Full excerpt at http://simoncharette.blogspot.com

"Why did we get on the first train we saw. We should get off and at least check if it's the right one."
"But then we won't have sweat for the train ride."

-Matt "Ch0ppy" Kay and Simon Charette

It's very important for poker players traveling together to have some gambling sweat in one form or another. Anything can be bet on. Throughout the course of an entire day money can trade hands on the most absurd of bets. It's pretty well known that all poker players gamble for who pays their meals (Different versions of Credit Card Roulette). However, in search of action, much more unusual wagers can be made.

In a town near La Spezia, Italy, me and 5 other Canadians went hiking. On our return to the town we saw 2 young kids playing heads-up soccer in a fenced off area with 2 nets. Without hesitation, Mike "Timex" Mcdonald and Andrew "AChen" Chen made a wager on which kid would score first. Only 30 seconds or so after making this wager, we all realized they weren't playing 1 on 1 soccer. One kid was just playing net and the other trying to score on him! Timex had far the worst of it here.

It actually gave us a lot of sweat because on shot rebounds, the ball would almost roll to the other side of the mini-field and the shooter wasn't trying to stop it from going in. We were going nuts on the rail! Dozens of Italian on-lookers could not understand why we were so excitied. AChen shipped the bet eventually. There is a 1-minute video recording someone took of this that I will post on the blog when I get my hands on it. I continued to bet with Timex after lunch on an actual game of 1 on 1 soccer that was going on in the same area. The Italian guy who I was betting on gave me a high five when he realized how nuts I was going for every goal he scored.

I played very well in EPT San Remo and went out on a race I felt was +ev to take. Felt good about my play. I'm feeling physically sick 2 days before the Monte Carlo Grand Final so I'm gonna take it easy and hopefully feel up to playing when the time comes. This will be the biggest buy-in tournament I've ever played and most likely ever play. I have to play my very best or I'm going to be upset with myself. Getting mad at yourself for mistakes comes naturally to great poker players and generally anyone in life who is a workaholic.

Monte Carlo tommorow.

Peace,

Simon Charette (Pokerbrat13

Excerpt from http://simoncharette.blogspot.com/
Full blog is there.

EPT San Remo Day 1
"I'm the worst...oh I guess not" (Me checking down every street with QQ on ace high board to see Italian guy turn up AK on river)
"Naw, you're still the worst."

-Simon Charette and Ben "NeverScaredB" Wilinofsky

Somehow only winning a total of around 15-20 pots for the entire day I managed to end the day with 94k in chips (Starting stack 30k). I had aces twice and kings once and got all the money in all 3 times. The biggest pot being about 110k where a crazy Italian player who stacked off on a 7-5-2-3 board with 88 on the turn against my aces. I wasn't dealt many playable hands throughout the whole day and am really happy on the timing of those pots. I never stopped getting 3 and 4 bet. The whole table was laughing as I opened only 3 pots in the last 3 levels and was 3 bet everytime. It became to be a running joke. But hey, I got 94k and am ectastic to be going into 600/1200 tommorow.

As I type this Mike "Timex" Mcdonald is passed out with his face on the toilet seat sitting crossed legged on the floor. Puke in the garbage can and toilet. I hear a gurgle every now and then. I took some pictures but I'll probably keep them to myself. I'm also rooming with Ch0ppy and are waiting for the breakfast place to open in our hotel as they have the best juice ever. I tried to make a smoking bet against myself with them yesterday and cracked in a mere 8 hours or so after I realized I wouldn't be able to sleep. Sick thing is, I haven't slept anyway and will probably play day 2 with no sleep. Not a big deal as I don't sleep much anyway, I didn't even shut my eyes the night before the Fallsview Classic final table. I actually went drinking the night before with Gavin Smith and Chris Bell too and things worked out. I want an EPT title bad enough where nothing is going to matter. I plan on winning.

One thing I don't like about Italy is that Italian men feel the need to slam the table with their fist when they win a big pot. So unclassy but I guess they just can't help it.

I can't help but be excitied. Lookin' good.

Peace,
Simon Charette

Blog HomePage: http://simoncharette.blogspot.com/

"Ya know, one of these days, something REALLY bad will happen to you. IT HAS TO!"
-Elaine Bennice (Talking to Jerry in the Hot n' Heavy episode of Seinfeld)

I think luck is the most influential factor in our lives. Where we are born, our means, the people who we've met and influenced our decisions and personalities, and the opportunities that present itself. Worst thing is that most of our luck we can never see or understand. It's invisble. You could have missed a chance to meet your future soulmate by sitting on a different seat on the bus or just narrowly missing them by a minute at the bar. Maybe that extra gust of wind cost you from winning your downhill sky race which is only measured in milliseconds of difference. In judged events at the Olympics like figure skating, a judge's mood during one particular set could make the difference between a gold medal and being off the poteum. Thinking about the string of events that consitute one's "Luck" can drive someone absolutely batty. I used to give myself massive headaches trying to wrap my head around universal consequences of luck. One of my favorite movies, "Match Point" opens with a monologue about the importance of being lucky in life. Most of our life is not in our control even if we feel like it is. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.

Only thing that matters in this life is giving yourself the best chance to get lucky. Maximizing your "life" equity. Taking every edge you can find to accomplish something you want. You can't win if you don't play. If there's a job you really want, maybe beyond doing the interview you can stop in and say "Hi" to the manager couple times a week without even mentioning the position. Maybe if you're looking for a partner you could spend more time at bars, clubs, museums, etc. Doing things like this doesn't gurantee anything. Doing little things to maximize your equity in getting the best possible result will help, but in the end it's more important to be lucky.

My first reaction when I think about the last 2-3 years in poker for me is that I've been incredibly lucky. I fully assume I've run far above expectation in tournaments. At the same time, I worked harder at it than anything else in my life.. I knew it might have negative effects on my personal life, but I did it anyway. I put in insane hours online and even just watching others play online. Read a ton of books, joined multiple training sites for poker. I put myself in a position to get lucky and luck has happened to fall on my side exactly where I had hoped it would. I haven't done the same in my personal life at times and I've felt unlucky as a result. But who knows if I really have been, it's invisble anyway. I could have easily squandered opportunities without realizing it. I need to put in some more time in maxmizing my life equity outside of poker. However, it will have to wait until after the world series because the plan right now is to win a bracelet. We'll see what happens. For now, if you play poker and someone tells you that winning is all about luck, you can tell them from me that much of life is determined by luck. I don't care who they are or how hard they have worked. If they are doing well, they have been lucky in some fashion they probably don't realize. Luck matters. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

Good Luck All!
Simon Charette
(pokerbrat13/tedlogan19)