Frog to princes ***Leap of faith... Full time grind!***

Leaving for Belgium tomorrow early. I'm really excited to get my live grind on for real. The 'rehearsal' as pretty s**t to be honest. Saturday I'd wanted to play a long live cash game session at the MCOP in Amsterdam. But sadly I could not find a spot on a soft table on my stakes. Did not really want to play higher. There was an MTT running that I thought about jumping in, but in the end decided just to get some beers with friends and play a session sunday online out of the hotel lobby.
Luckily I did not loose any money saturday, because I lost enough on sunday. I don't think I could do to much about it, but I have not yet checked my database. I'll do that tomorrow in my way to Namur. I've paid about €1K in buy ins and literally did not cash anything except for some tickets I bricked in the end.

Edit: I'll scrible down a bigger update later tonight, as well as an OP update

OP update.

Update will follow later about ghost city Namur, full on muddy MTB cycling, titty bar, cash game bonanza, catching up with friends and prepping for what hopefully will be a profitable week.

Short update from my phone for the %holder(s)

Namur is pretty boring to be honest. There is some good off roads around so I’m pretty happy I brought the MTB. Been training really hard for 3 days in a row, 2,5 hours in the gym daily and 4 hours on the bike. Skipped the €250 event because I rather be outside than inside playing poker.

Poker wise things are alright. Played one long session cash and a few short ones. Limits are a quite a bit outside my brm, but I managed to stay away from the couple of sharks on the tables and won close to 3 buyins. That makes this trip for now a profitable one.
I’ve played day 1a and bagged 62K which puts me in the middle of the field. I had heaps of fun, but it was hard work. I had some folks on my table who where as likeable as they where dangerous. If felt like actual work from time to time.

I’ll have a couple of days off before day two. Tomorrow I’ll try my luck again at the cash tables.

Day 2 today. Quite excited to make this work today.
I've had a really decent couple of days and decided to just focus on the ME and not play anything else. As it stands now I am a decent amount in the plus for the stockholders and this means we would be actually freerolling the other event, despite of our result in the ME here.

We are playing about 40BB still and there is heaps of fish still in the event. Day 1 I still felt some pressure moneywise, but now that we done so well on the cash tables being 'scared money' is no issue anymore.
I had to go home for a bit in between due to my kid being ill, but it ended up being false alarm.

little over a mincash. I'll post an update about the entire event this weekend.
It has been quite the eventful few days. My cash game has been really profitable this week, so much that I'm already heaps in profit for my stakeholders these two live games. Allready paid out the profit and we are freerolling Prague.

Also found a staker for online and most likely live games as well. Online I'm going to be playing anything up to $109 and fully staked for special events like COOPs and simular series on other clients.
Live I'm going to play at least one Unibet and Pokerstars series.
This week we also decided to relocate for at least a year. My girlfriend has the option to do her minor on Curaçao September next year, It is a great location for me to play in a perfect timezone and with our son still being so young it is something we can do now and maybe not later.

But as I said, I'll post a big update this weekend.

Namur
The event was pretty cool. Went there on my own, but did bring my bike. I never been in the area before, but they told me that the cycling is pretty decent around Namur. I'm glad I did! Essentially I couldn't have coped with the place without. Namur is kind of boring for the rest. It has some restaurants and clubs. The casino is really well managed. But not much else.
I planned on playing a €250 event upfront to the Main event, but decided not to after I had a really solid and long cash game session. I rather go and blow of some steam instead of being inside again for a couple of days. Skipping the event was the best decision I could make probably, because the some evening I won big in a 5/10€ PLO game. Got on the right side of a couple of setups and essentially that one session made this trip and the next trip already profitable. As I posted previously, I sold 40% of my schedule and being able to pay out the stake holders halfway the session is a pretty cool feeling.
The main event was pretty tough due to my table draw. I had some sharks on the tables and no real fish. Struggled pretty much the entire day to build a stack and was happy to make day 2 with a bit over starting stack. Day two I moved tables and the tournament seemed to be a lot softer than day one. People were handing me chips almost every other hand. A setup on the end of the day led me short to day 3. Busted early day three for about €2700.

Stake
After day 1 I was asked by some guy who had been on my table the entire day if I wanted to join him and his friends for some drinks. We had some good laughs on the table during the event. He eventually introduced my to his staker who was keen on taking me in his stable. For me it is a pretty big opportunity and the deal they offered is probably one of the better ones a staked player can get. It allows me to play pretty high and it gives me the chance to play at least two more live series. This time a full schedule.
Online Im going to be playing low to high stakes. Essentially $5 to $109 and value MTTs that are a bit higher. MTTs like the Sunday Million. Also I'll be allowed to play bigger schedules during the special online series (..COOPS on Stars, IPOPs on Ipoker, XL series on 888, etc.)
The offer comes with a lot of coaching both live as online. I already started playing my first sessions this weekend.

Relocation
My girlfriend has to start her minor next september. She has a few options and one of them is to go to Curaçao for a year. Now I bought my house here just two years ago and it is not even entirely done yet. We recently got a kid, so it is not something I considered. But we got talking and essentially we both really want to do it. It is a perfect timezone to be grinding in for me and the climate, and laidback lifestyle is something that suits us pretty well. I can do some diving, kitesurfing and grind hours that are within a decent timeframe most of the time. My girlfriend can do her internship and study in a location she loves and the kid is just happy to be wherever we are.
The plan is to move somewhere mid august, unless we can find trustworthy renters for our house sooner.

I'll update the OP as soon as I have calculated all the numbers. I'm cashing out every dime of my own from the online platforms, so there is not going to be a bankroll update anymore online. That is something between staker and stakee. I'll try and update the blog from time to time, let's say every few weeks. Especially in the beginning there is going to be little time for blogging next to the studying and grinding.

Prague!! One time pl0x!!

Updates will follow at The end of the day or tomorrow early

Apologies for the lack of updates.

Essentially not much happened. Busted the €1K event sadly on day one and opted not to re-enter.
I did satty into the €5K main. Going to play day 1b.
Sunday I had a live coaching session which has my baffled really. I learned so much new stuff it is ridiculous. I felt exhausted after the session....
Played some MTTs on the sunday for a break even day, but it gave me the option to implement all I’ve learned straight away. It did lead to a ticket to Sochi main event in March.

Back home after what has been a really nice trip! Would definitely go back to Prague...

Resultwise we done alright. With the main event ticket ship and a couple of profitable cash sessions we are about €1K in profit after all expenses. The casino, organisation and people where pretty cool. The food was nice and Prague is just a gorgeous city. Obviously having my family there made it all so much better.
The plan now is just to grind plenty online and make a plan for the live games next year. Currently I'm for sure going to Sochi, Russia and one of the Unibet stops. I'm currently debating my staker the option to go to the PCA. My girlfriend and I wanted to go on a sunny holiday at the start of the next year and make a quick visit to Curacao to have a look at livingaccomodations. We might as well pop over to the Bahama's and do a bit of grinding in what is supposed to be one of the best stops for live pokerzz.
The only problem is going to be taxes. I have to pay 30% over my winnings(not profits, but winnings) So it could be quite expensive or breakeven at best with profit splits and all. That's why I am debating my options with my staker. He is quite willing to help out and I'm not fixed on the necessary to actual only profit moneywise every event I play. The experience and actual being in the Bahama's playing event is worth a lot on itself.

Online I am glad to see pokerstars is changing things a bit. We did not plan on playing to much on stars, but with the current chance of direction it is getting more interesting to play the site. Obviously it still is the client where tournament-wise the most value is found. Player loyalty has been on a downfall tho. But with the current changes and perhaps (still to be anounced) the upgrade in rakeback the client is going to be in the schedule a lot for sure.

The relocation to Curacao is going to sooner. We are actually keen on leaving somewhere closer to february. So a lot is happening and I am really happy about it.

I’ll lay out a post with my ambitions and goals for the coming year. I’ve had a couple of coaching sessions now. Mostly focussed on the strategic part of the game, but also on the mental part of poker.
I have an ambitious mind. That means I havr to do some incredibly high goal setting to keep the focus and will to be on top. Obviously winning money is a nice aspect of the game, but it should not and never be the main reason to do anything in life. I’ve created a situation for myself where I can aim for high goals without having to think of money. I still work an actual ‘dayjob’ But heaps of time investing has allowed me to be financially stable without having to work heaps of hours. That means the staking agrement I’m in is not subject to any form of profit or loss in the process.

I’ll edit this post later tonight with a full outline of my goals and ambitions for 2018, as well as the goals and ambitions my staker has for me in 2018.

Sorry for the lack of updates.

Thnks have been quite interesting. I've been running mega hot live in 2018, already having won two tournaments and final tabled a decent amount more. And I have not played that many live games to be honest. So can;t complain!
Bahama's where pretty cool. I left with a huge profit. Life is easy at the moment. We have not been home again since the end of december. I'll have some time to put in some updates next couple of weeks as I'm going to ease out of the l've grind for a bit to manage everything at home and put in some online time.

I'll update a more elaborate post this thursday for whoever is interested.