Operation: Gamble and Fight

OK guys, I've been posting here on FTR for a while now, and thanks to all of your excellent advice, I still suck. Whatever. I still :heart: you guys.

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation on 2p2 - basically I said I make more money at poker than I would in a regular job, that poker's more fun and gives more freedom, and that I'm bloody well going for it. Pattay and Schwallie and I think a few others basically told me I'm a retard for rushing into it. So I told them that not only am I sticking with poker, but I'm moving to Thailand to live in a Muay Thai training camp while I do it. They responded with, "Wow sick life choice. Keep us posted."

So this is me keeping people posted.

POKER

I've played around 250k hands of FR so far (I deleted my original database in a full hard drive format, so I'm not totally sure), I recently hit Supernova, and after several withdrawals I've got about 4k in the bankroll. My PTBB/100 is a super-weak 1.43 :( It was around 2.6 for a while until 2xFPP week (AKA reg week) hit, and I decided to spew about $1.4k over 40k hands. Nice Work Me.

Immediate goals: End downswing. Get bankroll back to >5k. Clear the sweet $1500 FPP bonuses.

Longterm goals: Learn to play effectively with a style looser than 13/9.5/2.4, get PTBB/100 over 2, learn to not pay off with strong, second-best hands.

FIGHTING

Yeah, that's right, fighting.

I'm currently 160lbs, pasty, and soft, much like a marshmallow or a sheet of paper-mache. Pics to prove it to come. I've done a little training at a free MMA club in Fort St. John, but it's a small town, the club was free, and I got what I paid for. I'm basically a beginner, and the Thai trainers are going to kick my ass.

I took the Greyhound down from my hometown of Fort St. John, BC, and made friends with a girl named Leah, who's on a mission to pick up her 4 year old kid from her ex in Nanaimo. Aren't breakups awesome?
Halfway to Vancouver I almost got kicked off for running to a Subway during a short stop - seriously, I took 5 minutes and the bus driver was going to leave without me. Luckily Leah knew how to be a bitch, so she kicked up a fuss and wouldn't let the bus go without me - Word! Leah4prez.

I'm in Vancouver now, waiting at a Starbucks for my flight to Thailand, which leaves at 2:55am tonight. I bought a day of internet (for $14? Seriously, for one day? A month at home is only $30), and I'm pokering while I wait.

Immediate goals: Get to Thailand with my self and my possessions intact. Get a taxi to take me to the training camp even though I don't speak a word of Thai.

Longterm goals: Get my ass in shape/reach 175lbs. Win a fight while still in Thailand. Come back to Canada and kick all the soft marshmallow asses that live here. Ummm, beat up GSP for kicks.

God, I hope airport security skips the cavity search.

Nice choice dude. Come back a hardened fighter with at least one cool scar. And a bankroll that's at least 10x where it's at now.

If it's chiang mai you're headed you should learn some thai as well. Even do a cooking course with all the other gringos. If you're staying around bangkok - then think seriously about getting out of that city, but not before you've played hackey-volleyball next to the river and hung out with arms dealers in chinatown.

hell, go to the beaches and become a climber. Watch out for the drugs though, the police like bribes.

have fun! if you're still there next year I'll stop by for a drink

Nice. I'm starting out in Chalong (Phuket), but I'm thinking of moving to Chiang Mai after I get to know the culture/language a bit.

so crazy, hope everything works out for you!

FIGHTING

I spent just about an hour sending emails to my family yesterday, and I'm sure I covered some stuff I'm skipping here... whaaaaatever. OK yah I thought of a few things, like the guys I met on the flight, the missed connection, the taxi driver, and the cute waitress; maybe I'll go back and cover those another day.

Bleh. Yesterday I got a stomach ache that made me quit training after an hour in the morning, and then I missed a trip into town AND the fight/party night in Patong… but I guess that’s just what happens when you hit up a new country, its food, and its germs. I feel better this morning. In fact, it’s kind of all right that I missed the training because I am still effin sore. I need to pick up protein powder and maybe some other supplements today or I’ll never make it. This training is so intense... I swear I look more cut after less than two days. Crazy.

Right, I haven’t said anything about this place yet. It’s an open-air covered training area with 3 rings, a cage, some mat area, and a set of free weights. At 7am, there’s an hour-long yoga class I’ll be attending, and at 7:30 we have our choice of running or technique class, which I’ll have to miss most days until I’m more flexible. Then at 8, the muay thai training starts, but I wait until 9 for the beginners’ MMA class. MMA is less hours but possibly even harder than the muay thai training, which as I’ve mentioned is pretty damn sick. There’s a break from 12:00-3:30 when the next technique/running session starts, and then from 4-7 we train on pads with the trainers, on the bags, sparring, and doing ridiculously tiring core strength training. Then it’s down the road to Mama’s for a good meal (and it’s retarded cheap – a meal like you’d pay $30 for in Canada is $5 here).

The trainers mostly speak a smattering of English but they’re all very good at what they do. They pay close attention, correcting every small mistake, and encouraging with a smile and a yell when you do it right. And the ratio of trainers to students is around 1:2, so we get tons of personal attention. The guy who runs the MMA class is Ray Elbe, an American who I haven’t formed a strong opinion on yet. I have noticed that he’s got a dominant/domineering personality and he doesn’t give as much attention to his students as the Thai trainers do. The students here are great, a lot of tough guys of course but surprisingly friendly – maybe it’s the camaraderie of being fighters or travellers in a foreign country. I’ve made a few friends since I arrived, including one guy named Lenny who’ll be here for three months - longer than most people (the average seems to be around 5 weeks).

The weather is HOT with plenty of rain, which sometimes cools things down to just right for training. But when it’s not raining… holy crap I’ve never sweated so much in my life as I did after one hour of training in the morning heat. It’s insane. Everyone told me before I got here that the humidity would be tough to deal with, but I like it – I don’t get the parched feeling I do after exercising in Canada, and it just feels better than dry heat IMO. OK it’s time to start training, but final note – there are geckos, super-tiny ants, and the occasional frog living in my room. I don’t know how they get in but they don’t seem to want to mess with me, so for now the company is welcome.

POKER

Internet here in Thailand is spotty and the wireless connection doesn't reach my room, so I really haven't played any poker since I arrived. I Should have yesterday when I was sick, idunno wtf i was thinking. There's a common area near the front office where the internet is decent, and I hear there's an internet cafe with DSL somewhere in a nearby town; can't remember if it's Patong or Chalong. I'll have to get started tonight.

I got in a few thousand hands while waiting around at airports on the way over here, and I ran sick good - overall about 8ptbb/100 and made over $600. There was one four-table session where I played superlagg, around 35/28 or something, and I kept hitting flops so hard... I doubled up on three tables within about 10 minutes. It's a fun style, definitely strong against the nitty TAGS at 100NL, but it requires focus and thought on each hand... not something I could megatable with yet.

My car back in Canada hasn't sold yet, so I'm going to have to start withdrawing from my Stars account to pay the bills here in Thailand... luckily I've got around $5k in the account along with $3k in FPP bonuses waiting to clear, so I should be able to continue to increase my roll.

THAT IS AWESOME! keep me posted.


Thailand one of my favorite places in the world because the people are just so warm-hearted and friendly.

firstly, where are you? BKK? If Bangkok, where are you staying?

Where is the training camp and how much are you paying? I'm thinking of doing something like this myself. I'm a black belt tae kwon do, but after getting my ass handed to me in a friendly fight by Sunan, a 5"3' thai girl I made friends with when I was there last year, I am seriously wanting to upgrade my fighting skills.

Anyway, I love that place. If you're serious about poker, assuming you're in BKK, just get yourself a wireless connection from their local telecommunications company it's dirt cheap, then play from your laptop.

You can and will get food poisoning and even malaria if you're not careful. I'm assuming you're a typical white canadian marshmallow, so I hope you have brought your favorite strong antibiotics and food poisoning medication. Anti-malarials recommended if you're not in a big city cos it's monsoon season.

Once you complete training and are looking a well built 150 lbs, you can look forward to mingling with and picking up some very friendly girls.

Good luck! Keep updating, because i'm going to be living vicariously through you

salsa

Thanks for the reply salsa :)

I'm staying in Tiger Muay Thai & MMA camp, just outside Chalong on Phuket island. I'm paying about Canadian$750 for my room and training, but I'm looking for a house nearby I can share with one or two of the guys - I hear you can get one for ~$500, so that's obviously a steal.

I did a tiny bit of tae kwon do myself, but I didn't find it was a practical fighting art - it's really more of a sport unto itself.

Thanks for the idea about internet, but here in Chalong that's not an option. Hopefully I find this high-speed internet cafe soon.

Ughhh I didn't think of bringing antibiotics thats a good fkking idea, especially since I'm allergic to penicillin. I didn't know I was allowed to bring them on the plane TBH.

I uhhh, already am a healthy 160lbs... for a canadian. I'll be super-fine in no time I'm sure. And the girls are already pretty friendly, LOL at this one girl going "ping! ping!" and motioning to her friends like her nips were getting hard... then when she saw I noticed they all broke out laughing so hard and kept making eyes at me and holy shtt, all I did was walk in and say, "hi, I need some shoes".

And I live near Patong. Google it =]

Quick update:

I'm currently sick. It's about 30 degrees celsius, I was in my poorly-insulated room under a blanket, and I was shivering. I'll make a proper post when my head feels right. It'll be good ;)

hope ur feeling better soon

this is ops scheme to take revenge on 1 reDZill4 for his tuff luvvvvv

FIGHTING

Preface: This will have very little to do with actual fighting and more to do with just living in Thailand, but honestly that's what most of my “FIGHTING” sections will be about. By the way, I apologize for the poor writing style, I’m aware that it tends to run on a bit and that I use ( ) way too often, but I’m not into spending the time to clean it up. If anyone out there is an aspiring editor and wants something to do, feel free to PM me and we’ll see if we can’t help each other out.

Wow. There is seriously too much going on to write about it all, but let’s try, in chronological order. I started writing on the 20th and finished on the 23rd, and as it’s pretty long I’m going to be releasing it in segments. This will not only avoid ‘dead air’ in the near future, it will tantalize and entice you, the reader… see, this entire effort is for your benefit, and I wouldn’t want you to get your fill all at once, only to have your attention wander aimlessly to some inferior thing - such a crime! Don’t you worry dear friends, good ol’ Keilah’s got your back.

Also this way I won’t have to write again as soon.

This past Friday I went and saw the new Batman movie at the theatre in the mall, which by the way is exactly like a big western mall except for the language, and they had this first class section we heard was the shit. So we tried it, and it definitely was. First you go into this separate waiting room where you sit on red plush couches and they serve you drinks (for free) and you can help yourself to little treats, like brownies and fruit tarts and crab cakes – crab cakes man, crab cakes. Then when you go in, instead of a regular seating area, there are rows of lazyboy recliners, sooo soft, and you chill in one of those instead of having to fight over the armrest with whatever fat slob happens to come sit beside you. They leave a blanket on the seat in case you’re cold in the theatre. You get served popcorn and drinks and then after a short tribute to the king (who looks pretty pimp, he’s always wearing the same shades, he’s cruisin’ around doing cool shit, everyone loves the hell out of him; he’s ummm, more impressive than the queen. In Thailand it hella pisses people off if you even say anything bad about the royals) and a bunch of previews (lol there was this one with a cute couple and every ten seconds or so the screen would shout out “HAPPY!” in English roflroflrofl it really did make me happy), the movie starts. Good movie, too, I highly recommend it. Christian Bale is 1000x better than any other batman, ever. And Ledger slayed the Joker role (is that too close to an in-poor-taste pun? Whatever).

POKER

Warning: This section filled with many boring and semi-meaningless numbers. Whatever, I wrote it, you can read it. It was written a while back (on July 18th), I just hadn’t posted it as I was intending to pair it with some other stuff, but then got too busy to write.

Got my first poker session in today, and to my pleasant surprise, the internet held up for a comfortable 12-table. I might try 16 next time, although I do like the relaxed pace of 12-tabling. (INSERT FROM A LATER DAY: the internet’s weird here – some days one could 16-table, other days 9-tabling is pushing it, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason.) The session went well, with me finishing up a couple buyins for 3ptbb/100. It boggles my mind to think that those 4 hours will pay for 5 full days in Thailand, including rent, training, food, entertainment… awesome.

I’ve been trying to loosen up a bit and today I ran 15/11.5/2.8, which is real close to where I want to be. I think I’ll aim for something like 16/13/3. I’m still folding my blinds too often (aiming at approx 84/84 fold to steal) and not 3betting quite as much as I’d like (aiming for 3.5-4%); seems like the solution is fairly obvious. I think I just need to stop and think about 3betting before I autofold my trash in the blinds, and that should bring my frequency up by adding in more bluff hands.

This last paragraph is written several days later: I’ve only had a couple more sessions since the last, due to being obscenely busy and far too often exhausted/hung over/sick. Both were played while not in top condition, and both were (no surprise) losing sessions, so I’ve decided not to play again until I recover from this stupid illness I’ve picked up. Being in a new country and having a somewhat sensitive stomach anyways, I suspect sick time is going to take a BIG chunk out of my hands per month, but that’s just how it’s going to have to be.

Until next time!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by reDZill4

this is ops scheme to take revenge on 1 reDZill4 for his tuff luvvvvv

---

It's working then. Awesome. :twisted:

FIGHT

OK, now we’re looking back to Saturday. There was training on the beach in the early morning for those who could make it (hellz no, not me, I was up late watching the Joker ruin Batman’s day), and then midafternoon we had a football (soccer) game of teachers vs students. Shit man, the teachers were actually good! I didn’t know Thais were into soccer at all, so I expected us foreigners to waste ‘em - but what with them having cleats and us leaving ours at home, them being paragons of fitness and us being, well, the next best thing but still not as good, and them actually working as a team, we got worked 5-1. Not pretty. Oh yah, side note, the field was dirt with weeds growing in the corners and big dips in a few areas, lol. 3rd world soccer ftw.

A few hours and a much-needed shower later we had a big barbecue; for 350baht (10bucks) we got all the food and beer we wanted – now THAT is how you do it! Needless to say pretty much everyone got drunk and a good time was had by all. “Why only ‘pretty much’ everyone,” you ask? Well, because 8 of our fine fighters decided to put it on the line that night for pride, respect, and the entertainment of all and sundry. And holy shit, these were good fights. I’d have paid to watch any of them, especially the MMA matches, these guys were omfgood, as in I won’t be surprised if I see at least one of them in the UFC some day. And two of the best were from Canada, hell yah! I caught a couple rounds on video on my camera, if someone tells me how I’ll post’em up to be seen.

After the fights were all finished and Jason from Canada was crowned the TMT Barbecue Champion of the Millenium, we chilled for a while and this strung-out-looking white guy came out and did a karaoke performance in Thai. It was kinda weird and while the Thais seemed to enjoy it, I just thought he looked too much like Ozzy Osbourne on a sick day and I chose to ignore him, instead focusing on the cute Norwegian girl I met the other day. Time put to good use IMO, even though she elected to stay in the camp while some of us went out… to PATONG (please imagine theme music in the background, because this place is insane and deserves something special, be it ominous like Darth Vader’s tune or upbeat like a Moby dance track – suggestions are welcome).

The next bit on Thailand is completely the best =]

GAMBLE

I came across ISF’s blog and his strategy articles a while ago in the airport, and I’ve gotta say: Kudos to you man, you know how to teach. Instant improvement to my postflop game. I feel I’m playing strongly, but a few things are still catching me – I’m being called down by Ace high too often on my bluffs, which I think is because, even though I’ve deduced that villain’s range is weak, I didn’t play the hand in a way that represents a strong range on the river. Gotta work on that. Also, I’m still being a little tentative on my semibluffs – a few times I had a decent draw (8-12 outs) and I slowed down on the turn instead of continuing to push the hand. In a vacuum this may be OK but I want to be balancing my big hands properly.

Readers, here’s a question for you: If you raise your draw in position on the flop, then the turn checks through, and you put villain on about 60% weak pairs etc, 20% missed draws, 20% strong hands that went for pot control, what’s your plan in general for the river? If we check we autolose the hand when there are some hands we could have pushed out, but we really haven’t represented anything other than the draw or maaaybe a tentative top pair that checked for pot control after being called on the flop. Taking the free card is a drag as far as winning pots goes :/



PS how is it I got the names wrong at first? Sheesh.

FIGHT

All right, Patong! On the way over my Singaporean buddy Lenny, who likes to get trashed and was in fact smashed, ran his mouth like crazy the entire way, much to the amusement of my fellow taxi riders. I actually was kind of more laughing at him than at his drunken humour, but it’s all good. Two favourite moments stand out in my memory: 1) (to the pretty girl who came along with us, while waiting for the cab) “Wanna see my flying knee?” “not really” “nah check it out, it’s awesome” (executes ‘flying knee’, AKA a small hop with one knee extended) “umm that wasn’t really that awesome” “are you kidding I flew like a meter” (does it again, girl looks somewhat uncomfortable and says nothing in a possible attempt to spare his feelings; I similarly say nothing but chuckle on the inside. To his credit I will say he managed not to spill any beer during this manoeuvre). 2) (again to the pretty girl, whom he’s just recently finished explaining that he is ONLY platonic friends with) “I just want to say that I am totally down with fucking white women.” I’m honestly surprised she didn’t just drop her panties right there in the back of the crowded taxi, like what a smooth operator, I think I’ll nickname him 007. Good times, good times =)

So we get there and while I’m not instantly blown away by the lights etc (it ain’t no Vegas) I probably could have gotten instantly blown by any of the 20-ish obvious hookers in immediate view. Some of which btw are pretty damn fine, although I hear that waaaaay too often, this means “she’s” a ladyboy. The streets are filled with a mix of prostitutes, children selling nicknacks (I bought a hat, my buddy Clint and the hot chick each bought a gigantic Zippo lighter), guys with pamphlets for ‘ping-pong shows’ (I haven’t seen one yet but I get the idea… I’ll explain later), partiers, drug dealers, fat white slob tourists, and the semi-rare young healthy white tourists, AKA me and my crew. I have a bit to say on drugs in Patong, which btw are super-illegal in Thailand so straight off DO NOT BOTHER. The price is high, the quality is utter garbage, the reliability is nonexistent (expect to get ripped off more often than not), and enforcement is both sneaky and harsh (I heard of one guy who got offered blow, he said yes, the offering party was a cop who immediately took him in, and he ended up paying approx $100,000 U.S. to get out… and if he hadn’t been able, he’d have spent 5+ years in a Thai jail). And besides, there is PLENTY going on to keep you entertained without drugs so again I say – DO NOT BOTHER. And to anyone from back home who cares about me, if you’ve read between the lines a bit here, then you should also know that I am deeply sorry and apologize for taking such a colossally stupid and selfish risk. Believe me, it will never happen again – I promise. And I’m serious about my promises.

Back to where we were; there’s quite a lot to talk about in Patong… for starters, we found a street vendor selling fried insects which we of course had to sample – Mike and I each had a big juicy 3” cockroach and Lenny ate 5 or 6 grasshoppers. Surprisingly tasty, but I’ll stick to potato chips in future. We went to this place called Soi Erik (which I think means Erik Street) which is basically a long strip of outdoor bars all filled with working girls who seem to love nothing more than dancing, fondling your nether regions, and stealing your hat in an obviously insincere yet still somehow charming attempt at flirting. The charm wears off real fast though, and if you’re trying to actually get someplace, you have to either ignore the girls, or give ’em a pat on the ass and be on your way. Once you sit down someplace, one or more girls will instantly be at your table offering a game of Connect 4 or Jenga, which I thought was kinda weird, but it’s entertaining and the fun idea is the loser buys the winner a drink. PS drinks for men are 80baht, and drinks for ladies are 150baht. HRMMM. I hung out there for a bit but none of the bar girls nearby really caught my interest so I soon moved on to a truly amazing place – Tiger Bar & Discotheque.

Tiger has a 250baht cover charge, but they give you coupons for two free drinks which makes it basically free, and the place is packed and utterly SWARMING with hot women. Now obviously, there is a good mix of bar girls (as in, hookers who are employed by the bar a la Soi Erik) and regular club girls and I don’t yet know how to tell them apart a priori, but whatever, you takes your chances and you has your fun. Being from a small town and not being fabulously rich, I don’t have much experience in Western clubs so I can’t say if this is unusual, but here at Tiger you literally just find a girl not being danced with, make eye contact, grab her hand, start dancing, and within about 1 minute she’ll be grindin’ up on your business. This method worked for me 3 times out of 3 until eventually I found a girl I decided I was interested in for longer than 5 minutes and we left the dance floor to talk out on the patio area. Much to my pleasant surprise, this girl, who goes by the name of Kan (name changed to protect the guilty), not only spoke pretty solid English (rare) but also was neither a bar girl nor a ladyboy (whew). To top it all off, this little 4-foot-nothing tightie still looked hot when I got her out of the bar, which as my dear readers may know, is a good and not altogether certain thing. At this point I’ve decided my friends can bloody well handle themselves and good luck to them, so we head off for a few games of pool (SIDE NOTE: In one of our games, Kan sank her last solid ball, my last striped ball, and the 8-ball all in one go… who wins?) and a last drink before deciding what comes next. Now, as she had actually said that my place was too far away for her to go there that night, which was pretty reasonable since it’s a good 25-minute drive, I wasn’t expecting tooooo much… but I guess my winning personality got the best of her cuz she wound up far from home that night, and I ended up not getting much (any?) sleep. Remember kids: Captain Condom says to always be prepared and play safe, especially, for fuck’s sake ESPECIALLY in a 3rd-world country known for its hookers and its AIDS epidemic.

In the morning we watched cartoons for a bit, I discovered that she has retardedly ticklish armpits, and we headed out to Mama’s for breakfast. While there we met this guy Dustin who seemed pretty cool but somewhat of a depressive; he had a sad story of crime, dead friends, wasted drug years and an impending prison sentence to tell. He did seem to have made a real effort to turn his life around over the past few months in this training camp, and I wish him the best of luck at his hearing. After breakfast I pulled out the lappy for a poker session with Kan watching out of curiosity, but that turned out to be a mistake as it’s waaaaay too hard to play decent poker while hung over and recovering from God-knows-what-it-really-was-but-it-leaves-me-with-no-motivation-kind-of-like-the-day-after-E. So I got Kan’s email address, sent her home in a taxi and proceeded to sleep for the next 32 hours, with only small breaks to eat, to get paid the money I’d lent to Mike, who should be arriving back home in South Africa right around now, and to realize that, oh shit, I’m getting sick.

Which brings us back to my post I made on 20th July. As I write this, it’s the 23rd and I’m still not 100% recovered, but yknow what? It was 100% worth it. Besides, I’ve been using my sick time to play a No Equipment Natural Magic Only challenge on Final Fantasy 6, and as FF6 is just about the best game ever and the challenge is pretty fun, I’m not terribly unhappy about my situation. For any who wish to duplicate this daring feat: a) Gau rules if you get him the right rages, and b) enemy magic users will completely ruin your shit.

I’ve no clue what it means but my friend Ronnie back home says it and I like it: “Cheat Commandos, Rock Rock On!”

like i said in my first post here about the drugs...
take it easy dude

don't take it at all

IMO

best blog ever man
keep up the good work

Oh word I was just gonna say that I was't motivated enough to keep writing in this what with being kept busy most of the time and being a lazy c*nt in general but Drew is the man and just made me want to write more.

I haven't been keeping up with updates and I'm still a lazy cu*t but real quick here goes:

FIGHT

OK, after meeting that girl I got sick the next day and stayed sick for just over a week (wow suck, the worst passed after 2 days but seriously cmon I never used to get sick in Canada). I went to Phi Phi Island (where they shot that movie The Beach) and went snorkling and we decided to stay the night instead of going home at the end of our tour, so we got hotel rooms for 200baht ($6.50) each and got fkking plastered. The entire Island turns into a party at night, everyone is either partying or is partied out, nobody is just chillin at the restaurant or going out to a movie or whatever. We watched some drunken muay thai fights at a bar(free bucket of alcohol for fighters!), and one of our group fought and lost without taking a single punch because he swung like an idiot, lost his balance and fell a couple times. Good times all around. Then Lenny, Kristen, and I went wandering, got sidetracked by a bamboo tattoo parlor, and all got tattoos that kept us in the shop until 8am. Cool dudes, those bamboo tattoo artists. Oh, and my tattoo is awesome and so is theirs (they got matching phoenixes, I got a Maori-style Tiger) and since I still think so after being sober it must be true.

K that's plenty of writing, ummm I got a brutal sunburn on Phi Phi that kept me from MMA but I did Muay Thai which was cool, I went out a few times, I learned to ride a motorbike (automatic, kind of a moped thingy idunno they're popular in Thailand), I got completely smashed out of my mind on Saturday and woke up with some random girl who turned out to be a hooker and thank God there was a used condom in the garbage 'cuz I can't remember sh!t but I spent all of Sunday recovering. Since then it's been training, relaxing, and attempting to BoogieBoard at a local beach. Oh and somewhere in there I lost my camera and found it again, and we went bowling - the Muay Thai trainers are goddamn hilarious to watch at that, I swear some of them think it's a modified version of cricket.

It's sad to make friends and then have them go back home to their country :/

PS the random hooker-girl was really weird. I wasn't gonna talk about it but whatever she's a hooker, she waives all rights to me being discreet, and besides it's only sort-of about sex. K so I don't remember the sex real well, nothing too spectacular, she did give me another gigantic hickey which is a little irritating but whatever. Through the night I discovered that she did indeed speak English, but she would hardly ever talk, which was only semi-weird. She spent the whole night covered in my blanket (head included, and my room was pretty warm), so that was weird thing #2. When I got irritated/bemused and pulled the blanket down, she covered her head with a nearby towel. She was kinda cute, so Idunno what her problem was, and she didn't have obvious sores or a penis or anything, so Idunno what she was hiding, probably all fkkkng herped out or some shit, goddamn dirty hooker. K so when I wake up in the 'morning' she's all playing with my dick, yknow how chicks just love to do that, play with it like its a toy or something, which I was fine with. Then she starts doing this sort-of-handjob thing (but, not really, I mean it wasn't that sexy and it was kind of like just light touches Idunno what her intent was) and I was really tired and just figured fine, let her do her thing, we'll see where this goes. Eventually she starts making these semi-violent humping motions against me, but again not sexy at all, it was like she was pantomiming sex trying to communicate something but she wouldn't talk and I swear, it wasn't sexy at all. Anyways eventually I got tired of her disturbing my rest so I asked her if she wanted a morning f*ck or something, was that it, but again she wouldn't talk and any time I went to touch her in a sex kind of way she made noises like she was all surprised and hid under the blanket again, it was so fkking bizarre. Maybe it was her version of a 'play-it-hard-to-get-this-will-things-more-exciting' kind of thing but if it was, she fucking sucked at it. Anyways luckily some friends knocked on my door to invite me for breakfast after about 10 minutes of this BS so I gave her some cash and kicked her weird ass out. Strangest morning after ever.

PPS - she smelled funny and she got the smell on one of my towels.


POKER

Well basically the wireless internet doesn't reach my room and I got pissed off at having to sit outdoors outside the office if I want to play poker plus I was sick and didn't want to leave my room so I just took some time off. In the meantime I did some theory work and I have a few ideas to test out when I get back. I'm moving to a different place in less than 2 weeks that will have proper internet (fingers crossed).

Blogtastic stuff! My bro is planning on heading to Thailand for an MMA training camp very soon, i shall alert him to the "adventures" available, even tho he takes it faar to seriously to go off taking drugs and scuba diving like a hippy ;)

Oh and your random hooker story reminds me of the scene from Lost In Translation where that Jap hooker trys to fuck Bill Murray. Priceless!

hilariously good read :lol:

GAMBLE

Got in a little session of a few thou hands, I was a little spewy and ended up pretty much even but with about $50 in FPPs. My focus wasn't so great after the break I've had, I was much too 1st-level about it. Felt good to be playing again though. I'm just a few hours from clearing one of the $1500 bonuses too which will look nice in the cashier window.

FIGHT

I finally got my ass out of bed in time for the morning training session today =p Felt hella good to be rolling jiu-jitsu again; I mostly got my arse handed to me but it's just such a solid workout and it feels... Idunno how to describe it, just feels right. Like when you get in a good hard day's work and you're all satisfied. Been doing the Muay Tai workouts in the afternoons and my cardio is getting better SO fast, it's amazing. I gotta go real quick but there are more adventures in Thailand to be told =]

I LOVE this place.

FIGHT

I've been stepping up the training this week. It's tiring but well worth it, because I feel like I'm getting stronger every day and I can actually SEE the difference in my body, especially my legs. We had a miniature jiu-jitsu tournament on Friday, and I did well (among the beginner half of the class), handily beating one guy on points and tying another but losing by referee's decision (it was fair, I spent the last minute of the match resisting a triangle). The day before, I had one of the trainers call me over after Muay Thai training: "Hey Keilah. *shakes my hand* You good man." I was proud^^

I met another girl (her real name's Panee but we call her Joyce) through a friend's girlfriend, and she's been living with me these past few days; she's in Phuket on vacation for a week so she's kind of like a temporary girlfriend. It's handy having her around, as she's shown me a lot of stuf about how to get by in Thailand and taken me to a few shops I'd never have found alone. She also gives me massages, cleans my room every day, does my laundry, and gets food ready when we don't go out to the restaurant. It sounds awesome, and for the first day it was, but to be honest it's getting to be too much. I'm a grown man, fully capable of taking care of myself, and there's something about being babied like that which really doesn't appeal to me. From what I hear this is what it's like with Thai girls in general, but fuck me if I'm going to deal with that - it's just not me. This one's a good woman and sexy to boot, but I'm glad she'll be leaving soon. After that I think it's no more girls for a while. The partying and whatnot's been hella fun, but I'm ready to focus on the training; I find it more satisfying and it's the training I came here for in the first place.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

After that I think it's no more poker for a while. The grinding, fighting and whatnot's been hella fun, but I'm ready to focus on the girls; I find it more satisfying and it's the girls I came here for in the first place.

---

fyp
train hard dude - i'm getting well psyched on travel again, reading your tales is only making it harder to go to work!

FIGHT

All riiiight, let's look back at what's happened! I spent the last 10 days or so with this Thai girl Joyce, also been hanging a lot with a Scot named Ross and his girl Kon (sp?). Mostly just doing some training in the mornings, killin' time with the girl midafternoon, and going out to restaurants/bars/beaches etc in the evenings. We hit this one sushi place called Zen, which was bloody delicious, best sushi I ever had in my life (and I love sushi). The Salmon and Tuna were melt-in-your-mouth soft and the California Rolls were made in just such away that the cream cheese taste hits right at the end and then holds the flavors strong in your mouth and aaghghhghghghhghghhhhh it was so good. Quite expensive though (the price of a regular restaurant in Canada). I did a lot of exploring around the island of Phuket on my motorbike with Joyce in tow giving directions and speaking to locals and whatnot, so now I know the way to Patong, Phuket Town, a few shopping locations, and some beaches. Nothing quite like burning up hills and around steep turns on a tiny bike driving on the wrong side of the road for a good time =]
But all good things must come to an end, which has nothing to do with this, because as it happened, by the time Joyce left, I was fkkin fed up with her. I couldn't even tell you exactly what it was but I just. wanted. space. I met these four mad hot girls in a bar playing pool and they bought me a drink and zomg one of them was this total ANGEL with a great body and the cutest smile, but I felt I had a duty to the girl I was with and arrgghh... shtt. I swear though, I came THIS close to dumping her right there. Anyways, she's actually a real good woman, kindhearted and fun and believe it or not wealthy (I actually thought about staying with her for her money rather than the other way around lol), but in the end, just not the one for me. She's gone now.

I went to a fight night in Patong Stadium last night =] Saw some real great fights, the kind where my boy is taking a beating in the first and second rounds, struggles back in the third, and KOs the evil villain with an elbow to the face in the fourth. Attaboy Chance! Anna dominated her fight, which was stopped in the third, this French guy went CRAZY in the first, totally gassed, and pulled a miracle knockout in the fourth, and our boy Toby, who was a HUGE favorite to win, dropped his guard and got hit with a lucky knockout punch by his short & chubby opponent. Yuk yuk yuk!

Had my first 'injury' today... In MMA class this morning we had a little jiu-jitsu tournament to end the day, and I made it to the finals (by winning the easy bracket, I'm not good yet!), where I got caught in a guillatine choke by a guy 20 kg heavier than me. Anyways, when he started tightening up, well I wasn't wearing a mouthguard, my teeth ground, and half of my rearmost top right molar just fell apart. Nice! I'll be heading into the dentist tomorrow =p

GAMBLE

FINALLY! Internet that works! I moved into my new 2-bedroom place down the road from the camp and I'm quite near the wireless router, so I've been able to get in some hands. Spewed a few times and I've been calling a touch more often than I ought, but mostly solid play and a 3.5ptbb over the last 7k hands, so that's nice. My preflop has somehow repositioned itself at 15/11.5 without me making a continual effort, which is fine with me. It's a little more fun than 13/10 without going mad.


Oh, and to Daven, nice post, and I KNOW it's girls that are more fun to read about, but sorry mate - I meant what I said. Hopefully the blog'll still be worth reading :P

FIGHT

I moved into a new place a couple days ago. It's a two-bedroom I'm sharing with my buddy Lenny, and we're getting it for practically the same price as the 1-room gym bungalos, so the price is right. It's also quite nice, with plenty of space and even a little front porch with acool stone table. We bought a 3-foot fish tank and a couple of cool fish, plus a whole bunch of guppies and goldfish for the cool ones to eat :twisted: One of them is a Flower Horn named Sekhmet the Destroyer, and the other's a Golden Snakehead named Triton. The flower Horn is seriously aggressive and seems pretty intelligent, plus it's pretty cool to see him chase and eat the smaller fish. Pets!

On the girl front, the girl I mentioned breaking up with in the last post for some reason DIDN'T LEAVE, and the place I just moved into is right across the street from her friend who she's staying with, so that's awkward. I do my best not to look in her direction when I know she's around. Sigh. I think she may be just gone today though *fingers crossed*. No more girls for me for a few weeks, but Lenny's been seeing this girl from the camp named May. She's too young for me, but I still think she's pretty cool and we get along well. Possibly the best 'roommates girlfriend' ever - it's actually a plus that she's too young for me, because that way I can get on well with her and not have to worry about if I should make a move on her and be a douchebag to my buddy and omfg that business is such a pain in the ass anyways. Apparently she's got some older friends who are pretty cool that she'll introduce me to when I feel like dating again.

As for training, I've discovered that I love Jiu Jitsu ridiculously lots and that I'm only really into Muay Thai for the good cardio and the fact that it balances my fighting skills. I've been attending the morning MMA classes all week (it's all BJJ in the mornings - the B stands for Brazilian btw) and I've decided I'm getting fit enough to train twice a day, so I went to the Muay Thai class in the afternoon. When I arrived, my trainer took me from the beginner's ring to the intermediate. Advancement! Intermediate is good for the fact that they correct my technique a lot more than in beginner, but I actually find the cardio more challenging in beginner. I think the idea is: get'em in shape in beginner, then teach'em how to actually fight in intermediate. I'm proud to be moved up, anyways =] I've also started doing private lessons in BJJ, which have proven immediately useful - she taught me a bunch of sweeps, 2 of which I used today while rolling, and how to position my arms while in someone's guard, which I used idunno how often but it saved me a lot of trouble. I WILL BE TEH GREATEST ROLLA EVER.

GAMBLE

I always do this section last and I don't feel like typing anymore =p
I cashed out my first $1500 bonus the other day, and I've been getting into a routine that includes poker time, so the next shouldn't be too far off. Been running pretty average, just above 2ptbb, which would be more except for a few spew calls with medium hands into aggressive superfish who hit their flops. Whaaaaatever. I think I made the right decisions in the long run... maybe. It's hard to say =]

FIGHT

Fuck. I let a guy crank my head over in a headlock the other day and it gave me the worst crick in my neck. I can't lift my head without my hand to support it and it hurts like a biatch to turn my head left. I toughed it out and went to training yesterday but fuuuuuuck that for today. Mothafunk.

So last night I'm laying in bed half asleep, I have a little itch on my leg, and I give it a quick scratch. The itch moves to the other side of my leg and I scratch it again. Then the itch starts to SCUTTLE, and WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?!?!?!!? I jumped out of bed so fast, pushing away whatever is on my leg, and there on the bed is the biggest spider I've ever seen in my life. Admittedly, I do my best to not include any gigantic things with eight legs in my life, but a two-and-a-half-inch spider is still pretty big. I back off and look around for something heavy I can kill it with at long range. The protein shake tub is in arms-reach and ought to work, but the little(-ish) bastard is FAST and I can't hit him. No problem, I remember that in the hallway is this crazy lethal bug spray that kills birds. It's not fucking around. I grab that, spray it right on the spider's face, and... nothing. The spider uses one hairy leg to wipe at his face then climbs a little higher up on the wall. Super-Spidey or something here ;[ Eventually I grab my shoes, wear them on my hands, and squish that mofo, leaving only a gory mess of evidence on my bedroom wall. Man > Freaky Ugly Nature thx gg no re.

OMG LAWL

2 and a half inches? are you sure man? that's pretty fucking big. speaking of big, and i don't want to sound gay or anything (Orgasmo), you said you'd post pics of your progress.

Best blog name (& content) ever.

I train in traditional jiu-jitsu (with a little BJJ in the mix), but the training is nowhere near as rigorous as the kind you're getting over there.

Reading about your adventures makes me wanna sell my house and join you.

Girls, fighting and gambling. Fuckin' love it.

Fight well, train hard, play well, run well.

Good luck man :)

Great blog, just finished reading the whole thing.

Good luck to you in both facets of life and I plan to keep following!

FIGHT

I've come to realize something important. You hear it all the time (if you're into training), I've read it in a bunch of places, but I never really knew it was true until now. The lesson is this: If you train full-time, you will NEVER feel 100%. There's always that little sprain on your finger, that nagging pain in the elbow, that toe you jammed throwing a bad kick, that bruised-up shin, that cranked neck.
I've been training, getting a little hurt, taking a day off to heal, then going back, hurting myself, taking a day of to heal, and so on the entire time I've been here. I can't take that much time off and expect serious improvement, so I'm gonna have to change. More mental toughness.

This shit takes discipline.

FIGHT

ELL-O-ELL.

That girl I mentioned, Joyce? K turns out she's not a good person, she's a fucking slutty bitchface. She just left today after staying well past her welcome, finding places to sleep basically by fucking whoever would give her a bed. Within three days of me breaking up with her she blew two more guys and tried to get at me as well, plus she keeps doing this passive-aggressive shit like leaving things behind in your room so she has a reason to come back and also a foot in the door. And when I bust her on it she pouts and tries to ignore or put me off or whatever the fuck, and other people all say she does the same with them.

Oh and did I mention she used to be married and her husband died a year or two ago? NOPE, she's still married! My friend found out about all this though and she called her husband to let him know what she's been up to. BUUUUUUSTED!

lol

FIGHT

There's something living in my ceiling. Every once in a while I hear these weird 'squak' type noises, which makes me think bird, only there are these lizards here that make similar noises so I really can't say what it is. One thing I defintely CAN say though is that it's big enough so when it walks, it makes the ceiling creak. Like yknow how when you walk across an old wooden floor and it creaks? Like that. That takes WEIGHT - wtf is up there???

My teacher in the MMA class said I was getting "fuckin' ripped" today. Niiiiiiiice :cool:

Uhhhhh I promised pictures but I'm so lazy... I'll check out photobucket later today and learn how to upload. Really, I will.

GAMBLE

Thought I'd start with this one for a change.

I've FINALLY buckled down and started playing some volume again. Even in the new place, the internet kind of sucked, and I could only get wireless in my non-air-conditioned living room, which in Thailand sucks a lot. Therefore, I bought a month's pass at a nearby LAN room. Only costed $100 and I get to use my own computer or theirs, my choice. I found the place a few days back when a buddy suggested we go down there and play some DOTA (a cool game btw, it's a Warcraft 3 mod and I'm totally getting into it - msg me for a game, I'll pwn you). We stayed there all night, I decided I love LAN rooms, and the rest, as nobody really says, is history.

I need to clear my next bonus within a week so I can comfortably withdraw enough to pay my monthly bills. I've slacked off that much; my online bankroll is down to 3.5k =[ To clear the bonus in time, I need to play approx. 3k hands/day, which should be no problem now that I've got a real connection, aircon, and a place I can focus in.


FIGHT

Well, this section seems to ACTUALLY be more about women than fighting, buuuuuuuuut as I'm all right with that, I'll just carry on the tradition. We went in to Patong again this past weekend, with one minor twist - I've stopped drinking, so I was in party central 100% sober. Weird right? But I totally loved it. The place looks different when not intoxicated (lack of tunnel vision I think), and I'm a lot less tempted to fondle the street girls, but all in all it's still a good time. We went into this one strip joint where the girls all have these little foam bats and they WHACK you with them whenever you aren't looking - WTF! Bonus fun is that we get to hit them back. It was a novelty.

Eventually we headed back into Tiger Discotheque (the favorite club for the Tiger Muay Thai crew, go figure), where I happily started dancing with like a million hot girls. Then the hot girl of hot girls, Kan (false name, amusingly I've since made friends with a girl who actually is named Kan) from the first night, appears in front of me and is all happy to see me and tbh I was happy to see her too so we danced it up a bit and chatted and this and that, I intro'd her to my friends, she intro'd me to her friends, cool cool. After a while I decided her friends were less fun than mine so I tell her I'll come back to see her in a bit. This being a club, I of course danced with a bunch more hot girls (including some friends from my group), and Idunno wtf Kan's problem was but she got all jealous and pouted a bit when I went back to see her. I cheered her up (I probably shouldn't have bothered as I hate pouting), then went back with my friends for a bit, and when I came back she was all grinding up on some other dude. Now granted, we're not exactly married, so this would normally be fine, but given her previous attitude I was pissed ;[ So I found another hot girl, danced with her for a while, and took her home. Not mature I think but wtf ever, I felt like getting some action plus it was oddly gratifying in a spiteful way. As fate would have it, I left at pretty much the exact same time as Kan and we exchanged brief death glares. Drama with barely-knowns! Woot!

So anyways, as we all know, Patong is full of hookers and they DON'T always tell you in advance (I'm reminded of a funny story where my friend Luke brought one home, she didn't tell him, she wanted 3000 baht, he refused, and she woke up the whole neighborhood yelling and wouldn't leave for like an hour), so I made it clear with this girl that I wasn't into paying for sex. OK, cool, that's fine, as long as I give her a ride to my place and back as it's far away and she doesn't want to pay for an expensive cab ride. Turns out after some conversation that this girl (Nana, a fake name) actually IS a hooker, but I still got a freebie lol. She was pretty effin cool, I'd hang with her any time except that I know the deal with a hooker who doesn't charge - she wants to be your 'girlfriend' and have you buy her shit and let her stay at your place for free and eventually you meet her family (she has a kid ldo) and be a massive sucker and get married, she uses you for your money, and who the funk knows how it all ends up. I get it. Anyways, when she inevitably asked if I'd come see her again ('every day' was how she actually put it), I told her no... but I still got the freebie :lol: Do hookers find some guys sexy or are they just super-jaded? We may never know.

Oh and Joyce came BACK to Patong and she wanted to talk to me like it was REAL important, but no thanks, go die plz. Turns out her hubbie gave her 1,000,000 baht (like $30k USD!) and divorced her sorry ass, which I personally think is way too generous. I'd have dumped her cheating ass by the roadside with nothing but a box of condoms, since it's apparently all she needs to get by. Go figure, she showed up the next day with a new dude.
I think that's probably the last time I'll bash her, as I'm aware that it's un-classy and I believe everyone gets the idea. But I'm not promising anything.

With regards to actual FIGHTING, there's a BJJ tournament in Bangkok on the 27th-28th of Sept. and I'm gearing up to go to that. I'm pumped. There's also another barbecue in camp in a few weeks and a guy challenged me to a BJJ smoker fight, which I of course accepted, as I'll get to kill him in front of everybody :P Good times!



PS - OMFG I just realized I forgot to make a post about Lenny's girl May. To make it short and a runon sentence to boot - she's underage, she stayed at our house for three days straight without EVER telling her mom (she told us she did, though), her mom filed a missing persons report, her mom found out where she was, her mom showed up at the door with COPS while we were out training, her mom smacked May around and tried to smash MY laptop (thank God Kan (the real one) was there to stop her), there was a big rumorfest, and eventually things got worked out and it's all good, Lenny's still seeing May (he seems to really be falling for her and possibly vice versa, good for them :) ), and I think that's it but because this sentence has been fun I'm going to continue, and I think I'll throw in another clause for good measure, okay that's enough, oh wait actually I'm still having fun, in fact you know, I kind of like this blog-writing business, I get why people do it, only I wish people had better style, myself included, I mean so many of my sentences are the same form and especially this one is bad, I mean omfg it's longer than some paragraphs and I'm still going, but meh whatever if I stop now it should be acceptable.

Thanks for reading!

ROFL

So it turns out crazy bitch Joy has mad Thai Mafia connections. A mutual friend of ours got in a little trouble with the police, Joy found out and busted in with 6 of her mafia buddies, handed a gun to our friend, and asked if she wanted to kill the cop. The friend got off with a stern warning.
If she ever reads this blog I'm probably dead :P

GAMBLE

Bwahahahahahaa I just ran 9ptbb/100 for the last 10k hands... I love money :twisted:

SICK MAN!

keep it up buddy.

dude chilling with the thai mafia. Set up a home game imo...

lol at that - how will I collect when I win?

GAMBLE

I've been playing with decent regularity, and the month's been 'real juicy, junior... real juicy'. A guy named Mike recently came to the camp who wants to learn poker too, so I spent a few hours showing him the ropes the other day. As luck would have it, I dropped two buyins that day :P but it gave a good opportunity to demonstrate how to not go on tilt - probably one of the most important skills a player needs. The other day I explained about my little gambling hobby to the lady who runs the complex I live in (a bunch of houses and a restaurant, plus she rents mopeds and does laundry and other miscellaneous stuff). I was trying real hard to work through the language barrier, and at one point I explained 'Card Game' and she made a little face... after the conversation my buddy took me to see the placard in his room. Rule #5 - NO CARD GAMES ALLOWED.
LOL.

FIGHT

Well shit I've been reaaaal lax in updating. Let's see what I can do.
Weekend before last I went on a trip with a few friends to go whitewater rafting, hiking/swimming, and elephant trekking. The bus we took there (an hour or so away) had the A/C on too cold, but they had an answer. In Canada, the driver will say, 'If the temperature is too hot or too cold, just let me know and I'll do my best to adjust it for you'. In Thailand he says, 'If too cold, sorry. Not change.'
LOL.
Whitewater rafting was first, and it was a REAL blast. The waves buffet you about, your paddle smacks into rocks, the BOAT smacks into rocks, you get spun around backwards, you almost capsize a hundred times, and good times are had. Being from Tiger Muay Thai, we went the whole way yelling things our trainers yell at us - 'MORE POWER MAN!!! KEEP GOING!!! RIGHT SIDE!!! GOGOGOGOGOGO!!! KEEP GOING MAN!!!! O-HOI!!!' Our boat was totally the best. We even saved another crew (of cute girls, bonus!) when they flipped their boat. See, not only can we handle our shit like champs, we pick up the slack for... cute girls. =]
Next we had a real tasty lunch, not a ton to say there, just fun conversation, photo swapping, and eating about 5 plates of tasty food. Excercising every day improves the appetite.
Then we went for a little hike up a gorgeous nature scene of a trail to a waterfall-fed swimming hole. The water was crisp and refreshing, and the waterfall was real cool - I swam up to it, which FYI is like a crazy water treadmill as you get near, and held onto some rocks and went under the fall, and the force was SO strong it a) nearly pulled my shorts off, and b) slowly forced me under the water and I could NOT get up. I had to climb up somebody's leg to get out. A little chinese girl did the same thing after me and she apparently thought she'd be able to handle it but her face went 'Oh shit!' and she dissapeared under the water and I had to rescue her. Mini-adventure =]
Last was Elephant Trekking. There was a sign up in realllll bad English saying the basic rules. My favorite was 'Elephant is the slowly animal' :lol: They put these chairs on top of the elephant which are secured by ropes around his front legs and wedged behind his tail which pretty much amounts to right up his butt. Real nice. Anyways, that's where we sit, strapped in by a silly rope that's tied in a way that looks like I could pull it off with one hand, which out of curiousity I confirmed. Elephants are DEFINITELY tall enough that if you fall, you will hurt yourself. Whatever. Turns out they really REALLY are the slowly animal, I mean this one averaged about 1 step every 7 seconds, but each step took us up and back down about 2 feet - just craziness, I swear. After the ride we fed some bananas to the greedy elephants; they just couldn't get enough, or fast enough. Sheesh, it's not like they WORK or weigh a gazillion pounds or anything... they better watch it or they'll get fat =p

I also got a new tattoo and went bungie jumping, but it's bedtime now. Stories for later =]

GAMBLE

ADFDFSGSGSFGDWEHJGFHFWTF. That's how I'd like to begin ;[

Today wasn't TERRIBLE, I mean I ended down two buyins which happens all the time... but midway through my session I was up SIX. That's one hell of a swing.

Pretty much all my losses were on those hands where you just KNOW you're beat but you've got a pretty good hand, the odds are good, and you feel compelled to call... but still, you cringe as you do it. Seriously, my gut is right way too often. I think I might just start folding in those spots.

Yknow, like you hold KK and a nit 3bets your UTG raise and the flop is all low cards, he bets the flop, you call, and he bets the turn... I'm pretty sure any NL200+ reg would verbally/emotionally abuse me for folding, but it ALWAYS turns out the nit's got AA here. KK was my biggest loser for the day because I was stubborn and called those bets even though my intestines were writhing in agony somewhere between my knees and my ankles. Ugh.

GAMBLE

Yesssssssssss I swung back into the positives after 3 losing sessions in a row. I took my own advice and stopped calling those bets when I just know I'm beat... but I also stopped to think about villain's tendencies and what hand he's repping, and caught a few poorly executed bluffs. So I think I did good =]
Bankroll's hit around 6k, so I'm going to start mixing in 200NL tables. Wish me luck!

FIGHT

OK so I said I'd write about bungee jumping and my new tattoo... bungee jumping is scary. I don't think I've EVER looked down from that high without being in an airplane. And then I jumped off of it. OMFG I'm getting goosebumps reliving the memory. My one complaint is that it's over really fast, but I have the simple solution - Skydiving next =]

I also got a new tattoo, this one on my right shoulder. It's a Buddhist tattoo for protection (specifically, invulnerability). Maybe I really SHOULD look into posting photos... lol...
The guy who did it is a Muay Boran expert and he's done some crazy shit, like staying awake for 50 hours straight in a tub of water so that if he falls asleep he drowns, swimming in the ocean with ten people all tied together at the leg, and 'playing' with a fully venomous cobra who tries to bite him; his friend lost a finger in that little game. His assistant/girlfriend was also a fighter. We saw a few of her matches on Youtube (look up ANN FROM TMT MMA FIGHT, also YOUNG GIRL MMA FIGHT CHOKE OUT, something like that. She's a real skinny Thai girl), and she's surprisingly good for someone so tiny - I'd guess her weight at 100lbs tops. She has a hard time finding opponents because she's the only real female MMA fighter in Thailand.
They were both cool people and I thank them for the tattoo.

We went out on the town again this past weekend. I feel a little guilty about something :( I met a girl at the club and she seems like a real 'nice girl' and she told me about how she's looking for a boyfriend and this and that and I didn't have the guts to tell her that I wasn't looking for anything long term, and I still took her home. I mean sure, it happens all the time, she's probably cool with it, but I should've said something. I feel like I've deflowered a virgin and left her to walk home in busted high heels.
Still a pretty fun night though - I hadn't drank in over a month. Truth be told I don't miss it that much, but I wasn't complaining on the date :D

this is the greatest blog ive ever read man...
so jealous! keep enjoying life m8.

FIGHT

Gawd Dam. I know I said a person should train every day and expect constant minor injuries, but I'm not training any more this week. Got my first grappling tournament comin up in Bangkok on the weekend and I'd rather be undertrained but healed than go in there unable to turn my neck to the side.

asfdaslks stupid guy neck cranking me like almost a month ago ;[

I went and saw some fights in Patong Stadium last night, including my MMA trainer doing a Muay Thai fight. A guy can see he'd be real good at what he does but his Muay Thai was not so good =[ Too many punches, which don't score points, and not enough knees, which score big points. He pounded his opponent but lost on points because he didn't play the right game.
The bookies there are ridiculous =] Red-Blue! Red-Blue! OK man you bet? I red! They can sure as hell pick a winner, and every time someone's dumb enough to bet against them, they cackle like mad witches over a bubbling cauldron. I should mention I was dumb enough to lose 300 baht to them =p

GAMBLE

Wheeeee :D I just checked and over the last 50k hands I've run over 4ptbb/100. Word!

My preflop's gotten much better/more aggressive but I'm still plagued by calling too often postflop. A lot of the time I'll underrep my hand, then call the flop or turn because that was the plan, but then give up when they fire again on the river... the regs don't give up often enough for that to be good poker.
But my hand reading's definitely improving =]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

over the last 50k hands I've run over 4ptbb/100

---

u r sick
keep it up

FIGHT

Man. Travelling is awesome until everyone you befriend leaves before you do. Out of 5 people who I've hung out with nearly every day for the last month or more, 3 just left today and another leaves tomorrow. Mega-suck. At least this'll make it easier to focus on poker.

I've learned a lesson from this, and here's the result: I'm inviting anyone who reads this and who has the desire/freedom/funds to travel to come along with me :)
I'll be in Thailand until Christmas, and my next destination is probably Brazil, leaving in January and looking to stay at least half a year. After that, maybe back to Canada/Europe to live up at a mountain lodge and snowboard every day? Who knows, the world is our oyster :cool:
Oh and if you're reading this, you probably play poker, so funds should be no excuse not to come with!

:( Mega gay I don't even know if you're serious or not, I would love to do that but I have college :wall: :wall: :wall:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

Man. Travelling is awesome until everyone you befriend leaves before you do.

---

yep, imagine being more or less on the road for six years.... scattered friends yo!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by keilah

I'll be in Thailand until Christmas, and my next destination is probably Brazil, leaving in January and looking to stay at least half a year. After that, maybe back to Canada/Europe to live up at a mountain lodge and snowboard every day? Who knows, the world is our oyster :cool:
Oh and if you're reading this, you probably play poker, so funds should be no excuse not to come with!

---

I'm moving somewhere next year most likely. And chances are I'll ending up studying a language and playing poker to pay for stuff... I'll keep an eye out

I'm 100% serious.

Only thing is I'd have to get to know the person a bit first bcuz I'm not gonna commit to spending 6+ months with a total wanker.

PS: College sucks. I'd use my degree for toilet paper if it wouldn't chafe my tender buttocks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daven

yep, imagine being more or less on the road for six years.... scattered friends yo!
I'm moving somewhere next year most likely. And chances are I'll ending up studying a language and playing poker to pay for stuff... I'll keep an eye out

---

Hey, you must've sent this reply just as I was giving my perspective on higher education, 'cuz I didn't notice it until just now. That'd be great if we could travel together, man. Maybe I could teach you how to play poker? :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keilah

Maybe I could teach you how to play poker? :P

---

or at least teach me stop MIN-RAISING!!! Funny if we ended up in the same place and played each others accounts for a while - the stars regs would wonder wtf the min-raises meant and the Full Tilt regs would wonder where all the limping went!

Yeah I've thought about that... good way to 'mix up your play' and keep everyone on their toes... sshhhhh, it's totally against the rules ><

GAMBLE

I just spent an hour or so talking with this guy who makes his money as a trader. I'm retardedly interested in that because I can only make so much money in poker since a) the games will dry up someday and b)regardless how much money I have behind, I'm only going to be profitable at limits I have the skill to beat.
With trading it's different - the skill level required is the same whether you have $5 or $500,000, but the more you have, the more you earn. Enter:

THE MOTHAFUCKIN' PLAN

Save (not make, save, as in have available to me) $100,000 during the year 2009.

This requires:

a)play poker at approximately full-time hours
b)beat 1/2NL for 2ptbb/100
c)spend less than $40k on living expenses during 2009
d)pay no taxes :P

This is based on 750 hands/hr over 2000 hours in the year. That comes out to (1,500,000 hands)x($8/100 hands) = $120,000 and, according to my rough calculations, about $30,000 in bonuses. So that actually leaves some slight leeway for me to have a real bad month or slack off a bit or whatever. Not to mention I could make a bunch more if I manage to become profitable at 2/4NL.

Frankly a) will probably be the most challenging part since I've got three months to practice before 2009 even starts, and if I'm not beating 200NL for 2ptbb/100 by then, I'll buy a hat just so I can eat it. Also I've never spent $40k in one calendar year in my life (hell, I'm not sure I've even spent $25k), so that part should be no problem, even if I'm travelling the world. d) Miiiiiight be a problem but travelling and the fact that I'm Canadian anyways should keep me safe.

During 2009, I'd also like to start fooling around with trading, by reading a books on the subject, taking a course or two, and finding someone to mentor me. I don't expect to do much serious trading that year, but I do plan to prepare myself to start in 2010.

I think this plan is moderately ambitious and very achievable. I'd even say that it's slightly TOO easy except for the fact that life always throws a few wrenches in the gears... taking that into consideration, this should be a solid goal to strive for.

So until 2009, what I need to do is:
a) Study and grind to ensure that I'm profitable at 200NL
b) Build up the habits and fortitude needed to play full-time hours
c) Pay off my student loans of about $10k (just 'cuz)

So to start practicing at the goal thing, I'm gonna aim to make $25k by the end of 2008. If I play nearly fulltime and earn a meager 1.5ptbb/100 that's more than doable.

So my sights are set on $8k in October!

FIGHT

I just finished my BJJ competition. I'm dissapointed by the results =[ I lost in the first round of the under-75kg in a close match to the guy who eventually got gold, and although I do think he would have won in a decision anyways, I disagreed bigtime when the ref gave him points (it's hard to explain the scoring system without people there to pantomime, so I won't bother).
I dominated and tapped a guy out in my second match, which was under-80kg, and then the ref stopped the fight in my third when I (and my opponent, who was actually a teammate) felt that I still had a chance to get out of the submission.

So I ended up going 1-2 but really felt like I could/should have done better. Still a good experience.

A few of my friends from Tiger Muay Thai have moved out here to Bangkok, so I'm going to stay here a couple of weeks and train with them. I had a wicked night out at the bars/clubs last night, story to come soon :)

Hey just wanted to say your blog has been a super interesting read for me. I haven't posted here in over a year but this blog has kept me checking back periodically. I have done a minimal amount of BJJ and I remember the disappointment after I also went 1-2 in my first tournament. It actually led to me stopping like an idiot but I am considering getting back into it.

I am not sure what my plans are in January but it's not out of the question that I head down to Brazil for a trip - AKA Operation get back in shape.

Keep living it up man.

Rav

Thanks Rav, I've said it before but I'll say it again, I always appreciate hearing that my blog's been good for people =]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

With trading it's different - the skill level required is the same whether you have $5 or $500,000, but the more you have, the more you earn.

---

this is interesting timing for me - i've been talking to a friend about this today. I've been making 2k-ish a month from poker recently as a nice little salary supplement. He's been making a lot more taking one day positions on well researched stocks. He thinks that he should grind up his trading bankroll as the knowledge he gains during this process reduces the risk as the dollars involved become more and more meaningful. So, remember bankroll management? something similar can/should apply in trading (I assume you're talking share and equity trading?)

I think I'm gonna open a trading account for the NZ stock exchange with about 5k, and start trying to figure out how some stuff works...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

a)play poker at approximately full-time hours
b)beat 1/2NL for 2ptbb/100
c)spend less than $40k on living expenses during 2009
d)pay no taxes :P

---

a should be fine. b sounds a little difficult. c sounds easy. d depends where you are I guess!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

During 2009, I'd also like to start fooling around with trading, by reading a books on the subject, taking a course or two, and finding someone to mentor me. I don't expect to do much serious trading that year, but I do plan to prepare myself to start in 2010.

---

I suggest getting a trading account where you can easily come and go on DJ and NASDAQ and starting out with 10k. Research is what it's all about.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daven

He thinks that he should grind up his trading bankroll as the knowledge he gains during this process reduces the risk as the dollars involved become more and more meaningful. So, remember bankroll management? something similar can/should apply in trading (I assume you're talking share and equity trading?)

---

This exactly. I think a lot of the skills we learn in poker will apply to trading - makes it a natural progression IMO.

GAMBLE

This post is now being hijacked by myself and becoming an accountability thing. Gotta get the hands in. So today I played about 3k hands and pretty much broke even. Played so-so, made one dumbshit call against a nit with an unlikely hand (AF 1 isn't bluffing FTW) which cost me $150 but other than that I did all right. Nothing much special.

I'm aiming for around 4.5k hands a day, but I'm all right with playing less today because the internet was down for a long time.

GOAL: $8k
SO FAR: -$34.50

FIGHT

Aiight I said I'd tell about the night at the bars/clubs, but this time I think I'll keep it simple. First place we went to I pulled a couple of the dancers out with us (no, I'm not a huge player, you just pay the bar fine and they go) and I took them along bar hopping and clubbing with the rest of us. One of them had a curfew of 2am so she went home (still in uni and living with parents lol), but the other, who was IMO cuter, a better dancer, and more fun, stuck around for the duration. I danced like mad all night long, I got called a 'butterfly' more than once (which I actually took as a compliment) and had a mad good time. Some Swedish dude took a million photos and my own camera was dead so I gotta get those offa him when I get back to Phuket. I got her number and she got mine and she called me up the other day but I can't see her again until the weekend because it's an hour long taxi trip. Kind of a bummer that next time will be the last time, but I guess that's life on the road :wink: I could do better storytelling but tonight I'm sleepy ><

GAMBLE

Nice run today. Took out KK and QQ with AA, sucked out on KK with AKs, and only lost once with AA v JJ(set on flop, d'oh). Still playing mostly 100NL due to the bad day I had on the weekend where I dropped over $1k, and the fact that there are just a lot more seats available at 100NL. Sill mixed in a few tables and did OK, but really wasn't hitting flops well.

Hands today: 4,165
Total $ won this month: $962.80
FPPs: 5,095

So I approximately hit my goal in # of hands, which btw took > 6hrs thanks to poor table availability, and I'm now slaying on actual $ won. I reached another 100,000 FPPs at the end of yesterday, so any FPPs I have in my account I earned this month. Should be neat to keep track of them.

FIGHT

So I decided to stay in Bangkok an extra week or so, mostly to hang with my mates from camp who moved here, but also to give Muay Chaya a try. Muay Chaya is the oldschool version of today's Muay Thai - It looks like what Tony Jaa does in Ong-Bak, hands wrapped in ropes, a lot of circular motions, elbows to the top of the skull, and the occasional death in the ring (which is why the king banned it a few decades back). It's the rizzle dizzle. Turns out though, it's not really for me. It starts out real slow (understandable), but I'm not going to spend two years in Bangkok learning the art. So I gave it a try but soon it's back to Phuket and sport-style for me. Hell, even there I do mostly BJJ instead.
Bangkok's kinda cool. My friend Joe describes it as, 'Real ghetto.' Word.

GAMBLE

Total fail on the hours put in - just two hours and 1300 hands between yesterday and today. I did run good though.

$ this month: $1,130.35
FPPs: 7,024

So I'm within $2 of the pace I need to win money at to hit $8k in winnings alone. Doin' goot.

FIGHT

Ooooooh, I'm pissed off. My friend Dave and I decided to go out and have a few drinks tonight. Around our hotel, there's one bar with a real sleazy head server and not many girls (Thai bars pretty much all have bar girls), all of which were either with customers or obvious transvestites. We didn't stay. Anyways, down the street there's a place called Playgirl we decided to check out. Idea is, you get a private room for 200 baht (roughly $6.75)/hour, and you can pay for a girl to join you for 400/hr. In the room there's a big couch, a table, and a TV that runs a karaoke machine. We were like, what? Sweet! An hour of karaoke for 200/hr? Nice! And we decided to hire a coupla girls just for shitz.
Mine turned out to be, like, shy and not a very fun time, which I was dissapointed in, but yknow, whatever, if the girl's not into me, I don't push it and I don't get upset.
What did upset me happened when we decided to check out. We stayed about 1.5hrs and the total came to 4,260baht. WTF. They charged us for six beers when we drank less than three between us (they keep refilling the glass but I know how much I'm drinking), in fact I'd be surprised if I finished one, and they charged the equivalent of $13.75 for - get this - ICE AND MIXER. And we were drinking BEER. What the fucking fuck. There were some other miscellaneous charges, a "service fee", who knows wtf, but I was super-pissed at the blatant rip-off. Like, I know places like that always charge more than you expect but this was ridiculous. I said I'd give 3k and was ready to leave, but Dave was waiting for the proprietor to approve before leaving and she basically just sat there for a long time (plus he kind of wanted to take his girl home, which isn't fucking likely after we get pissed off about prices but there you have it), so eventually I said 'Fine, just because I don't want any trouble, I'll give you 400baht more, but that's it, and we're leaving now.' And we left. Seriously, the 'six beers' thing was NOT COOL. I'm pissed ;[

GAMBLE

Hands today: 3.3k
Total $ won this month: $1666.45
FPPs: 11,934

A bit short on hands, but not bad, and another good running day on the monies. That makes more than 70k hands at 4ptbb+, even including the sick $1100 downswing last weekend. Prrrrretty good!

GAMBLE

Well, I didn't get in much playtime these last few days, but what I did was OK. Played pretty good for the most part, got sucked out on hard and coolered once or twice near the end, but I coolered a few guys earlier so it balanced out. 5555 > KKK lawl.

Total $ this month: @2266.60
FPPs: 16,841

FIGHT

Well, my time in Bangkok is at an end. I'm in the airport now, getting ready for a poker session while I wait for my airplane back to Phuket. I had to say goodbye to my friends Dave, Dan, and Joe, and the only one left in camp who I'm really close with is Lenny and he leaves tomorrow, but I'm still looking forward to getting back. I miss the training and I really like the area.

I believe I mentioned, a few posts back, about the two girls I brought with us out of the bar on the weekend? Well, I got on quite well with one of them, and I called her up to spend the last couple of days with me. Language barriers galore (I learned that 'Alai na' is Thai for 'what'd you say?' reeeeal fast), but she's got a charming personality and we had a good time. Real cutie too. LOL there's an internet cafe/video arcade downstairs and I plopped her in front of a racing game while Dave and I played ProEv Soccer, and I swear to God I think it was the first video game she'd ever played. She clearly had no idea how to drive, either. Lolsauce. Dave let her win at ProEv too; she was giggling like mad, just super-entertained by the fact that 'OMG wiggling the little stick thing on the controller make the little man on screen run around!' Truly priceless =]

So, I know I'm a total sap and I know better, but I invited her to quit her job and come to Phuket with me. I really am quite fond of her :wink: She seemed real confused, asked a lot of questions about what I meant, this and that, and in the end I think neither of us was sure what the other really wanted - does she want to come because she's genuinely interested in me? Is she interested in coming just because I've got some money (she doesn't know, but my daily income roughly = her monthly)? Does she want to get away from life as a dancer? Does she enjoy her time in Bangkok, dancing and living with her hottie girlfriends? Does she want to come to Phuket at all? Whoooooo knows, language barrier + short time knowing each other ftw. Anyways, if she doesn't come down, I'll never see her again, so I figure it's a carpe diem moment.

So. As of falling asleep last night, that's the situation as I know it. Then, in the morning, blah. She turned me right off when, as I was helping her get a taxi back home, she asked me for some money for her. Not to pay the bar for her missed work time (which is how it works in Thailand), but for her - which pretty much says to me she sees me as part of her job. Fine, that's fair, it's what any impartial observer would expect, I knew it was entirely possible, but still blah. So I gave her a few bucks and told her my offer was cancelled. I really, really don't need a girlfriend for hire.

It's still a little weird though; the other day, we went to the mall and she didn't ask for anything, even when, after a few hours of me looking for clothes and such, I told her she should look for herself too. Why not take advantage of that? For that matter, if all she wants is money, why not just go with me and try to milk me for whatever she can? There are only two explanations I can think of that make sense: one, the simplest and unfortunately the saddest, is that she doesn't really like me and figured she'd get a little money and be done with it, or two, that she got confused, wasn't seeing the bigger picture, and asked for some money because that's just what she's used to doing. So to put it another way, either she's not thinking clearly, or she's thinking just fine and isn't interested. I honestly can't tell which. Bah, women.

Oh, and just as I arrived at the airport she called me and sounded sad/confused about me not wanting to call for her when I get to Phuket, which really tells me nothing either way, because she'd do the same whether she was crafty or genuine. Bah, women.

The other day was my first real shopping experience pretty much ever. I never had money to spare until poker, and then I was saving to get to Thailand, and then I just never did much shopping until now... but I found I liked it! I got some cool jeans, a pimpin' armani shirt that actually fits unlike 99% of my clothes, and a nice watch with a blue face, rimmed with red and a little white. I look goooood.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

So to put it another way, either she's not thinking clearly, or she's thinking just fine and isn't interested. I honestly can't tell which. Bah, women.

---

Amen.

Side note: your blog is very interesting to read. I wish you luck. :)

GAMBLE

Well. Hot streak over/doomswitch engaged. I've been getting in a lot of hands lately, and I think playing pretty well, but sometimes the cards just don't fall your way. It's okay though, if you wait, they'll start to... do the same thing. And then do it again. Aaaaand then again. I don't think my aces have won a preflop allin against a full stack since my last post =p I'm real pleased by the work ethic I've been showing though.

Hands played this month: 27,266
$ earned this month: $1,493.70
FPPs: 31,562

I'm now well behind the goal both on earnings and # of hands played... it'll come.

FIGHT

Sooooo. The girl I mentioned in my last post has called my cell at least twice that I've noticed, which I assume means she's at least considering coming to Phuket; I don't really know, because I've put her number on my screen list. This is for a few different reasons:
1) I don't completely believe that if she does come, it's not for money.
2) A lot of things about her remind me of my ex-wife, and the way I felt while I was with her. Judging by the fact that she's my EX-wife, I'm taking this as a warning sign.
3)The very same night I got back to Phuket, I picked up one girl, was invited to be her boyfriend, took her and her friends to a club, and then picked up an entirely different girl. Not that I purposely ignored the one I came with, just that she was a little shy and wasn't getting into the swing of things, having a great time, all that... and this other girl totally was. Gotta go with my gut! Anyways, the moral of this little story is that I'm clearly not ready for a steady girl.
4) If, by some completely off chance, the girl from Bangkok decides to come to Chalong on her own steam and look me up, that will convince me of her sincerity. Seeing how I can't think of much else that will, I'm saying this is a good thing.

Oh, and the new girl is real cool... I think we'll have good times together ;)

Ohhhh, God. My sister just read my blog. I didn't know she knew about it... she must've seen on facebook where I told one of my other friends where to find it.

:facepalm:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

3)The very same night I got back to Phuket, I picked up one girl, was invited to be her boyfriend, took her and her friends to a club, and then picked up an entirely different girl. Not that I purposely ignored the one I came with, just that she was a little shy and wasn't getting into the swing of things, having a great time, all that... and this other girl totally was. Gotta go with my gut! Anyways, the moral of this little story is that I'm clearly a man whore

---

FYP

lol shut up you're just jealous :mrgreen:

GAMBLE

Finally I'm back to the good times. Made a few monies, played pretty good (still making the odd hero call but now only in small/medium pots rather than big ones), and cleared a $1500 bonus. Not including that in the tally though as the FPPs were almost all earned last month. I looked into the concierge service and thanks to Kingnat's helpful post, I now understand that it's got great value... only thing is, I don't exactly have a lot of receipts here in Thailand. Maybe when I get back to Canada.

$ earned this month: $2,757
Hands played this month: 35,432
FPPs: 41,026

only at about 75% of the goal in hands, but on track for winnings!

FIGHT

OK. So Drew just called me a man whore, and my sister did the same. I'm not above taking criticism and changing for the better. I've also started to feel like this blog has taken on an air of bragging, mostly about my conquests with the ladies. That's not really cool.

See, things've gotten to my head a bit lately. The amount of money I make in poker has been increasing all the time, living among the Thais makes it seem like even more than it is, and I never really had much money before poker. For a Canadian, I was poor. So showing off my shiney new dollah bills has been fun, but in the end: not really cool.

Same goes with the girls. I was a virgin until 18 (perfectly reasonable IMO) when I met my first really serious girlfriend, and we ended up getting married, staying together a total of 5 years, and eventually divorcing. That took me out of the game for a long time, and to be honest, I was totally clueless. Couldn't have met a girl in a sultan's menagerie.

I read a bunch of stuff about meeting women, some of it bad, but a lot of it good; I eventually put my knowledge to use and had my first non-wife hookup - and then it immediately didn't work out. This was like, a year after breaking up. (BTW, props to David Deangelo, who puts out some really quality material and who completely changed my perspective on a lot of things, along with Mystery and Style, whose stuff isn't quite what I'm into, but totally works anyways.) Then I spent another 4-5 months completely devoid of meaningful female interest (a couple girls were interested I guess but they were pretty nothx), and then I came to Thailand. And then things changed. I started meeting girls in clubs, I started meeting girls through my friends at camp, and my confidence increased. I'm not sure how I'll do when I go back to Canada, but nowadays I'd say I'm a fair hand with the ladies over here. And no, not just hookers. :P

Anyways, this was a pretty drastic change and I was excited. Maybe I even got a touch carried away (maybe). So now I think I'll give a try at sticking with this girl Bun (nickname) I met a few nights ago, and even if that doesn't work, I'll try not to make a big deal of things in my blog. Women appreciate discretion.

I'm done blogging for now (back to the grind!) but I've got another story - this one about Bun's friend Air, who went a liiiitle bit crazy the other night. Whew.

Until next time :)

GAMBLE

Whew, another long session. Running pretty average overall, but I can't believe how often my aces are getting cracked. Who calls a preflop raise with 74s, bet/calls with a gutshot, and turns a straight, HONESTLY?

Hands this month: 44,397
$ earned this month: $3,417.45
FPPs: 51,624

Slowly catching up on hands, and I'm ahead of pace for the 8k!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

Slowly catching up on hands, and I'm ahead of pace for the 8k!

---

nice one, keep on crushing yo

Fuck. Apparently pokerstars has decided that AA should never get it in on the flop or turn in a 3bet pot, and that KK is a snapfold against shortstacks. Godddd.

EDIT: Oh, and every unknown fishface who calls a flop raise against my 2pair with tpwk gets to hit that kicker every time.

asjdfhsdkjfgjk

Re-edit: omfg it happened agaaaain.. halfstack calls 75%PSB with K4s and hits his flush, I've got AA with the flush redraw and less than a PSB bhind, so I shove... aaaaand I HIT THE HIGHER FLUSH BABY!!!

Seriously if I'd been sucked out on by another dude calling a 3bet with a hand like that I think I'd have trashed my laptop ;[

GAMBLE

Been falling behind on updates... took the morning off yesterday but I've been pretty consistent with getting hands in. Unfortunately hit a major $1k downswing and didn't quit soon enough - I realized by the end of it that I was on tilt, but I should have picked it up sooner. Not being upset does not = playing best game. I was distracted and slightly upset by how frequently I was getting outplayed (being distracted caused me to play extremely ABC and the 200NL regs wtfpwned me for it). Anyways. I've had a little break, I got my head on straight, and I went back to winning. Re-watched a few old DC vids and I think they helped me a lot; trying to apply what I learned, I've finally got my AF up to around 4, making me truly TAG instead of just a rock. I'm happy with this.

I'm teaching some Thais how to play poker, and I'll give them a starting bankroll. They earn like, $300/mo at their jobs and they work like dogs. This is an awesome way to lend a hand IMO. Look out microstakes, here come the Asians :wink:

Hands played this month: 58,679
$ earned this month: $4,069.10
FPPs: 70,094

About 16k hands behind target (probably I'll get another 3-4k in today though), and ahead of target on $ - counting FPPs, I've earned just over $5k so far :D

FIGHT

K, well I haven't really been training much lately. Been really motivated to play poker, not so much to run and stretch and punch and grab and twist. Not great for my fitness, so I should get back to it soon, but I've decided that I'm not going to become a truly high-level fighter. The training required just takes too much time out of the day, and not just training time - for every hour spent training beyond the first, I'd say I spend at least another hour drained and unable to think clearly. Not acceptable for a poker player. My body craves SOME exercise though, so I'll keep going a few times a week.

Last weekend I went out dancing with Bun and Air and a few friends. Good times! Had a few drinks, met some people, had some good clean fun, had some not-entirely-clean fun, you know =] My friend and new roomie Mikey, who I brought along as a date for Air, kind of screwed things up... I guess he wasn't that into her (I think she's hot but w/e) and he's a little bit awkward at the best of times, aaaaaand he asked her if she was a ladyboy. She got offended, he couldn't fix it. Neither of them went home happy.

Now I'm going to skip ahead to the morning, where Air started drinking again, yelling and falling over and saying 'UP TO ME!' every time we tried to pry the vodka bottle out of her deathgrip. We were not amused. Eventually Mikey and I managed to carry her into a taxi kicking and screaming, and he went along to make sure she didn't do something retarded like jump out or something. That left Bun to drive Air's motorbike home; she doesn't have a license, the cops pulled her over, and she got a fine. Nice.

Bah. Women.

PS - Oh that reminds me, I decided to man up and call the girl from Bangkok instead of ignoring her, and we got everything sorted. She's staying where she is, I'll stop in to visit her when I pass through, and everybody's happy. It's a weight off my chest.

"Are you a man?"

Is always a downer.

GAMBLE

Not a good day for me -_-

PokerStars Pot-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($309.60)
Hero (SB) ($198)
BB ($200)
UTG ($37)
UTG+1 ($45.60)
MP1 ($40)
MP2 ($200)
CO ($200)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 2http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, 2http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $2, 3 folds, Button calls $2, Hero calls $1, BB checks

Flop: ($8) 7http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif, 6http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif, 2http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif (4 players)
Hero bets $7.60, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $7.60, Button calls $7.60

Turn: ($30.80) Khttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif (3 players)
Hero bets $22, UTG+1 calls $22, 1 fold

River: ($74.80) Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif (2 players)
Hero bets $16, UTG+1 calls $14 (All-In)

Total pot: $102.80 | Rake: $3

Results in white below:
Hero had 2http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, 2http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif (three of a kind, twos).
UTG+1 had Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, 4http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: UTG+1 won $99.80


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com


UTG ($20)
UTG+1 ($153.45)
MP1 ($105.20)
MP2 ($96.10)
MP3 ($101.35)
CO ($79)
Hero (Button) ($99.50)
SB ($19)
BB ($126.45)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, 4 folds, Hero raises to $5, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $4

Flop: ($11.50) 2http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif, 7http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, 9http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $7, UTG+1 calls $7

Turn: ($25.50) 7http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $18, UTG+1 calls $18

River: ($61.50) Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $36, UTG+1 calls $36

Total pot: $133.50 | Rake: $3

Results in white below:
Hero had 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif (two pair, tens and sevens).
UTG+1 had Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif, Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif (two pair, Queens and sevens).
Outcome: UTG+1 won $130.50

GAMBLE

I'm tilted :/

Misplayed a couple of hands, got two outered allin three times within 300 hands, and didn't win a single meaningful showdown. 1,000 hands is enough for today. Oh and yesterday was almost as bad.
The two day combo is really whats tilting, plus maybe I think I've been having too many energy drinks lately - didn't have one today and I feel generally grumpy and tired-ish.

Hands played this month: 65,725
$ won this month: $3,574.55
FPPs: 79,386

On the bright side, I owned the shiz out of some 50NL and 100NL sixmax games for kicks the other night, then met a cool guy who said he used to play 5/10 and was around for the UB superuser scandal. He apparently went busto a ways back so now he just sticks to the low stakes games. I played him some heads up and lost $70 :? It's true what they say, people mind less losing to people they like.

Played 3k hands today, spewed like a retard, lost $300, am taking the day off tomorrow.

GAMBLE

Took the day off yesterday but did a lot of theory work in the evening, and I'm pleased with the result.

I played a two-hour session 6-tabling and made a lot of money, plus I was super-happy with my play. The only things I feel I did wrong were: not tightening my CO raise range after a 15/13 limped UTG+1 (he reraised, no surprise), flat calling vs a different TAG who limpreraised in middle position vs my BU with 130BB stacks (not sure if I should fold, 4bet, or call here - folding seems superexploitable but this happens so rarely I assume he's on a real tight range here), and 3betting light then shoving a flop with what I felt was good FE vs a donk with 50BBs - called me down with 88 FTW. It was all part of the 'unexploitable preflop strategy' thing, but why bother with that vs donks? Value bet, value bet, value bet.

EDIT: almost forgot

Hands played this month: 70,081
$ won this month: $3,598.20
FPPs: 85,497.

Well behind target on hands, I think I may have set that goal too high. Multitabling an average 40 hrs/week is fkking tiring, probably -EV after a while, and definitely -FT (Fun Time). Still sitting at about $5k after counting FPPs. So just barely behind target on monies.

Stars is not connecting well for me, so the night's over.

FIGHT

Godddd, I really made an honest effort to get to training this morning but I slept in by 20 minutes. Get an alarm clock plz. Oh well. I went to the gym in the afternoon instead, and I will be there for training tomorrow - dammit!

Went dancing with Bun (I think I'm spelling that wrong as it turned out I'm pronouncing it wrong but whatever) again on the weekend, man that girl knows how to work it. I like her, real down-to-earth and cool.
Damn I'm a sucker for the ladies, like 50% of them I 'really like'. It's better this way I think :)

Damn Pokerstars keeps superlagging out on me today, same as it was last night. This better not become a recurring theme at the internet cafe or I'm not happy.

On the plus side, I made it to training this morning =]

Well I had a fun day yesterday. Went out with that same girl, the one who I called Bun but from now on I'm going to call Apple (her name is Thai for apple and I srsly can't pronounce her name right) and her sister + sister's BF. He's from Ireland, goes by the name o' Buzz, cool guy. Pretty laid back. I definitely got the wilder sister^^

So we went to the beach, did a little swimming, played some of that Thai hackey-volleyball game with a cheapo plastic ball, had Mexican for supper, and then went and saw Max Payne at the cinema. We sat up in those VIP seats I described way back at the start of my blog, and Apple was real excited (she actually jumped up and down at one point, lol); clearly she hadn't been in there before =p

Oh and I tried port for the first time, FYI it's basically like sherry and it's served in ridic small portions and is stupid overpriced, so I won't be getting that again. Ah well, Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

And now on to the interesting bit... but before that, I'll tell you, and I don't think I mentioned this before, but I used to play a lot of guitar and have found myself missing it lately. If I were to write a song right now, I know what I'd call it. I'd call it, The 'oh shit the condom broke' Blues. Yup. 2nd time in my life. First one was RIGHT after my girlfriend at the time had stopped taking birth control pills and was fertile again... awesome. This time was in Thailand, which I mean, obviously, this is not good. The crystal ball fortells blood testing in the near future.

Whaddaya think, if I get AIDS or something crazy, should I just stick with the girl and get medicines and make one of those "we're both HIV+ but we had an HIV- baby" babies? That's not a terrible life. And actually I've heard that they've got a million new drugs for the hiv, and if you catch it right now your life expectancy is still something like age 70 with treatment. Not bad.

Fingers crossed.

FIGHT

I'm having a crisis of faith.

When I first arrived here, I was all full of piss and vinegar, ready to train my ass off to become the best, wanting to come out on top every time I sparred somebody, and looking forward to a few years from now when I'd surely be on top of the world.

Now after some experience I find I don't love it enough to train full-time and become the BEST... and with that realization, all my motivation goes out the window. I just don't care any more. Even jiu-jitsu, which I was mad for just a month ago, doesn't get me excited today. Doing only so-so in the competition has something to do with it I think, but so does this: when competing, I didn't get a huge rush or feel like it was a real fight or anything close - it felt like nothing more than another roll on the training mats. WTF?!?! I worked so hard leading up to this, shouldn't I be feeling more?!? One of my friends was talking about how, for some people, the matches are fights in a real sense, whereas for others, this is only a sport. Turns out I fall into the second category, and it's just not enough.

So now what? Do I stay out my time here in Thailand, or go home to Canada? If I stay, do I train? If I go, what do I do with myself? I've still got poker, thank God, but I need something more.

Life's a bitch when you're fickle.

GAMBLE

I'm reeeeeal tempted. If I cash in my FPPs, I'll have $10k in my bankroll. THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!!!11!!!1!

On the other hand, I was recently made to understand that the concierge service is way better value. So I reeeeealy ought to wait =p

Anyways, I had a downswing a ways back (you can tell because all I do is bitch) and then took it easy for a bit to de-tilt, so I'm way behind on volume and there's almost no way I'll make $8k.

Still did decently though:
Hands: 86,574
Money won: $4,351.50
FPPs: 105,979

Soooo, alltogether thats just about $6k, with 4 days to go.

Hum, actually, averaging $500/day for 4 days isn't that unlikely... I'd say I have a 15-20% chance of making it =]

Yessssssss... $630 on day 1 of 4. I'm gonna make it!

It was higher too, but I ate a couple of EPIC bad beats near the end to lose about $200. Ah well.

Met a pretty girl at the internet cafe^^ Going for a midnight snack now. Woot!

Really cool blog, have enjoyed reading it.

Keep it up with the training. You are probably losing motivation because you are not training as much as you were to start off with.

At the moment I train about 10 hours a week of Judo, Muay Thai and BJJ/Grappling plus working a normal job. Generally I find that the more I train the more motivated I become for more training, while if I slack off it starts gettting easier and easier to miss more training sessions.

Cant say much about Muay Thai as have only recently started but you will find that if you train enough BJJ things suddenly start to click. You have to put the time in.

If you want to be successful competition you have to have the right mindset. If you go into fights thinking "Im ok, Ill try my best to win" you will most likely loose. You have to hate losing and be convinced that you will win every time you step onto the mat.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

GAMBLE

I'm reeeeeal tempted. If I cash in my FPPs, I'll have $10k in my bankroll. THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!!!11!!!1!

On the other hand, I was recently made to understand that the concierge service is way better value. So I reeeeealy ought to wait =p

---

In case you want some more concierge info:

Kingnat's Concierge thread:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...-a-t76539.html

Summary: assuming you're talking about the 1.5k bonus, concierge is ~$113 better value.

Also, nice little chart that someone on 2p2 made that compares the FPP values depending on how you use them:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...inside-264816/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Keilah

Anyways, I had a downswing a ways back (you can tell because all I do is bitch) and then took it easy for a bit to de-tilt, so I'm way behind on volume and there's almost no way I'll make $8k.

---

You should check out the IRC channel sometime. :wink: Talk pokerz, bitch about beats, chat, etc.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JinxT4

You should check out the IRC channel sometime. :wink: Talk pokerz, bitch about beats, chat, etc.

---

This.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by badgers

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JinxT4

You should check out the IRC channel sometime. :wink: Talk pokerz, bitch about beats, chat, etc.

---

This.

---

Aye aye, keptain. Be there tomorrow.


GAMBLE

or,

SUCCESS! no wait... EPIC FAIL!

Yah I went insane and blew today almost all the money I made yesterday. I CAN STILL MAKE IT THOUGH... three days to go, that's one more than when I first counted. Just need... $600/day for three days. Doable!

FIGHT

Well, they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Plenty of ways that applies to me. Let's see:

A) Intended to grind like mad in an attempt to meet my goal for the month - went drinking and couldn't play the next day due to hangover. FAIL.

B) Started Thai language lessons, my intent was to study for an hour or two today before going to the next class, lost track of time and didn't realize I had to be there in half an hour. FAIL.

C) Came here to Thailand intending to train like mad, get in ridiculous good shape, become a kickass fighter. Decided I don't like it enough. FAIL (sort of).

D) Stopped fooling around with many girls to see just one in an attempt to be good. Now I'm starting to feel attached and she certainly is; I'll shortly be leaving the country and not coming back any time soon. FAIL.


Man, I'd kill for something to zone out on and stop my brain for a while but that isn't a total waste of time like video games... Oh wait, teh pokerz! I :heart: my job.

Nice OP Keilah, quite the journey you've got goin on over there. I'm still mesmerized by your avatar.

Any updates?

OPERATION: GAMBLE AND FIGHT - THE EPILOGUE

It's certainly been a while since I updated. Here's the Cole's Notes version:

-Got sick of the injuries, quit training. Seriously, if the price of strength is a loss of overall well-being, I'm out.

-Stopped man-whoring, kept seeing Apple; I like her quite a lot and she's obviously crazy for me. I've kept in touch with her and I'll see her again the next time I go to Thailand.

-Decided to go back to Canada a little early. This was for a number of reasons, the most prominent being: A) avoiding having to do another visa run just to stay one more month, B) I want to catch as much of the snowboarding season in Canada as possible, and C) I didn't feel like I fit in/belonged there once I stopped training. All in all it was time to move on.

-Spent the last 2 months or so of my trip drinking, partying, and playing poker. The only exercise I got was dancing, swimming, and in the bedroom, and now I'm back to basically the exact same fitness level as when I arrived in Thailand. Pretty lol really!

-Did in fact manage to more than double the bankroll I arrived with, even though I was living off of my poker money 100%, and got my ptbb/100 back up to 2 (still want higher ldo). Satisfactory =]

I hereby declare this operation completed! Thanks to everyone who followed - it's been a trip.

Epic. 5 spades... (if it wasn't for all the 'i has women problems' getting in the way of bangin' chicks, getting wasted, kicking ass, and dragging pots, this would easily be a 6 spade thread.)

Women problems are the best kind of problems IMO.

theres nothing wrong with being a man whore...just keep it covered and you should fine....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kingnat

Epic. 5 spades... (if it wasn't for all the 'i has women problems' getting in the way of bangin' chicks, getting wasted, kicking ass, and dragging pots, this would easily be a 6 spade thread.)

---

+1. Solid blog Keilah (<-- spelled correctly :wink:).

so sick man, sad to this this blog end,i really enjoyed it.
5 1/2 spade imo