London, Cannes, San Remo pt. 3

London

I was excited to arrive in London town and back on the live tournament circuit. I had won a real package and two ladies packages on Pokerstars, and it was nice to see a lot of friends I had been out of touch with since WSOP. Despite only dabbling briefly in what it has to offer I had a really good time. The weather was unusually nice for this time of year and it was evidenced by the fact that practically every free square foot of grass was being taken advantage of. There would be lawn chairs aligned outside commercial buildings for grateful sunworshippers. I even spent an afternoon sleeping in the sun at Hyde Park in central London.

I didn't cash in London but have no problem with any of my plays in the side events. Came close in the first mega-satty after building a solid stack then getting coolered AK to AA and lost a bunch of flips in a row with about 10 left. Lost AA to KK and AQ in the turbo bounty for an enormous stack & perfect position to bust shorties in the £1k +£1k turbo bounty, and made day 2 of a £1k only to bust a few from the money QQ to AA with an average stack. The main event was probably one of the most unfruitful days of live poker I can remember. The table wasn't particularly difficult, I was just unable to to show down a winning hand or catch a break all day in even the tiniest of pots.

The ladies event was fun but still unprofitable. I had the lovely Vicky Coren at my table again (we had played together most of day 1 in the WSOP ladies event), which was cool because I had just started her book, For Richer, For Poorer and related to it right away. Zinzi, another qualifier from Toronto whom I had met the night before at the Pokerstars women mixer was also at the table playing her first ever live tournament. She made me feel all fuzzy inside when she messaged me a few weeks later saying it was inspiring to see a girl from our part of the town get this far and stay humble. What a sweetheart.

We went out a few nights that week: once to celebrate Mel and Justin's birthday at a high-end sushi joint, once to Joel Roubuchon's L'Atelier, and to the Pokerstars party at the impressive Kensington Rooftop Gardens after I busted from another 1k£. It started raining soon after I got there so for awhile a lot of people on the patio double-fisted (the open bar was closing) while huddled under the canopy together. There was a nice campy feel to it all, especially since the dealers were invited to this party. I won't go into more details but some keywords for the night: Vampy wig, big fish little fish cardboard box, dim sum cab ride, throwing squishy balls.

Cathy, Dylan, and I also made time to do some touristy stuff in town. We started at Buckingham Palace, strolled through St. James Park, and appreciated the House of Parliamement and Westminster Abbey from the outside before getting hungry and finding an authentic fish n chips experience. Yup. That's all there was time for!




Cannes

If you had asked me a year ago if I could see myself strolling along the boardwalk in the French Riviera watching very rich people with little dogs window shop and get leathery tans I would tell you that was not on my bucket list but definitely had its appeal. Now WSOPE Cannes is just another stop on my tournament circuit and I would have the Mediterranean outside my balcony at my bidding. Sure I have yet to acquire a French flag on my Hendonmob, but I have no complaints basking in sunshine and wining and dining every day pretending this is what I had been made for.

I had two places to call home on this trip, one with Team Butter, whose lineup would make my short career look like a footnote in each of their resumes, and one at the Hotel Majestic Barriere, where a real bonsai was a prop in the room and where housekeepers actually dress like French maids do in movies. Team Butter (named after the street our boutique apartment was on, Buttura) would prepare these delicious healthy family meals together that made me feel incredibly lucky to be a part of. The apartment decor was eccentric and I liked it all, but my favourite piece would have to be the shrink bed in the common room where I spent time basking in the sun. Miranda made the place so homely by picking up after her kids and even finishing our laundry when she overhears we're out of clean clothes.





Poker wise, I busted the 6max KK<66 vs. the friendly Devilfish, busted the 1k after playing a pretty solid day and finally making a bad supershort stack frustration play after grinding a <15bb stack for 2 levels, and bubbled 2 mega-satties which was pretty gut-wrenching because I was almost guaranteed a seat both times if it weren't for a series of very unfortunate events. The good thing about playing these was that I had the pleasure of finally meeting Hikaru Nakamura briefly at my table. We had chatted online after meeting him through mutual friends. I used to love chess when I was young and even have a medal from middle school city championships. Reading his blog and trying to keep up with the technical posts was amusing. Although there is practically no money in chess, being at the top of his field also allows him to compete worldwide, often with a sponsorship. The cultural difference is that chess is a lot more acceptable in the eyes of academics and the general public, so it was pretty fascinating reading about his validation struggle with his parents.

There were also some sweet final table sweats. Arnaud unfortunately got sucked out pretty badly to final table bubble the main, but Max made a sick run. Maddog's rail for the shootout finals was pretty awesome, we took turns buying bottles of fine wine to drink out of dentist cups in the front row. Dan was probably the most "spirited". He kept demanding the announcer call Mike, 'Maddog' and eventually had a drinking accident from toasting too hard and bloodied his hands from the wine glass. No wonder they wanted us to stick to the dentist cups. He couldn't draw attention to it for fear that the security guard who had already given us several warnings would kick him out, so he just sat there injured with his hands on his lap. Pretty amazing.



The food in Cannes outside the hotel and casino was incredible. For Dom's 21st(!) birthday we went to the 2 Michelin Star rated La Palme d'Or. The food and service was fine and fancy, but it didn't blow my mind. For much better value, Pizza Xavier was the absolute nuts, and I also loved the duck, escargot, and octopus salad at le Petit Paris. I pigged out pretty hard in Cannes, but it probably doesn't even come close to the amount of delicious carbs I had in San Remo.

Didn't really go out too much at this stop as most nights were spent hanging out at the apartment or somewhere easy. Although I was unable to attend the official WSOPE party I'm pretty sure the night we had at the American Irish bar was way better. It was an island of a place, you wouldn't have realized you were in posh France from the atmosphere here. There was live music and eventually half the poker community made it out to pack the house. It was probably the best night on the trip.

The next day the stunning Tatjana and Calvin Ayre team set me up for an interview. Needless to say I wasn't the most coherent with my thoughts, but they're pros at making people look good on camera so I was impressed with the results. For logistical reasons we decided not to stay for the final table. We said goodbye to the now-dead Bonsai and drove down the Cote d'Azur to Italy.

Video by Gaming & Poker news - CalvinAyre.com

San Remo

Money-wise the trip up to this point was not the best for me, so the approach to San Remo was much anticipated. I was back in my beloved villa with most of Team Eames, although no celebratory bbq was to be had here this time. My table for Day 1 of the main was somewhat of a joke against the field. By joke I meant you wouldn't have known you were at EPT San Remo looking at this table because everyone was competent. I wasn't worried, but it meant I couldn't expect free chips left and right like last year. My dear Spinks was to my left which made for some interesting hands and good times. I finished the day above average after getting a bluff for most of my stack through then doubling up in a race vs. Alessio Issaia near the end. He was severely crippled after this but managed to impressively claw his way to 12th. The dream ended on day 2. It was a fine table with two fellow Canadians to my left, one of which was 888 pro and bracelet winner Tyler Bonkowski from Regina. I had never met anyone from Regina before. However, it was the Kevin MacPhee show at my first table the whole way. He played really well but definitely got some sick hands to knock players out left and right. After the table change I chipped up easily til I lost a race for another anti-climactic finish.

It was off to the bar for a rather silly night. Some may call me an enabler, but let's just say Maria and Jake have perfected the craft. I remember Jen Harman joining us halfway through the night. She's the female player I respect the most after reading her inspirational stories in Deal Me In, a collection of stories about how poker players turned pro and from The Professor the Banker and the Suicide King. Unfortunately I didn't tell her this because I wasn't at my classiest that night.

I missed the ladies event at San Remo to take a day trip to breathtaking Eze, France. It's a small, charming, castle-town by the sea, with statues of fable creatures and a giant chess set in the garden overlooking the epic view. I'm well aware of how lucky I am, but being right there at that time with very special company summed it up pretty neatly.



Of course being in San Remo we had Mare Blu or the Argentinian restaurant everyday. Yes, the ravioli and lobster pasta are still amazing and yes I got a new gym membership when I got home. I definitely prefer the sense of community in smaller tournament stops where there are only a couple of spots in town to go so everyone can gather instead of it often being cliquey in bigger cities.

Something good poker-wise eventually happened this trip. After a day of drinking since early afternoon and playing 19 (a new variation of Chinese Poker), we decided playing and drinking at the "Win the Button" €330 event would be the natural progression to the day. I had the best position in the event, directly to Scott's left to snap him off when his scotch kicked into high gear. I had a sweet stack early on thanks to him and finished 4th, continuing my streak of final tables in San Remo. The rail was pretty awesome and rowdy, I felt like I was playing for a million rather than €16,000. Amongst it was Busto_Soon, who I met after I made an error shoving against during the main of EPT Copenhagen. I once told him he reminded me of Rorschach, my favourite character from The Watchmen. Dylan was also there after ending the night as chipleader at his €2k final table. He finished third the next day, but without a doubt deserved the win, especially after getting very unlucky against a player who justified a call by saying it was his favourite hand.



The trip ended with another epic night out at the Stars party. Of course a lot of shenanigans occured and we ended back at the local "strip club". Champagne was had, people got their lapdances in the VIP/storage room, post-drinking sandwiches were eaten, and we got back in time for last-minute packing and our 7am taxi. The trip home was pretty awful since we missed our flight from London to Toronto after being stuck in a customs line despite being at the airport an hour and a half before departure time. Life leaks! It was better value to rebook a roundtrip flight so now I have a seat on a plane to London in September 2012.

I was pretty relieved to be back home. I really do love my new apartment with the amazing view across from the CN Tower that gives me a light show every night. I get to hang out with friends who keep me grounded, eat relatively healthy food (minus local pub runs a few nights a week), work out regularly, and make money online with infinitely fewer expenses to worry about. This isn't to say I don't always have an electrifying time on poker trips. I hang out with brilliant people. I get to explore foreign cultures. I eat great food. I discover more about myself. Nope, no complaints there.



It actually depressed me for little while coming to the realization that I will probably never have anything unique or groundbreaking to contribute to the field and that I still have so much work to do if I want to be consistently competitive at world-class standards. I'm pretty over it now after concluding that I'll just have to keep being harder on myself than any critic, keep putting in hours, and turn every mistake into credit for a massive pot of gold on a later date.

I've had good results online since I've been back after a long and disappointing WCOOP that evaporated most of my profits from post-WSOP. Next week I'm going on a real vacation for the first time in years to Maui with some of my favourite people. After that there's a small chance of WPT Bellagio, then some combination of PCA, Aussie Millions and Fallsview Poker Classic in the new year.

Summer's end in Toronto

A bit more than halfway through my first WCOOP. Disappointed with my results thus far but still optimistic with 8 days of action left. My schedule has been pretty packed and I feel I throw in just the right amount of fun and entertainment to keep me sane for the duration. Unfortunately it's very difficult to fit in more than two of these on any given day: grind, gym, go out, adequate sleep. I have a yoga ball and an elastic band I use to roll around and stretch during breaks, but I was in a pretty good groove right before WCOOP so I still feel like I'm slacking.

I've also just about perfected a system of food preparation for grind days. The night before I would do the necessary meal planning, marinating, putting sammiches together etc. Then during the ~5 minutes of freedom I would turn on the heat and complete an entire meal AND use the washroom before my tables started up again. Sometimes it would take a little longer and I would have to randomly run back to the kitchen and thus time out in arbitrary spots which must confuse people, but overall it's very efficient. Today I had an egg wrap with honeydew smoothie for breakfast, a grilled pesto turkey sandwich for lunch, and spicy soy-ginger salmon with brussel sprouts for dinner. Not too bad for spending 13 hours in front of the computer, huh?

Toronto is getting colder and I'm looking forward to going back to Europe for EPT London, WSOPE Cannes, and EPT San Remo. Even though relatively speaking I haven't spent that much time across the pond, I feel my experiences there were so dramatic that trips to Europe will always be an integral part of my life. I will miss my apartment and its fabulous view, no-nonsense workspace, and the impression of accomplishment it gives me, but friends and adventures await! Hopefully there will be a happy WCOOP wrap-up post to come, and I promise I will pull my own teeth and write about WSOP. I really did have an amazing time and would hate to let the memories fade.

San Remo

I was in San Remo, Italy twice during a five-month period. The first time was in December 2010 for an IPT series as part of my maiden voyage to Europe. I wanted to Dora it up and explore the continent a little in between EPT Barcelona and EPT Prague. I'd never been to Italy before, and the promise of being somewhere new with a soft tournament field and authentic Italian food was enough for me to book a cheap hotel room beside a Strip Club by myself for the week. Chopping a 1ke side event was nice, and it was my first legit accomplishment since my tournament stint. The poker on my second trip in April continued where it left off, but almost everything else was the opposite. I didn't have to eat by myself, and I knew something rather than nothing about the tournament circuit.

I stayed with Team Noctus for the first night at a standard Stars' hotel before my luggage and my Euro friends arrived. I wore the same clothes for almost 3 days straight, including to the Pokerstars Party. It worked out that way because I was in-flight wearing those clothes, arrived at night after the local shops were closed, and was occupied until the next evening when I finally bought a new outfit. Then I decided to be a trooper and save it for 1A the next day because I was still uncertain when my luggage would find me. Definitely pretty gross, but after the amazing poker that ensued the superstitious Asian in me secretly wishes I would lose my bags more often.

The night before the main we moved into a charming villa Vampy and Andrew found. At a fraction of the price of a hotel room, it was also amazingly spacious and comfortable, especially when lucky enough to be given one of the best rooms in the house. I was still jetlagged in the early morning so I went for a brisk walk along the water to the supermarket in some light rain. I absolutely love it when it drizzles in warm weather, especially if the sun is out. Everything was set up perfectly for optimal performance. Our place was so big that we didn't even realize Vampy had been locked in as we all left for a scheduled noon start time. We all assumed he left early since we hadn't seen him in awhile around the humongous house. He called us being quite upset and I prudently bought out as they RPS'd to see who would go back to grab him. Luckily the tournament started almost three hours late due to inefficiencies in the buy-in process and none of us were late.

The tournament room had great energy off the bat and it was an impressive mix of international poker superstars and local amateurs. It was also very flattering to have some locals recognize me for the first time from my IPT side event win. Flattering and advantageous. I feel that because the majority of Italian regulars knew what I was capable of, they made it harder on themselves to play optimally against me. I could go on, but I'm shrewd about this kind of info and would like to eventually get to the good stuff.

The days progressed and I would have the same routine: wake up, blast music, eat breakfast, and take as long as I wanted to get ready and mentally prepare myself. The ~13 minute walk to the casino was also a great start to the day and Vampy did it with me through day 4. Some days I ended with more relative chips than others, where the shorter ending stacks would be minor mental hurdles, but I was in bed by 1am every night and stayed on track. I also spent a very limited amount of time communicating and reading updates in social and industry media because I didn't want to stumble across any distractions. I definitely felt all the positive vibes people were sending through skimming texts and e-mails and that was enough to help carry me to the next level.

Before I knew it we were at the final table and with a good run of cards and awesome table-image we were down to three. It was definitely an interesting dynamic to play against Ruperte and Max since they had both previously bought pieces of my packages, and we had all hung out several times on the journey to the final table. The rail also consisted of many of our mutual friends, and the truth is, I lost focus. I initially played some decent-sized post-flop pots very well as I carried the momentum forward from accumulating chips quickly. Then I had a perfect opportunity to bust Max and somehow foolishly talked myself out of a call in a hand that haunted me for a while afterwards. I knew it was a mistake right away and my play deteriorated after that. It was a >300k error I will not make again, and I'm confident I will get another opportunity to redeem myself. I really wish I had someone more experienced to drag me aside and give me the pep talk I badly needed. Instead I was asked to do an interview during the only break I sustained 3-handed, and missed out on precious time to recollect myself and readjust to set up a win. I then made some preflop errors to Ruperte and was out before it hit me after talking him into calling me with a dominated hand.

I didn't realize how heartbroken I would be when I busted, because I actually felt on some subconscious levels I didn't even want to win. Crazy huh? Maybe I knew myself well enough and knew I couldn't handle the pressure just yet. I could also have a fair chance of never being able to meet future expectations if I set the bar so high so soon. Unfortunately I started thinking objectively about these things after I was out, when they were no longer immediately relevant.

I was still somewhat legitimized at the next level, and I no longer felt as if it was just everyone around me who was winning. Three-hundred-and-sixty-thousand Euros. The majority of it was not mine to keep, but I now have confirmation that I am capable of making this much money doing something I love. How lucky am I?! I went on a rollercoaster of self-reflection for several weeks. Swirled through a lot of "what now" tangents and had more than a couple of anxious and antsy days at home after Madrid.

The EPT Grand Final was memorable as well. Although tournament-wise I only second-tier cashed I couldn't complain since I thought I had awful table draws throughout and got so many table changes I felt my hands were cuffed, and yet I somehow still made the money. It was amazing to carry through a personal triumph to such an amazing city. Yes, the casino was far and we had to shuttle every day, but our hotel was right downtown by a bustlin' city square and there was an unlimited supply of culture and night life to absorb. I was also around Galen as he went into the final table of the High Roller being first in chips and ended up finishing in 7th after an interesting hand where his AA was outflopped by an OOP QQ after a single raise pre. He blamed himself profusely for stacking off in this situation but it wasn't his hand analysis that was brilliant, it was his thought-process when talking about his overwhelmingly human desire to legitimize himself. It didn't matter that he had a 2mm title under his belt, he was planning on going back to school and he believed this would be one of his last opportunities to prove he wasn't a one-hit-wonder. He genuinely felt like he blew it, and honesty spewed out. (He would go on to come second in the CoC freeroll and third at the WPT Championship the week after so I think he's OK now). Anyhow, the point is, after watching him suffer, it somehow made me feel better about my incoherent ambitions.

I'll figure it out. I just finished my first real WSOP and needless to say my results were not satisfying. I've also made some hefty career decisions since San Remo which at this point I'm not even completely sure of. But guess what? I had one of the best summer of my life. It wasn't that I partied hard or got a sick sponsorship deal. Rather, I learned that I could rely on people other than myself, and I was surrounded by not just some of the best poker players, but some of the most fun and authentic people anywhere. WSOP post to come!