Movie Night : The Tunnel

When monkey tilt is lurking around the corner and there's nothing much to do, Vodo delivers with a new independent movie. This latest release was financed by fans, contributing $1 per frame to enable production. The Tunnel is a horror movie, set in the abandoned tunnels beneath Sydney.

"In 2008, chasing rumours of a government cover-up and urban legends surrounding the sudden backflip, investigative journalist Natasha Warner led a crew of four into the underground labyrinth. They went down into the tunnels looking for a story -- until the story found them.

This is the film of their harrowing ordeal. With unprecedented access to the recently declassified tapes they shot in the claustrophobic subway tunnels, as well as a series of candid interviews with the survivors, we come face to face with the terrifying truth."

The Tunnel is entirely new. This week it's being screened in Cannes, shown on Australian TV - and released through VODO. It's a cool horror flick. If you like it (or maybe even if you don't?) please consider supporting the film with a donation...

Check it out for free here

WSOP 2011 Fantasy Poker Competition

We're only 10 days away from the WSOP 2011. If you don't have the bankroll or the time to go play in Vegas, there's the Fantasy WSOP competition at Full Tilt Poker. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's the next best thing but, at least, it's free. Plus, you can win tons of
prizes, including freeroll tournament entries and a seat at
the 2012 WSOP Main Event...

In order to participate, you'll need a Full Tilt Poker account.
If you don't have one, head over to www.fulltiltpoker.com,
download the free game software and then sign up for an account.
Once you're all set up, go to the game Cashier, click on the
My Promotions button and then follow the Fantasy WSOP link to
register for the competition.

Once you've registered go to the Groups page at
http://contest.linkrd.com/fulltilt/wsop11/groups
and join the group called "FilthyRichFish" that I've
created. The group password is: vagabond

Good luck and see you in the game!

Poker's Not Dead: Big Tournaments In May

Yeah, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker no longer operate in the US but that doesn't mean this is the end of online poker. This weekend both poker rooms launch a series of multi-table tournaments at reasonably priced buy-ins. Last chance to hit a big score before Summer!

The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is back for 2011. This year’s series includes 38 events and a massive guaranteed prize pool of $25,000,000. Each tournament has a low, medium and high buy in level, which makes SCOOP the series that everyone can play. Check out the full schedule here.

Full Tilt runs MiniFTOPS XX this May. Get in on the action and win your share of millions in guaranteed prize money. MiniFTOPS XX features seventeen Multi-Entry Tournaments, each allowing you to register for the same tournament numerous times, giving you multiple chances to make a big score. Additionally, eight events are scheduled as Rush Poker Tournaments.
See the full MiniFTOPS Schedule for more details on all 45 events.

Good luck at the tables!

Pioneer One "Triangular Diplomacy"

Pioneer One is a serialized drama produced and distributed online through VODO. Downloaded almost 2.000.000 times and winner for Best Drama Pilot at the 2010 New York Television Festival, this show is independently produced and financed by viewer donations.

This awesome project continues in Episode 4 "Triangular Diplomacy"...

Halfway through the Calgary quarantine, the media begins to question whether the story about the crashed satellite is the real truth. Meanwhile, Secretary McClellan starts to play hardball with the Russians in pursuit of his own truth. But everything hinges on what Yuri, the frightened boy at the center of it all, might have to say...

Enjoy the new episode and don't forget to support the project!

Circles

It's a beautiful and sunny Spring in Brussels but I just keep running around in circles.

A few days have passed since Black Friday. Nothing really changed here in Europe. Got a mailbox full of messages from European poker sites to offer large deposit bonuses and to assure that my money is safe with them. I think I'll just stick with Stars and Full Tilt for now. I'll keep an eye on what will be happening with these companies but I'm just to lazy to move my funds. Too much trouble to start new loyalty and bonus programs on different poker sites. I prefer to go down with the sinking ship if it ever comes to that...

It's a beautiful and sunny Spring in Brussels but I just keep running around in circles.

On Black Friday I was told by a friend that the collapse of online poker might be a good thing in my case. It is quite rare that a big fish is able to walk away from the game with a profit... I've lost a lot these last few weeks, that's a fact. A combination of bad luck, bad play and a general lack of confidence (in anything) led to a huge downfall. Now I sort of left the game of poker behind. It didn't play a single hand since last Friday. I'm not even affected by the poker ban but this is as a good a time to quit as any other. Looking for different ways to give meaning to my bleak existence I only found alcohol and smokes...

It's a beautiful and sunny Spring in Brussels but I just keep running around in circles.

Still stuck in the same old day job. Keep telling myself I can do other things if I want. Turned thirty somewhere last month, still driving around in a van. Today, as a final act of humiliation, I had to deliver a package to my ex-wife on her new address. Seven years ago we arrived together in this city. I was going to be king and she would be my queen. Now she orders shoes from China and I'm just the delivery guy...

It's a beautiful and sunny Spring in Brussels but I just keep running around in circles.

The End

If you visited pokerstars.com, fulltiltpoker.com or ub.com yesterday or early this morning this was all there was to see:

PokerStars and Full Tilt (and UB, bet let's ignore that cheating site from here on) can no longer accept American players in real-money games. Outside the US these sites are still available (for now) but the action is slow (I'm currently staring at the 200NL Full Ring Rush lobby, only 30 players are seated) There are strong rumors that Full Tilt and PokerStars will shut down globally somewhere in the next 30 hours. In short, the future is highly insecure. There's only one piece of sound, reliable advice bouncing around Twitter and the forms at the moment:

If you have a significant amount of money on any online poker site it's probably best to try to cash out right now (if you still can, that is)...

Good luck!

Taking Down The Tilt Monkey

Seven weeks ago I got back from Cambodia. The return to the day job and the daily poker grind quickly turned into a big cluster fuck. The first few weeks, the memories of the beach still fresh and alive, were all right. Then there were a few bumps in the road. Where running bad slowly turns into playing bad turns into feeling low and miserable...
Bleak days on endless monkey tilt.
Fuck this.
Why lose hundreds of dollars a day playing poker when Angry Birds is only €3,99 in the App store?

After Angry Birds I was still not #winning so I ended up taking a few pictures here and there. This made me feel strangely at ease.
When the shutter closes there's only now. The lens provides perspective. Framing shots requires considering different points of view. It's hard to stay stressed out while looking for the bigger picture... There's more in life than online poker after all.

Enjoy today to keep the tilt monkey away...