Last post of 2010

Started off the week with another 2 red days (which totalled up to 3 red days for the month), was very disgusted with it since I lost KK vs underpair 10x in two days. I dropped about 10k$, thought I would call it a month, missing out on my target sadly enough and took a day or two off with barely playing, just doing some other sidebusiness work. I still wasn't happy about closing the week off and year off on a negative, so I decided to give it a try and fight back to break even.. well in two days I managed to be positive for the week again, so I'm superhappy with it :D:D
I was hoping to hit a record 6 figures month, sadly enough, I didn't make it due to almost winning nothing in the last week, but well.. I should not complain, it still was an awesome month and it can only look positive for the next month and coming future...
Now I'm getting ready for the last amazing superparty at the penthouse from the pokercrushers here in Bangkok. Heard they got fireworks ready and the pipers bottles lined up :)

Party hard and get back here in 2011 in full health!

Ryu Dang

The Challenge and the strangest week

One of my friends from Singapore, whom for now still wishes to remain anonymous wanted to come over to Thailand and try and grind it out here for some time. As good as I like the idea, I do think that some people should understand that usually living here for a long period requires a lot of discipline and change in values and culture imo. It is a fact that you have a lot of good players over here, and well, people who only live off poker must be good at it or else they wouldn't be able to afford to stay here and pay their bills right? So it's interesting to bond with those people and I also admit that it helped my own game a ton by staying here for the first time. I don't think I would have made it if I didn't take that step to move here. Anyways, I do think that fundamental work ethics and basics is needed before you can make such a step. Hence I gave him the challenge... what's the challenge?

1. he must make 30k$ in one month (including rakeback), challenge valid for 1 year
2. no matter the number of hands, limits or day during the month, let's say he hits 31k$ but drops back to 15k$ when the month ends, then the challenge is still valid and successful

if not.. he should stay in Singapore until it happends :)

what do I offer in return?

1. I shall arrange him a decent staying arrangement in Central Bangkok
2. Show him around and let him meet crushers, say hello Viktor :p
3. arrange a few sweat sessions if wanted

I'll keep you guys posted if he made it or not ^_^

As for myself, this week has been a very strange start of the week.. I keep losing a ton , like 5k$-6k$ during my afternoon session, only to recover it during my night sessions and end up (a little bit) in the green.. so I can't say my winrate for this week is super.. but what can I do? I lost KK vs lower pocket pair preflop ai 5 times today.. nothing to do about it right? let's hope this will all add up to my upcoming superheater

I arranged my Christmas dinner with the poker guys at the Four Seasons Hotel, to have a super buffet and free flow and a relaxing night, pretty sure it's going to be entertaining and fun :) Wishing you all the best end of year holidays and see you guys back on a super new year with new year resolutions!

Ryu Dang

the heater and the recovery

Let's start with the good news, first of all I had this sick heater last Saturday, I don't think I ever had this sick of a good run this whole year.. anyways, a few key hands to let u now what happened. I had Qh6d on the BB, it got all limped to me so I checked, flop goes 5d8d9d , I check, guy on button makes a bet, I'm like thinking, how awesome would it be if the 7d popped up, and I called, bink, 7d... waaah.. I check, he spazzes out, I'm like thinking, how awesome would it be if he had the Ad lol.. so I reraise him, we were deep, so like 200bb's deep (oh it was on NL600 this hand), he repops it, I'm in heaven and reraise him again, and he shoves and I snap call and he has the Ad, drawing dead :D bink the 2.5k$ pot
Then after that hand a bit later I got 44, flop goes 54K rainbow, decided to flat the original raiser his cbet, turn comes a 5, original bets again, so I flat again, river 4... I'm like wow, how awesome would it be if he has a 5 lol, and he bets small on river, I shove him, and he calls with a 5, ship.. 1.5k$ pot.
And then after that I hit another 3 sets in a row, whom 2 where set over set with me being on the higher end, lol, it was total shippaments that night. I was very pleased lol.
So the week ended very good for me. I was on a high the Monday, fully powered to start the week good.. but alas, like good run and bad runs evens magically out. I lost 3 KK vs JJ preflop ai in a row, which was so sick. Started the night with like 8k$ down.. and had to fight back for like 10 grueling hours before I finally broke even (well I won a tiny bit, like 200$ or so lol), it was crazy every time I was making some recovery I got a bad beat to set me back, it was really stressfull, but I'm glad I'm still at exactly 1 red day this month only :D
As for this week after the recovery Monday, it has only been going up really, been doing pretty nicely at NL2K and making good money. Hope it will stay this way and let's finish this year with a bang.

Wishing you all the best for the end year festivals!
Ryu Dang

keeping it up

Settled down pretty nicely in my new condo, and things have been as I was hoping for and expecting, the internet has been giving me a lot lot lot less issues, and I haven't been disced during my 8 hour grind sessions, and it's just a nice feeling to not be super worried about the internet. I wanted to try and hit the perfect month this month, since I almost hitted it last month, with that 1 day loss, but last night I already had to red mark a day, so I can forget about it already :p Been running pretty bad I suppose this week, had a few terrible suckouts, and more then previous month I'm sure. Had a rollercoaster run today on NL2K , had this hand that totally made me a bit sigh, had AKs on the BB, shortstack raises on the button, so I opted to just flat, flop goes K64 rainbow, and I check raise him, he instashoves, so I call, and he showes 24o, Turn comes an A and river is a 4... sigh, but meanwhile on the NL400 table I had 22 on a K42 flushdraw board, and turn and river was 8 , but the villain had 44, so I stacked off there as well, so it was just all happening at the same time, which made today a hell of a rollercoaster ride, since I was running into a lot of 3-outers. The day still ended on a high note though where there was this hand which was very crucial. It was on the NL2K table, so fish raises 80$ UTG, I have QQ on the cutoff and raised it to 200$, guy in the SB repops it to 600$. I had 2 things going on in my mind, he probably wants to get it all in with the shortstack fish while squeezing me out of the pot, since we are both pretty deep. So was thinking he had an AQ, AK type of hand.. that or he could really have KK or AA and I die :p anyways, original raiser folded, and I made a flatcall. Flop goes something like TT8 with a flushdraw. He instajams it, which was like 2000$ or so.. I had to tank pretty hard, but I went with my read and called it and he showed AKs. My hand held up and I won the big pot, YAY :)))
I was up pretty good last week, and the trend seems to be keeping up, except for yesterday then :p So I'm hoping it's gonna be another near perfect month for me and I can celebrate the upcoming new year on a high! Lots of regular grinders are also back in Bangkok for the festivities so I look forward to some good dosis of partying also :)

wishing you all the best
Ryu Dang

good month - happy thanksgiving

Things have been good lately on the poker area, been making a decent amount at the tables, haven't had any (that I can remember) losing days yet for this month, so that should clarify that this month is going to be a good one. Been playing mainly 3/6 and 5/10 with a hint of 10/20 again, so I guess we're moving back up the stakes, feeling confident in my game and ready to face some variance. Hope we can continue this grind until end of this year and have a good closure of 2010. As for my year resolution, pretty sure I won't make it, but it's still nice to have a target and hopefully to be near it when the time comes.
On the other hand I have made it clear for myself that I won't be doing any coaching anymore. I thought about it for a while and weighted the pros and cons, and I just can't figure out how the pros could ever outweigh the cons. So every asian guy that wants poker coaching, please be referred to Jason Samsonov, you can find his blog on my bloglinks side. He is still willing to accept students and help you on your game. As for me there are just too many factors which makes me annoyed about coaching someone, so that chapter for me is closed. Not that I regret doing or trying it once, because you have to try everything once to know. But now I know, and it's just not worth it for me, and neither am I willing to put more time and effort in it.
Lots of 'regs' are coming back to Bangkok for the coming end of year, so I'm looking forward to it and party it up with everyone around here. Also looking forward in settling down in my condo next week, I already contacted my ISP to upgrade my line to get more speed and stability and also picked up a 24" external monitor (my 3rd one that I'm getting already for this year lol, such spew) from my friend to have a nice grind station. So I have a monitor in Singapore, Belgium and Thailand now, let's just hope I don't get it in my head to move to South-Korea next year LOL.

on a serious note

a silent prayer goes out to one of my best friend in Belgium whom grandma just found out she has cancer and only 2 weeks to live, may it be as peaceful as possible

Ryu Dang

settling down

Long time I haven't posted anything, nothing really special happened, been figuring out things and planning what I'll do. I made a short trip back to Singapore to check up on everyone and get my tourist visa and only to run bad and get some kind of food poisoning. Still that didn't stop Jeff from bringing out and getting me to drink :p Had a good time all by all, only thing that I probably won't be trying again is the turtle soup.. Jeff said it would be good for my digestion, well, I don't know about it, don't think I'll try it again. The picture of the turtle just kept crawling inside my head.. and made me unable to eat it normally, not that it tasted bad or anything.. it was just awkward. Anyways, so I made the decision to stay in Thailand for a year now :) Just signed the lease from my new Condo, which is located next to the MRT station, which is so full of awesomeness.. and hopefully it will make me move out more sometimes to actually buy some groceries instead of ordering in or going to restaurants all the time. Gonna upgrade my internet line also, to finally get a decent grinding station.. as for the grind itself, it has been going pretty decent, I'm not complaining. I think I have been playing pretty solid after getting coached and I feel back into the robot grinding mood since the period in Belgium. I hope this will keep up and that the fishes don't die out so fast ;) it's been quite some time that I haven't been enjoying the grinding life, I guess it's not too bad at all when I compare with other people :)

wishing you all good luck out there!

Ryu Dang

bad seat

Had a very long flight from Brussels back to Bangkok, and like at the tables, sometimes you get a bad seat. It was just horrible, I was so unlucky to be seated next to an overweight person. I mean, can you imagine sitting there in an 13 hour flight with someone next to you that hogs up all the space. But how big was he? Well let me clarify in details.. when the food came, you have to put down the foodtray in front of you, but he couldn't put it down the whole way, only half way and then it was stuck on his belly :/ so he actually had to move down his chair (which is forbidden because the person behind you doesn't have enough space then with the tray going down as well). Secondly his sidefat was blocking my armchair, so which would mean I had to ask him to stand up when I needed to reach my remote for my entertainment system.. and it took like 10min (exagerating obv.) before he could stand up, coughing and puffing.. sigh, so I was standing and walking around quite a bit on this flight, couldn't sleep, couldn't do anything at all :( I wrote a complaint mail to the flight company, because I really do think that overweight people should be asked to book double seats or to be upgraded to higher class to have sufficient space. I know it's a bit unfair, but well, life can be unfair sometimes, and you do get bad beats.. and bad seats sometimes, you just have to adjust and deal with it.

Ryu Dang in Thailand

end of a streak

I had a good winstreak of 21 winning days this month, which ended 2 days ago.. but still now I'm 22 winning days out of 25 for this month (I didn't play 2 days due to coaching mainly :p) so I can be sure if I'm not gonna spazz out my winnings on high limits that it's gonna be a fine month. Things are working out a lot better then expected over here and I'm enjoying my time here very much.. had a few homegames with some friends for fun and a few nights of chatter with the good old homies that I haven't seen for a year. Ah time does fly by so fast sometimes, and already in like 6 days I'm flying again back to Thailand. I just pray that I will find some place where I can have a private phone/internet connection again that I can continue this grind. I'm definitely going to miss my new external monitor because I'm not planning on carrying it to Thailand. I guess I should find one myself over there which is not too big like my previous one, I think about 24" is fine to grind on. Still haven't made up my mind where I'm gonna stay. I do know that I have to do a visa run within 30 days, thinking about hitting up Taiwan and go visit some old friends over there. Wishing you all the luck.

Ryu Dang

back to the core

Things have been fine lately, I have spend a lot of time with my cutely cheeked little nephew aka pocket aces :D but the stable internet and less social life have granted me a lot of time to work on my game. I have been getting coaching lately by a crusher (no I won't disclose any names here :p) but I think it has opened up my eyes quite a bit and I think the fact that I have been on autopilot for the past few years, not adapting my game since I was just making stable money has made me a bit stuck in my game and well.. lazy :) But I have put in a LOT of effort the last few weeks and granted, the results are there also, I haven't had a single losing day since I came back to Belgium now. It might just be a hot run, but I feel confident about it that it is not, it's just me playing better and knowing which spots to change gears better. I hope to get a nice end of the month and then I'll be flying back in two weeks to Bangkok, Thailand where I will continue my grind in a more relaxed and definitely warmer climate. I haven't decided yet where or what I'll do for longterm.. maybe I'll fly back to Singapore, maybe not.. maybe I'll just stay in Thailand, because a lot of my friends are coming over, things are a bit undefined at the moment because I was more concerned and worried about my play then about anything else. Now that things start to clear up again, I should be thinking about what to do next and find some plans for some investments. Gonna try and make use of my short time here and try to enjoy myself before having another long exhausting flight back to Asia. Wishing you all the best at the tables.

Ryu Dang in Belgium

back in Belgium :)

I must say the flight back to Belgium felt like it didn't end, horribly long.. definitely if you have to do it a few times a year only, it's such a pain in the behind. They should invent insta teleportation right now :p It's been a while that I have felt a cold winter breeze blowing down my neck, I walked off the airplane in Vienna, where I had to do a transfer, and wow... felt like I was freezing to death. I guess I have been pampered staying in Asia for so long and my body expects warm temperatures only now haha :)
Seeing my family and my newborn nephew was a joy, he's so damn cute... well a lot less when he shits his whole pants full or throw up after drinking a lot of milk hehe.. but it's just that look in his eyes. aaah... the joy of being innocent, carefree and nothing on his mind. No worries or whatsoever, no responsabilities.. must be heaven, meanwhile we are working our asses off hehe, but it gains me strength, because it's worth it and all the pain seems to just flow away, if you just see the little fella smile and roll over and sleep ^^
I started back on my grind, and like last month I'm off on a decent start, however today I played I think 10 hands, my first hand was SB vs BB, he raises, I 3-bet with KK and he 4-bets, I shove obv. he has AA.. my first hand, my first buy in :( I just shrug it off and about 10 hands later, some guy raises UTG or early pos. I have KK again and I 3-bet, he tanks and calls, flop comes JJ6 with a flush draw, I bet out, he raises me a bit, and I tank.. I'm like meh, if he has AJ I guess I have to give it to this luckbox, but it could be any Ax with a flushdraw or any pocket pair really, so I decided to shove, on hindsight, it might have been better to just flat there, still same result though (as in I would have stacked off :p) because he had AJ. So I just quit the session for now, too many regs now online anyways, and it seems they want me to be the dog today :p However I feel pretty confident in my game nowadays, and with the good and stable internet connection, let's hope we can make it a good month.
Further on, definitely check http://www.SilverRakeBack.com. We got some really good deals, and if you need any private deals, feel free to contact me on dragonize80@gmail.com.

Ryu in Belgium :D

sometimes a graph says more then words

Sigh.. why can the month not end in a normal fashion? :(

Ryu Dang

and again...

Sigh, just had a horrible run again.. so sick how this game can flow :( I thought after yesterday where I was running like a dog also today would be better.. but that wasn't the case. I lost AA vs KK preflop 3 times all in last night.. good god.. yeah sucks monkeyballs. Then today I ran against 2 oversets, and TWO full houses got cracked by 2 straight flushes and THREE flopped full houses got cracked by a higher full on the river. GG.

I'll just try to not overthink things too much again, and try to move on, and just do what I have to do and see where it will go. Pretty sure I am playing decent although I made a few mistakes here and there overplaying my AK usually (I really should fold that stupid hand :p). It just seems like every single time you hit your K someone called your 3-bet with a pocket pair and hits a set... so I guess I just have to tone it down on the agression with that hand. I have been adjusting my betsizes out of position also, I tend to bet a lot more, but keep the pot smaller nowadays. I don't want to spew out too much that I can 't fold my hand anymore. Anyways, I really hope a better period will come and that I can have a normal month ending before leaving.

I booked my tickets back to Belgium today, but I still haven't arranged my stay and student visa over here yet.. I might just rethink things over and maybe stay a short period in Thailand and move somewhere else again. I'm not to sure about everything, just maybe some regret or gut feeling that leaving Singapore was a bit too soon? I have no clue, just wanna ship some monies and see how things will go I guess.

Wish you all the best.
Ryu Dang

Back at it!

Didn't expect that I would be so dedicated and working so hard while being in Thailand, but the opposite seemed to be the case.. I have already clocked in 40k hands so far and using PT again to see where things have been going wrong. I must say that I feel so much more relieved now that things are going 'normal' again. I'm still running like 10 buy ins below EV but I did have some 16 BB's /100 sessions which made me a happy koala. I'm gonna continue at it and try to clock at least 75k hands for this month and (hopefully) clock a winning month since a long time. I must say my graph has been pretty stable so far and it's back where it's supposed to be.. back at where I belong or left off.. let's hope this will not stop and I won't be in that long break even stretch anymore like I was during my stay in Singapore.

Still arranging everything here, and looking around for a decent place, although I haven't had much issues with my current internet (it's slow but pretty stable) and I'm still not sure which school to pick to start my lessons. Will settle most of the things next week and then head back to Belgium.. just realised that I don't have a single Euro left in my wallet, it really has been almost a year lol.. time goes by so fast and I also noticed that my train ticket which is a 10 trip ticket is going to expire soon also haha.. I guess I should just buy the standard 1 way ticket ^_^

good luck to you all
Ryu Dang

Uncle Ryu :)

So this last Thursday (29th of July), during my live game session.. suddenly I got this phonecall from my brother in law. He told me he was in the hospital now with my sister and that she just delivered her baby.. and it's a beautiful son! :) So it makes me a proud uncle for the first time. Another stepping stone in life. The funny thing is that at exactly at the time he called me. I peeked down to see my 2 holecards and I saw AA .. wow, what are the odds of that happening?! I foresee a good future for this kid haha :) I raised and did a normal C-bet and it got folded around hehe.. good thing it didn't get cracked ;)

anyways, have to tell u guys about this amazing hand that happened last week.. so first of all it's a 1/2 game, but the stacks are pretty deep, around 1k$ each and we have a few of these crazy (or high level) gamblers at the table. So one guy bought in for 700$ and he went down a lot but made it all back to like 900$ ish and had 43$ in 'spare' chips, so he decided to straddle his last hand with his 'spare change' before going clubbing. One guy called, another guy called.. and it went back to him. He still hasn't seen his hand, but decides to just bet out on the flop 150$ blind.. flop was Q93 rainbow. One guy calls (he had like 260$ behind after calling) and one guy who was very deep (had like a 1.5K$ stack) flats there. Turn comes a T. Still without seeing his holecards he splashes in 300$.... first guy goes all in and the deep stack guy was in pain.. he showed to the other players that he had 78, giving him an open ended draw, and well..  according to him  a lot of implied odds to make this call lol. anyways, he called and the river was another 3. Finally the guy who straddled blind, and betted out blinds peeks down his cards and shoves in his whole stack. Deep stack guy folded obviously, shortstacker had Q8 giving him top pair.. and blind guy.. yep he has QQ lol, the whole table was in shock.. straddling, and betting out blind all the way with the best hand, you can only do that with some serious high level skill imo :D

I'm enjoying my last few days now in Singapore. To be honest, I would have loved to stay here and continue my work here, but sometimes you just have to make that choice and decision. I hope I'm making the correct one here by moving back to Thailand. First I'll arrange everything in Thailand for my visa and condo.. and then I'll fly back to Belgium for a short period to visit my nephew and friends, then it's going to be a long period in Thailand.. just hope that everything will work out, and that I don't regret making this decision.. I sincerely had an amazing time in Singapore and made a bunch of good friends and meet a lot of nice people. I wish them all good luck and I hope my student will finish the work he started. I will still be following his progress from afar, it will be different ofcourse, but I'm sure things will work out.. because some things you just need to do yourself to master that last step towards your finish line.

probably my last blog update from Singapore for now ^_^

Ryu Dang

Bustohood

yep, busto! well, ofcourse I'm just kidding, but that's how it feels like, haven't made a single $, euro or SGD in the past 2 months online, poker feels like such a drag, I tend to break even nowadays instead of making anything at all.. sigh, need to clear my mind and refocus on my game. Nowadays I play very agressive preflop, giving me like 15% 3-bet percentages, it's been working out better, but I still need to balance it out postflop I think, or I'll become the biggest spewtard, which is not the way to go :) But I just feel that, that is the way the games are evolving to nowadays, a lot of light 4-betting and a lot of wide ranges in preflop raises.
Well the good thing is that Jon doing pretty good, he's been putting in more hands, and becoming a solid player, which is only a good thing, now I should be helping myself instead of helping others. Back at being selfish? haha :) anyways, I look forward to go back to Belgium and take a global break from poker and see how my cute little niece or nephew will look like ^_^ and visit my old buddies over there, it's been quite some time by now, maybe they don't even know me anymore haha
I really hope things will get better soon, or I might just consider finding another job, because I can't be breaking even for 4 months or so, I still have a lot of bills and rent to pay.. so better get my heater soon..

gl to all of you
Ryu

The Noble Eightfold Path

since I'm back at running horrible, I'm just going to type down the noble eightfold path, if you are a buddhist, you should know this, if you are not, it's still pretty to read and follow

Wisdom

1. Right View

2. Right Intention

Ethical Conduct

3. Right Speech

4. Right Action

5. Right Livelihood

Mental Development

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right Concentration

I wonder if buddha said something about living +EV and variance in life :D

Ryu Dang

Horror immigration

Never had I been through a rough patch like this at the tables over the past month.. it just has been sickening and it seemed like it was a never ending downwards spiral, how many times did I not ask myself. Why the hell am I doing this to myself? Why can't I catch a break and just run normal once. Thoughts of quitting went so many times through my mind. So I cleared up everything and moved to Thailand to hibernate, get back to my zen status and hopefully things would be normal again.

I flew over, visited Chiang Rai, then drove all the way to the border and enter Myanmar for a lot of shopping. Basically I did everything that didn't have to do with poker :) I enjoyed it a lot.

Then came the day of return to Singapore.. everything seemed to be fine, but then at the immigration I got stopped by the police and told me to go to interrogation room. I followed along and then I got dumped in this 'waiting room'. You can't call it a waiting room, it's a prison cell, small, no windows, and no communication allowed, with a camera over your head. I had to wait there for 2 hours before they picked me up. I was ofcourse pissed as hell. In my mind I just was thinking, gosh, when it rains it just pours, I'm just soooo unlucky in everything lately. Then I got this officer who was just blatantly rude, and told me to put my thumb on the machine for a fingerprint. I put my finger on it, and she was saying, no, not like that and grabbed and pulled it onto the machine. I was like wtf, take it easy, did I kill someone or what? Then without any words, I got thrown back into the 'prison cell' ... waiting, then another officer picked me up and I was allowed outside. The outside officer told me that everything is ok and I could go. I was like, can you people be any more rude? this is like you treat a criminal not a passenger. He said, I'm sorry we are only doing our job. I was like, so???? you can do your job in a normal and respectful fashion also! then he said, but we have to treat everybody as a suspect and be careful, then I just replied, you are innocent until proven, that's how the world works, and not otherwise. Pissed as hell I just left and grabbed my bags, talking about a nice welcome back to Singapore eh?

Anyways, the break apparently did do very well to my brain, I dropped down to lower stakes and things have been running.. well not normal, still not that good, but at least it's not insane like before and I'm very confident I'll be clocking my first winning week, since.. well 2 months or so. A sigh of relief will definitely going through my mind for sure, when I see my bankroll go in the right direction again. And I can save up some monies for the future.

While I was away, my student performed very good, diligently worked a lot of hours and crushed the NL200 stakes and shipped almost 6K$ while I was away, and even more important, now not just one but like multiple people are congratulating him for improving his game so fast in such a short time. Although he still has quite a lot of leaks in his postflop game (which is normal, you can't learn that in a few months), he's becoming a lot more stable as a professional poker player. And after improving his postflop a bit more, I'm sure his winrate will be increasing more, and variance dropping down. I still can remember the day he saw me 12 table on two screens and just stood there amazed and said, wow, it goes so fast! how can you keep up? and now .. well he basically is doing it himself :D little things, little changes can make such a huge impact on life. I guess there is some truth in the chaos theory.

While being in Thailand, I was thinking about my future, so I think I'll be going back in a few months and stay in Thailand again. The thing is, my expenses are lower, there is so much more entertainment and it's such an easygoing life over there. Plus also the fact that some of my best friends are coming back also for a longer period. So I think I'll try to help Jon with some postflop coaching and then make a trip back home to Belgium to visit everyone and then return for a longer period in Thailand. Just grind it out there, make some monies and take it from there. Wish you all good luck and enjoy the good life :)

Ryu Dang

Trick or Treat

Well can't say I'm doing well on the poker area (except maybe the coaching part), just been disgusted with how I'm running lately.. and it doesn't seem to go better, but well... I whined enough about it already for weeks now to everyone is remotely near me, so I'll just shut up and wait for better times. I'm flying back to Bangkok in a few days, to visit some friends and take a complete break from my new environment, I hope it will help... and I sure it will, if the red shirts aren't blocking my way to the 4 faced buddha haha :)

Anyways, have a funny story to tell, hence the title of this blog post.. one night we all planned to get supper at Geylang around 4am or something like that after the live game. A friend of us, who is indian (and didn't shave for weeks :p) drove us in a minivan to pick up another friend who was waiting at the busstop near his home. He never met my indian friend before, so I told him to just drive the van in front of him, go out and give him a good scolding and scare him :D it was so hilarious, suddenly having a stranger walk up to you, he grabbed his phone immediately and was prolly scared to death while we were hiding in the van laughing our asses off. Nice first impressions are always life lasting. haha.

Since I'm losing money and a sad koala, I bought a guitar again, and started tuning it, ready to form my asian boy band in case my poker career doesn't work out lol.

The only positive note to end this blog, is that another poker player complemented Jon that his game has improved so much recently. I guess I can be a bit proud about that comment, and it does prove that coaching is the way to go to improve your game. Taking a break for like 2 weeks now, gonna spend some time at the beach/clubbing/lazying around in Thailand, so I doubt I will blogging much in the forthcoming period except if something extraordinary happends :) gl to you all out there...

Ryu Dang

my first bad experience in SG

So a few days ago I went to Sim Lim Square, which is basically an IT center comparable with Panthip Plaza in Bangkok or just a huge mall with all IT shops. I went there to buy an iPhone 3Gs for my friend. So after browsing around a few small shops I ended up at one shop and he quoted me 820$, I asked if I could see it, and he brought me the phone. I asked him if it was factory unlocked already so it can be used worldwide, he confirmed, so I asked ok.. pack it. I'll take it. Then he says, wait, and comes back with skins and extra batteries and says he is giving me a good package deal, but well, my friend was only interested in the phone, so I declined everything. My friend handed over the 850$ and he said ok, one second. I figured he went away to make the warranty and give back the change, but he came back with nothing. Suddenly the cheery mood changed and a dark and serious face came instead. He said, the phone I just gave you is jammed, if you want a working unlocked one, then you have to pay 1100$. I'm like, uhm what? Yeah this is how it works. This is called a trapped and it's easy to get in, but very hard to get out... I'm like WHAT?!? then I said, whatever dude, give my friend back the 850$, he said, no, if you want your money back, you can have it back if you come back after 3 hours. I'll keep it for 3 hours then you can have it back. At that point I was seriously pissed off ofcourse, I grabbed the phone in front of me and just said, last warning, give my friend back the money. He said, no don't drop it, give back the phone. I said, I'll freaking break more then this you son of **** if you don't return the money NOW. He went away, came back with the money in his hands, but still didn't want to give it, told me to give back the phone first before he will hand over the money... really guy? think I'm a retard or something? eventually he gave back the money, and if my friends weren't there to stop me, I would have decked the guy for sure. Never had something happen like this before in my life, such a disrespect towards others. I hope karma works out for that guy.

Ryu Dang

hell week and rambles ^_^

wow.. had one of the most horrible weekend results since a long time in my poker career, dropped like 6k, only had one good end day, a positive Sunday and the rakeback sure covers a lot of the damage, but still, it's really nothing to be excited about lol. I think I didn't play my best, and also ran bad, which makes a bad combo, so I re analysed a bit of my game and started also playing differently on other sites this week to recover from the losses and the start of the new week seems very promising. I'm targetting 10K for this week, to recover my losses and make some profits, because life in Singapore sure isn't cheap :p

anyways, the coaching part seems to be working out better, Jon seems to be more "zen" with the swings when he sees me getting owned (I guess it does have it's positive side effects lol) and he also recovered from his swingy week, and started off like me pretty decently and very keen to looking to hit his first 10k month win.

Took a break yesterday night to go see the double IP Man movie showing, it was a special avant-premiere, and they showed ip man 1 & 2 back to back. Man I was so hyped, the first movie was so amazing, he's such a crusher.. while the second one, meh, first half was good, second half turned out to be like some rocky horror movie show. Hated it so much. They really should script out white people out of asian movies (no racism or anything here intended :p) but usually the guys that do wanna act in lower budget asian movies or willing to work in it are such terrible actors that it just makes me scream. Anyways, if you didn't see the first one yet.. you are missing out. Need to become a crusher now also on the tables. Work, Dedication, Passion, Zen.

Ryu Dang

hero comeback needed :/

So the first week went pretty chill, went pretty well on the coaching area, adapted my protege his handrange a bit and went over some other basics, and he did quite ok during his first week. For myself I went on a pretty bad end of the week, which almost killed all my winnings, which left me.. almost break even (once again) sigh. Anyways, I wasn't that upset about it, until the last few days, I just got totally crushed, owned, soulread on NL1K which led me to drop like almost 4k in 2 sessions.. sigh, it was so disgusting, I wanted to just throw my laptop out of the window... so I definitely need a good hero comeback this week or else my week is gonna end up a disaster :(

As for Jon, his week is superswingy also, lost first day, won it all back second, but lost again today, so he's not having his best of days either.. I guess we are both in a rough week, but I'm confident we will get through it and it will only make us stronger. I'm thinking about analysing and going further and deeper into his preflop actions now, until he understands what dynamics it creates at the tables. On the other hand, I feel so bad coaching someone while I'm not making money at all and losing so much haha.. but well a cheer up talk from my friends in Bangkok helped me and I at least made back some already today. Let's hope this will continue and last for the week.... ran against these sick beats again in today's session, but I guess it's normal. Focus. Hero. Comeback!

Ryu Dang

Singapore!

Just settled in my new crib in Singapore for a few days, had to take my time a bit before I could actually hit the grind again, and well in the days that I have been playing I ran pretty normal on the midstakes, but I got crushed on NL1k again, so there goes my profits once again, good thing my rakeback and my live game winnings covered most of the expenses and things I bought and spewed onto. So I guess there will this insane major heater coming soon haha :)

Had the first coaching session today with Jon, first step was analysing and reforming his preflop game, and this will probably take a few sessions before it will be like it should be and he understands what impact it makes on his game. So the masterplan has been set in motion..

Really enjoying my new environment over here, and also the fact that I'm dodging all the nasty red-shirt fighting stuff that is going on in Bangkok at the moment. Still need to test out the swimming pool and jacuzzi downstairs, I guess it 's a nice way to unwind and untilt ;) hope things will be looking positive and my winrate goes higher, since I've been really running on the lowest winrate ever... wish you all the best

Ryu Dang in SG

Coaching and the run bads (nothing new here :p)

So just a couple more days before my return to Singapore.. I must really say I have been running terrible the last few weeks, not that I'm actually losing money or anything, but I think I should have shipped so much more then.. well this (for me :p) almost break even run. Things just need clear up, I ran against 2-outers, 4 times in total today in one single session and, stacked off 4 times obv, so if I would have won all of them (which would be normal), how different would my day have been? damn you poker.. it's still such an evil game, no matter how long you have played it. I'm taking a small food break now, going to try to make up for my losses of today after I have updated my blog and maybe watch some serie :)

I must say I have been receiving quite a lot of requests for coaching from a lot players, it's like suddenly they actually understand that with a coach their game will improve dramatically, definitely when it comes to online play, this is very true. Since I'm going to be a full time coach already for my roommate Jon, I'm not sure if I will be able to handle more students, but I guess time will tell. I also want to give quality the utmost importance, because I think I will be very thorough if I'm only teaching one person at the time, and I will try to bring out everything that person has, and with groupsessions I think specific guidance will be less effective. I also consider Jon as an reference I guess once he has cleared the trials, but in the end, if one makes it or not, not always is the coach to blame, he's the first one to get sacked though haha :D

So if you feel lucky, you can always spew at me and persuade you into a coaching package, I won't bite, but to be honest, chances will be pretty slim in the near future. I am excited though, it's quite a challenge...

Ryu Dang (still running BKK)

in pain

God, how many retarded beats can someone get.. it's been crazy for this week... I keep hitting the nuts on the flop, only to get people hitting the ubernuts on the river... I have KQ, flop 9TJ rainbow, and it goes threeway all in, one guy has TJ, one guy has 78, and BINK, a freaking J on the river to have me donate another gigantic pot away.. I also lost AA vs KQs twice preflop all in, and also AA vs TJo preflop all in.. what are these guys thinking, that they are ahead? wtf.. I'm like the tightest nit ever :p and yeah ofcourse I want them to call my shove, but can I please hold up one time???? goddamnit, I'm running so much below EV this week, it's not even funny anymore.. when will it balance out? I sure hope very soon :p and for my last week in Bangkok, I'm running horrible in life also.. I lost like all the goddamn flips you can imagine, lost the korean BBQ dinner flop, lost like a gazillion of bottle flips at the clubs also.. gah, I feel like Ted :p maybe it's an asian thing? lol. I just keep reminding myself I had a good run in Singapore, so it's normal that the EV is kicking me back in the butt, censor that, in my behind :p no need to be rude.. well, enough whining.. it is my last week now in Bangkok before I'm moving back to Singapore, so I guess things will all be fine again... I also had a few annoying moments with my internet disconnecting on me a few times in the middle of some big pots where I hit a set and such, only to see the computer to fold my hand due to disconnection, it's really disheartening to see such a thing :p I guess I'm folding sets nowadays :p ubernit in the making :p hopefully you guys had a better week then me ^_^ maybe I should go visit the 4 faced buddha statue again ;-) Peace.

Ryu Dang

back at work

Somehow decided since a few days I had a good and nice break already and headed myself back at the tables. I must say I have been playing pretty steady and eventhough I made a few annoying mistakes I am not complaining about my current level of play. There were a few hardcore beats though and very funny moments. Had this hand a few days ago.. on NL400:

one guy UTG+1 does a standard raise to 12$, I see AA in middle position, so I spice it up to 42$, I get one flat caller, and one guy repops it to a strange 70$, I'm like wtf, how bad can you play.. I mean, I'm not gonna fold to that raise, and if you want extra value you should reraise more with any decent hand no? anyways... original raiser folded. I decided to shove it obviously. The guy in the middle tanks, and calls, the strange 4-better also calls... so what was the result? I had AA, middle guy had J9o and 4-better had KQs.. I'm like WTF lol.... but well, K on the flop Q on the turn, makes me a sad panda and the horrible player got paid off fully :/

anyways, I had few decent days, until last night when I just got supercoolered on NL1K. meh. I quit pretty rapidly after dropping 1.5k$. Maybe I should have played on because the players were terrible, but you know, sometimes you can just play good and still lose money, so I decided to call it a day and wait my spot for next week ;) but in overall I don't think I can complain about my results so far, I also think my trip to Singapore has made my mindset on normal again, and I have a feeling this year is going to be an amazing one for me and that I will have to push my yeargoal quite a bit higher now ;) Wishing you all the best..

Ryu Dang

aah.. the lazy life

Since my arrival back in Bangkok, I have probably been the most lazy person on earth.. well I needed a break, so I really DID take a break lol, I haven't played a single hand since I left Singapore. I do think I deserved it though, because for me it was a very work intensive period, a lot of ups and downs like usual, but maybe it was even more intense because it was a different environment and finding different ways how to cope with the downs. Maybe I'm exagerating but it was emotionally one of my toughest moments in life because I was mainly trying to process breaking up from a very long relationship. I do think it must be tough to be a partner of someone who goes on so many emotional rollercoaster rides. So to all people who have partners who truly support them, do know to appreciate them.

So what have I been up to? well.. mainly thinking about what to do next and planning on some other projects besides grinding out a solid life bankroll. I think it was very nice to be cut off for some time from my MSN, just figuring out life, taking it easy and catch up on some series that I've missed. So what's next? well.. I think the best and most solid environment right now would be Singapore. I think it's a very nice and decent grinding environment, a lot less distractions, because over here, there is not a night that goes by where I don't get invited to come out clubbing or any other degen activities.. not that I'm complaining about that, it's always nice to have a place like this to fall back on.. but I just feel that I have passed this level already. There is no doubt in my mind that doesn't know that it is Bangkok that made me achieve the skill level I am on right now, but I think I'm on a different level now, where that I don't need to improve that much anymore on that level with other people, and I think I can properly analyse my own game since I know myself so much better now. But obviously the gratitude towards my friends over here who helped me out is infinite. So the grand plan is to move to Singapore for a long period, I accepted to move into a 3 bedroom condo together with a friend and his wife. Gonna help him out with his poker game and hope he can manage having me around long enough before he goes on crazy monkey tilt and kicks me back to Bangkok lol. I guess there still will a few trips towards Bangkok, Macau and maybe some other asian destinations during my stay, and a trip back to Belgium to visit my little nephew/niece ;) and my belgian homies. Wishing you all good luck.

Ryu Dang // Run BKK!

burned out

oh yeah, I'm feeling it, I'm reaching that point where I can just feel that I'm gonna break, the schedule I'm trying to maintain is pretty sick, so I'm very happy it will end soon. I need a good break from everything, and relax and chill for at least a week.. I knew I would get to this point in about 2 months, so that's why I planned my return trip to Bangkok beforehand, gonna just go there lay in my bed, order take out and watch movies and series all day.. maybe even download that Starcraft 2 beta and play it hahaha.. or maybe I shouldn't because I'm afraid I won't be working anymore for like 5 years haha :D anyways, last week has been a good week, I ran pretty normal (for once :p) and I crushed over 5 figures in one week, which made me a happy koala. well my original goal was 50k, didn't get there and I don't think I will obv. which made me a bit sad, but let's just say I'm close anyways ;)

The most tilting thing is that I'm on a 100mbps internet line right now, so speeds are just the sickness, but I can't grind on some sites just because the ISP has problems with their transatlantic hub or something. I get like massive amounts of time outs which causes disconnections and lags on the tables, it was tilting me pretty bad that I lost like at least 1k or something, so I just stopped playing and just chilled out for a bit and played live games instead. So I guess this concludes my hardcore trip to Singapore, will be reporting, but probably less from Bangkok in a few days ;) take it easy guys and good luck grinding :)

Ryu out!

seeing the light!

been thinking about how to optimise my game with these 'special' kind of players, so I changed my playstyle a little into a more passive mode, which happens to work out better.. things have been improving on the results area, so I'm pretty pleased with that, there are other things that are bothering me though. I know we are all poker players and we should treat money online (or at the table) as just numbers and play our game, but it doesn't mean that the value of money is not there in real life. Even if we are rich, poor, or whatever, in the end the value of money and in life should still be important. People are starting to take too many things for granted. I mean, I helped a friend out in need when he needed it, and suddenly I get crap for it because I want him to just keep his word. The irony heh? I guess people don't realise or know how to appreciate basic things anymore.. anyways, I learned my lesson, just don't help people out, you won't get any shit in the end. Sounds a bit selfish, but somehow that's probably the most +EV way to go. Enough whining about that.

Back to the pokers.. I had this insane hand a few days ago that I didn't post, it was very crazy. I had 99 and the flop went T94 rainbow , I bet out, guy reraised, I shoved, he called and he flipped over 94 suited.. I thought he was drawing dead, because I didn't see it was suited, but he still had a runner runner 4 or a runner runner heart to hit his flush to scoop the pot. But anyways, it was still less then 5% equity that he had, so I was in total control. Since I was being a nice guy, I just told him to take 10% of the pot and I'll take 90% and we'll call it day. He thanked me and took the deal, out of curiosity we let the flop run... turn, heart, river... yep you guessed it heart.. god, I was in shock, so thankful I gave him the deal beforehand or else I would have probably been tilted for the whole night lol.

I feel a burnout coming up, been grinding my ass off, and financially it's going the right direction ofcourse but I need some serious holidays also before I feint.. but I can see the light! 2 more weeks and I'm heading back to Bangkok to chill out, relax, and think about what the next step will be. Wish all you guys the best and good luck @ the tables.

Ryu

hero comeback?

Well, can't say I'm running much better, however I did adapted my play a little bit, spazzing out more and betting stronger seems to work out better with these fishy players then just the standard online 75% potsize betting. Just have to run better really, today had 4 major beats again online, so I can't say that I'm in a joyful mood, but I just know things will turn around sooner or later and then I will be joyful hehe :) Last night was a crazy homegame though, I was carddead for like 4 hours (standard right? ;)) then I peaked down UTG+1 and I saw a pretty A of spades and a K of clubs.. wooot.. let's limp this, so I limped 5$ because this table was superaggro, I just knew there would be raising.. one guy raises to 30$ , one caller, another caller, then one guy repops it to 185$... back to me.. I tanked for a bit, but I was like, no way I'm folding, I'm going with this hand, so I shoved my 1k$ stacked in it.. the guy snapcalls and flips over AA... you don't know how gutted I felt, amazing, I get one premium hand in 4 hours and I run against aces.. sigh FML! anyways.. the flop came K rag rag.. I told myself, argh, just a tease.. then turn came a rag.. then river............. bink! K .. lol. I jumped up, what? I sucked out? lololol :D anyways, I ended up (almost) break even for that night, so it was all work for nothing, but better break even then down I suppose.. need my hot run... have a good feeling for this week though ;)

gl to you all!

Ryu

big sigh

well hello downswing.. I seem to just not get the engine on running normal again, the big fishes keep sucking out on me the last few days, since NYE.. feels so bad and depressed :( the only highlight was a HU fight on 3/6 against this luckbox, took like 2k$ off him before he ran away scared.. he damn should have stayed for another hour and it would have been all mine ffs :p anyways, I really hope things will turn around fast because I am no way near my goal of 50k, so I guess I can write that off also :( meh! need a good heater for the rest of the month, pretty please?

Ryu

Happy Chinese New Year!

wishing you all a happy chinese new year! may the party be big, the money flow in the right direction and your love life be red.

sadly enough today and yesterday I'm on monkey tilt and dropped over 4k, so I'm really not in the best of moods :(

but unluckyness for me, should mean lucky for fish.. one day it will turn around I hope haha

Ryu

some things never change...

Last night decided to sponsor one of our hosts who also operates as a manager at a KTV and have a nice night off from work. It was crazy, definitely more then I have expected lol.. another reason was because Ted and Bernd were coming over and visiting me from Bangkok.. damn, feels like it's been ages that I haven't seen them, while in reality it's only like 3 weeks. We started off with some nice dinner at a steamboat restaurant first before heading over for bottles and dice drinking games lol. But yeah, some things never change, Ted puking in the VIP room after taking too many shots and Jason falling asleep on the couch, not knowing what's going on...

good times hahaha, now back to work ;)

Ryu

oh noes!

god so frustrated right now, been running so awful.. lost everything when I'm ahead today, sets got cracked, ran into gutters that hit, even lost AK vs AK preflop all in.. sigh, FML !! it can't be happening right now ffs, because I need to ship my goal for this month or I'll feel like I've been doing these crazy hours and massive amount of work for almost nothing, which will dissapoint me even more then anything else really.. anyways, gonna grab a cup of coffee and hit the next grind session, please run good... ! oh yeah, had this hand also last night I have T7 on the BB and then flop goes 689, one guy bets out, and I shove it all in, and he snaps with 68... turn is an 8 though.. gaaaahhh... why??? anyways, enough whining... need to get back into the happy zone!

Ryu signing out.

eye of the tiger

feels like I'm in the zone (well except for today because I lost online :p) but anyways, I've been playing some of my best poker ever I think. Been very focused even after getting sucked out on a 2-outer on a 2K$ pot.. I managed to fight back from the grave and crush it and ending the night with a 1.2k profits and 1.7k profits the night before that each time dropping from 1k stack to 200$ and then fighting back. So I can't complain on that area.. been working my ass off so I deserve a little bit of credit ;) my ultimate goal is to ship 50k this month.. I know it's gonna be a tough one, but we'll see how it goes.. might not be able to play a few days due to the chinese new year holidays (sadly enough ;)) anyways, tomorrow night I'm gonna take a night off, because I think I need some drinks to let loose of some stress.. things are going well for me now for the moment, feels like it was the right decision to go on therapy over here in Singapore. GL to you all.

Ryu

underestimation

A lot of people are telling me that I don't have a real job, I totally disagree obv. I'm tired to explain and justify myself, and I'm sure that a lot of people underestimate the amount of hours and effort that I put into all this. I have been doing some sick hours, like really sick hours.. I think if I could trade my life for just a month with someone else who doesn't believe me and does a 'regular' office job that he would die after two weeks, I'm pretty sure of that... my schedule is so insane right now, that I know I'll have a burnout after 2 months, which is pretty normal I think. I wake up around 13.00, grind until 18.00 online, take a shower, have dinner and then I grind from 20.00 to 5.00am live, just count the hours, you'll figure it out.. and that has been the case for the past week in Singapore. I've done an office job myself for a period, I know what I'm doing right now is way tougher, so I can compare. If you're not a true believer, I challenge you to try it yourself :) So telling me, you have an easy life, trust me, it's a big big underestimation.

I had one evening off though, on Munchu's birthday, we decided to take a day off and went on a drinking binge, went to Clarke at some pub, who had a very good live music band and then went to our regular thai club lol :) and then ended up at a nice BBQ place at Geylang somewhere.. it was a really fun night.

Ryu

14 hour workdays

yah I know.. I've been horribly lazy lately, and my mind was totally not into playing anything at all.. but that changed now since my relocation to Singapore.. I've been grinding 14 hours a day, back to being the robot I suppose to be. Have to give my sincere thanks to Jeffery for arranging everything for me (although he's getting some share of my action, which is obv. +EV lol), but still, it's awesome to have someone like him around to show me the ropes over here. Can't say I've been running hot last couple days, bad beats galore, massive swings, but it's ok, I'm still up and I'm sure my hot run will come soon ;)

My singaporean friends are teasing me so much lately, don't know why :p and they brought me to some random thai disco over here, guess they wanted to make me feel at home lol

thought the place was pretty horrible haha, but anyways, I did have a good time with them around, although when I see all these singaporeans spewing 250$ on a bottle, it still feels abnormal, since it's only like 50$ in Bangkok, but well, have to adjust your game right ;) have to just lag it up a bit ^-^ oh and the thai girls around were pretty hot also, pretty much asian style flavour, light skin, tall, nice legs :) anyyyywwaaays.. gotta go work work work again, wishing you all good luck.

Ryu

the next episode

life has been bizarre lately.. mostly because I'm not in the right mindset to play much poker, so I haven't really put in any effort in playing.. the thing is, when I feel I shouldn't play, I really don't play at all, which has saved me already a lot of money in the past. Mindset is so important in every (important) decision or choice you make in life imo. I've been thinking about future a lot lately, and the way things are going in Thailand, I think it's time for a little break from it.. don't get me wrong, it's awesome over here.. always people to hang out with, always places to go party and always room for movies and cuddles ;) but now I kind of feel like I should rather put more effort in building up some funds instead of wasting my time doing nothing. Just feels like I'm standing still and not moving on that's all I guess.. so currently arranging things to move over to Singapore, and hang out with my friends over there while having a good internet connection to play some serious poker (but yeah still, not taking high limit shots :p). I guess I really wanna make an effort in changing my life for a bit, so I hope I'll be reporting from Singapore in few days soon :)

cheers,

Ryu

Happy New Year!

First of all wish you all a happy new year... may 2010 be one that marks your life.

As usual it's been ages that I've make a new post, but I've been quite busy travelling around and doing so much different stuff..

I stayed in Boston for a while, but things just didn't work out over there, so I currently I got back to Thailand, to be with my grinding family over here to put my life in perspective. I took a student visa and applied to a thai school learn thai full time, really want to put an effort into it and be fluent with another language. I had to travel to Singapore to make a short visa run, didn't plan to do much over there, but Jeffery managed to bring me to all these (fishy) live games, and I quite crushed I might say, so I made a bit of pocket money while doing my run :) It was also awesome to meet my buddies over there.. shoutouts to Jason and Munchu obv. hope to be there again soon.

Currently a belgian friend is here for holidays for a few weeks, here in Thailand, so I've been partying it up quite a bit :) New Years eve was very crowded but fun, and we litterly let a lot of alcohol flow down our throats. I also installed a dual screen now, to make my grind station a bit more relaxing to grind on, and somehow it's been successful, haven't had a losing session since then yet haha, variance :p

so what are my new years resolutions for 2010?

1. grind my way to 200K

2. no more taking shots on 25/50 or higher :p

3. be less lazy and more pro-active

4. enjoy life, and be a good person

5. post more? lol

Ryu Dang