Well I got into Melbourne yesterday and checked into my room - MAN is it balla. King sized bet, internet access, huge TV, SONY PLAYSTATION WTF?!

Anyway, onto poker. I went down and sat in a 2/3 game with a $200 max buyin. Some hands.

UTG limps, UTG+1 makes it $15, 2 callers I have OTB and call, blinds call. UTG minraises to $30. Everyone calls. The flop comes down and it's checked to me? I bet $150 and the UTG minraiser makes the call, everyone else folds. Turn is the and he pushes for his last $40 or so, I call. River is another 5 and he turns over QQ, no spade.

Not too much later I doubled up with AA just by re-raising preflop, betting the flop, allin on the turn, and he mucks. I won a few other small-medium pots and my stack was sitting around $1000 - $1100 when this hand comes up:

BB: $650
Hero: $1000
Everyone else: <$300

UTG+1 opens for a minraise to $6, I call behind him with and there are a couple more callers. This chick in the BB makes it $16 (wonder what she has!) and everyone calls. 5 or 6 to the flop. The flop is [ 8h], BB leads out for $70 and it's folded to me. I raise to $600. It is unfathomable how fast she insta-called me. She had . Turn is the and the river is a and she scoops a $1200 pot or so. I left not too short after up about $200.

I had some dinner and decided to go sit in the 5/10 NL game with a buyin from $500 - $2000. I bought in for $1000. One of my friends from Brisbane was there and the table seemed pretty good. Wow. Everyone was limping preflop, hardly any raises, there were NO re-raises preflop (except for one I made, i'll post the hand soon) and post-flop seemed average at best. I felt like I was probably the best or 2nd best player at the table.

First hand I get dealt . We're about 7-handed. UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, UTG+2 limps. Button raises to $30, SB calls. I make it $120. Folds to the SB who calls again. The flop is and she check-folds to my $200 bet.

The only other real hand I got involved in was when I raised 99 to $70 after a bunch of limpers and got a caller who again folded to my CB, the board was 467r. He said (not to me but another player at his end of the table, but i overheard) that he called with A9o (he was in the SB). Anyway I bled some chips off with missed SCs and PPs, and AKs that I raised to $40 UTG and got 4 callers and whiffed the flop so I managed a $200 or so win there too.

All up +$400 on the first day, so i'm happy.

Another good day at the tables. I woke up at around midday and ordered room service, ate that and went down to play. I had to wait about an hour to get onto a 2/5 NL table so I just bummed around for a while, won $5 playing 1c slots (WOOT!). I played for about 13 hours without more than a 5 minute break and ended up about $725, despite the fact I was totally and utterly card/flop dead. I misplayed one hand I can remember but other than that I feel I played great. A few hands:

I get and limp in EP, flop is 5 or 6 ways. It comes down and I lead for $25, I get one caller (the BB). Turn is the , he checks, I bet $70, he pushes and I call, he has and the river is a brick, nice double up.

A bit later I get AA (I had aces like 7 times, weirdly enough, didn't have kings, and only had queens once, next best pair was 66). I raise UTG to $25 and get 1 caller. Flop is QT7r I bet $40, get a call. Turn is an offsuit 9 and he check-calls a $100 bet. River is a 5 or something and he check-calls my allin for his last $120 or so. I didn't see his cards.

Fast-forward to 1038091 hours later and I raise AQo UTG to $20. I get 2 callers. Flop is and I bet $60, guy to my left raises to $120, other guy folds. I really didn't think he had much of a hand here, maybe a T9 or an 8, maybe even 77. He wouldn't play a set/2pair like this, and i'd never seen him minraise a draw. I made it $270 and he folded.

One other hand, I limp and it's raised to $30 behind me, one caller and I call too. The flop is giving me a double-gutty. I check-call a $50 bet from the PFR, the other guy folds. Turn is the and I check, PFRer bets $120 and i make it $370. He folds. I think I should've led the turn here, though it was still a nice pot.

I remember a hand I forgot to talk about yesterday. I had and it was raised by a muppet in EP to $15 (this is the 2/3 game), a semi-decent player calls and I call with position on them both. Flop is and the PFRer bets $20. Next guy makes it $70. Not really sure what to do here I called (the PFRer and I had about 400 BBs each, the flop-raiser only had 150BBs or so). PFRer folded. The turn was the and without much hesitation villian bet $150 into me. I folded. A few hands later he said "good fold". I think he had KT.

All up i'm ahead about $1100 for the trip, which more than covers airfaire/accomodation/food. I hope to have a good day tomorrow and if I do, i'll spend the night donking up the low limit (1/2 NL) tables and drinking and just having a good time. Anyway it's 4am and my room service should be here soon so i'm gonna eat that, watch friends, and go to sleep.

I lost a $6,000 pot. GG LIFE.

On a serious note, I still ended the trip up about $2k ($1200 after you take out expenses) and I had a great time, so all is well. I'm not in the mood to do a full write-up atm, and i'm not sure I will be before I leave again (thursday night) to India for a month. I will probably get online a few times when i'm over there but there will likely be no poker so I won't update this, I might just lurk a bit.

I don't think i'll play anymore poker till I leave either, i'm feeling a bit burnt out atm.

I plan on withdrawing my entire online BR when I get back in November and living for a little over two months in the Crown Casino Promenade and playing live the whole time. I suspect my hourly rate to be about $100/hr in the 2/5 game and I think I could easily make twice that playing the 5/10 with a $500 - $2000 buyin. I also find live games more fun.

The downside to this plan is that it is going to cost me $5,000/mth in accomodation plus I estimate another $2,000/mth in food/other expenses. Assuming $100/hr and 60-hour weeks (this doesn't seem unpheasible) I will make close to $25k/mth which, after you take out expenses, and then look at conversion rates, is slightly more than what i'm making online (maybe 2k more) - but i'd be living in a freaking 5star hotel which is JUST TOO BALLA to refuse. Also after a month or so when I move up to 5/10 my winrate should increase.

This far this is just speculation-rambling and nothing further than 'back-of-an-envelope-calculations'. I'll spend the rest of the month thinking about it further and then decide what I want to do. There are obvious pros/cons to this decision and i'll weigh them up properly tomorrow.

Anyway. Thoughts on this idea so far?

Roy-

I have really been enjoying live play. I went out 4 days this week, with sessions from 3-14 hours long. I think $100/hr in a 2/5 game is on the high end of possible, with 70-80 being a bit more realistic. I am thinking $30/hr in the 1/2 100 max games I play in. I enjoy line NLHE far more than internet NLHE. And I can't play most other games live.

I like the idea of moving to be near the casino and grinding it out. The players are worse. The downside that I have noticed is that you have to look the degenerate gambler in the face when you take his money, knowing that you just took the rent money. On the other hand, taking personal injury settlement money or money of someone you suspect is a drug dealer/manufacturer is particularly satisfying.

Don't stress over not having a direction, a singular focus, in your life. Just follow your interests of the moment, and look for ways to profit, or at least sustain your desired lifestyle. No need to have such devotion untill you have a family, and even then you should not put yourself in a situation where you regret what happens in your life today at some random moment upon waking in the morning six years from now.

I have more thoughts on this topic if you want to talk about it. I have been there.

wow.

Not that it matters in any way but I just did not picture you being Indian. lol
Funny how you got a picture of someone you have never seen but talk to a lot.I thought you would look like Jason Donavan ehehhe. Same with Derk because he was this cyclist fan I was overwhelmed when I saw his picture

I think it is very good you are thinking all these thougts at the moment shows me yet again how clever you are.

Whatever you do Roy ...never regret the choices you make!!

Here's looking at you kid

Damn gotta work!