"1 Time"
WCOOP has gone badly for me for the days I've been able to grind. I've been running really bad on the virtual felt but Iam super excitied for the 5200 main event tommorow. I feel like I'm gonna bring my A game to the biggest online tournament of the year. I like my chances.
Had a great time at TIFF as I always do. My favorites of the fest were Black Swan and Blue Valentine. Black Swan is a mindf**k film about a ballet dancer and Blue Valentine is a modern relationship drama. Check em out when they are released.
Haven't used a "1 time" since winning the Fallsview Poker Classic earlier this year. I'm using it now for tommorow's online session. 1 time. 1 time. 1 time.
Peace,
Simon Charette
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Good news for WCOOP, Bad news for TIFF
Looks like I'll be grinding most of WCOOP after all. The TIFF lineup isn't it's best and I'll be able to play most of the WCOOP events. Excitied to try to win a WCOOP bracelet. September is going to be a crazy month. The day after the WCOOP Main event I'm flying to London for the EPT where I'll be playing live tournaments every single day.
This is my Tentative TIFF schedule:
Sat. 11th: Trust (11 AM - Gonna grind WCOOP after screening)
13th: Everything Must Go (4:30 PM), John Carpenter's The Ward (Midnight)
14th: Black Swan (10 AM) Rabbit Hole (2:30 PM) Essential Killing (9:30 PM)
15th: Blue Valentine (6:15 PM) Promises Written in Water (10:45 PM)
18th: KABOOM (12:15 PM) Cave of Forgotten Dreams (9 PM)
Should be grinding WCOOP every day I'm not seeing movies.
Peace,
Simon Charette
This is my Tentative TIFF schedule:
Sat. 11th: Trust (11 AM - Gonna grind WCOOP after screening)
13th: Everything Must Go (4:30 PM), John Carpenter's The Ward (Midnight)
14th: Black Swan (10 AM) Rabbit Hole (2:30 PM) Essential Killing (9:30 PM)
15th: Blue Valentine (6:15 PM) Promises Written in Water (10:45 PM)
18th: KABOOM (12:15 PM) Cave of Forgotten Dreams (9 PM)
Should be grinding WCOOP every day I'm not seeing movies.
Peace,
Simon Charette
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Pot Limit Omaha is the nuts.
Short update here. Going into hour 6 of a PLO Cash game session and I'm having such a good time. It's a really refreshing to play a game other than no limit hold em. Playing more flops and getting way more action every hand. Up about 3 buy ins at the moment but it can change quickly!
It's also nice to be able to jump into a game for 2 hours and then quit when you feel like doing something else. Tournaments can be so draining on the mind, body and spirit. I'm gonna try and put more hours into PLO cash game sessions during TIFF where my days will be rather full.
It's also nice to be able to jump into a game for 2 hours and then quit when you feel like doing something else. Tournaments can be so draining on the mind, body and spirit. I'm gonna try and put more hours into PLO cash game sessions during TIFF where my days will be rather full.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Summer Coming to an End/The T.O. Countdown
"I'm skipping most of WCOOP"
"LOL. That's just silly"
-Simon Charette and Kevin "imalucsack" Macphee (MSN convo)
Summer is coming to an end in Toronto and I hope we still get a couple more warm days to enjoy. I decided to skip the CPT event in Calgary this weeked to try and a have a relaxing fun one in Toronto. I really wanted to defend my title as "CPT Champion" but the timing of the event along with the expected prize pools aren't enticing enough to get me out. However, EPT London is a go and I'll be leaving for England on September 27th, not long after TIFF.
TIFF! I get jazzed for this every year. 10 days of movies played all across the city. Drama, comedy, action, horror, foreign, experimental; The Toronto Film Festival has every type of film you can think of and we get a lot of movies here before they play anywhere else. Only problem with TIFF is that it's scheduled right in the middle of WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) every year! Gah!
A man must have priorities. and TIFF takes it. I skip most of WCOOP every year to enjoy the festival. I'm a laughing stock to many of my friends in the poker world for skipping the biggest prize pools of the year. They consider it unfathomable to not take advantage of so many high equity tournaments. They might be right. However, this is an easy decision for me. I love movies and the plan is to have a successful career as a screenwriter a couple years down the line. Not to mention, I've only got 3 months left in Toronto before I begin wandering the world in search of love and meaning (and maybe a 10k tournament here and there :). I've put myself through some serious torture trying to keep up with poker and my personal life in the past. Some decisions of which I regret and some I defintely don't. Either way I was too young to understand and I think it's OK to cut myself slack for those mistakes I did make. Gotta remember there is both life equity and poker equity. They aren't the same thing.
Balance. This is the key. A word not found in most professional player's vocabulary. Balance.
Peace,
Simon Charette
"LOL. That's just silly"
-Simon Charette and Kevin "imalucsack" Macphee (MSN convo)
Summer is coming to an end in Toronto and I hope we still get a couple more warm days to enjoy. I decided to skip the CPT event in Calgary this weeked to try and a have a relaxing fun one in Toronto. I really wanted to defend my title as "CPT Champion" but the timing of the event along with the expected prize pools aren't enticing enough to get me out. However, EPT London is a go and I'll be leaving for England on September 27th, not long after TIFF.
TIFF! I get jazzed for this every year. 10 days of movies played all across the city. Drama, comedy, action, horror, foreign, experimental; The Toronto Film Festival has every type of film you can think of and we get a lot of movies here before they play anywhere else. Only problem with TIFF is that it's scheduled right in the middle of WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) every year! Gah!
A man must have priorities. and TIFF takes it. I skip most of WCOOP every year to enjoy the festival. I'm a laughing stock to many of my friends in the poker world for skipping the biggest prize pools of the year. They consider it unfathomable to not take advantage of so many high equity tournaments. They might be right. However, this is an easy decision for me. I love movies and the plan is to have a successful career as a screenwriter a couple years down the line. Not to mention, I've only got 3 months left in Toronto before I begin wandering the world in search of love and meaning (and maybe a 10k tournament here and there :). I've put myself through some serious torture trying to keep up with poker and my personal life in the past. Some decisions of which I regret and some I defintely don't. Either way I was too young to understand and I think it's OK to cut myself slack for those mistakes I did make. Gotta remember there is both life equity and poker equity. They aren't the same thing.
Balance. This is the key. A word not found in most professional player's vocabulary. Balance.
Peace,
Simon Charette
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The Month Without Smoking
"Cigarettes are highly addictive"
(written on any pack of cigarettes sold in Canada)
It's been about a month since I quit smoking and I'm so thankful that time has passed. This has been a HUGE goal of mine. I only smoked for 2 years but it defintely affected my breathing and overall composure. So happy to be through with it. Building new habits like working out regularly and eating properly will be the new goals for a while. I can't encourage people enough to quit, just as people have encouraged me. Thanks to all my friends for the support I've received this month on Facebook and Twitter. It was awesome and really kept me motivated.
I've played very few online sessions since quitting (skipped most of FTOPS) and they've gone quite poorly. Been too irritated or annoyed from withdrawal to play my A game and in retrospect I should have not played at all.
There is a small chance I'll go to Calgary for the CPT event but I don't think there's enough action to warrant me to go. Which is tough since I'm 1 for 1 in CPT events. The plan is still to play almost no online poker and just chill out for a while. The Toronto International Film Festival is in a few weeks time which is a great time to be in T.O. I'm pretty sure I'll travel to EPT London end of September. I've never been to London and all my friends in the poker world will be there for the entire month. I'm sure it'll be fun.
Thinking good thoughts. Peace.
Simon Charette.
(written on any pack of cigarettes sold in Canada)
It's been about a month since I quit smoking and I'm so thankful that time has passed. This has been a HUGE goal of mine. I only smoked for 2 years but it defintely affected my breathing and overall composure. So happy to be through with it. Building new habits like working out regularly and eating properly will be the new goals for a while. I can't encourage people enough to quit, just as people have encouraged me. Thanks to all my friends for the support I've received this month on Facebook and Twitter. It was awesome and really kept me motivated.
I've played very few online sessions since quitting (skipped most of FTOPS) and they've gone quite poorly. Been too irritated or annoyed from withdrawal to play my A game and in retrospect I should have not played at all.
There is a small chance I'll go to Calgary for the CPT event but I don't think there's enough action to warrant me to go. Which is tough since I'm 1 for 1 in CPT events. The plan is still to play almost no online poker and just chill out for a while. The Toronto International Film Festival is in a few weeks time which is a great time to be in T.O. I'm pretty sure I'll travel to EPT London end of September. I've never been to London and all my friends in the poker world will be there for the entire month. I'm sure it'll be fun.
Thinking good thoughts. Peace.
Simon Charette.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Feel Good Inc. - Travel Recap and Future Plans
Jules: "I'll just walk the earth."
Vincent: "What'cha mean walk the earth?"
Jules: "You know, walk the earth, meet people... get into adventures. Like Caine from Kung Fu."
Vincent: "So you'll be a bum."
-Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta (Pulp Fiction)
10 days without smoking! Apparently this isn't much of an accomplishment as smokers often relapse months after never having a cigarette but I'm feeling confident I can follow through. I'm breathing better and feel better about myself overall.
I'm staying in Toronto for the rest of the summer up until TIFF in September (Toronto International Film Festival). TIFF is the true grind for movie-lovers like myself and I try not to miss anything that comes to town. It's tough because we get over 300 movies over 10 days in the city. It's really easy to miss a sleeper hit. Last year I sat right in front of Nicholas Cage and Werner Hertzog at the premiere of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." It was one of the best nights of my life. Cage's starpower is near blinding in person. Werner has to be one of the most unreal human beings on the planet, a truely fearless director.
Since I'm staying put in TO for a few months I thought I'd go over the different places I traveled to while following the poker circuit this past 6 months:
Nassau, Bahamas (PCA)
Niagara Falls, Ontario (CPT Fallsview Classic. Boom!)
Los Angeles, California (WPT)
Laurenceburg, Indiana (WPT)
Uncastle, Connecticut (NAPT)
San Remo, Italy (EPT)
Monte Carlo (EPT)
Amsterdam!
Las Vegas, Nevada (WSOP)
Fair bit of traveling and I'm far from done for the year. I've done a lot of thinking since being home and I'm pretty sure I'm going to move away from TO at the end of the year. To move... NOWHERE! With no real reason to stay put in any one spot I feel my best option is to live out of a suitcase for 6 months to a year and see parts of the world I've never before. I can still make it to all the best value live poker tournaments but I'd like to check out other spots like Australia, New York, New Zealand, London and Toyko but this is all very preliminary talk.
It's exciting to think about. I'll still be playing poker of course, but less of it for a while. Maybe I'll be inspired to write again. Maybe I'll fall in love with another country or culture. A search for some wholeness.
I hadn't planned on grinding FTOPS but Ben "NeverscaredB" Willinofsky might be staying with me for a few days next week. Could be fun with someone to grind with.
Peace,
Simon Charette
Vincent: "What'cha mean walk the earth?"
Jules: "You know, walk the earth, meet people... get into adventures. Like Caine from Kung Fu."
Vincent: "So you'll be a bum."
-Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta (Pulp Fiction)
10 days without smoking! Apparently this isn't much of an accomplishment as smokers often relapse months after never having a cigarette but I'm feeling confident I can follow through. I'm breathing better and feel better about myself overall.
I'm staying in Toronto for the rest of the summer up until TIFF in September (Toronto International Film Festival). TIFF is the true grind for movie-lovers like myself and I try not to miss anything that comes to town. It's tough because we get over 300 movies over 10 days in the city. It's really easy to miss a sleeper hit. Last year I sat right in front of Nicholas Cage and Werner Hertzog at the premiere of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." It was one of the best nights of my life. Cage's starpower is near blinding in person. Werner has to be one of the most unreal human beings on the planet, a truely fearless director.
Since I'm staying put in TO for a few months I thought I'd go over the different places I traveled to while following the poker circuit this past 6 months:
Nassau, Bahamas (PCA)
Niagara Falls, Ontario (CPT Fallsview Classic. Boom!)
Los Angeles, California (WPT)
Laurenceburg, Indiana (WPT)
Uncastle, Connecticut (NAPT)
San Remo, Italy (EPT)
Monte Carlo (EPT)
Amsterdam!
Las Vegas, Nevada (WSOP)
Fair bit of traveling and I'm far from done for the year. I've done a lot of thinking since being home and I'm pretty sure I'm going to move away from TO at the end of the year. To move... NOWHERE! With no real reason to stay put in any one spot I feel my best option is to live out of a suitcase for 6 months to a year and see parts of the world I've never before. I can still make it to all the best value live poker tournaments but I'd like to check out other spots like Australia, New York, New Zealand, London and Toyko but this is all very preliminary talk.
It's exciting to think about. I'll still be playing poker of course, but less of it for a while. Maybe I'll be inspired to write again. Maybe I'll fall in love with another country or culture. A search for some wholeness.
I hadn't planned on grinding FTOPS but Ben "NeverscaredB" Willinofsky might be staying with me for a few days next week. Could be fun with someone to grind with.
Peace,
Simon Charette
Friday, July 23, 2010
A New Phase of My Life to Begin
"Just don't think about it."
-Joseph "Floes" Serock
The WSOP has come and gone. It was a disapointing series but I really put my heart into it and I'm proud of my efforts. I made it just barely into day 2 of the main event without making a pair post-flop. That's right. I didn't make one pair nor did I even flop a draw (in 11 hours of poker!). Couldn't have run any colder. Oh well, it's just one tournament. Just happened to be the biggest and best one of the year. I'll be back again next year.
After busting from the main event I did something quite out of character. I went skydiving! Maybe not a big deal for most people but I'm deathly afraid of heights. My Vegas roommate Joe Serock told me not to think about it and just do it. Really happy I listened to him and went for it. I can proudly say I'm over my fear.
I'm making some big changes in my life (Improvements I hope) in the next couple months. I'm on day 5 of quitting smoking and I feel really good that I'll see it through this time. I'm also taking the next few months off poker with the exception of Sundays and an online session here or there. I've worked extremely hard in the last 3 years and certainly earned time for socializing and finding other things in my life that have meaning and make me happy. I wanna explore the world and parts of myself I've left dormant for too long now. My goal is to feel fulfilled and HAPPY. This will be the only time in my life I've put my mental and physical well-being ahead of everything else.
Hopefully I can return to my real passion in the next few months: Screenwriting. Most people in the poker world don't know that I graduated with a degree in Film Production and Screenwriting from York University in Toronto. I've really put my creativity on hold in the last few years to pursue poker but I'm ready to pick it back up again. I'm very grateful to have had great success in poker and I'm grateful for all the experiences and friends poker has given me. It's been a dream come true for me and I mean that with 100% honesty. But things change, I've changed, and there is a whole messload of experiences I've yet to have because I put life on hold.
I think it's time to pursue a new dream.
Peace,
Simon Charette
-Joseph "Floes" Serock
The WSOP has come and gone. It was a disapointing series but I really put my heart into it and I'm proud of my efforts. I made it just barely into day 2 of the main event without making a pair post-flop. That's right. I didn't make one pair nor did I even flop a draw (in 11 hours of poker!). Couldn't have run any colder. Oh well, it's just one tournament. Just happened to be the biggest and best one of the year. I'll be back again next year.
After busting from the main event I did something quite out of character. I went skydiving! Maybe not a big deal for most people but I'm deathly afraid of heights. My Vegas roommate Joe Serock told me not to think about it and just do it. Really happy I listened to him and went for it. I can proudly say I'm over my fear.
I'm making some big changes in my life (Improvements I hope) in the next couple months. I'm on day 5 of quitting smoking and I feel really good that I'll see it through this time. I'm also taking the next few months off poker with the exception of Sundays and an online session here or there. I've worked extremely hard in the last 3 years and certainly earned time for socializing and finding other things in my life that have meaning and make me happy. I wanna explore the world and parts of myself I've left dormant for too long now. My goal is to feel fulfilled and HAPPY. This will be the only time in my life I've put my mental and physical well-being ahead of everything else.
Hopefully I can return to my real passion in the next few months: Screenwriting. Most people in the poker world don't know that I graduated with a degree in Film Production and Screenwriting from York University in Toronto. I've really put my creativity on hold in the last few years to pursue poker but I'm ready to pick it back up again. I'm very grateful to have had great success in poker and I'm grateful for all the experiences and friends poker has given me. It's been a dream come true for me and I mean that with 100% honesty. But things change, I've changed, and there is a whole messload of experiences I've yet to have because I put life on hold.
I think it's time to pursue a new dream.
Peace,
Simon Charette
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