The Fishy Trail Mission Statement

I jumped through all the right loops. I ran in the rat race long enough. My mind's made up. Three more months on the grind. Then I'll take the money and run:

The hard part is over; the decision has been made. All I need is one final confirmation from the Government Office for Employment. At the day job, all documents are signed and approved. In 3 months time I'm free to go. Nothing holds me back. Preparation can finally start. The dream came true. I'm a happy man. The long road ahead is all mine. (Yeah!) It's about time. No more compromises. I'll do as I please. I'll go where I want. Back to the East, of course. Same same but *seriously* different. Done with dope, done with troublesome love affairs. Intrepid traveling on my own terms, like a vagabond in the distance...

(from "Green Light")

Follow The Fishy Trail on Twitter, like the trail on Facebook or add The Fishy Trail to your favorites for more adventure and less poker. It's just a different kind of gamble, after all.

A Quest For Dollars

A Quest For Dollars
Originally uploaded by VagabondBXL

The Micro Stakes Grinder

After a great holiday in Cambodia, I didn't really know what to do back home. From the busy streets of Phnom Penh to the big, lonely apartment in Brussels...

Poker doesn't interest me much these days. But I can't just lay on the couch, smoke weed and watch TV all weekend, every weekend. I need something to do. Something to pass the time while I'm saving my monies for The Fishy Trail. Then I saw an add for PartyPoker Mac software. Tired of dividing my time between Angy Birds and a Murakami novel, I downloaded the software. On PokerNews there's a promotion that promises a free $50 for every new Party-account. I don't believe in 'free money' but followed the instructions anyway. A day later, there was $25 in my Party-account (for the other $25 I'll need to get to 200 Party Points in 45 days, but I'm not complaining). Soon I was playing $4NL full ring cash games and enjoying it. Actually, poker is still kind of fun. I just can't afford to lose significant amounts of money any longer. Before all I wanted was play, play, play and move up in stakes. Now it's different. There are better ways to get the most value out of my hard-earned dollars.

This morning I tried to launch PokerStars only to discover that they are now PokerStars.be. In the light of recent events, I'm very much in favor of government regulation. All the games (cash and tournaments) are still available in the PokerStars.be lobby. No worries. It should be all ruled and regulated now. That's good. It makes me feel safe. I checked my account balance. It's still too much. I don't want to gamble for these amounts anymore. The numbers look different now. Not so long ago, $50 didn't mean much to me. Now it equals two days of living like a king in, for example, Kampot (Cambodia).

If I want to keep playing poker it will be like going to the gym. Exercise, nothing else. Something to keep my brain sharp while I prepare to get away. So I cashed out half of my PokerStars bankroll. It felt good to convert PokerStars dollars into cold, hard euros.

It's a grey, rainy morning in Brussels. I don't mind. I'm ready for Belgium winter now. I got PokerCopilot, PokerStars.be an PartyPoker running. Looking for some games to play. Something like 10NL cash games on Party and maybe a few $3 sit 'n go's on Stars. It's alright. Money comes and goes. Adaptation is an essential survival skill.

Back to the micro stakes!

No Mercy For Those Who've Lost (The Casino)

No Mercy For Those Who've Lost (The Casino)
Originally uploaded by VagabondBXL

The Blissful Poker Tournament

A peculiar series of events have led me to the small, sleepy town of Kampot in Southern Cambodia....

I've been here a couple of days now, staying in the Blissful Guesthouse. It's been a long time ago since I had anything to do with poker. But it turns out there's a weekly $5 buy-in no-limit hold'em poker tournament in this very guesthouse. Of course, I couldn't let this opportunity pass. One more night of pokers!

Unsurprisingly, it was a small event. 12 people showed up. Top three gets the money. $50 for first. Doesn't sound much but, considering the current state of my financial affairs, that's at least two days of living expenses here in Kampot.

We got divided in two six-max tables. The blind structure was alright, rather slow even. But that's probably a smart move from the bar owner. There's no rake so longer blind levels sell more drinks. That's good for everyone.
The tournament itself was uneventful (for me, at least). Your typical low buy-in no-fold'em game. Most players hardly knew the rules. The first few rounds where pretty chaotic. People acting out of turn, splashing the pot, showing cards and doing all kinds of goofy things. An older dude bought a round of beers for the table. A nice gentleman, indeed! If I don't make it to the money, well, at least it got a beer for my 5 bucks. The game went on, I managed to get a little bit of value with a top pair hand but for the most part I played pretty tight. I figured only solid hands would do. Generally the whole table saw the flop and everyone seemed to love to min-bet (and call the min-bets with any two cards or min-3bet etc.).
My key hand came around in the second blind level. Ten Ten on the Button. I raised 4x after a limper. The Big Blind (an English girl without a clue) min-reraist. The limper folded. The flop came Ten-Ace-Five rainbow. Boom! Flopped a set! Big Blind min-donks. I raise. Big Blind shoves. I call. My set of Tens is in good shape against her Ace Jack. Alas, the turn is a Queen and on the river a King rolls of… Her straight beats my set. Oh, well. Severely crippled, I tried to fold my way to a good spot. When there were 8 players left we all moved to one table. I guess you can call it 'The Final Table' but that is a big word for a small game in a quiet town. I dwindled down to 9 big blinds, found 88 utg and open-shoved. Got called by Ace Queen. Ace on the flop. Busto! The end.

Railbirded for a while but soon got bored and went to bed. To be honest, I don't care much about poker anymore these days. Although I'm still very much a fish in the life, I try to avoid filth and gave up on ever getting rich a while ago...

If you're interested in travel stories, a troubled love live, conversations with cows and the life on the road you can find my recent writings over at The Fishy Trail.

Good luck at the tables and thank you for visiting Filthy Rich Fish!

Closing Time (A Farewell To The Pokers)

This was my first weekend without a single hand of online poker in about four years.
All summer long I've been whining about my financial woes due to the divorce and the closure of a certain poker site (which no longer will be named but... - Fuck you, Howard Lederer! Hope you go to jail and get ass raped repeatedly).
Wel, that was that.
And then there was a horrible run at PokerStars. Lost more money than I'm willing to admit. It doesn't matter how you look at the figures. They are all very red. There's a certain point where it doesn't matter anymore if you played the hand well or not. Money lost equals money lost. Unlucky or bad play, my bank account doesn't notice the difference...

Last Friday I had a great time at a home game. But after losing another three buy-ins I decided to quiet right there and then. Got in this hole also/ largely because of poker. I doubt poker is going to get me out of it. Accept the losses and walk away. That's the plan. Got other interests to pursue. Got a plane ticket in my pocket and a new project I might launch one of these days...

As for the pokers;
it was fun while it lasted.
A rather bumpy (but interesting) ride.
I'll probably be back some day...

Until then Filthy Rich Fish is temporarily indefinitely on hold.

Good luck if/ where applicable!

Drifting In A Different Way

Summer's almost gone. Only a fool believes Full Tilt Poker will ever pay. They are gone. They are never coming back. The similarities between Howard Lederer and my ex-wife are quiet uncomfortable. They both gained my trust than they lied, cheated, took my money and ran...
Though shit. I tried to start over on PokerStars but there's not much fun without heart and commitment. So everyday I play less and less if and when I even play at all. Slowly drifting further and further away from this goddamn desk. Fuck the money. There must be more rewarding ways to spend my time than this never-ending strife for profit....