You know times are changing when you can post this status from the comfort of a Greyhound seat!

Made it! Tired, but even my drowsiness is no much for the excitement that comes upon seeing the Montreal skyscrapers that reach for the sky, for the cafes lining up St-Denis street and for that familiar French accent that makes me feel welcomed!

Really enjoyed King of a Small World and its slow descent into darker human depths... And We Steal Secrets, which deepened my understanding of Wikileaks and their purpose and of 2 people I barely knew about : Bradley Manning and Julian Assange.

Unfortunately, since my time here in Montreal is mainly family time, I have not been grinding at all in the Montreal region (other than on my laptop when my niece wants to hit buttons and see virtual money being passed in between players). And since it is my second time back here in 5 years, I do not know too much about the poker rooms in the area.

I will say this though : after going to the Playground with my dad to check out the Fulltilt Montreal final table, I was thoroughly impressed with the comfort of the poker room. Better than any I have seen in B.C. or Alberta ; there is 40 poker tables (75 during this event) offering frequent tournaments and various cash games usually at the 1-2, 2-5 or 5-10 stakes. There is also a secluded VIP room with 2 tables, usually play stakes as high as 10-20 or 25-50. The rake is not very friendly though... 10%, capped at 8$ for the 1-2 (I forget to ask about the buy ins), and 5% and capped at 14$ for anything higher. I guess the rake is less significant in the upper limits, but it still leaves the Vancouver 2-5 game (and 5-10 during the weekend) with 500/1500$ buy ins and capped at 5$ rake, WAY more appealing.

That being said, outside of the outrageous rake, the poker room is very cozy. They have comfortable leather chairs at every table, which makes the grind more back friendly. Next time, I will make sure to grind the tables and measure up the French Canadian level of competition. But for now, I have 1 week left here before hitting Paris and the WSOP.

Run good all!

A picture from Fulltilt Montreal




http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/ba...tml?sort=3&o=3

Wasn't a big fan of the stage set up for the final table : lack of big screen tvs and we could not witness the action, since the stage was higher than us, the audience. But like I said, the poker room is spacious, lots of tv screens, tables, a couple of bars and a VIP area.



http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/ba...tml?sort=3&o=4

Dawson City own can can dancers, because I never got fed up of watching them night after night, year after year!

Edit : apparently, photobucket is giving me a hard time, so posted the link to the photos instead...

Doesn't Montreal have the best gentlemen clubs aka strip joints in Canada, even better than Niagara Falls?

Haha, yeah, but you don't get to watch them while you are playing poker at the casino (unlike Dawson). Also, you get to know them personally and make out with one of them! (I will not tell you which one though!).

So that it why that even though Dawson lacks in games (there is only 3 poker tables), it remains the best as far as live entertainment (but on the downside, you do not get tv screens with live sports events).

WSOP Event 2 in 8 minutes... Wrote a post yesterday that I will update later tonight...

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Well, well, they decided to change the location of the WSOPE from Cannes to Paris ; I am by no means an authority on the subject, but this still fares badly versus the tournament events I have previously been to.

The Good : Even though the number of negative observations surpass the positive ones, this remains Paris. P-A-R-I-S! There are not many words that evoke as passionate emotions (or at least a certain anticipation) within oneself as the City of Lights. When you here someone speak of Paris, what goes through your mind? Do you picture the Eiffel tower, tall and ambitious? Do you imagine yourself with your loved one, hand in hand, wandering down Champ Elysee, strolling towards a promising future? Do you envision a beautiful French woman that the mere sight of her smile makes you melt? Whatever it is, the image is guaranteed to be intoxicating, arousing...

The Bad :

- Enghein is in the suburbs of Paris. This distance usually involves either a series of buses, a few different transfers on the train, or endless testing to your patience in the traffic of metropolitain Paris.

- No free booze, enuff said!

- No service at the table either from the massage ladies or the booze ladies... sigh!

- A fee of 10% for most tournaments + an extra 4 % deviously taken by the French government.

- An outrageous parking fee.

- No free dinner.

- A killer rake : 4 % uncapped in the cash games.


The Ugly : Ugly is the jetlag that followed me mile by mile and coast to coast from Montreal. Ugly was my play yesterday. Well... not ugly, but far from appealing.

After reaching my hotel 2 hours before anticipated (who would of thought that a bus would bring me directly from the suburban airport to my suburban hotel without any transfers!), I cannot resist the urge to test my bed, to give up the vertical position for a more comfortable horizontal one... 4 hours later, I wake up, hop out of bed, brush my teeth in 2 movements, and storm down the stairs. After repeating myself a few times to the front desk woman (imagine : the French sometimes translate and always subtitle French Canadian movies that make it across the ocean ; my thick accent therefore has no choice of being easily understood!), the guy behind me intervenes to help and just happens to be a poker player in town. Sweet! (we would also wind up underneath the Eiffel tower, at 3 in the morning... but that is a different story) After a few drinks and a good conversation, I found myself in a satellite for the event #2 : the 1100 Euros buy in.

This is just 1 of many examples of how weird they operate the WSOP over here : it is a 110 + 20 buy in event with a possibility of 2 rebuys (not reentries) + 1 double add on at the same price ; each rebuy lands you 2000 in chips, whereas an add on gets you a generous 4000. Blinds start off at 25-50 with 20 minutes level. There are 3 levels for the rebuys. So obviously the best approach is to treat this as a reentry tournament and try to chip off slowly before the add on.

The table solely speaks French, which means that all the players have come from surrounding areas and have not deliberately made the distance to attend this event ; there are no pros at the table. Nevertheless, I still manage to get called with A high on my double barrel bluff on a paired board after open-raising from the hijack with J8o... sigh!

...

.... With only 1250 left in chips, I opt to tighten up and wait for a shoving spot which obliges and comes in no time.

Blinds are 75-150. UTG limps which entices a MP passif player to do the same. I do not need much convincing when I look down at 88 in the CO... BB tanks for 10 seconds... 20 seconds... 60 seconds... I feel the jetlag almost getting the better of me when he finally calls with 1010 ; jeez, what took so long! Rebuy!

The add on period is over and I have a slightly above average of 8000 (average is north of 6000). It is folded to the SB who nonchalantly adds a 1000 chip to his posted 2 x 100 chips. The dealer intervenes and rules it as a call ; apparently, when in the SB and adding a single over chip, it closes the action. What! Regardless, the small blind seemed to want to limp in, so outside of being a weird ruling and getting a few reactions from the table, the situation remains harmless until I look down at KQo... Raise to 1400.

I use the table ruckus as an alibi to represent a steal attempt and therefore make my raise on the large side. The SB responds with a tank-shove for 6500. With the blinds at 200-400 and 25 antes and because of this bizarre situation that might entice the SB to jam loosely, I snap off : he shows 77. Lady luck pushes the chips my way after the board reads AA288 and simply leaves the whole table in awe when the run out makes this hand just a little more strange... What doesn't kill you, makes you stranger (had to say it!).

I am comfortably sitting with 14k (average is south of 9k) on the button with A2o when it is folded to me. With the blinds at 300-600 and 25 antes, I make it 1300. The SB has only 2000 and the BB is a tight woman that I think will give up very often. But how many times have men tried to pick on her blinds? How often has she faced this situation and learned by adapting adequately to it? After all, the spot is obvious and I was contemplating the steal eons before the action got to me...

She calls. Flop is K72 rainbow. She leads out for 1200. I call. After all, I find this board to be a perfect floating opportunity in order to steal on later streets ; the fact that I have a pair of deuces doesn't hurt neither, although I do not think it has any showdown value. The problem with this reasoning is, this is not online and when a live player donks, their range is usually stronger.

She fires turn 1500. I fold and kick myself for not adapting accordingly to live play... oh well, next hand. Learn and adapt. And then it hits me : the blinds were actually 200-400 and I somehow let myself get convinced they went up... Jeezus! Imagine how much stronger her range was after she called a 3.25x raise... the art of spewing chips! Well played sir! Oh well, at least I have my always reliable friend jetlag to put the blame on.

After picking up QQ and getting generously paid off, I am sitting on 24k and look down on wired 10s. There is 68 players left. Average is just south of 10k. 30 of us will win the 1100 entry, while 38 will walk away empty handed. Blinds are 500-1000, antes 100. With 24 bb left, I open for 2300. In hindsight, I believe that 2000 is sufficient but I thought that I would get more fold equity versus this specific big blind with the extra 300 in chips... loose maniac from MP jams fro 14k. Folded around. What to do here?

If I fold, I have just under 22bb and estimate that I will win the seat about say 82% of the time. I figure I am way ahead of his range here, but after writing these lines, I went to check poker stove, and it indicated that if he shoves 15.5% of his hands, I am still only a 58.6% favorite. In hindsight, it might be more of a fold. But luckily I have A), my friend jetlag to tag the blame on and B), Lady luck to condemn when the A hits the turn. I am nevertheless left with approximately 9600 in chips and odds somewhere close to 60% of winning one of the 30 seats. Do you make the call or not? I think not, but it is still a close situation.

It is with 42 players left and with a smallish stack of 14k that I shove A10s from the button with a tight player in the SB and with the BB having around 16k. An ideal spot to steal and to buy an extra round when after tanking for 30 seconds, the BB says lets gamble and flips over A9o. Lady luck and Jet lag once again walk hand in hand when a sneaky and unwanted 9 hits the turn... sigh and a thousand times sigh!

Thx for reading and giving me a chance to express myself here, for writing has always given me a chance to ground myself, especially with this jetlag not wanting my feet to settle on a hard surface!

Run good all (or at least better than me)

word of advice : do not expose your smart phone to a cycle of washing and drawing : it will come out dumbfounded and less responsive...

82% chance of folding to a seat seems high when more than half of players still need to be eliminated and you have less than 22 BB. If you think you were a 59% favourite, I don't think the ICM/satellite adjustment would make it -$EV to call with TT. What was villain's hand?

Are the cash games with uncapped rake beatable? The 14% rake for WSOP tournaments is too high. The WSOP-C ME in River Rock and Lac-Leamy have a rake of 10%.

I guess I failed to mention that villain had AQ and spiked an A on the turn.

I refuse to pay 4% uncapped of rake for the cash games, and have a hard time to see how you can live professionally off such a high rake. I had originally planned to go grind it in Germany, where the rake is capped at 2-3 Euros (I forget), but my plans have since changed, since my friend is busy shooting a movie in Frankfurt. So now I am off to Asia in a few days.

I do not think it is +EV to come over here unless you are bracelet hunting or, like myself, you make it a +life EV by combining the tournaments with travelling (but more on this in a future post). I agree that WSOPC at the Riverrock is more profitable, especially with the juicy cash games. Have they changed the fees on the ME, because I seem to remember paying 12.6% in tournament fees last year...

Thx for the feedback on the hand, I thought it was an interesting spot and a really borderline one (I wonder if the ICMizer can give more info on it...).

With 2300 in, you only need 38% equity to make it +cEV (11,700 / 30,400) so I think I would have made the call with TT even if his AQ was face-up. What did ICMizer or other ICM software say?

+1. Esp is villain is a "loose maniac." I don't think that ICM is a huge factor at this point.

looking forward to hearing about your traveling adventures outside the casino!

Thx for the feedback and good wishes. It is always welcoming to get an outside objective analysis in a spot that we personnaly find borderline... Maybe you guys are right, and that it was more of a call, but ICM remained very significant, especially with solid reads at the table, a double than average chip stack (even though it is a jam fest at this
point) and a guy that was Hollywood-tanking every single hand in order to slow down the game.

I finally gave in to the jet lag and slept all day, so Paris will have to wait until tomorrow before this pair of eyes scrutinizes what she has to offer!

Another example I wanted to add about my reads about the players at the table and how weak of a table it was, is that with only 6bb left and in the hijack, I had decided that I would shove with 100% of my cards for I thought that the BB would fold all but about 15 % of his hands and that the CO and the button, having looked down already at their cards, were uninterested in the hand.

I shoved with 84o. BB tanked for 10 seconds, asked me if I wanted to get paid off or not. I get up, joked around, put on my jacket and said "should I get ready to leave or not"? He folded 99 face up!!! He said that this satellite is mathematics and he did not want to flip. So I did think that I would get my way even with a mere 22bb left had I folded my 10s.

A wise man once said that it is advisable to sit back on your 12th floor hotel balcony, drink a bottle of red wine, and simply watch from a distance the Bangkok chaos unfold (if not, someone should wise up and say it).

http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/ba...28cf0.jpg.html

It feels so good to be back in SE Asia. It was only 5 months ago since I last set foot over here, and yet it seems like a lifetime away... Nevertheless, I am back, and the adventure will once again begin!

For those of you that regularily pass through Bangkok, I highly recommend Watana Mansion Hotel, set in the core of the city, and nestled just by the sky train. It is about 18 stories high, they have massage services to the rooms, a store downstairs, breakfast included, a pool, all for a sweet 20$/night.

Anyhow, I will post in details in the next couple of days how the WSOPE event #1 went for me. I also want to post about adventures from the past in these parts of the world, like getting robbed, getting arrested and unknowingly punching someone in the face... But that will be for later.

Really happy to be going to Phnom Penh tomorrow and to pursue once again the grind in Asia.

Run good all!

WSOP Paris event #2, 1100 Euros reentry

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short ; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark Michelangelo

Initially, WSOP Paris was just a layover along the journey, while my eyes were set on the more exotic Trans-Siberian journey on the train. The plan was to land in Paris, play the WSOPE, meet up with this hot German girl and go visit Barcelona/sit a 10 day meditation retreat in a centre in the outskirts of the city, and then take the train across Europe-Asia all the way to Beijing. Plans changed. I found out that it is no walk in the park to get 5 different visas (Belarus, Russia, Mongolia, China and I forget the 5th one!) from the isolation of the Yukon when the closest travel agent is over 500km away... So Paris become the goal after all...

Who hasn't day dreamed about winning that bracelet... That conveted glitter... It would be similar to the Montreal Canadiens lifting up the Stanley Cup... That Olympic gold medal that your national team brings home...

But as a pro, you cannot let yourself get carried away by those silly childish dreams ; in this business, superstitions and false hopes can be your downfall. Nevertheless - if bankroll permits - I will keep taking occasional shots at one of those bracelets (as long as it does not intervene too much with the more lucrative cash games).

I show up at the casino slightly early but alas, not rested : this jet lag still has a strong hold on me. But after an orbit, I feel awake and very comfortable with my play and this table. I get to prove it after 7 hands, when I look down at Q10o.

Blinds are 25-25 and the starting stack is 3000. Blind levels are 1h, which gives us lots of time to manoeuvre. Unfortunately, it also means that stack sizes will decrease to 60bb or so when the next level of 25-50 kicks in. So I decide to get more involved early on, especially versus this specific BB that had limped 3 times already.

I make it 75 to go. Folds to BB who tags along, just as planned. Flop comes 279, a pretty safe board to cbet 75 into 175. He calls. Turn is the irrelevant 3. Check, check. River is a K. He grabs a few chips, 300 of them, and fires a potsize bet. I insta call, knowing that he doesn't have many kings in his range and would most likely check a smaller pair (for the K is more part of my range) and my Q10 scoops the pot when his 10 8 finds the muck. Easy game. But more importantly, a clear message to the table that I am ready to get involved.

The next hand of significance comes at the 25-50 level, when after 5 limpers, I check back 64o from the BB. flop is 4410 with a flush draw. I am first to act and lead out for 150, half pot. My table image was already established of someone bluff-happy. So I am not surprised when a tagish dude in MP raises it 3x. I tank for 30 seconds, and then put in that flop 3bet for about 2.1x. Being OOP, I think it is better to keep the initiative and that given my image, a reraise could represent just as well a flush draw than a call would. Our friend doesn't like it. He nevertheless reaches for chips and puts in that 4bet. My 64 does not beat any other combos of 4 outside of maybe 45... Yet, what else would limp from MP... A5s, and that's about it... There are 4 combos of those which is miniscule compared to all those combos of flush draws and pair of 10s. I call. Turn is a 5 that misses the draw but could of hit his kicker. I check. He fires and I tank-shove. He calls and shakes his head when he sees my trips have his Q10 crushed. Good game.

The table is surprisingly relaxed for people that are locals and are clearly amateurs... We joke around, they get a kick out of my Quebecois accent and poker becomes a fun game, once again. It is times like these that make up for when the grind turns into an undesirable heavy workload... to feel this collective juvenile excitement is refreshing. I have already deducted from my bankroll my buy ins + expenses for this week in Paris, making this tourney somewhat of a freeroll (at least in my mind...) and very low on expectations ; I am taking a shot and enjoying the process regardless of the outcome.

These thoughts disperse when I look down at 2 black ladies in the BB. There is 2 limpers and I squeeze it to 300 with blinds at 50-100. I get 1 caller. Flop comes JJ5 with 2 clubs. I check. Sure, I can bloat the pot, but checking will get me possibly extra value in later streets and I get to see how this passif player reacts to the flop... He checks back. Turn brings the 2c, giving me a flush draw in the process. I check again. At this point, I know my check will get me a call very often on the river, but holding the Q of clubs, I do not see the purpose in betting when basically no river card scares me. I am also letting him semi-bluff with a weaker club, which he kindly obliges by firing half pot (French people are so kind)

I tank for over a minute. It is not meant to be a Hollywood by any means, I am simply trying to decide which line to pursue, which story to tell... Call and let him bluff the river... Or put in more money right now and let him pay for that next card... I raise. My tanking plays on his decision as he insta jamms. I call and when I flip over my QQ, he nods, shows the K2 with no clubs. Wow! Now I only have to dodge the 2 Ks and 2 deuces... 2 on the river. Ouch! The poker Gods obviously prefer the French to the French Canadians! Why do we play this game again! But it doesn't really hurt : I manage to smile and joke around about that deuce as the pot is pushed towards my opponent.

With 70% of my stack gone, it only takes a few orbits and a steady bad run to donate the rest of my chips to the French community. Au revoir!

As I write these words, I am so happy to be by the pool of my comfortable Cambodian hotel. I have a couple of friends that arrive this weekend and we will grind the live games over here in Phnom Penh. After, I believe I will find a balla apartment in Vietnam located by the beach and grind it online for most of the winter, with jumps here and there for travelling/APPTs tournaments. Yeah, it is sweet to be here.

I guess I will start posting about travel stories pretty soon (got a few them banked up already)

Run good all!

Yeah, me thinks that I will get away from posting about hand histories until I play the next APPT ME and stick with travelling stories instead...

My own thinking with your Q-T hand is that I needed 34% probability of having the best hand to call the PSB. The likely range I would put villain on would be more like [Ax, QJ, Kx, 87, 76] instead of < QT such as T8 or JT, so I would usually fold. What are the errors in my thinking?
That would be a shame as it's the combination of poker hands and travel stories that makes me find the time to follow this thread despite being busy with family and making money.

If I was playing online, I would usually fold the Q10o (except versus specific opponents). But in this situation, I called in a heartbeat. There is something about live poker that makes you play differently then the numbers would dictate in an online setting... A feel... Like opening Q10o from MP is not something I would do in an online MTT, but felt comfortable live, trusting my reads and knowing that villain would most likely defend his BB. But as far as his range, I just did not see him value betting light an underpair to the K (I did not think he was good enough), and the potsize bet polarized his range.

It is true what they say that French players are really not that good (too bad we can't play on .FR) and this table had many spots.

I guess I should close my Paris adventure with a great ole picture of La Tour Eiffel

http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/ba...b780b.jpg.html

It was quite the feeling to be standing alone underneath the Eiffel Tower at 3 in the morning... To glide through the streets of Paris without traffic, sight seeing while no other tourists were close to getting up...

The casino was nestled just by a lake and it was nice to wander around, to sit in a café and all. That is one of the biggest pleasures that I have missed from the French culture living in the Yukon the past decade, is to sit in a café until the wee hours of the morning.

http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/ba...ab972.jpg.html

It took me a while to get readjust to online MTTs after playing strictly live cash games for the summer ; I was playing too many hands, calling too often in position instead of 3 betting and I am sure I had a few other leaks. So combined with a bad run, I wasn't beating online MTTs the few times I played during the past month. Variance had a huge outtake in my results, but I was conscious that I needed to readapt, to tighten up, to reduce my VPP and PR. Which I did.

And surprise surprise, with my resurging game, so did the results and I am happy to say that I had a great week at the virtual tables. It is astonishing at times how much effort, work and concentration we need to put in our approach to poker, especially with the ever evolving state of the online games... But here is a situation with which I could use some feedback.

Down to the final table with 4 players left, this situation shows up. I am tied for the chip lead with about 75bb left and villain is in a dangerous zone of 20bb. the fourth player has about 20bb as well, making ICM implications for our villain pretty big. So our opponent is UTG and opens for 2bb, fold-fold and I am dealt AQo in the BB. Do you induce here or shove? If he had more chips, I would make it 5bb to go, but with his 18bb behind, is it better to put ICM pressure here or induce?

The problem with inducing is that his K10s (for example) has a decent equity vs our AQo, and I notice that players lately like to put in that extra bet-shove in spots that they would of folded in the past. Where as shoving gets us that 4bb right away...

If I assign a 4bet shoving range of 16.4% to villain in poker stove (22+,A10o+,A2s,
K9s+,Q9s+ and a couple random hands), which is a wide range, our AQo still only holds an equity of 53.8%. So better to get those 4bb, right? Does anyone induce here?

I ended up shoving and he folded, but was curious if that hand could of been played better... Thoughts?

To Be a Balla or Not to Be

Hello all. If any of you pass regularly through Phnom Penh, I highly suggest #9 hotel, located in between Naga World and the Royal Place. It is more secluded than the tourist area by the river, but has all of the needs like 4 massage places on the streets as well as a few restaurants. More importantly, the rooms are really sweet, equipped with a flat screen tv, a nice bed and a somewhat safe. There is no elevators, but the 5 floors of stairways make up for a daily exercise while the first floor is a bar/restaurant, second a lounge area with a pool table and the third has a friendly bar with big screen tv and a small pool. Believe me friends, you will not find better value for your 15$!!! (I tried a few hotels at the same price, and they were dumps!).

http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/ba...26802.jpg.html

This is on the third floor, just by the pool. If someone knows how to post directly pictures without the link, please post here explaining how or pm me. Thx.

My friend from the Yukon showed up yesterday, so after playing 10h/day all week online, I knew that brews would be had and we were going to hit Naga World. And both were successfully done

We started pretty early in the afternoon, at 1pm to be precise, while Angkor beers at 50c a piece were downed on a patio by the riverside. Oh gotta love Cambodia on a sunny day, drinking brews and observing the constant movement of the wanderers passing by... I always felt at peace with the perpetual flow of life, and this time it is through the mid day sun and the movement of others that I let myself go...

Happy hour is 4-8 at the hotel and while most of the 2 for 1 drinks are not the most appealing, it is easy to work your way down the list and try others... Well, there is only 3 drinks on special, but by 5:30, we decided it was Naga World time anyways, so we walked the 2 streets to the casino, already feeling at ease with the buzz, the Cambodian evening and the night to come...

The game is not yet started, as we expected, so we sit at a low table on high chairs... Why do they make the chairs so high in proportion to the tables? Does anybody know? Really? Oh well, at least it gave us something to whine about while waiting for the game to start.

The game got going at 6 pm and while this time around, people only bought in for the minimum of 200$ (last week, 5 of us bought in for 500$), me and my buddy buy in for a more 200bb friendly 400$. It didn't take us long to create action (as expected), when on the first hand, my friend squeezes from the BB to 11$. I call as do 2 other people in this 6 handed game. Flop comes 726 with 1 spades. My friend fires 20$, about a half pot bet. I float with 109ss with my backdoor outs and with the intention of stealing on later streets. I usually do not float as much in a 1-2 game as I do in online MTTs, for I find that 1-2 grinders are more stubborn to not let go of a 1 pair hand, but having a solid read on my friend's game and being in position and 200bb deep, I like my float here.

The turn entices me even more to follow suit with my plan when the J of spades hits the felt ; he fires another barrel, 40$ this time, keeping his 50% pot bets. His range is premium here, consisting of over pairs mainly, but getting 3 to 1 on my call with 15 outs and heavy implied odds makes the situation a mandatory call, but I still tank, thinking about the merits of raising... But really, he is never folding an over pair here and I would lose equity by bloating the pot with an unmade hand... Call.

The dealer flips the next card and I am innerly delighted to see the Q of spades, giving my the absolute nuts with a straight flush. He goes for the thin value when he bets 145$ with about 185$ behind ; I tank shove. He calls, having committed himself already and shrugs when his top set is not good versus my straight flush. Mission accomplished : not only do I scoop the first pot, but the table erupts by seeing the 2 monsters, which will more likely encourage a gambling mood.

It doesn't take long for the table to be envious of my stack : we are intoxicated and both of us have a 1.5k stack in front of us. Since they are not many tourists right now in Phnom Penh, the table is reg and nit infested but alas!, it has no choice but to adapt to my lagish aggro game. I am not going to lie, most of the hands played are blurry or I simply do not recall, but I remember 2 hands of significance played against the same villain, a nit French pro that I already have a history against. I raise in late position to 15$ with K10s and our villain calls as well as another Asian reg. Flop comes J9 rag. It is checked to me and I pick up 30$ that I hope will take down the pot right away ; our French friend has a different plan in mind, as he makes the call. Turn comes another low card, a blank card (blank like my memory of yesterday is). He checks and so do I, but only after tanking for a bit, just to pretend that I have some sort of showdown value. River is a blank (once again, I apologize for the lack of details), and our villain fires a potsize bet and yet seems so comfortable, a live tell that has bluff written all over him. Yet, I rarely solely base a decision on a live tell, but usually factor it as part of the equation (even though Mike Caro is screaming in my ear to CALL!!!). My conversation from today comes back to me in which I was telling my friend that these guys are so polarized when they bet the river (2pairs+ or bluffs) that you need to adapt by A) value betting against them more thinly and B) make hero calls more often with High showdown cards. So I call and my K high is good when he announces Q high. Easy game.

Not so fast : I would be on the wrong end of a similar scenario a few hands later, after shoving with AK (A high with backdoor flush draw) on the flop when our French villain's weakness was more than appealing, he snapped and held up with second pair while my 30% equity was of no use. With that all-in loss, I would find my stack dwindle down to a mere 200$ profit... yet I finished a 700$ winner which according to my friend, happened with tagish style. What I do recall though, is that when we got the game started, I had a conversation with our French friend (a really nice guy) who I know to be a live grinder and yet, was saying how he played 5-10 online all week and only made an appearance once to the casino to take a break from the virtual felt...

Why do we need, as poker players, to always pretend to be ballas? Why do we pretend to play higher than our actual stakes? As if the game at hand right now, this 1-2 game at Naga World, has no impact whatsoever on our bankroll... As if our pride is directly correlated to our stakes... I plead guilty to this and too often walk the walk/talk the talk. Which really goes against my everyday nature, where I try to be humble at all times.

You see, I feel that we are together in this lifetime ; that we all have demons to face, challenges to overcome and hopefully a constant evolutionary/spiritual path to walk upon. And for that reason alone, I wish to remain humble, for our path is a similar one, regardless of our footsteps or walking patterns.

When I visited S21 last year in Phnom Penh - the torture prison where Cambodians and foreigners were held in between 1975-1979 -, none of us visitors would make eye contact. Why? Because we are all responsible for this genocide : we are all the same, killing/loving everyday. That death belongs to us. As does the happiness of others.

Promise to self : I will try to stay humble at all times, even though poker is too often a game of ego. And for the times that I won't, I apologize in advance.

Run good all!

I'm shoving here. When villain's stack > 20bbs there's probably some merit to inducing, but I don't think there's any perception of fold equity in this case. The other thing is that, to villain, making it 5bbs most likely looks stronger to him than if we just shove. So shoving also prevents a hero fold from AJ or 88 (granted, we want 88 to fold here in this specific spot, but we want him to call vs our overall range).

That must have been difficult to see. Your comments remind me of one of Dostoevsky's characters, Father Zosima from The Brothers Karamazov:

"Remember particularly that you cannot be a judge of anyone. For no one can judge a criminal, until he recognizes that he is just such a criminal as the man standing before him, and that he perhaps is more than all men to blame for that crime. When he understands that, he will be able to be a judge."

"My brother asked the birds to forgive him; that sounds senseless, but it is right; for all is like an ocean, all is flowing and blending; a touch in one place sets up movement at the other end of the earth. It may be senseless to beg forgiveness of the birds, but birds would be happier at your side- a little happier, anyway- and children and all animals, if you were nobler than you are now." --Father Zosima

It's like you're echoing his words!

great combo of hand analysis and trip reporting...good to see you're enjoying your time out there.

Thx for the advice and kind words Bob. I think you are right about that AQ hand, a shove is better given the stack sizes and might induce him to call more.

Dostoyevsky (I believe we spell it differently in French...) remains one of my favorite author and I was quite happy to see a couple of quotes by one of the all time greats. Thx. I haven't read The Brothers Karamazov yet, but do hold a copy back in Canada.

Interesting trivia, but did you know that The Possessed was written twice in French? The first version, The Demons was thought to be a bad translation by scholars, so they went ahead and made a new translation. I did not originally know this, and bought both versions.

Another interesting Dostoyevsky story, was that he was once arrested and sentenced to death by gunfire. When he was tied up and blindfolded, he made a prayer asking to be spared and offered to write unrelentlessly if God saved his life.

I continue to enjoy your blog/book report and am waiting for other installments, especially regarding fictional poker novels.

Take care