Gotta Be A Somebody Before You Can Be A Nobody


Big Yellow Taxi

"Paved paradise to put up a parking lot"

Wheels Down, I enter Lonely Planet, and wish there were more people. Countdown-3-2-1...



Remember the gypsy curse---May you get what you wish for.

Ba-bamm, like rap music, in your face, pedal to the metal, one is none, and I am part of the idea that everyone is better than anyone, kind of an open source chaos for living freely in the land of smiles. All sorts of seemingly contrasting things and peoples share space.

Here Comes Everywhere


About to get stuck in happy chaos, completely unaggressive, I hardly hear a rude noise or anyone shouting. Nobody cares. The great mingle-mangle flows smoothly and I am about to wonder how so many cars and people can be jammed into such a small space and not one soul seems disturbed.




I hit the ground running and grab an Airport Taxi. So many to choose from.


I bump into my PokerPlayer friend Dennis coincidently again.... saw him at the layover in Bahrain... He's hard to miss, kinda big in a bon vivant pavarotti sort of way. he asks his driver to hook me up---and he does, taking care of the negotiations on price and directions to the Sukhumvit area ...and I'm off to Nana Entertainment Plaza (or NEP).


You're talking to a tourist

"With a pink hotel, a boutique And a swinging hot spot"

When I get to my hotel, the legendary R&R Vietnam Go-Go bars days--The Nana Plaza Hotel, it still reaked of stale beer, and the disilusionment and cynicysm of Watergate and Nixon.


"I had to come to Thailand to meet my neighbors!"


Hearts of Gold at The Devil's Arcade
It's not where you go, it's who you meet--I've met a lot of people with heart. In French, Bon Courage from Coeur, means doing it with heart. Thai, however, has more expressions for the heart than any other tongue. The Good hearts ,the Bad hearts---jai dam pitiless and the ugly. Small heart , Dancing heart and Earnest hearts. My linguistic skills got a triple bypass at Nana. There are over 900 jai phrases. I stopped counting.
Elephants and Smiles
Elephants are not only the symbol of the nation, but also the symbol of happiness. There was a live baby one walking past me. I love elephants because they don't eat people!

Next up was the smile: the "I'm being forced to smile even though I don't want to" smile feun yim, to the "I just won the lottery" smile yim tang nam dtah. Being able to distinguish one from the other is no easy task.

The Usual Suspects-The Loyal Order of White Elephants in the Room


"Impossible is Nothing"

Doing the "blue chip" thing, always being proper,walking the painted line, and buying furniture at Ikea... Starbucks and Yoga, just don't cut it anymore. Call it Post September 11th ennui, Thailand is an enema.


I checked in to NANA and saw a band of brothers and sisters--the hookers,drunks, drug addicts, geniuses, psychopaths, and mercenaries of the world; some with black hole eyes who have seen the ugliest, most cruel sides of life without a bit of sweetness, light, trust, innocence or belief in goodness remaining within. At this point, with a lot of TOE, Time on Earth, I can only recognize what I already know.
There was no need for crisis intervention, even though the proverbial elephants in the room were impossible to overlook. The truth serum(alcohol) takes effect quickly for most, but that's the cool thing about Nana, the obvious truth---places the idiom "White Elephant" in the context---It doesn't exist.

I would rather talk to a scotch drinking expat in a bar , with a cigarette in his hand and a bargirl on his knee, than to the cleverest GS10 Accountant. Hobnobbing like this can be better than watching any episode of "Oprah" of "The View"

Ok, note to self---The virtue of vice is everywhere in Thailand.

I love the 80's-A Brass Pole in Bangkok

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster,The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free.

Gods Behaving Badly

Namaste, the god in me sees the god in you.
The shock and awe---the mother of all Vegas'---weapons of mass distraction---this is the city of angels for expats, sexpats, working girls, back packers and beggars passing in complete safety and anonymity, living by their wits.
NEP

If you build it, they will come---Check the internet's after dark stockfootage on the diversity of humanity for NANA . Be prepared for a surreal experience, no matter how far and wide you have traveled.

Growth Hacks for The Rec Player ♠️♦️♣️♥️

Crypto: The Ultimate Bluff Economy

The "Bro Economy" is driven by day traders, crypto junkies, and sports bettors chasing volatile gains. Fueled by FOMO, they favor thrill over strategy—creating opportunities for those who can exploit the chaos.

The Cult of The Amateur

If you play a hand as if you could see your opponents' cards, they lose; if you don't, they gain.

Poker Rewards (Selective) Aggression

Risk is a Feature, Not a Bug: Mastering Uncertainty – just as innovation thrives on calculated risk. Knowing when to push forward and when to fold is the key to long-term success.

The Leap Strategy

Risk isn't chaos—it's clarity in disguise. Push boundaries, embrace the fallout, and refine your aim after every leap.

Building The Plane While Flying It

Fail Forward: The Art of Rapid Experimentation – Poker, like startups, is about building the plane while flying—making strategic moves, adjusting in real time, and learning from every hand dealt.

When Bad Things Happen To Good Starting Hands

Variance shapes vision. The best players don't just survive bad beats—they evolve through them.

Bad Beats Are Overhead; Chips, The Cost of Doing Business

Risk isn't part of the game; it IS the game. Losses are investments, and every chip in play is the price of staying in the game.

Mental Edge Ops ♣️♥️♠️♦️💡

The Odds of Thinking

Conventional Wisdom is a Bluff waiting To Be Called.

Set the Speed Limit – Fear Speeds Things Up

Your Brain's Bouncer-What Gets through The Velvet Rope?

Losing Holdem ASAP

Tilt isn't just a crack—it's a call to recalibrate. Master your mind, and watch the field unravel.

The IN To My Sane

The loop traps the unaware. Break patterns, bend probabilities, and redefine sanity in high-stakes play.

Outcome Independence Mindset

Thinking in bets means trading urgency for edge. Burn momentum on impulse, you lose. Stack it with patience, you scale.

Stop the Spiral

Feedback loops fuel losses. Cut the noise before the noise cuts your bankroll.

Radical Abundance: A Force Multiplier

Shift from managing limits to engineering limitless possibilities, and play not with scarcity, but with strategy, design, and vision.

Infinite Patience Brings Immediate Results

The more hands you win, the more money you lose: playing too many hands boosts short-term wins but increases risks that harm long-term profits.

Energy Shapes Strategy

Flow attracts focus. Bring intentional energy to your game, and watch your connections solidify.

ABC Poker

The Alphabet Crisis: Analog Poker In A Digital World

The Meta Stack ♣️♥️♦️♠️☁️

Rewire, Reignite

You Can't Teach An Old Dogma New Tricks. Conventional Wisdom is a Bluff waiting To Be Called.

Be the Glitch

Unpredictability isn't randomness—it's controlled chaos. Become a shadow in their playbook. Don't be the system—be the error

Tranquility Base: The Ego Has Landed

Read the tells. Control the ego. Summon your alter ego and play like you're not even from Earth. This is next-level poker.

Decision Science

Turn every guess into a calculated gamble. Probability doesn't just inform decisions—it dominates them.

Adapt to Dominate

Solvers shape the meta, but true mastery lies in adaptation. Stay sharp, stay evergreen.

ABC Poker: Risk Smart, Play Sharp

ABC poker is about controlled aggression—high stakes, but strict discipline.

Poker Courage: Micro Bravery

Courage isn't about grand gestures—it's about the small, decisive actions that build confidence and define champions.

Failure Is Data Not Drama

Turn setbacks into insights. Fail better, learn faster.

Wise And Otherwise: A Game Of Partial Information

There are exactly two things that determine how our lives turn out: the quality of our decisions and luck.

Night Vision: Playing in The Dark

Not having an expectation to win is liberating. Every search begins with beginner's luck.

Level-Up Lore ♦️♠️♥️♣️

Moonshots & Margins

Big ideas don't just need bankroll—they need fold equity. Think beyond limits, and scale with intention.

Luck Is Probability Taken Personally

We confuse luck with skill, misjudge outcomes, and fall for biases. Leverage setbacks, adjust strategies and use pressure as fuel for creative breakthroughs.

The Truth About Lying

Less "I" More Lie: Junk Words and The Secret Lives of Pronouns.

Range Craft

There are exactly two things that determine how our lives turn out: the quality of our decisions and luck.

The Loophole: Manufacturing Focus

Players follow mental "apps"—predictable patterns. Disrupting those gives you the real edge.

Gut vs Grid

Solvers crack numbers, but instincts crack aces. Trust what machines can't compute.

Cognitive Gravity Is Your Cryptonite

Put the SUPER in Superman. Take the Poker Crash Course For your Black Box 3 lb-Universe-Brain

GTO For The Feel Player

Beyond Opponents: It's Not About Them. It's About The Game Itself.