Dancing with the Old Lady, the Journey continues...

Thx bro! Next stop will be... Rio de Janeiro in 2 weeks The KSOP is offering an interesting mix of mid-highstakes tournaments, BIs ranging from a few hundred dollars (will not touch those) to 25k (will not play the latter neither)!!! I will mainly focusing on 1-5k BIs, many of which have 60 minute blind levels - God WSOP Bahamas had lol turbo levels 🙄 I should fire about 20k of BIs, forever gunning for that elusive 6 digit score - and I am determined af to bink it, as I was priorly a few years back for reaching that mid 5 digit score

https://ksop.com.br/en/

Nah, as much as I am obsessed with a 6 digit score, the travel EV element highly factors in as well. I will be going with L for a 3 day holiday in Rio before grinding 2 weeks of MTTs yo

Gotcha. Are you disappointed with post-pandemic atmosphere at the Playground - like terrible and slow service, lack of major tournament events??? On the other hand, now that the new poker room is completed and the hotel should follow suit shortly, WPT should be back in no time

Run good all

How hard/easy was it to get Argentinian residency?

KSOP, Rio de Janeiro

After enjoying a 10/10 vacation with the family in Mendoza, we rushed back in the lapse of a day, covered the 1000kms separating San Rafael from Buenos Aires, and barely had time to unpack our goods that L and I were already hopping on a plane to Rio a few days later gangsta style yo :p

The plan was to enjoy 2 1/2 days with L before grinding the KSOP, but plans changed as the syndicate in Argentina went on a strike on Tuesday, thus cancelling all flights in the process ; moreover, after landing in Rio, I suddenly got hit with a tummy ache - unfortunately a common occurrence over the past month -, to then get an unexpected intense fever shake me up just after crossing immigration, jeez 😮 :shocked: 😊 So yeah, combined that with the greyish skies and the absence of sun, and our romantic trip was hit with a case of hiccups - or, perhaps more descriptive, a case of diarrhea, you know :p Nonetheless, my spidey senses - AKA blind luck 😉 - was on point this time, as I had elected the perfect beachside condo yo

Given that we were covered by greyish skies and hit by a lightish rain, we were also blessed by an intense wind that carried with it the soothing sound of the crashing waves

L has returned to B.A. and as for myself, I have checked-in into my new (more basic) AirBnB, will head to the casino shortly after breakfast and will jump in the Day 1A of the ME if I manage to digest/hold-in my food intake accordingly 😉 The unique and interesting thing about this series, is that even if they are 6-8 waves of day1 for the ME, they are sparse, offered every other day and thus spread across a week+, making firing multiple bullets in the main while playing the side HRs events in a more flexible fashion, a thing yo Will be firing 14-20k in BIs.

Generally, it has the reputation of being quite easy. In my situation and as a poker player in general that cannot show a steady source of income monthly (an income on the same date), it is another question all together. I settled for getting an immigration lawyer (2.4k), and I feel that it would of been unfathomable without her, tbh. Also keep in mind that the new Milei government is cracking down hard on illegal immigrants, so things have changed.

edit : Ended up playing day 1A of the ME yesterday, got 5 starting stacks within 90 minutes - yup, ran hot af -, only to finish the day with 5.5 starting stacks 🙄 Which is completely fine, obviously, as well above average and chips worth WAY more when down to 35% of the field left to 99% of the field left, you know. Anyhow, played pretty good considering I had been sick for 2-3 days, ran obviously well and am taking today off to rest, meditate, train, grind online and study. We got this

Peace

GL in the donkaments Dubn!

Will in all likelihood have a ft live stream tomorrow : the 6k (CAD) PLO SHR. 10 left, we are just under average, one very short and final 8 make it to the ft (pays top 5-6 though, about 80-100k up top). We got this

Thx friend!

Oh yeah, search KSOP PLO SHR if I do not come back to link it ; it should air at about 13:00 EST.

Link to live PLO SHR ft (with Felipe Ramos and Jungleman) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6XfxHoW...

Watched a little of this on the stream last night (commentary was beyond my linguistic capabilities). One day you're playing against Negreanu, then Mr. Cates ... Anyway, hoping you're ended up doing well (I think there were six left when I hit the sack and you had around 20bb).

Yeah, the language barrier thingy over here has been interesting for me, as Portuguese is pretty darn close to Spanish, which makes playing poker, eating at restaurants, basic conversations etc. quite easy for yours truly So, as opposed to when I am playing live events in Argentina where I am literally always the non-Latino foreigner (and obviously standout in the process), over here, having the likes of a couple of dozens+ foreigners, I actually pass for... an Argentino, go figure 🙄

I finished in 6th (12k CAD), when I committed a slight ICM error when the 4th in chips (that slightly had me covered), opened for full pot and I mistakingly thought I had fold equity with my AKs (the 6th in chips had 7bbs, I had 12bbs). I did not win the flip (I need to learn had to flip better, as I loss 2 crucial flips worth 10ks in equity ffs), but such is life. Going back to the day2 of ME on Saturday (with 2x average) and then got the 3k HR to finish off the series.

Hope all is well friend, peace.

GL with the next event. Nothing wrong with fine tuning ICM spots via a little retro analysis! (mind boggling how tight some folds need be). Anyway, did experience some vicarious joy seeing you FT a PLO event. Hope to see some more non-"non-Latino foreigner" adventures amongst the poker legend demographic.

I don't think you have to beat yourself up about going broke with AK and 12bb flipping at that stage. But what do I know - I haven't kept up with current tourney strategy in recent years.

Still a decent cash and a shot at mo money in the main event - GL

Thx bro! And yeah, I usually do a little studying before coming to a series, especially considering that the gist of my lab work for the past couple of years has been (almost) strictly aimed at PLO cash. So this being said, I did navigate the early stages of the tournament and was one of the better players playing deep. Moreover, considering my online success over the past decade and what I have accomplished there with both NLHE and PLO @ 400 stakes, I try not to kick myself for making hiccups when it comes to ICM, but still, it stings, you know 😊

Speaking of named pros, I stopped being star struck by and have since engaged in quite a few banters/interesting conversations. What was interesting about this series though, is that given that it is in Portuguese and all, and that we, as non-Latino foreigners, walk somewhat on common ground, so I got to hangout with them more as peers this time than I would of in a normal series. I can say this about a few of them :

- Felipe Ramos is one of the better humans I have met (that is internationally famous). So humble and a genuinely nice guy

- Jungle is a fracking alien, no doubt about it 😃 I mean he was a zombie throughout the tournament, looked completely uninterested and had to be reminded constantly when it was his turn to act :p His way of handling himself at the table or even the simple act of walking around, is pure eccentricity at its finest (and probably flirts with being on the autism spectrum). Nice guy though, we joked around quite a bit and he answered some of my theory questions when we were alone off the table

- Benny Glaser : now I did not hold him highly in my esteem levels after we had squared off years back in Dublin and his arrogance rubbed me the wrong way. That said, he just seems to be extremely competitive, takes the game to heart and turned out to be an alright lad after all

- I will not name this last fellow (out of respect), but when we engaged thoroughly in conversation (being the only English speaking lads at the initial table) and he came off as being pretentious af and whatnot (with an actual tingle in his eyes that he is something special), I did not get turned off by his arrogance like I usually do in this precise situation... It was so transparent that the dude must of had it rough in high school and that he is using his poker fame to compensate/hide behind, so none of the "playing Triton 100ks", "having a 100% of himself", "making millions of dollars", bothered me this time around, as arrogance is the best shadow to hide one's insecurities, right...

Thx friend! Yeah, I still remain bummed out with the last hand before the final table that I elected to take a flip (as opposed to folding) and how I no longer had the 2nd-3rd most chips at the final table, but found myself 6th 😊 In the end though, I probably just cost myself 3-5k in equity (which is oftentimes an hour's swing online) and just need to learn how to flip better, you know

Meh, min-cashed the ME for 3k, which is quite disappointing, when factoring my initial EV of having 5.5 starting stacks, but quite satisfying when considering that I ran bad, just barely squeezed into the cash and lost ATo < A8s for 35bbs literally the hand after the bubble burst. So much more happy with this (little) score than the PLO one, as the former is due to run bad, as opposed to an ICM hiccup like the latter. 3k HR tomorrow, we got this

Hey friends, by all appearances - granting desire moving forward... - I will be blogging on a new site : https://www.unibetcommunity.com/forums/t...

Of course, all of yous know my story and this will be a follow up to it ; see you there!!!

Sounds like some major life changes happened recently - hope you can adjust as smoothly as possible - the vipassana sounds like a good plan.

Best of luck on the mtt grind over the next months.

Will you occasionally update here or is every thing moving to the new blog site?

The separation with L has been much HARDER than I could of fathom - and inhuman, might I sadly add... :( - and never would of envisioned this despicable/devilish side in her. But alas, such is the fate of someone that has DEEP af trauma and has not dealt with it, unfortunately.

I will still be updating over here occasionally, much in the same pace as I have done recently.

I'm confident 10 days of vipassana will ensure you remain in the right kind of space. I look forward to hearing how you float on through all the gnarled thoughts and emotions. Easy game!

Ohhhhh, for sure man!!! I am TREMENDOUSLY looking forward of ridding myself of A TON of emotional shyt!!! I also know that it will be painful af (but necessary).

So, by all appearances I will be blogging quite frequently on my new Unibet Community thread (linked above), as I have an ample amount of newly found time upon my hands and a desire to (narratively) let loose yo So expect frequent updates folks

Best of luck on the next chapter, Dubn! I'll be sure to pop into your new blog so I can follow your progress.

Hey Ben, thx for following friend Question : will you be at the WSOP this year??? Coffee/beer on me if you are 😉

Alas, most likely I won't be. Gonna be in Vermont for most of the summer.

Where else are your travels taking you? You should consider NOLA!

Sigh, too bad bro. Albeit I am sure we will cross paths one of these years...

I definitely have no ideas where my travels might potentially take me, but at my present age, I believe that in between Canada-Argentina and common international live MTT stops, I don't believe that that any juvenile spontaneous decisions will prevail, as opposed to back in my hippie days... That said, NOLA is #1 on my list in USA destinations, so I am sure some day soon friend

For those of you interested in my most recent (last week) Ayahuasca ceremony, it can be found as the last post on my Unibet Community blog : https://www.unibetcommunity.com/forums/t...

Peace

So sad to see the Unibet Community crumble to dust :(

Yes indeed, very sad, as is Boabet (the new Unibet site for most countries) limiting players to playing in the browser and thus only a max of 4 tables :(. So sad to see a site that I believed so much in its player friendly philosophy, suddenly become seemingly as greedy as the others...

Anyhow, for those that have not been following, I had been blogging almost daily in the following site for the past year : https://www.unibetcommunity.com/forums/t...

Cliffs :

Anyhow, I have not decided if I will be back here blogging daily for BSOP Millions Sao Paolo AKA the biggest ever tournament series ever held in LATAM (a 5k ME, 10k HR, 25k SHR and 50k along with daily 1-3k ), or just update if I have a final table, feature table or visibility of some sort... Probably more the latter, tbh, unless there is significant traction again itt...

Peace y'all ♥