The Well: wpr101

[Rampage_Jackson]

"A stranger is being shown around a village that he has just become part of. He is shown a well and his guide says "On any day except Sunday, you can shout any question down that well and you'll be told the answer" .

The man seems pretty impressed, and so he shouts down: Why not on Sunday? and the voice from in the well shouts back: Because on Sunday, it’s your day in the well . "

Tere! My name is William Ross and I live in Tallinn, playing poker professionally.

A little about me... I've been playing online poker for about 10 years, and for 2.5 years professionally. I used to work as a software engineer for a company called Lockheed Martin, before leaving to play poker full time in the summer of 2008.

I am from the Washington D.C. area in the United States. I moved to Estonia one month after Black Friday. It was a difficult decision at first. I first thought about Canada, but could not get excited about the country. I had been to Estonia for the EPT in 2010 and really loved it. I had met some guys in the poker community like Ranka and ESTPatrick who were pretty cool.

This is my third year doing Supernova Elite. I just finished getting 1 million VPPs yesterday! I play so many different games it is hard to answer "What do you play?" with one sentence. Lately I have been playing the 20 BB CAP games (200nl-2k), and $100-500 sngs. However, when I first relocated to Estonia I was playing $60-100 sngs (due to a lower bankroll), and 200-400nl hold Em, and PLO.

I have traveled quite a bit in the past couple years and played in most of the major tournaments, WSOP, PCA, Aussie Millions, EPTs, LAPTs, and APPT.

Some other random stuff about me. I trained jujitsu and MMA for 4 years from about 2006-2010. I do a lot of long term investing in the stock market. I also like to read a lot, a huge variety of subjects, but history is one of my favorites.

[IamAllin]

What do you like about Estonia and what do you not like?

[Rampage_Jackson]

What do you like about Estonia and what do you not like?

Things I like:

- Free internet in many places
- Beautiful women everywhere
- Very safe in Old Town... have never felt threatened even walking around late at night
- Estonians are very relaxed, they worry less and are less aggressive than Americans
- Nightlife is incredible. The bars being open to 6am.
- Lots of variety in resturants
- Medievel culture and the Old Town in general. So many cool places to explore just walking around.
- English spoken in most places, and suprisingly better than other countries in Europe!
- Lots of newer technologies, like a touch screen directory at a mall... I've never seen that in America
- I like that nobody in America knows about Estonia, people still think "Eastern Europe" is like some extremely dangerous place. I cannot wait for some of the dumb questions I will get when I am home in 3 days :)
- Cheap real estate rental. I live above Nimeta bar and pay 550 euro a month.
- I love the free market spirit... often cabs within 100 meters of each other, one you pay .40 per km, the other 3.5 per km
- The poker community is really cool here, a lot of players interacting and friends. Back home I knew zero people in real life from my area that played poker for a living.
- Drinking effectively allowed in the streets, alcohol sold at places like Taco Express :)
- The society is way less judgemental overall... you could have a fine resturant, next to a strip club, next to a souvenier shop, next to a sex shop. Nobody there to say THAT'S A SIN!


Things I don't like:

- Saunas with other naked men :P I went to the "gay sauna" once, that was too much. Back home I've never seen any of my guy friends naked, here it's like super standard to get naked with guys you hardly know :D
- The extreme drinking culture. I am used to either having just a couple drinks, or when I would get drunk maybe drinking for 3-4 hours. I cannot handle a 12 hour marathon drinking session. Seems so pointless, and I feel terrible the next day lol.
- There's a lot of Estonians who just refuse to believe that I like living in Estonia.
- No dryers for my clothes, WTF

Neutral:

- The weather. It was cool when the sun was out forever, although it felt like the Twlight Zone and I wished it was dark just some of the time. The winter is not as bad as I expected so far, but I hear it is a mild winter.

[Codecci]

- I love the free market spirit... often cabs within 100 meters of each other, one you pay .40 per km, the other 3.5 per km

How is it in US then and why do you like them? I have even got hustled in Estonia when I couldn't be bothered to read how much they charge but it's my fault (do hustler taxis write prices clearly in English?), but in Latvija they write in local language only and I was super pissed when they charged me like 15 LAT-s for 1km ride. I hate these hustler taxis.

- Saunas with other naked men :P I went to the "gay sauna" once, that was too much. Back home I've never seen any of my guy friends naked, here it's like super standard to get naked with guys you hardly know :D

LOL, this sauna story Ranka told me is awesome :D
How do you guys in US change clothes in gym's locker room or take a shower then if you never see each other naked?

[Rampage_Jackson]

How is it in US then and why do you like them? I have even got hustled in Estonia when I couldn't be bothered to read how much they charge but it's my fault (do hustler taxis write prices clearly in English?), but in Latvija they write in local language only and I was super pissed when they charged me like 15 LAT-s for 1km ride. I hate these hustler taxis.

In the US the rate is just very standard for every cab. I don't know what the rate is, but a 45 minute taxi ride to the airport costs like $60 no matter which cab company. Yea, well I found out pretty quickly about the prices... once when I went to Ranka's place and the cost was like 6 euros, and the 2nd time I went and it was 25 euros :)

I figured out which cab stand to go to now and always look. Actually one guy got me good coming from the airport a week ago. There was no cabs for awhile, so I took the very next guy, I didn't look, and the base fare was like 5 euro, and the rate about 2 euros per km. He kept asking me questions thinking I was a tourist, and I was told him I live in Tallinn. I think he felt bad about the rates he was charging once he knew I lived there. He didn't have exact change at the end, and gave me a 2 euro discount.

I had a similar experience in Latvia. Get in the cab, and tell him where I am going, and he's like 10 lats! I say no I want the cab rate posted on your window, and he says no it's 10 lats. Took the next guy in line, he wanted 8 lats... they refused to use their actual advertised rates.

How do you guys in US change clothes in gym's locker room or take a shower then if you never see each other naked?

If a friend is in the same room that needs to change, it might be typical to say like hey dude, turn around for a minute, I gotta change. You just wouldn't drop your pants in front of another guy without saying something at least lol.

[ranka]

- Saunas with other naked men :P I went to the "gay sauna" once, that was too much. Back home I've never seen any of my guy friends naked, here it's like super standard to get naked with guys you hardly know :D

It was Kalma sauna, standard public sauna, so its far away from "gay" sauna :P

[numnuts]

Do you play chess?

[Rampage_Jackson]

Do you play chess?

I actually don't know the rules. I've wanted to learn.

However, I know it is an extremely complex game, and I don't have the energy to devote that much time to it. My understanding is there is very little luck in chess, and that usually the best player wins.

[leits]

What "sucks" in estonia comparing to US?

[Rampage_Jackson]

What "sucks" in estonia comparing to US?

Most things you can find in the US you can also find in Estonia. Strangely one thing that does not seem to exist is a bagel with cream cheese lol. I do miss driving a car. One huge difference is America is more spread out and you have to drive everywhere. Although I like that I can find most of what I need in Old Town.

[nikitheone]

what is the best beer in estonia?
where do you usually party in tallinn?
have you tried millimallikas or "holy shit"?
have you been in closet with ranka?

[Rampage_Jackson]

what is the best beer in estonia?

I like the Turborg Lime a lot. Also alcoholic cider is awesome.

where do you usually party in tallinn?

Anywhere and everywhere :D Nimeta, Shooters, Cat House, Balau, Baila, Hoov, St. Patricks, Deja Vu, Vabank, Kuku Club, Texas Honkey Donk... some others I cannot remember the name of too

have you tried millimallikas or "holy shit"?

haha yea, of course! I held it down. That bar is hilarious. I went there once at 22:00 and there was 2 guys on opposites of the bar totally passed out with their heads down on the table, not even moving.

have you been in closet with ranka

Not yet, but a man can dream.

[Codecci]

What are weird things in Estonia when you compare with US? What do you like more in Estonia than in US?

[Rampage_Jackson]

What are weird things in Estonia when you compare with US? What do you like more in Estonia than in US?

The vibe is totally different. I'll give one example which explains. When you go to a beer festival or song festival in Estonia you see people of all ages. Young children, parents, grandparents... it seems like people of all different ages are interacting. In America at a concert, you would see only young people and maybe like a few hippies, but never small children or old people.

The thing that is more dramatically different is how much better looking the women are. In the past 6 months I've seen more attractive women that I have in my entire life in America. When I first got here I was confused... I'd be walking with groups of guys and a very attractive woman would walk by and nobody would say anything. In America, every guy in the group would be like, Oh man! I would fu_ck her in the face! Or whatever sex act they could think of, each guy kind of competing. I realized I had the Estonian mindset like 2-3 months in when I had guests from Germany and Australia here... they were elbowing me in the side, OMG did you see her? Every 5 minutes. I'd be like dude stop, it's standard.

[Rage]

they were elbowing me in the side, OMG did you see her? Every 5 minutes. I'd be like dude stop, it's standard.

do you still have your girlfriend and the relationship you had when you moved to Estonia?:P

[Rampage_Jackson]

do you still have your girlfriend and the relationship you had when you moved to Estonia?:P

Haha I've never had a girlfriend here, but there is one I still see sometimes... I think it's the same one you mention :D

[Provoker]

longest BE stretch? hands and days

[Rampage_Jackson]

longest BE stretch? hands and days

It was right after I started playing professionally for the first time. In the first 4-5 months I was down maybe 20k before rakeback over like 700,000 cash game hands. It was the most I had ever played in that time span, and the worst I had ever run. Also during this time I had terrible internet which would go out like once a day at the worst times... just a very frustrating period of poker for many reasons.

[ranka]

how long do u intend to stay in estonia?
lifetime winnings obv (graphs)

[Rampage_Jackson]

how long do u intend to stay in estonia?
lifetime winnings obv (graphs)

I don't have any lifetime graphs because spread out over different databases, sites and computers...

Here is my PTR: http://www.pokertableratings.com/sta...-search/wpr101

I blocked my sharkscope.

These are all the cash games hands I have on my laptop: http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/5467/cashgames.jpg

And here are the tournies: http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/557/sitandgos.jpg

Lifetime I am up somewhere between 800k and 1 million in poker. How is it possible when most of those graphs are not too impressive :D. Had a pretty big 2006 which isn't on PTR. Played on Party, Bodog, FTP too back in the day. Done Supernova Elite 3x... so lots and lots of rakeback/bonuses. One decent live cash in a tourney for 85k.