark But things will change folks, just watch -300$ in 5h online


Challenge : +20, 044.52$

Day 70

Sooooo, management wants to switch the Omaha NL game to NLHE ; I understand how a casino would prefer to have exclusively tables of 5-10 LHE, for instance, where BRs are never threatened and no one is barely beating the game except for the mighty RAKE, of course This said, find me another casino where players routinely tip 5$+ per pot and get frowned upon when only tipping 1-2$... You gotta give some to get some, and now, all of us players prefer to have the NL Omaha game, where pots oftentimes go north of 1k and sometimes 2k Sure, yours truly would fare better in a 10-20 08 game, but this is by far the funnest live game we have. -600$ live in 6h, +400$ online in 5h





Challenge : +19, 822.43$

Hang in there brother, nice pictures btw

Day 71

So tell me folks, what do you do when you have the slowest/smallest game that has been known to man kind and the fellow sitting to your direct right only has half a brain cell left to work with (and happens to be liquored as ****/talking nonstop... ). FML. Seriously, if it wasn't for the table being screwed to the floor, I would of flipped it over a thousand and 1 times and celebrated at the sight of flying chips and spilled beer Instead, here I am, left with my dick hanging in my hands, and a tilt the size of Jupiter -300$ live in 5h, +800$ online in 4h


Thx bro, I am sure we will (most likely) crush this challenge See you in October




One of my favourite Facebook quotes : "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Except bears. Bears will kill you!!!"


Challenge : +20, 331.18$

Day 72

Darn, even for someone as virtually cautious/paranoid as me on the interwebz, I got caught in a hacking scheme Thankfully though, I do not hand out my personal info very loosely, so no harm was done. Still, those mama-hacking-mama-frackers now use HTTPS sites for phishing purposes, thus managing to lure me in for the kill with my guard down Let me explain... For some time now, a few people have been redirected from yahoo.ca (I think it was only the Canadian domain that was affected...) to their internet provider for a survey. Given that my internet provider is the little used NorthwestTel (as opposed to Bell, Rogers or other BIG dogs) and that the site was https encrypted, I naturally felt that the whole process was legit. On top of that, I really wanted to answer the survey to express my disillusion with their stupid arse slow and dumb service Once you finish the survey, they offer you a small free prize in form of compensation, ask for your personal info, credit card # and the whole loot. Thankfully, I was not interested in the prize (I am telling you, it is rare, but my guard was down : these guys had completed won me over ). Moral of the story : in this day and age, we are ****ed, it is as simple as that

Life in the Yukon : like everybody that lives out of town, we get our water (drinking and bathing) delivered from the city, but since the owners of the house are gone for a week, we ran out, so I will need to go bathing in the Klondike River


#LifeUpNorth


It matters not that I got my AA busted by KK in a HUMANGOUSTITANICULTRAHUGE pot in the tournament today close to the bubble, as the upswing is coming folks, I can feel it +1.4k online in 3h, -200$ live in 3h





Challenge : +21, 542.60$

Week 10 in Review

After the recent discussions with the casino management about how "to make poker great again" and introduce new players to the game, we had 4 kids from up north (Old Crow) sit down in our game, buy-in short, hit n run on us, and try that good ole gangsta trash talking Maybe we do not want to make poker great again after all... Kidding, kidding, but I can picture Poker After Dark coming back being quite beneficial to the whole ecosystem

A better week, results wise, yet I am still taking a spanking live - sort of... -, and have my lowest win rate in 7 years thus far The games are just not as good, I am running bad and I have left a little EV on the table.


Live Pokerz : Got smashed with some bad variance We are averaging a ludicrous 15$/h since the start of this challenge, a lol number that desperately needs to increase... I will focus on enhancing my results live, even if online has largely compensated for my Brick and Mortar win rate : B+ and -1.6k in 25h

Online Pokerz : Happy with the volume, results and my mental state, despite a few spews here and there a-la-desperate-bluff-on-the-river when all else has failed : A game and +4.2k in 29h

Health : Been paying extra attention on my diet (salads, fruits, lowered my caffeine intake) and maintaining some exercise (running), despite having not played any tennis (come back Michael ). Will focus on losing 2kgs in the next 2 months, exercising more often and simply maintaining these good habits, yo

Studying : Same old, same old, with 1h of studying and a few hours of reading. Have found a neat little spot by the river to relax with a book Have not reached the point of increasing my studying to 4h weekly, but it might come in a couple of weeks time, when I will be back from my camping trip...





Challenge : +21, 763.59$