Originally posted by Mantelo
Quick update that with the last Sunday session, my record-length Bankroll Challenge is complete
crack!! que alegria ver que con constancia todo llega! mis mas sinceras felicitaciones!!
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Originally posted by BIRJAAN
Originally posted by Mantelo
Quick update that with the last Sunday session, my record-length Bankroll Challenge is complete
crack!! What a joy to see that with perseverance everything comes! My sincerest congratulations!!
Translated with Google translate. So it could be wrong, but try to speak English next time on our English forum 
Thank you for the interview Mantelo https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/How-Mantelo-won-almost-$100k-starting-at-freerolls_128223/
Thanks again for good vibes! Even if it is in Spanish 
There is a 5 minute read on PokerStrategy News section, should go well with a cup of coffee. Or beer 
https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/How-Mantelo-won-almost-$100k-starting-at-freerolls_128223/br >
Edit: Should always refresh page before posting You are very welcome Barry 
Very good read, can definitively recommend. I need to push the Gibraltar Casino to finally start a small tourney series again to get mantelo to come here again. But I am afraid because of the limited size our GTD will be pretty low (and because lots of spanish lowrollers - but pretty bad ones though)
Originally posted by Mantelo
I would like to visit Gibraltar just for that famous football stadium picture
best time to visit then is late july/early August. Why? Well, those tiny Gibraltarian clubs get to play 1 game of Champions League qualification & 3 games of europa conference league qualification.
Last two years ended in a disaster while in the year before one team lucked its way to the Conference league group stage - just to loose all games horribly.
Welcome here any time!
I guess visiting Gibraltar would be a good idea together with playing PokerStars Live event in Malaga. I didn't realize this city is so close, probably an hour drive with car?
I just checked Google Maps and if you don't want to pay toll it's 2 hours and 17 minutes driving from Malaga to Gibraltar.
Yap, the summer holidays are over and we all need to be back in action I though I will be having a busy period all summer long, but an (un)expected success in one tournament allowed me to have some chill weeks as well I'm still not sure what my plans will be for the remaining of the year from grinding perspective as at the moment I still don't feel like I need to push myself too much. Live events are something that intrigues me so let's start monthly review from this perspective
1. Visit 8 countries, at least 1 of them new to me
January - Krakow, Poland (non poker)
February - FPT Paris
March - PokerStars Eureka, Rozvadov
April - Irish Open
June - Summer Festival Malta
September - UKIPT London
UK is going to be my 6th trip this year, very precisely under the plan. And although it is going to be like 10th time for me in London, it is such an action packed city that you always find something new here. I've already checked some Premier League games on that weekend that I would like to attend, so even if I bust early from the tournament, I won't be too disappointed
2. Experience of 10 educational trails in Lithuania
Saidės educational trail
Karmazinai Hiking Trail
Educational trail of forest resources
Ribiškės Routes
Pučkoriai Park Trail
Meironys Natural Trail
Parnidis cognitive pathway
A 2 day trip to Kuršių Nerija (Curonian Spit), a region in West Lithuania. This district is 1 out of 4 places in Lithuania that has UNESCO sign. A very unique place, forests, deserts, lagoons, all are here very close each other. Definitely worth visiting another time for more days
3. Extend Trophy board or ship Major MTT online event
Despite scoring my biggest online result, no trophy here But at least I can check as completed my next goal!
4. Reach Final Table in Sunday Million, GG Masters or any 1 Million Guaranteed event
1 million guaranteed Final Table silver! To be honest, that's probably the most difficult goal from all I have set and it is a surprise that I managed to complete it first.
5. Buy 5 art paintings
The first has arrived! Freshly received, so still not hanging on the wall. For some reason I enjoy abstractions, and as you may expect from my blog, colorful abstractions especially
6. Study poker 360 hours
January - 36 hours
February - 12 hours
March - 33 hours
April - 10 hours
May - 37 hours
June - 26 hours
July - 35 hours
August - 12 hours
Total 201 hours after 35 weeks. As mentioned earlier, that win allowed me to take break from playing and studying as well. Can't complaint, every success should be celebrated so no harsh feelings over that low number for August. September should be green again 
7. Foster our Homestead
We have found some unexpected "guests" under the trees 
Not sure if we could taste that melon before snow, but those Orange cap boletes were delicious! Already paying off
8. Reach 50k XPoints on French Duolingo
Almost 45k points already. If I maintain that streak which currently is 623 days, I should close this goal at the Christmas dinner table
9. Finish in Top3 with Top Kickers reserve team, both in Winter and Summer seasons
3 straight wins after summer break and now we are comfortably leading the table. Still 6 games to play but having an 8 point difference from chasing pack is a "luxury" lead allowing us not to feel stressed even if we drop points. But we all know not to be overly excited when you have a big ChipLead at the Final table - celebrate when the job is done
10. Read 12 books
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
The Craft of Intelligence, by Allen Dulles
Father, There will always be America by Loreta Jastramskienė
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
Process, by Kafka Franz
Die 32 by Mario Reading
Silk by Alessandro Baricco
People of War by Giedrius Petkevičius
With war in Ukraine not looking to stop soon, I picked a book about people who were involved in World War I and World War II. Not many happy stories there, and it doesn't matter which side you were in. However, it was interesting to know how one battle led to another, what decisions influenced victories or loses, and how it all could have been different if other tactics have been used.
So that's how my year is progressing so far. Results above the expectations but I still need to work on the basics to have a good road for the future
Those mushrooms remind my of chasing them in the woods with my father when I was younger! My parents also used to dry them so we had for soups and sauces for the whole year (and not get a full stomach for the whole of autumn). My brother still keeps the tradition alive in Germany very much to the dismay of his wife - filling up the freezer.
Originally posted by SDK1987
I just checked Google Maps and if you don't want to pay toll it's 2 hours and 17 minutes driving from Malaga to Gibraltar.
Came back from Holidays yesterday, 15€ toll road and doable in 1.5h on the toll road.
Coastal road depends very much on the time of the day. Early mornings, lunch rush hour (yeah, that exists around 1pm) and afternoon rush at 5pm will make it a bad decision to take the coastal road. Still worth the look and you got some nice restaurants and beaches along the way.
Marbella to Gib is a bit more than 50% of the drive.
To anyone reading this - if you visit Gibraltar do not enter by car to avoid lengthy waiting times of up to 2 hours on the boarder each way. Buses work good and most things are easily reachable by foot.
Originally posted by Mantelo
I guess visiting Gibraltar would be a good idea together with playing PokerStars Live event in Malaga. I didn't realize this city is so close, probably an hour drive with car?
...that definitively is the best way to combine it - especially for poker players. But I do think you mixed up Malaga and Marbella, didn't you? Not that if you zoom out on the map it really matters...
Came back from Holidays yesterday, 15€ toll road and doable in 1.5h on the toll road.
Maybe call Jose the taxi driver who made in 40 minutes, doing 140km/h in the 40km/h zone avoiding all the paid roads 
That's good to know. I don't think I have plans to go to Gibraltar soon.
Originally posted by imgoingtomirage
Came back from Holidays yesterday, 15€ toll road and doable in 1.5h on the toll road.
Maybe call Jose the taxi driver who made in 40 minutes, doing 140km/h in the 40km/h zone avoiding all the paid roads
That would be dangerous if he would drive so fast in a 40KM/H zone
Actually I was trying to satellite into this. But since I won a seat to London first and those festivals are almost the same dates, Malaga will wait. Alongside Gibraltar
Ah, nice - so Malaga... normally if people come around for cash game it would all go to Marbella. Good to know that both options are available.
Malaga is also a nice historic town and unless you visit in July/August (40°C+) nice for sightseeing.
While Malaga waits for another opportunity, next month I will attend WSOP Circuit in Rozvadov
Originally posted by SDK1987
Not to bad ether. So you have a busy live poker schedule
It seems like, but I wouldn't mind to have couple of more options at the End of the Year. As major poker operators are competing for big events, I guess it is us players who win the mostAs for last week, I had couple of deep runs and one nice win
Also with increased bankroll, I can now enter some prestigious events like this below. 1500$ Freezout WSOP event attracted a lot of sharks, at my table plenty of beasts including Sam Greenwood, who I was lucky to eliminate with Allins on the Turn. I was doing really good in this tournament, somewhere around Top10 stack before GG faced some technical issues and the tournament was stopped. They say it should be rescheduled for this Sunday, which I will not be able to play because of my Live festival in UKIPT London, so I wonder if they allow me to take ICM deal and exit or I will have to blind out
Hello Grinders
Last week I attended UKIPT London event and.. got it to the Final Table! But everything from the start
I had an early flight on Friday and entered the tournament on Day 1B with a chance to reenter later at night on Day 1C. But I only needed one bullet as everything went smoothly from the start. Got a soft table and was chipping up nicely without any Allins preflop, and then I pushed my chips at the River, I was always on a winning side. In the middle of the day the table got tougher, no weak players so it was more challenging to collect chips. At one point I ended up in a coinflip with T♣:T♦: against A♥:Q♦: which I held and bagged my chips for day2 with average stack.
Day2 also started great, picked some pots with well timed bluffs and some hero calls and eventually I saw myself into Top5 stacks. With 2 tables left I was at the chipleader mark when I looked at K♣:K♥:. Unfortunately it couldn't held preflop against opponents A♥:Q♦: and I got back to average stack. From this point I got card dead but still managed to navigate myself to Final table holding 10BB.
On the last day I got an early double up A♥:7♥: vs K♦:Q♠: but still was almost handcuffed due to ICM. Other guys didn't care about this too much so I laddered nicely couple of places before my last hand of good looking K♦:J♦: didn't held.
No harsh feelings as 5th place is still above expectations when entering Final Table with a shortest stack. However it would have been nice to fight for a trophy and hopefully I will have my chances in the future. With my next trip to Rozvadov in two weeks, everything could happen if my hotstreak continues