So some idiot reminded me of how much I used to enjoy poker. I mean I don't think I ever liked poker because of the nature of the game, the nature of the game meant I was good at it and I liked it because I was good. I think that's why I haven't been enjoying getting back so much because rather than rediscovering the game I've been playing like a dribbling retard and I don't like living in a world were I'm not the best, especially if that world is as lowly as 1/2NL.

In any case, I'm still playing like a total spedtard but at least I got to sit at a table today where it worked out that I was far away the best player at the table. Let me show you todays session;
So yeh it was a pretty whatever session and the universe once again proved its love for me by providing a fish that was shoving everyhand and i managed to book 1.7 at 5/1. Nice. The reason this table was awesome for me and I booked ~1300 while the average player at the table only gained like between 1 and 2 bis (one guy even lost money to him haha) was because I was happy to get it in. These nits really didn't open up their game that much.

So I guess this really just reiterates the told and told again lesson that you've heard before. If you want to be good at poker not giving a shit about money is a good start.

love jake.

I was going to say back on the pain train but lets hope not.

So after travelling for a bit 12 months ago I never really properly got back into the game the way I would have liked. No doubt there were a lot of factors contributing but regardless the main point is that I was lazy. Anyway, its time to reintegrate myself and I am going to be as realistic as I can be about this and work hard yaydyadyadya.

In other news just got back to from europe and it was pretty fantastic, I might post some photos and what not in a later blog.

It feels a bit strange to blog again after quite a while but I'm happy to be here.

Love, jake.

MIKE WINCELL: "You ever feel cursed, Coach? Like, no matter what, inside your heart you feel that you're gonna lose. Like something's hanging over you, following you like a witch or a demon that just... I feel like that all the time. Even when things are going good. When we're winnin', it's there. And when we're losin', it's there."

COACH GAINES: "It took me a long time to realize that there ain't much difference between winnin' and losin', except for how the outside world treats you. But inside you, it's about all the same. It really is. Fact of the matter is, I believe that our only curses are the ones that are self-imposed. You know what I'm sayin'? We, all of us, dig our own holes"

I have to go to lunch in like an hour so can't really play poker (although I could play rush [rrrruuusssshhhhh!!!]). Luckily I do have time for a quick blog, horay!!!

So what have I been doing since I got back to aus? Not heaps. Australia day was a good day, as it always is. I accidentally made a girl cry which I feel pretty bad about. I've been reading through the GQ man of the year edition. It's quite dissapointing really to see the aussie men of the year, they're really not that impressive (except for Lawrence Leung - comedian of the year). I've just started reading Status Anxiety by some character called De Botton. It's a bit in depth and intellectual for me (and by that its all causation stuff and not focused enough on the actual issue). But it might develop into something worthwhile. I also read through the Chuck Norris & Mr T book, it was alright but probably funnier on the interwebs.

The only thing I have to offer is that I've started reading "Let There Be Range". I can't help but lol about all the hype this book got. Okay so I've only read part 1, and it supposed to get more advanced but so far its been solid and it's helped REFOCUS my game but there is nothing so far that I haven't been exposed to 100 times.

From CardRunners coach/instructor SixPeppers:

"If you are a low-midstakes grinder and proven winner, and can afford it, get the book! I don't think realistically anyone can create/recreate a book as powerful as Let There Be Range for at least another 10 years."

Really??? I would have to strongly disagree. Anyway, the main question is it worth $1k or the 1.6k it used to cost. Well, obviously I will have to get back to you conclusively after I've finished the book. But I think if you invest the money into things like video sites, and coaching and WORK HARD (which is a serious caveat) then I don't see reading this book being a better alternative.

I do like the way the book is written. Very to the point, which is nice.

I will write this more clearly when I finish the book, and say when and where I think you should get it in your progression. Give an approximate % of how much of your roll you can blow on it imo etc.

Anyway other than that I have been playing some poker and getting some coaching. It's coming back together quite well, and I am enjoying grinding more than before I left which is nice.

Also oweek (the first week of uni = parties) is coming up. I can't wait to see how hard ANUSA can fuck it up this year, god damn they are shit (ANUSA = student association). The best party/parties are almost certainly going to be the ones off the official program.

Also (last also I promise) I've got to start organising my 21st. Themes or any good ideas are welcome.

Love Jake,

Post new years things slowed down for a while and I was feeling quite fragile for a little while. I went to dinner with JJ, Julien, Menz's cousin and her friend. I didn't eat heaps because I felt like crap. After that went to Julien's for a while but I quite literally couldn't work out how to speak English so didn't stay long.

After that it was slow time although I did get to go to Normandy and Bayeux. Omaha beach/memorial was really good experience for me. While I don't claim to know very much about WWII it was always my favourite and this experience really humanized it for me. The Bayeux tapestry was long and old and fairly entertaining. Worth dropping by but not worth leaving Paris for in its own right.

I went to Moulin Rouge. It was pretty fun but a better place to take a date. Solid panty peeler.

Manchester was fraking cold. I landed at -2c and the lady I had been talking to on the plane explained to me I was lucky and was going to die. Got to Tim's place and ate and went to bed. Manchester City the next night was so sick. Tevez crushing. Pity how much they sucked vs Everton though. The final night I went to a pub called 'The Red Lion' and it was pretty cool, good to experience a real English pub. I was a little bit sad I didn't get to she any of the slack women Tim had been slamming. What can I say? Sorry?

Anyway, got home, went to Invalides. Sick museum. Got like bad ass horsed in armour fighting each other and just loads of bad ass shit. Then there was Napoleon's tomb, fucking wicked bad ass. I have always been interested in Napoleonic history but have never looked into it in much depth. I think I'm going to get a Napoleon biography, I nearly got one for the way home but got Anne Frank's diary instead.

On that note I might quickly put down the interesting books I've read and the interesting movies too.

Books

The Psychology of Love: Basically involves a lot of case studies and is a serious psych book (not pua) and it was pretty interesting about chemicals and evolution and stuff. Worth the read for mine but I can imagine a lot of people snubbing their nose at it. It is defiantly not going to help you with girls. In fact sometimes I was a little depressed along the thought line "love isn't real it's just chemicals and tricks, women are just using me to preserve their genes." But I think that's over now.

What I learnt at HBS: Pretty good exploration of a journalist turned MBA student at Harvard. Entertaining enough and quite interesting to see how this place's mentality is like and even more relevant after the crash. I've got this book so if anyone wants to read it.

Enough: I just kinda of skimmed through this but this is a very relevant book. The basic concept is "you're not happy when you have enough, you have enough when you're happy." It explores the consumption of modern western society and how absurd it is if you think about it logically. Worth reading, and entertaining with a relevant message. I don't think it's going to change me though.

Anne Frank: I don't know if I had heard of this before I went to Holland but I'm very glad I read it. You really get to know Anne through the book and you see her change and mature. Not for everyone but shits all over any fiction book.

Movies

Up In The Air: I want this guys job. Worth it. Watch it.

Up: Possibly the best animated movie of the '00s. I watched it on the plane coming over and told anyone who would listen it was sick. The guy next to me on the way back watched it and was laughing at it, what a lad. Watch it.

Food Inc: Interesting documentary, worth watching if you want to watch a docco but very America-centric.

The Cove: Saving dolphins from those damn Japanese. Worth it, but a tad racist maybe.

The Vicious Kind: Heavy weight drama, interesting and fresh [definantly NOT a date movie].

Samson & Delilah: Shithouse. The only good bit is the singing bum, other than that its fucking drawn out. They go somewhere, have no life skills, sniff petrol, are about to die, then go back to their little shithole town.

An Education: Drama. It was pretty good but probably not worth your time.

State of Play: Solid political thriller but unless you want to watch a political thriller it's probably not worth your time.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: Probably would have liked it better if I hadn't watched Up twice before it. Still it was entertaining and if you want to watch a goof-ball animated flick then this is for you.

Invictus: Waste of time.

Adventureland: Umm I liked this movie. You can see the superbad in it but it's a bit more drama-esque and less comedy. It's got the chick from twilight who is hot. Could watch it with a date, but it's pretty engaging.

Big Fan: There were some points where I was pretty sucked in. I was really tired when I watched it. I could imagine some of you liking it but overall I didn't really appreciate it. This and Invictus I felt had tried to make something fresh but it was just kind of lame and not appealing. As opposed to like the Vicious Kind which is like the direction films should be going in.

I watched some others but they're not worth mentioning (half of wolverine, Post Grad etc).

GIRL!!!

I haven't bothered posting a girl for a while but some of you might already know that this girl is kind of special to me. Jessica Stroup ladies and gentlemen;

So these so called pick-up artists have been brought to my attention due to one of my friends reading their books. They are stupid, they're all wrong. So I wrote my own essay to set the world straight. Read it and you will be a master of the female kind, all aspects covered, money back guarantee.

Spitting Game at a Bitch

Remember: Women are better than you, they are ethereal, the only way to deal with them is degradation and disdain.

Presentation: You want to telegraph what you are about, that means nothing worth over $20. We aren't looking for no gold damn gold diggers ya hear. If you can sneak into the club with plastic bags as shoes you are pretty much already safe.

Opening: Remember, you're awesome. All women are whores. Start with the slackest looking chav in the club, loiter for 5-10 minutes and then approach the group, and ask them for money. Nothing screams sex appeal like a broke.

Conversation: The two key elements you are trying to project in conversation are that a) you're a knob and b) you think she fucking sucks e.g "So I was knobing some slack whore last night, she was kind of like you but not such a hoe and not half as slack, anyway, then my mum said I was being too noisy because I have never had a job and live at home, I'm afraid of her so I just threw the slack whore out the window and then later I beat off into my mum's face cream to get revenge."

Between you're long conversations try fit in short snippets of how sick you are like "I've been convicted of rape 3 times"

Remember: the more you lie the better your game is.

Attraction: If she's still around (which they always are) she's a hoe. But you might want to hit her with a few of what I call "pos"s. Basically something to boost her up a little bit to make her fell like she is worthy of some of your reflected light e.g "you don't sweat much for a fat bitch".

Kino: Escalate... but only with the back of your hand.

Number Close: Whats the point? You're going to steal her phone anyway.

Went out for my dinner at La Tour d'Argent here in Paris. The food was good and the service was ok. I think in terms of finding the finest dining in Paris you can do better. Nonetheless it was nice to get a taste of that world.

We got back from Amsterdam in the morning and there was drama with the trains because of the snow and everything. I was thinking that there wouldn't have that many people who have gone from slumming it in Amsterdam to going to this out to dinner in such a fashion. I will write a full blog about Amsterdam sometime later but I will say it was defs an experience.

I am totally worn down from the last few days so I think I will end now. My first blog as a 21 year old, solid!

I just woke up after my first night in Paris. I flew Emirates for the first time. The food wasn't as good as other airlines I've been on but the entertainment thing was quite good and I liked how you could just walk to the back of the plane and drink, eat and chillout. I was sitting next to some englishman named martin on the Sydney-Dubai leg and he was pretty talkative which is a nice thing to have on a plane. Plus I got to sit next his son who was small. Actually I got to sit next to 2 children which were both small enough to fill their seats but too old to cry so that was a win. There were a shitload of babies on both flights though it was so frustrating. Also, for the first time really, I got the witness how completely retarded some people are with carryon luggage. Normally I just take a few things but this time I was taking a laptop, a big camera and a suitbag all in overhead, people honestly take so much shit it makes me sick. I opened up on thing on the first flight and shit just flew out. I was like "lady are you kidding me". The flight from Dubai to Paris sucked because it was full of French people.

I watched Moon which I thought was ok but not that good; public enemies which I thought sucked and quit it halfway through; Up, which I thought was brilliant really and funny and then I watched some Matthew Mchounaghy or whatever his name is film which was exactly the same as all his other films ever and movie called 500 days of summer which was suprisingly ok. Oh and I was watching Howl's Moving Castle before I left and that was really cool too. Also I was bursting into laughter watching Flight of the Concords on the plane and everyone was looking at me.

My last night in oz turned into quite an eventful one. Went to dinner and then a friend put a tab on for his 21st. It was quite interesting. The tab went til like 11 I think and at 1045 asked him how much was left and he said there was quite a bit. Naturally I go ask the bar staff to fill the tab all with doubles and I get 14 double vodkas. I finish like 3 and am now in quite a tipsy state. Go to the casino because thats where people wanted to go. It sucks so we go to another bar which is like a kindy wanky cocktail bar which is quite small. I have a friend working there so he delivers me some free drinks, score. After a double vodka and a long island ice tea I am ready to rock. I say some stupid things to people I know, I say some stupid things to some people I don't know, then my mate tells me he has 4 tickets to this thing in Academy (the biggest club in town) and so we go there. Academy sucks and it sobers me up. Within an hour I'm over it. I walk home see a guy from school who was in the year below trying to get into his car but is too drunk to do so. After convincing him he doesn't want to fight some other guy who recongnises me in the carpark we I decide he should stay at mine. He disagrees. After sometime he is convinced. He stumbles along behind, at one point falling over. Some guy walks down (the now dark and secluded) street. Naturally my drunk friend thinks this is out of line;
Drunky: "You want to fight you fuckin c&nt".
Oh no this guy is 190cm+ and 100kgs+. "Sorry mate my friend is lose" or some such dribble. We actually pass each other and then the big guy says something about the Kaleen boys. I'd never a heard of them before but I have no doubt its a bunch of white boys with middle income parents, below average intelligence, below average dental health and aggressive tendancies.
Drunky: "Fuck the Kaleen boys"
I am now holding him back, things are starting to escalate. Can the two of us take him? probably not.
Drunky slips past me and they trade maybe 3 blows and the guys kicks him in the head and he falls. Big guy get on him whales on him a few time and I tackle big guy off and try to hold his back. I can't hold him because he weighs at least 30kgs more than me. I put my legs over drunky's head and my legs punched then I try tackle him again and get punched in the back of the head for it. Big guy then realizes I'm obviously an amazing fighter and if he wants to live he should probably run, so he does that. I decide drunky could use nap so I call an ambulance and we head to hospital. Only male nurses on duty, fail. I trade a few stories with them and the love me, I am the center of attention and I love it. They give me snacks and beverages. The police comes and drunky tries to fight them, which I found highly entertaining, his sister (who had come to look after him) found it less so. Then the doctor tells me my head needs stitches. The worst thing is that means I have to see a doctor over here to get them out. When they are due out I will be in Amsterdam as well. Probably let them stay in there until I get back to paris i think. Also another 'the worst thing is' is that I have a bald patch on the back of my head.

I wish one day I could post something that happens to me and have people think "that is good" but this one will almost certainly fall into the "morally detestable" or "you're a little bitch" or "tsk tsk youth of today" catagories or something. One day I will do something I am proud of.

On an unrelated note I am super excited because on my birthday I am going to a 3 hat resteraunt here in Paris! I have no idea what it'll be like but I reckon probably above average food. Given that its in Paris though the service will probably suck.

I was getting coached by an awesome coach (Dan Keatings) but I had a massive break from poker leading into exams. Exams are over, I would like some sessions. He is all booked out and won't have time until the new year. I am grinding 1/2 atm and feel quite on top of it (I am making a bucket load of mistakes though). I crushed 2/4 quite hard before my break and under Dan's. Looking to get back there and beyond.

Obv I will grind the forums and what not but if anyway has any knowledge they feel like laying down on me I would appreciate that greatly.

I've played like 8k hands at 1/2 in the past 4 days and made $300. I make a grand then lose a grand then make a grand then lose a grand and the cycle goes on. In my opinion it is pretty much bullshit. I'm aware I'm making a few mistakes here and there, but, nonetheless this is not how its supposed to work. Howard Lederer obviously hates me because I called him a fatty... that fucker.