Sorry to hear the bad news. Hoping for the best, even if that is tough in the short term.

+1

Hang in there Dubn, and best wishes for 2020

Eastern Winds

5 years have elapsed since I have last set foot in the Phils. And, tbh, I am not too sure how I feel about stepping back underneath these Asian horizons... But in between spending the Holidays in the European cold - albeit with good friends - or under the Tropical Filipino sun, the choice was pretty darn trivial yo Besides, it is time to leave behind this recent stint in the Old continent which has seen me fail in numerous areas





The thing about the Phils, is that disparity exists not only in between the few (extremely) rich and the numerous poor folks, but life differs greatly from the urban areas (where 42.4% of the Filipinos live) and the idyllic rural islands. If the latter shines life upon a more peaceful - albeit still poor - and more wholesome lifestyle, the former is littered with pollution, millions of homeless peeps, abandoned kids and high crime levels.





Manila offers a decent live poker scene, many nice malls to dwell in, some decent restaurants (at least for a country not known for its gastronomy) and ample pretty ladies, but there is little else to do and living a first world lifestyle while locals are struggling to make ends meet and you are doing nothing about it, is quite the reality check, to say the least








As far as I am concerned, it came as a reminder that I no longer want to live in this part of the world and that it was time to hit some smaller islands to indulge in quieter settings yo


Peace

No, I had a layover in Adam a few days ago, nobody asked for my ID. They did that in other Dutch cities but I heard it's been largely discontinued. Kind of like fighting windmills

New Year's in Bohol

April 2013, Cebu, Phillipines. 9 Filipinos and yours truly have just finished a heated - like literally f**king heated - match of basketball. In truly Filipino PC fashion, the game remained (excessively) civil. Think not lots of hustling, nobody battling nor boxing for the rebounds, not bothering going back on defence, nor keeping score, for that matter. Pretty much the diametrical opposite of what can be found in the west, really… Until monies is put on the line, that is

3 kids (age 14-18) come challenge the brothers of my gf to a friendly challenge. The game initially starts out in typically passive Filipino fashion, but all it takes is a few (excessive) pushes, inadvertent elbows before shyt totally hits the fracking fan : everyone is suddenly out for blood Long gone is the societal encouraged politeness levels of we must respect a certain code and save face by all means in public settings : everyone is out to win that 50PHP (1$) And I am fracking loving it yo Give me some raw reality, some feisty blood, the bluntness of war as if your life f**king depended on it yo The brothers manage to take it down 12-10 and it is with a f**king massive GRIN on my face that I gloriously shake their hands : victory is ours yo





It is always an interesting introspection to loop back 5 years later and revisit a place we once (briefly) settled down in Using the Dubnjoy of 5 yesteryears as a reference acts as a solid guideline to how far we have come (think BR increased by 20x and weight decreased by 25lbs and, more importantly, more balanced inner-peace ) and where we want to go from here

I always had mixed feelings about Bohol and particularly the foreigners that live here, but things have gone further down the black hole in the past hald-decade





Korean and Chinese tourism has skyrocketed with American franchises taking a stronghold of the small island of a few thousand peeps


If Bohol was never my place of choice and I never for the life of me envisioned planting any roots here, this sentiment is certainly even more clear in 2020. Especially during the Holidays where I felt like a complete stranger in the midst of the fireworks, the deafening music and the madness of the crowd





I did rent a motorbike though and circle around the island with the wind in my hair which was a blast, you know








Thx for the kind words guys Thankfully X is no longer populating my thoughts ; but, alas, a big part of it is her being replaced by the TILT inflicted upon me by last week's run bad in the Aussie Millions

Really don't know about the specifics on this subject, but my buddy did mention that they stopped opening new cafes to not scare the tourism (not related to hedonism) away...


Peace

Camotes Islands : A Glimpse into Paradise (or is it…)

Manila, December 29, 2013. My head hurts. My soul too It almost came down to a fist fight in between my (temporary) housemate (who was a friend of a friend) and I yesterday at 4am. We stared each other down, cowboy style, tightened our knuckles, threw a few underneath the belt insults as taunts, but not one jab was thrown, just nasty glares of pure f**king anger. Enuff anyhow to get me to pack my bags, slip into my GTFO shoes and stumble down the streets seeking a hotel at the weeeee Filipino hours.

As soon as one hops unto a ferry and glides away towards the remote islands, a certain imaginary frontier is crossed, a new magical realm attained, one that isolates the soul from the hustle and bustle that was the urban (and uninspiring) area of Cebu City





But part of me forgets to slow down my system upon arrival on Camotes, AKA 2 juxtaposed islands where the expression Bahala na is in full display My host at the resort (who happens to speak 6 languages, one of them the local tongue Visayan ), has to remind me a few times in a friendly banter to "take it easy, there is no rush friend". Not that I am a noticeably stressed out fellow by any means, but I have yet shake off that urban vibe.




The little things, you know. Like the miniature ones that make you stop in your step, contemplate and relish being alive


Life over here crawls at a turtle pace. See, monotonous. Yet peaceful. I can definitely envision how one can immerse themselves into this realm and make it their own little paradise. All you need is simplicity. An absence of desire to conquer the world. To simply let yourself be fulfilled by the little pleasures like enjoying a beachside, having a life companion you deeply love by your side, indulging in alcohol consumption, participating in the community… Much like my host, mind you, that keeps himself busy with the renovations of his resort and fleeing back to Switzerland when the need to GTFO becomes too overwhelming.

But I, unlike the foreign Adams and Eves of the world, could not make this place my Garden of Eden. Nope. My culinary tastes are too exquisite. I feel the necessity of catching movies on a big screen. I have this craving for culture, diversity, variety as opposed to strictly confining myself to a natural realm (like a use to do in the Yukon). Sure, my luv for everything urban has grown over the past few years, yet the combination of best of both worlds of a sizeable town close to a diverse city remains my ideal. Somewhere in Latin America where culture meets nature seems like my calling





But first, we must conquer the World : off to Melbourne and the Aussie Millions we go yo


Peace

Upside-Down-Up Perspective Australian Style Yo

April 15, 2000, somewhere along the Gold Coast, Australia. This is my first overseas travel experience where I also find myself solo, as my gf of 4 years stayed back in Montreal for carear/life purposes, while I embarked on this nomadic Spiritual quest

Spoiler:

that would go on extending itself until...

But, alas, the Australian Gods had plans of their own when they decided rolled out THUNDEROUS skies as a form of welcome, with this neverending rain pouncing since yesterday In fact, I found myself barely sleeping with an intrusive foot of rain in my tent thrown by the highway yesterday

- "He does not realize how lucky he is we stopped to pick him up" mutters the driver to the passenger as I sit in the backseat, a grin on my face.

- "Yeah, these kids got it really good nowadays" answers his buddy, unimpressed with my nonchalant attitude. I smile. Oblivious to the outcome of potentially ended up again by the side of the road for the night. Bombaclat. Revolution yo


As much as we like to pride ourselves (as professionals) in our rational approach to the game - and which overspills into life, right, where we see/witness variance in every phenomenal activities -, we also let ourselves be seduced by the dream... Of BINKING A MAJOR MTT, right, because we are not a freaking GTO bot that sits there without any God damn emotion, f**k no : we are out to CONQUER THE WORLD brothers and sisters And with this world domination, comes the glory of being recognized The satisfaction of having made it to the last level and not only defeating the END BOSS, but taking absolute pleasure in the act of pure irrefutable CRUSHING yo




The venue for the Aussie Millions, AKA The Crowne, is indeed the nuts


The series is off to a get start when I find myself on the bubble in the first event, a PLO 1k, only to see my dreams of picking up an Australian flag this early get stomped when my 85% fails to hold up And then I whiff my 2 bullets in the 2k 6max, whiff in the 2k PLO, whiff in the 1k 6 max... Whiff, whiff, fracking always whiffing





So I decide to take the next few days off from the live grind and thus visit Melbourne, as you certainly do not want to let your dreams overshadow the broad daylight, right...





Even if I whiff again the 2k and 1k bounty (with 2k in bounties though), I play some of my best poker ever : my game just reaches another level But, alas, one cannot lose 7-8 flips in a row (some of them 80-20%) before becoming one of the most prominent Whiffers of all time... Nonetheless, it is with extreme confidence in my game that I approach the day of the 10k ME, the sole one that can salvage my series and define the Aussie Millions as being a failure or not





My first table seems promising when I show up and find myself the youngest (and only pro) of 5 players But then a SHR reg sits to my left (Orpen), and then another (Mikita), and another (Dan Shak), only to be replaced by 2 more, and suddenly my table ends up being 5x harder then the final table would end being with more than 25x in cashes (upwards of 50 million)

I do manage to survive though, make it through Day 2, almost all of Day 3 before waving the white flag as 68th overall, good for 20.5k I am happy to salvage my Aussie stint in the last tournament, but I really thought that this was going to be it... That my time had come to bink a 500k+ score yo Another time it shall be, I guess...

Next : Buenos Aires


Peace

Dubnjoy, good to hear from you again.

In BA, watch out for this trick. Happened to someone I was on tour with, but Bob chased them down. A few years ago, so details a bit fuzzy, but it goes something like this:

Tourist walks by, and local spills a drink on them. While local is distracting tourist with apologies and "helping them clean up", local's cohort grabs tourist's camera/wallet/whatever.

Also supposedly done with a spray bottle and the story that "a passing bird just dumped on you, let me help you clean up."

We were told of this at the hotel, so everyone had their radar on. As I remember Bob telling it, as soon as he set his camera down, he remembered (oh, ****), and saw guy taking off with camera he'd set on a table. Chased him down the street, and caught up just as thief was jumping in a cab. Pounded on the roof, yelled a lot of threats at thief. Got his camera back.

Turns out Bob's a super-nice guy, but big enough where I could see the thief being startled by this.

Touchdown in Buenos Aires

Funny, isn’t it, how the perplexity of the imminent unknown combined with the excitement of its promise never fades away over the years prior to a new adventure…

Outside of some random google pics, I remained in the dark as far as Buenos Aires went, yet the act of simply evoking its name nonetheless filled my being with a discernible buzz

We really don’t have that many pretty cities in Canada and in the USA (minus Quebec City). Of course, when you fly over to the Old Continent, every city is like a fracking hidden gem, but on our side of the pond, you need to get WAYYY down to Mexico before being exposed to colourful cities (think Guanajuato or CDMX) and I would not give much credence to Central American cities neither. In fact, one needs to get to South America where cities like Lima, Santiago, Rio or Buenos Aires hold a charm of their own yo

Beyond the pretty Spaniard Colonial houses (similar to CDMX) that are quite engrossing on their own,





the street art is quite eye-opening in BA In fact, when you wander down the streets of Palermo (a trendy cultural district), one cannot but feel f**king FLABBERGASTED by the neverending stream of live grafitis that populate every God Damn wall on street, after street, after FRACKING STREET In fact, if there is a city with more appealing street arts (in both quantity and quality) then BA, please chime in folks








Buenos Aires also combines the antigua





with the modern :





L and I are leaving for a WE getaway in a small coastal in Uruguay (post to come), but I will then be back for at least a month in Buenos aires


Fair enough and duly noted BTW golddog (or anyone else), if you are looking for more frequent updates, my poker journey is updated several times a week over here : https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...inues-1604291/


Peace

Cool blog, been reading it for a while but the mention of my country made me step out of the darkness. Hope you enjoy it! Guess you going to Colonia? Is where most people go from BSAS as it's just a ferry ride away. Also prob one of our nicest places, although Montevideo is still my fav city there, albeit too quiet and small compared to BSAS, but nice on its own way. Still worth to check it out sometime in your life. Gl and enjoy the trip!

You are from Uruguay or Argentina? And yup, Colonia, as we have a 4 day long WE. The plan was to rent a car and ride down the coast and stop in Pinamar, Mar del Plata etc., but there are no vehicles, no buses before Saturday evening, the trains will be packed/are slow/not cozy for long distances, all of which made us change our plans. Got a cheapish (again, price inflated for long WE) AirBnB in Colonia and we will just chill, eat, swim, visit there.

Any recommendations for places to visit (in either country)? And if you are from BA, any home games you are aware of (or know someone connected to one...)???

Cheers

Im from Uruguay. Colonia is quite a small town and in a few hours you can see everything there's to see there (basically historic quarter and the old bull ring). For food I like a lot Sos Gardel, an all you can eat asado buffet, very close to historic quarter and reasonably priced.

There's some seaside towns that are very chill and small (Fomento, Santa Ana, Britopolis, Artilleros) but are pretty much only accessible by car and for a day escapade is not worth it to go there. Also if you want to go to the beach, instead of one of this towns you should go east of Montevideo (Maldonado and Rocha), but that's a whole different trip that would require more days.

Not sure how many days you'll stay in Uruguay, but if you'll stay more than one and can rent a car, consider driving to Montevideo (roughly 2h each way) even if its just to see the old city, main square, the beach road ("rambla") and go back. Is a nice city that as I said before, is worth a visit at some point, and everything you have to see in Colonia can be done in one day.

I'll ask some poker friends from Argentina about home games/clubs on there and send you a PM when they get back to me.

Thx for the suggestions bro, will be looking into renting a vehicle to check out Montevideo I did plan on checking out the games in Punta del Este eventually in another trip (good games there outside of Party Millions???) and I also want to visit the coastal Uruguay towns which I heard a ton of positive stuff about!!!

Colonia, Uruguay AKA WE Getaways

Vancouver, Canada, December 12, 2008. I show up at the casino on Tuesday night and get a seat in the 1-2 game in between a lovely and classy lady in her late 30s and a young-likeable-wannabe-pro student who has not left the fracking casino since last Friday, almost f**king 100 hours later

I chat it up (of course) with the pretty lady and find out about her interesting poker background where she was sponsored for the duration of the previous winter in Europe for 1-10k BIs simply for putting on a patch and being, you know, a pretty lady - God you had to love the Boom for those that managed to take advantage of it - and binking 100k in the process

Spoiler:

she was never really that good (her words), but managed to cash a few of her freerolls and even make a final table, but has since giving up on the dream and now resorted back to working as a bartender

-, meanwhile a MASSIVE pot brews up unbeknownst to us ; the TITANIC amount of chips in the middle suddenly catch our attention, as does the banter around the table and the excessive tanking : it is our dear sleepless zombie friend who is squaring off vs the maniac at the table The action went as follows : our friend raised the flop and potted the turn in a 3bet pot on a Axx x board, but decided to check on the river when the str8 and flush got there ; the maniac proceeded by overbet-jamming (500bbs) which sent our young lad in the tank. The kid looks spun up, the victim of an uncanny situation where both the COLOSSAL size of the pot and the severe sleep deprivation have him wildly chasing his tail... He turns around, looks at us with those bewildered eyes, seemingly unsure if he is on the verge of dropping his 4 days profit down an unforgiving bottom-less abyss or if his bluff-catcher is going to sky-rocket him to the f**king blissful heavens... This is the Boom at its finest : 2 foes fiercely squaring up in the ring, a typical scummy af old school dirtbag vs an impressive kid who has been influenced by too many evenings of watching Poker After Dark, while the rest of us at the table have become the attentive audience, all innerly hoping for the student to find a fold vs the obvious nutted hand... furthermore, our table has become the centre of attention in the poker room with several pit bosses and a ton of other peeps gathering to witness this f**king zoo... 5 mintues... 6 minutes... 7 minutes go by... Nobody is heartless enough to call the clock, as EVERYONE understands that the kid has been going at it for half a week str8 and has since lost any sense of sanity... He looks around, moreso soaking in the moment than trying to muster any logical thinking left in him... He flashes AQo for me and my lady friend to see (good for top pair, second best kicker), grins at us, but just before the Pit Boss can interject with a verbal warning, he makes the call

Spoiler:

Villain rolls over the rivered str8 The kid can still not believe his luck when he sees all of his chips that took 4 sleepless days to acquire being snatched away from him

Spoiler:

The kid would proceed to play LAGgy af for the next 2 hours, win 400bbs (which put him at B/E for the week) and walk away with a smile on his face

Long live the Poker Boom


It is hard for me to slow down. Sure my daily hourly long morning meditation puts me in the right frame of mind from the getgo, but my nonetheless starts pounding af as soon as I take a sip of that double coffee and pop open those 9 tables on my monitor and laptop ; in little to no time, I get 2 outered in a 200bbs pot and hear this all too familiar voice which hollers "not again" inside my head before I brush it away and switch my attention to my 3 HU table vs my nemesis, pivot my focus to the 2 PLO tables on my laptop (and GII on one of them), spin back right towards my 6 NLHE tables where I find myself engaged in 2 big pots, twirl back to my laptop to check out where my stack stands in my lone MTT... After 90 minutes, I call it quits. Sure I head out in sunny Buenos Aires (or wherever I am in the world ) in an attempt to slow down my system, but the speeding cars, noise pollution and the general urban brouhaha simply do not permit me to do so

It is nevertheless with a smile on my face that L and I embark on the ferry towards Colonia ; not only is this our first romantic trip together, but both of us are quite content to leave behind this urban side of the river in favour of the Uruguayan calmer shore yo





Colonia acts as a WE getaway for both Argentinas and Uruguayans - and perhaps as a tourist attraction like it does for a Canadian lad like yours trully and a Paraguayan lady like L It has kept its Spaniard heritage while being located by the peaceful coast of Rio Plata.





L and I fail in booking a car or moto (and thus checking out Montevideo and Punta del Este in the process), but we nevertheless end up having a great time And low and behold, something curious happens in the process... I manage to slow the frack down Not only do I slip into the moment by lying there on the beach while being completely seduced by the sound of the wind and the crashing waves, but I am in no hurry whatsoever to get up and move on to the next thing Sometimes, you just are








Peace

Dub, that is one of the best written and most captivating HHs I've come across on here, nice writing bro! And glad that it ultimately had somewhat of a happy ending.

Oh yeah, great photos, too, there's a neat, ethereal aspect to a couple of them.

Yeah great post man

Also wtf, if youre swonging, play less tables brother!! 9 tables (some 6m, some HU, and 2 formats if I read correctly) is a recipe for disaster. Edges smaller than ever, it’s extremely impt to focus more/play better in today’s environment. Just my 0.02

Glglglgllg

Hey Dubnjoy, you doing ok?

Yup, thx friend Still in Argentina, albeit on Day5 of a state of Emergency Lockdown. Updating my PG & C everyday about it. Post over here to come very soon as well...

A Piece of Time

This thread has come to a halt. Not the story as per say, but moreso the narrative is reflective of a closed book gently being put on the bedside table while the characters stay put and the overarching storyline is one resembling the stillness of a lonnnngggg lull. Like. A. Blank. F**king. Page Much like the outside world, mind you, which is attempting to rewrite a semblance of normality. Or at least its next chapter.





Buenos Aires is now the place I call home. Initial plans of going back to Canada in July before coming back here in November have been put to sleep once the borders were officially shutdown until at least September.





Everyday repeats itself. Tomorrow eerily similar to yesterday. Gone are those pleasant illusions of accelerating the flow of time in moments of bliss. Or those endless-long-drawn-out extensive moments that carry the weight of the world in the midst of their utter boredom... Nope. Not anymore. The routine consists of meditating, breakfast, messaging, grinding, writing, reading, grinding, dinner, studying, browsing, movie, meditating and sleep. Rinse. Fracking repeat. In a light-hearted flow, mind you, but never have I seen the days fade away this rapidly, each one converging into the indistinct homogenous greyish nature of the others...


https://www.facebook.com/EhUniverso/...2060213751374/

video of sleeping Lima


Travelling has been such an intrinsic part of my nature since the age of 19, a good 24 years ago - and granted, until I become dust and bones, it will surely be... -, that said, life has forced my hand into looking into officializing my stay in these parts. And buying a propriety north of Montreal in the form of an investment. Not sure when things will go back to a semblance of normality and I can again visit new areas - if only surrounding areas like Tigre... -, but hopefully soon...





Peace

Good to hear from you again!

Surprised that you can't make it back to Canada, figured the borders would be open to citizens.

It sounds as if you're not thrilled with the prospect of being in BA long term, but at least are doing o.k. healthwise.

Stay well, my friend.

Well I effed the pics in my latest post as my imgur has not been showing the images of my pics for a week or so

Buenos Aires is definitely the place where I want to be/would be Pandemic or not Although my return dates have changed as even if the Canadian border is still open for me, the Argentina one would not allow me to return before God knows when

My post was meant to be more dry and poetic, as my PG & C chronicles in details my thoughts and emotions (which have been solid ) of the quarantine thus far. Hope you are well goldog, peace.

Subtle Stillness

For the 2 decades and a half consisting of my adult life, I have been exposed to drastic changes. And oftentimes daily. Think waking up in different countries to the tune of various languages. Bouncing at times through the 4 seasons through the span of a week. A multiplicity of landscapes, assorted cultures, an uncountable amount of people met and left behind along the road, such has been my lot over all of my adult life ; to say alterations has been a big part of my life, would be quite the understatement And then came the pandemic…

When life throws you a curveball, you just adapt ; you squeeze out your arse, bend those knees, refocus your vision, eye the dropping baseball and… effing hit that mama-fracker out of the park, you know

After taken shots at live MTTs stemming from the cities of Montreal-Dawson-Edmonton-Montreal-Paris-Prague-Melbourne (and the numerous travel hops in between), I felt that my nomadic wanderlust was (somewhat) coming to an end ; at least if you can call sedentary settling down in Argentina while (eventually) engaging monthly on WE trips, the live MTT rounds of Punta del Este, Santiago, Rio and Cordoba and the regular annual trip back to Canada (with stops in Montreal, Yukon and Alberta)

Parque Chacabuco is a middle-class neighbourhood tucked into the quieter southern part of the metropolitan ; it is a tranquil barrio with columns of charming colonial houses that (somewhat) make up for the dog poop loitering the sidewalks





North-East of us, the avenues open up to richer domiciles, quiet stretches with alluring parks, delectable restaurants and shops etc.





While on the south-west end just a block away, Bajo-Flores offers the distinct feel of one of the poorest villas in B.A., with a ton of folks populating the streets trying to make end meets.





So this is it folks : I have settled down into tranquil happiness with the woman I love, her son and her puppy. This will be life for the feasible future yo





Here is a one minute video of our serviced apartment building (L and I each pay 200$ ) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWKD...2SnmdsSY-TrOa0





peace Y'all

Congratulations, looks like a very nice set-up for you guys. Glad to hear you're doing well.

That’s a nice building - watched the YT clip. That would definitely be above middle class dwelling there?

I’d love to read your post on Brad Booth too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[QUOTE=shynepo3;56506574]That’s a nice building - watched the YT clip. That would definitely be above middle class dwelling there?/QUOTE]

The building, yes, it is definitely luxurious (even if it averages out to less then 150CAD$ each and probably 100$ in the long run!!!). Our neighbourhood is middle-class though and our flat literally has its back to one of the poorest ghettos in B.A.

He has been located and is safe and sound I presume that he has a lot of stuff to process, but man this is great news (post will hence not be happening).

Thx friend