Probably bohemian wasn't the most appropriate term... that is another one of those things that is lost in translation (was comparing the definitions in both languages ; in English, it refers to anti-conformist often artistic habits, while in French it also implies a nomadic/homeless lifestyle...).

Have not seen many pedal bikes over here and it is probably not the first country which one would think of to bike through... As far as I am concerned, outside of taking long walks by the beach, I really enjoy riding a motorbike here, especially around midnight after finishing my poker session + meditation, it is quite a unique/peaceful experience to ride into the night. I always enjoyed that impression that the evening belongs to us - as most tired souls have hit the sack - combined with the mysterious/opaque feeling that emanates.

Random Poker Notes...

Hi all. This week's format will be slightly different, as I feel the need for some poker brainstorming. Hope you enjoy and maybe get something out of this eclectic thought process...


Poker : Things are back to going smoothly, thankfully. Not only does a period of adjustment seem to be imposed upon me every time I do the switch from live to online (and vice-versa), but mixing in different games - in this case MTTs and cash - has been somewhat of a challenge. Of course, the reason I include both variations is for obvious lucrative reasons, MTTs being my bread and butter while the CCG table is an enticing bone thrown by Party for those of us that multi-site. This said - and like I stated in my previous post -, my hourly had taken a substantial hit at the CCG table, while my ROI in MTTs was not up to par... I Wasn't too concerned about the MTTs, as I feel very at ease with my tournament play and I don't feel it needs much tweaking - if any -, but my cash game had titanic leaks in it , which came to my obvious attention when another reg said in the chat (after stacking me off) "hey, this is not a live game" Yikes!!! I felt naked. Soul read. My weaknesses exposed in broad daylight.


A few adjustments :


The difference in between the SPR of a low-stakes live game and a 100 NLH online game is pretty significant, as the standard preflop open online fluctuates in between 1-4bbs, while its live counterpart varies from frequent limps of 1bb - duh!!! -, to maniac tendencies of 12bbs (in good/very soft 1-2 games). Hence, your preflop getting-it-in range will obviously be heavily influenced by our opponents tendencies. So here are a few changes that needed addressing :

- My preflop all-in range with 100bbs stacks went from the ill advised AK, 1010+ to a nittier and more exploitative (at these stacks) AK, QQ+. It might seem obviously standard for any online cash game players reading this, but it wasn't for me, at least not a couple of weeks ago (remember, my bread and butter has been live cash games and online MTTs).

- My post-flop all-in range has also been through significant alterations, relying on a higher +EV range, me thinks.

Dry boards seem to be a given at these tables, as fish play them face-up and regs don't attack them often enough (outside of a standard cbet) for me to overly worry about these spots, but wet boards belong to a different realm all together... In a live low-stakes game, people lose their mind with equities that hardly warrant it While online, even fish seem to approach wet boards conservatively, usually not stacking off with anything under 2 pairs/combo draws. Thus, I decided to adapt by doing the following :

- Be more passif as the preflop raiser, thus increasing my checking range by reducing my cbettings frequency with overpairs and TPTK. Obviously, multiway pots or HU action will demand different strategies, yet, as a default strategy, it has saved me tons of monies.

- As a preflop caller and in a multi-way pot, an inducing donk bet of 40-50% works wonders with a premium range (top 2, sets etc.). With the nuts, it is suprising how effective it can be, as overpairs will go insane trying to protect their (almost non-existent) equity vs a perceived drawing range. My semi-bluff range will consist mainly of nutted draws that can call a raise (nut flush draw or OE with 2 overs, combo draws) or 3bet-get it in. I have yet felt the need to balance it out with bluffs (any CCG regs reading this?).

- I don't avoid regs as much anymore. I do still table select, of course, as the whole goal of the Casual Cash Games is to play against a weaker field, but I don't feel intimidated by any specific player... This said, I feel seat selection is as important. Having a good, solid LAG at the table is never fun. But seating to his direct left handcuffs his game (assuming we are benefitting fully from our positional advantage) and can let us be the beneficiary of the table dynamics, even by playing our hybrid of LAG-TAGish game.

- Varying my use of overbets. How do you feel when someone overbets the river? A fish? A reg? As far as I am concerned, something sinks inside of me... A feeling of nausea replaces what was once one of comfort...

We are far removed from the 90s and even early 2000s when the old timers used ill advised gigantic sizings (Rounders, anyone...) as a standard, and putting those extra chips not only changes the equation at hand (a bit), but mainly speaks loudly about the conscious effort of adding those significant - yet minuscule, mathematically speaking - extra $$$. How does it affect ones perceived range...

Overbets are not something I frequently use in MTTs, yet have been a pleasant profitable surprise in the cash game... Since overbets polarizes our perceived range, I have strictly used them in spots where we are thought to be always polarized, like when the river puts out the third flush-card/forth straight card. In this specific example, versus a fish, I would overbet with air and often enough get him to fold a top or second pair sort of hand ; versus a reg, I will merge my range and overbet my TPTK in a spot where I think he will hero-call with worst on this same board. Seems simple and is definitely unbalanced, but God is it ever effective.

Example of Overbet played today :

Villain 109$
Hero 123$

Hijack, a weakfish reg, (29/18/5, fold to 3bet 33) opens to 3$ from hijack ; I 3bet to 9$ with QQ. Villain makes the call.

Flop (19$)
QJ3

Easy game Yet, with top set, it remains pretty hard to extract lots of value (since I block so many top pair combos). I still think firing flop is better. I bet 12$. He calls.

Turn (43$)
QJ3 6

Once he checks again, I fear that by barreling here will get folds all day.

River (43$)
QJ3 6 7

He checks. While my range is not polarized here, I still decide that it is a good spot to shove vs a capped range that necessarily becomes a bluff catcher. I shove for 88$ effective ; villain fairly quickly makes the call with AJ. Easy game.


- Cbetting frequency : As far as midstakes MTTs goes, players have not yet adjusted properly to high frequency cbets. So given you have a relatively tight image (under 20% VPP), recreational players will give you credit for having the goods - or at least hitting part of the flop - the majority of the time (even with a cbet frequency as high as 85%). And regs will not play back often enough at you to make it a mistake. So not only is cbetting significantly +EV, but it takes the lower variance route of taking down the pot right away, something we prefer to do with a hand as vulnerable as second pair for instance.

In a cash game, a hand like second pair often benefits from better merits if put in the check-flop range, as we do not want to bloat a pot when numerous villains are float-happy people. So I would consider 60-65% cbetting more appropriate, even though I usually don't aim for a certain percentage as opposed to a more balanced cbetting, check/calling and check/raising range.

Again, this simple observation might be another obvious one, yet it remains another small albeit clear distinction in between both the cash and MTT worlds...

- Poker, this unsolvable puzzle : For the meantime, I will continue working on my cash game ranges for the next month, even though that things have clicked and I feel I can easily crush the game with my present understanding of it. That said, my ranges remain approximated and tentative at times and still could use some tweakage. After 1 month, who knows! Kind of depends on my interests at that stage... I feel there is more monies to be made in cash games, yet still prefer the tournament grind as far as personal enjoyment goes... We will see, we will see...

- Epic 2 + 2 Poker Podcast this week, with special guests Phil Galfond (+ girlfriend) and Ben Tollerene in studio with the guys for the duration of the show. Funny to compare the cynical-the-world-is-a-dark-place Ben to the always diplomatic Phil.

After so much poker content, I figured this post needed a thread saver...



Run good all

Just Another Day, Everyday

As always, after grinding online for a couple of months straight, a routine has established itself. Call it a necessity. Or work ethics. Nevertheless, when I compare my present lifestyle to recent non-sober years, I have significantly settled down, to say the least.

Sure, I still travel quite a few thousand kms/yearly, get to enjoy different settings, different realities... But gone are the days of stumbling back home... the eclectic memory flashbacks... binging until the end of times or those random desires to conquer the world... Here I am, following the rough guidelines of a structured life, yet happier, as boring and grownup as that might seem


The daily Schedule :


10h30 : My gf shakes me up, gives it her best at bringing me back to the realms of this world... Alas!, I certainly didn't choose poker as a livelihood to have to be subjected to obligations at such an early time... , HELLS no!!! So I usually practice the art of snoozing for 30-60 min, by far more appealing then the lame awake world

11h30 : Meditation time. Serious business yall!!!

12h30-14h30 : We head out for lunch at 1 of our 5 designated restaurants, all of them offering Filipino food. My gf prefers to eat local and, combined with the aversion that she has for spending what she considers to be in excess, this decision has become standard (the western restaurants are so overrated over here, it is not even funny...). I have to constantly remind her that we are spending well within my budget ; alas!, to no avail, as nothing can apparently alter the will of Filipina stubbornness... Pretty ironic though how I am spending the same amount of monies then when I was single...

14h30-22h30 : The grind. Nuff said gangstas!!! Just had 3 very solid weeks which almost made up for the previous 6 weeks of stalemate... When things are going smoothly, it becomes such an easy game, but what a headache when we are running/playing bad Oh la la, what a game

22h30+ After another hour of meditation to calm my mind and body, We oftentimes jump on the motorbike, head towards Alona Beach to either get a massage or go for a swim. The twilight hours are usually the best for giving us the impression of having the sea and the beach to ourselves...


- In other news, My gf is learning to drive a motorbike (don't laugh, she has never driven one before...) so we are spending a few minutes/day on this endeavor... little did I know it would be such an adventure, but it became all too obvious when the MONSTRUOUS motorbike - figuratively speaking - fell on her tiny 100 lbs body, as the weight of her clumsiness brought both her and the machine tumbling to the ground





Unfortunately, I did not take a pic of when both her and the bike took a dive, preferring to practice the art of being a gentlemen (+EV decision) instead of eternalizing forever the ridicule of it all (-EV, but definitely funner )


- The other day, my gf and I went for a stroll on a nearby desolated beach. While walking, I interrupted the peaceful silence and asked her : "do you think Filipinos are generally happy?" I kinda anticipated what her answer would be, but was still interested in hearing the spoken thoughts... She didn't respond, seemingly lost in the contemplation of the whispering wind and the crashing waves... 5 minutes go by before she erupted from her meditative state and told the following story :

"In my hometown Argo, we had a neighbor that after her husband left her for another woman, she jumped into a well with her daughter." Yikes The grimness of the story struck an inner cord in me, as the somberness of those few words are concise as can be... We pursued our walk, the wind and the waves still as mesmerizing, yet suddenly also carrying with them a tragic gloom... "She could not provide for her daughter. What could she do...". Of course, that last statement being less a question than a hopeless affirmation...

It seems as if layers and layers of suffering have been suppressed in the collective Filipino consciousness in order for everyone to persist... What can you do? Sometimes life bad beats add up until variance finally sinks in... What can one do? I do hope to be able to answer that question for myself one day (assuming I find the courage and the selflessness to do so...).

- When I compare the welcoming that Westerners get in Asia (compared to, for example, the cold shoulder that is presented to the Gringos in Latin America), one cannot but be thankful to be greeted with tenderness over here. Yet, I feel that our attention should be directed towards what lies beneath those apparent smiles? What past struggles, hardships, brought them to grin in the face of adversity?

Historic suffering underlines these parts of the world, me thinks. But it always surprises me how some people - in this case, expats -, are capable of ignoring this reality, create a bubble for themselves to dwell in and thus simply ignore the omniscient suffering...


Hand of the Week

CCG, 0.50-1$, Party Poker

I have just sat down at the table. Villain 1 is a donk-maniac. Villain 2 I have no notes on.

Hero (100$)
Villain 1 (147$)
Villain 2 (125$)

Our first villain open-raises to 2$ from the CO. Button 3bets to 6$. I wake up with KQ in the BB. I don't like a fold, even less a call (we are OOP and it will also give CO the opportunity to make a play at the dead money), hence with my blockers and a good post-flop playable hand, I elect to cold 4 bet to a smallish 15$, stealing initiative and giving me a good price on my bluff-fold. CO folds but button makes the call.

Flop (35$)
Q74

Great flop for us! The only hand that we should fear is AQ and possibly 77, as our 4bet wasn't big enough to entice him to fold many hands in his 3bet range (I can see him mistakenly calling with his 3bet-bluffing range, hands like Axs and suited connectors that get suckered in by a small 4bet...). He also might be slow playing AA here some % of the time (I think he 5bets QQ-KK and most of the time AA), but not often enough for us to be concerned about it. All things considered, we are pretty nutted on this flop and will commit stacks on most rundowns. I decide to check for deception but also to let him define somewhat his range. When he checks behind, I feel he has 88-JJ combos most of the time.

Turn (35$)
Q74 9

I think that people tend to go on auto-pilot in this spot and bet as a standard... Not a huge mistake, me thinks, yet I feel that by checking turn, we let him fire almost 100% of his range here ; bluffs will definitely take a stab, while mid pairs will often bet for protection on such a wet board... He bets 27$ which certainly screams of protection... I shove for 85$. He tank-calls with JJ. Easy game!

I like the way I played it and outside of running good and hitting gin on the flop, I don't see how I could of played it better (definitely could use some feedback if you think otherwise...). As far as villain is concerned, I don't like his turn sizing : a smaller bet would accomplish the same while giving himself a better bet-fold price. As far as his call goes, it is most definitely -EV, as I shouldn't have many flush outside of precisely AK and AK (which still have a decent equity) ; I think that I would almost always bet-get it in on the flop with Ax and would stab-fold with Ax.


A few Gambling movies :


I love cinema. A lot. There is a decent 2 + 2 thread on the subject of films with some pretty knowledgeable posters

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/63...t-3-a-1303016/

Just watched True Detective and God was it ever amazing!!! The tone. The atmosphere. The character driven narrative. The magnificent "travelling" camera shots. This said, I feel like sharing my top 5 gambling movie list.

The Hustler

As far as neo-noirs and gambling movies in general, this is the top of the cream, me thinks. Starring Paul Newman at his best in this coming of age immersion into the hustler's world as we follow Newman's character through his ups and downs. It has it all : a slow character-building-pace, an existential outlook, romance, fraud, torment and redemption.

Croupier

Another masterpiece of its own, even if it remains less known... Clive Owen depicts a devious casino dealer who takes cynical pleasure in taking people's money.

Owning Mahoney

Philip Seymour Hoffman in yet another remarkable role as he takes us tumbling down the downward spiral of an addicted gambler. Oh yeah, there is certain highs, but they are sparse and manipulative, as they are only used to accentuate the subsequent fall...

Hard Eight

Shot with a budget of less than 200 000$ and one of PT Anderson's early flick. Interesting neo-noir and kinda cool to see younger versions of Samuel L Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Hoffman, yet again.

Rounders

Nuff said.


Run good all

Nice update Dubn!

Check out the gambler, it's quite a good film

Will do. You mean the 1974 version, right? You saw that they are doing a remake with Mark Wahlberg :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gambler_(2014_film)

I take it that you have seen all the 5 films listed in my post, bob, being the gambler's world enthusiast that you are and with your writing project and all?

lol didn't know about the remake, hopefully it's good.

Yes the original with James Caan. He's an English prof who gets sucked into gambling, I think the film is loosely based on Dostoevsky's novella (at least thematically). In any case it's solid imo.

I haven't seen Croupier or Hard Eight. Owning Mahoney is fantastic, liked the Hustler. And Rounders, of course, is epic Still rooting for the sequel.

Well, the sequel is suppose to hit the theatres in the next year or 2...

http://www.flushthefashion.com/cultu...or-rounders-2/

Let me know if you get around to watching Hard Eight and Croupier, as I am curious on your take on them. Take care friend.

How long have you been doing the meditation and can you recommend any resources online learning the basics?

Also your girlfriends chinstrap looks dangerously loose on the helmet, might want to adjust.

Good luck, maybe some pics from live games at casino?

Hey Hank, how are things? You haven't updated your blog in a while, things are still good in Baha?

I have been practicing meditation everyday for 13 years (15 min/day for the first couple of years, 1-2h/day for the past 11). To really go deep in the vipassana technique, a 10 day course is needed

https://www.dhamma.org/

There are centres in most western countries, a ton in Asia, and some in Africa and Latin America. This course is the ****. It takes you to some deep levels of yourself, where demons and angels and deeper realities dwell, sort of speaking... If not, I wouldn't know about some online info... I picked up a book about breathing exercises when I first started practicing.

As far as my gf and her helmet, I don't go there anymore : it is already a hassle to get here to wear one, haha.

I will be meeting up with a buddy in Cebu in a few weeks where we will hit Waterfront for some small games, so definitely some pics and HH to come. But even more so at the end of January, where I will be playing 3-4 events at the APT Cebu and grinding cash games.

http://www.theasianpokertour.com/apt...ries-cebu-2015

I will be playing the Main Event, the Heads-up and one of the Head Hunter (bounty, I assume...) and 6 handed. Since the cash games should be good, I will be showing up before the series and staying a couple of days extra, grinding for 10-14 days.

GL in the rest of your adventures friend!

Thanks for the links Dub, life is good on Ms Calliope I work on her play tennis with old folks, and grind bovada. Even made a cashout recently, WOOT!


Just went for the first sail today after 4 weeks of work feelin......




Best of luck playing live poker it will be fun if you make a final table and pose with trophy Oh yeh im not in Baja, but Port Isabel shrimp capital of the US at one point in time....

Cool. Seems that you have a sweet life there. So the plan is to sail to Mexico, right? Sounds like a pretty amazing adventure.

When I was in Central America, I was reading about crossing either the Panama Canal or the Darien Gap. It seemed like quite the adventure, to say the least, as both came with a certain risk factor...

GL, looking forward to that part of your trip friend!

Just caught up on your thread man, its been a while, looks like you are living the life back in Asia.

May check out some of those movies you mentioned when I get a chance.

Hey Spud, how are things? Did you ever make it to Canada after all?

Yeah, I highly recommend those movies for any neo-noir fan and all poker players.

All good here, been living in Calgary for the past 6 months but leaving soon as you know yourself the winters here are not fun times !

Gonna spend Christmas and New Year back home with the family and then look to move to some place warm in Asia early next year.

Sweet, glad all is good in the Spud world!!! You found a good paying construction job in Alberta? And how were the juicy Albertan live poker games? And where you plan on going in Asia?

Well, good to see you back in this thread and thx for reading!

Yeah I got a good job framing but didn't end up playing much live poker in the end as I was living quite far from the casino. Plus didn't really feel in the mood to play after working all week.

No sure where in Asia yet probably start in Thailand and take it from there. Only arrived back in the UK yesterday so will relax with friends and family before I make my next plan.

Sweet, enjoy the rest of your stay in Canada and let me know when you get to Asia!!! Take care friend.

The State of the Game

Dawson City, February, 2010. My world is collapsing... I fuucked up... Yup, this time I did it... My roll is gone... E-v-e-r-y s-i-n-g-l-e f-u-u-c-k-k-I-n-g p-e-n-n-y... The Mike McDermott in me wasn't satisfied with the 46$/h I had been averaging for the past 3 months multi-tabling 200 PLO and MTTs , so I took some ill advised shots at 1000 PLO, went on monkey tilt, got outplayed, and dumped it all FML. The only consolation at my disposal, is this great tasting malt whiskey, handy for washing away some of the pain...

A buddy walks up to the bar, scrutinizes me curiously and asks :

"what's up man, you don't look good?".

No shiit. I want all consciousness to cease. I want to see black. But certain thoughts are better left unsaid...

"I am on a downswing. I took a few beatings at the table lately.".

He doesn't play poker. It shows by his dumbfounded expression, as these words are lost upon him...

"Are you going to be alright?".

"Yeah, yeah, man", I respond, trying to shrug off this conversation and my overwhelming depression. He orders us a couple of jagerbombs, we cheers and chuck them down. Alas!, it is to no avail, as I feel even more isolated, left alone at sea with my pain...


How will the recent changes brought to Pokerstars by Amaya affect us? How will rake increase, conversion deposit and withdrawal fees as well as decreased value in the VIP system alter the bottom line for us, grinders, whose sole income relies on the state of the game? And what are our options, considering that we have little if any influence on these decisions taken by higher powers...

Pokerstars is taking a calculated risk. They are appealing to their investor's interests while still offering competitive rates ; bottom line is, Stars controls the market and will not jeopardize whatsoever their monopoly with these alterations. Why? What have 888 and PartyPoker done since? Nada. Nil. Zip. Zilch. Except leave an even more horrible taste in the mouth of their customers with an abundance of disconnections To top it off, 888 has handed the situations like infants, dismissing the issues, not communicating with its player base and barely compensating the victims of these disconnections. Party, on the other hand, has done a better job, yet not enough to fully compensate for this software run bad.

The fact that 888 and Party have been victim of these connections simultaneously is somewhat suspicious (well, they are both located in Gibraltar...) and has provided some with enough material for conspiracy theories... After all, who would benefit the most from these disconnections then Stars (the latter also rumored to be interested in purchasing Bwin/Party)... But those assumptions remain pure speculations, obviously, so outside of being curious coincidences, we can't really give it much thought.

So? What will happen now? Hard to say, but we do know that the games have become that much harder to beat. The effects won't be felt overnight : it will be a gradual/ripple effect, progressively eating up the life expectancy of the fish, therefore diffusing repercussions throughout the eco-system. Rec players will not notice the added 2.3-2.5% to conversion fees and hence stay clueless as to how to avoid them , thus resulting in less liquidity in the poker world. Some bottom feeding regs will consequently have to jump ship, as the waters will not be abundant enough for everyone to subsist... Yes, the tides are indeed changing...

What does it mean for me? Well, not too much, really. I have steadily maintained a similar win-rate over the past 3 years, counterfeiting the increased difficult games by persistent studying and rethinking my approach. Would I want to climb up in stakes, increase my hourly and aim for the skies? Sure. I mean, who wouldn't, right. Yet it would come at too high of a sacrifice, as this game already occupies a huge chunk of my life and I wouldn't want it to be more intrusive by overstepping other priorities.

I have been looking into my options, like my recent attempt to open an account with William's Hill. Alas, apparently the Ipoker network does not permit play on Filipino soil and B), Canadians are no longer welcomed...

Can't it be 2005 again, with poker spread across multiple tv channels, sponsorships handed out like free candy, competitive Rakeback on every site... "If only I had this much poker knowledge during the Moneymaker boom" some might think... For obvious reasons, we cannot fall complacent to such a destructive mindset.

In a RIO way of thinking, I like to tell myself : "if only I knew now what I will know in 10 years...", giving myself reasons to pursue diligently my studying of this game, which should give me the right mindset to maintain my win rate for the coming years... If all else fails, plan B is to grind the soft live games. After all, unless a complete upheaval of the world order happens, live poker will remain beatable for an enticing hourly.


Hand of the Week

CCG 100 Party Poker

Hero 95$
Villain has me covered

I open to 3$ UTG with JJ (26/19) ; SB, a TAG-LAG hybrid (31/18/9) 3bets to 10$. I don't love life, but I obviously make the call.

Flop (21$)
QQ8

A good flop for our hand, but when villain checks to us, my spidey senses start going crazy... I check back.

Turn (21$)
QQ8 6

Good turn for us, giving us a flush draw combined with our showdown value, so when villain bets 10$, we make the trivial call.

River (41$)
QQ8 6 J

Easy game All you need is a bit of run good and the decisions become easy... not!!! Blame it on multi-tabling, but when villain bets 25$, I take no time in shoving, yikes I realize just before he calls that my shove is spewy, that I can only get called by QQ or AK... So it comes as no surprise when quads scoop it, sigh!!! FML!!!

Run good all

That photo is of the downtown eastside of Vancouver, a place full of drug addicts and stds and surrounded by Chinatown. I pretty much never go there.

East Vancouver is a different place all together, that has a central area about 7 kms east of that photo, that has a very bohemian/hipster culture and generally quite an interesting place. I go there frequently for food or music or drinks or culture.

Hard Way to make an Easy Living

The Sun is shining
The weather is sweet
Makes you want to move
Your dancing feet

Bob Marley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny6G9t_-ox4


Fortunately, the mere fact that I will be receiving the visit from a few Canadian buddies in the next few months, is highly contributing to the + EV easy life part. It actually started last week, when we hosted Engeli's cousin + bf. It is refreshing to get some unexpected visit, take an unscheduled break from the grind and go explore some islands that Bohol has to offer.

Now, to get things str8, organized tours are really not my thing , as I prefer the freedom of random adventure, yet impulsive trips definitely hold a good amount of equity.

Lady luck was on our side, as the skies were golden and the waters calm :



Pardon the skin blocking the view The island was a sweet little place, yet it is quite annoying that they altered this lost-little-paradise into a new-found-overpriced-tourist-haven.

Snorkeling is simply GOAT ; weird how you can forget about an activity this amazing, only to rediscover it with a new and fresh outlook years later... The great thing about snorkeling in the Philippines - outside of a variety of vegetation and marine life, obviously - is that these shallow Filipino waters stretch out for kilometers (before dropping), making it a swimmer's wet dream



Notice how the shore is miles away even though the water is barely 3 feet deep Pretty intense, and it seems to be the norm throughout the Filipino islands, making snorkeling my new weekend activity

Alas, living on small secluded islands comes with your dose of variance, unfortunately, as we were hit yesterday by a storm that knocked out the power for 15h+ ; albeit, it remains negligible variance in comparison to the bad beats taken by some of the local fishermen :



boats left stranded by the yesterday's heavy winds ; some run bads are harder to recoup from...

I got a buddy in Manila grinding the live PLO games and APT. We will meet up in Cebu in a couple of weeks time and hit Waterfront over there. Should be fun to get back to the live felts, me thinks...

Hand of the Week

6 handed 100NL online cash games remains fairly new to me, making the in-game situations encountered obviously different then your standard MTT ones. This said, regs repeat certain patterns, thus falling into a robotic-standard way of playing certain spots, playing their hands face-up yet still remaining exploitatively profitable versus recs ; good to have a predetermined strategy in approaching standard repeated situations, nevertheless, it does open up certain opportunities for others to attack.

The next hand is played versus a LAG (albeit I have a very limited sample size of 20 hands : 33/20/12), HU. Before we played the hand in question - the third hand, to be precise -, I had overbet the river scare card twice 16.45$ both times into an 11.40$ river pot with air (not that it matters as far as perceived range) on AJQxK runout and A2753 after cbetting either flop or turn, and checking the second street. For the record, I don't particurly love my overbet bluffs, as they are exploitative lines I would prefer using vs proven fish (villain seems to be more on the reggy side...), but still managed to get villain to fold both times, which set us up for this hand :

I open-raise 3$ with 107on button. Villain calls.

Flop (5.70$)
J73

It is close here in between cbetting or checking back, but against this seemingly LAGgy villain, I think I might get raised by 89, 109 or even Q9 or K9 with a backdoor flush draw, thus having to fold often the best hand.

Turn (5.70$)
J73 6

Time to extract value ; I bet 3$, he calls.

River (11.40$)
J73 6 J

When villain checks yet again, I know his range is capped... I think betting smallish again will get too many folds, so I decide to use the same sizing as the 2 previous hands, 16.45$, thus repping a very polarized range.



Run good all

nh and cool blog but id wish you wouldnt upload your pictures to photo bucket. Its pretty tilting having to click your pics amd being taken to an external site

Thx for reading y0l0Theory, but you have me confused here : do you mean the pics at the beginning of the thread that I was linking? I logged out and double checked my thread as a visitor, and the pics seem to show up just fine... Anyone?

yeah the pics are just fine for me. enjoying the read and updates also

Thx DJA. He probably meant at the beginning of the blog. Wonder if the mods would let me go back and edit them...

I saw you post in the Philippines thread DJA, how long are you in the Philippines for? You play poker for a living here?

Came to the Phils for the first time in July and returned in September. Been here since except for a week trip to Macau. Yeah I play for a living too. No idea how long and where I will be staying going forward, but I know I wanna checkout much more of the country like you have done. Heading to Davao on the 12th actually.

Keep up the good work! GLGL. oh and in January I'll be in Cebu for that APT series as well. Maybe catch you there.