Hold Up

Ok so things didn't go as planned.

Basically the day after I decided to take a shot at 5/10 I opened my credit card bill to see a truly rude number so I decided to hold off on the shot until next month. My inner nit cheers with joy.

Additionally I am going to London, England for a week which is notoriously expensive. No real reason, just for vacation.

In other news I've continued my absolute domination online which is weird since usually when I post about running good I insta-lose for a week straight. I ended up with my best month ever, beating my previous best by $2589 which is definitely sick.

The shot is coming, just perhaps a month later.

In other news, here is Fred Astaire in Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal". Somehow they figured out these dances match perfectly and it looks so sick.

Goal Achieved - Double or Nothing Time?

So I reached my monetary goal for May.

Pretty much the first time that has ever happened. Probably has something to do with umm playing more? Pretty simple imo.

So I told myself that if I made my monthly goal I'd take a 5 buyin shot at 5/10NL since I won't be devastated now if I lose it. I still want to do it since the potential upside is huge, plus I really feel that I'm playing the best poker of my life. I literally haven't had a losing day since like April 20th.

Pretty sick. Running good is fun.

But running good can also fuck with your confidence. I mean sure I've been doing good but what if the mind and ass-fuck shit storm that jebus has cooked up for me hits me during my 5/10 shot and I never recover. I could totally see myself getting a few KK vs AA situations, brushing it off as variance and proceeding to drop 10-15 buyins at my "new" level and never wake up.

But I think I at least owe it to myself to try. To be honest the competition at 2/4 is pretty weak and I feel that I have my tilt problems under control. I really can't remember the last time I officially "tilted". Other than a few buyins lost throughout the year, 2008 has been essentially tilt free. And at the very least I'll learn something from the better players and about myself as well.

I'm probably the only full time poker player in the past 2-3 years that has literally never taken a big scary shot or even a drunken night of 10/20NL. I've been properly rolled+ for every hand of poker that I've played since I deposited my first $100 and while some people may see that as admirable (people with bankroll management problems) I look at it as a colossal fail. I mean I technically "gamble" for a living, I should start living like a gambler.

And success at 5/10 isn't even out of the question. Hell, bad players win there all the time. I'm sure I'll run into some super sick players but for the beginning I'll try to avoid them as much as possible and just get myself grounded.

And to those that ask, "Hey don't you play 2/4NL? Why not move up to 3/6NL first?" I have this to say.

Fuck you. No one ever got famous playing 3/6NL

Poker Academy Pro

So I got an email from Poker Academy the other day inviting me to try out their poker training software (Poker Academy Pro 2), evaluate and post my thoughts on it. I remember trying out this program 1.5 years ago coincidentally on recommendation from a comment on the blog as well. I thought it had potential back then but never explored it too much since it was just the trial version.

So what is it?

Well basically its an online poker simulator. The interface looks very similar to your standard online poker site with the action buttons and slider bar at the bottom. And rather than playing against human opponents, this program has set up a bunch of AI bots that play against you with varying degrees of aggression. One of the immediate differences from a regular poker interface that I noticed was a collection of statistics on the right side. Heres a screen shot.
















The two most important things to look at are the Hand Evaluator and Advisor windows. They basically tell you your hands strength in an absolute sense (compared to all possible hands) and the advisor uses that information to determine the "correct" move. In this screen shot you see me with air, and the advisor recommends me to check based on my hands absolute strength.

You can play all the different types of Hold'em. Ring games, MTT's, SNG's are all represented as well as the option to play full table, short handed, heads up and even limit poker.

There is also a neat feature that allows you to click your opponents cards allowing you to see them. Or you can go all out and have all your opponents cards exposed. The ability to play vs your opponents with their cards exposed wont necessarily teach you how to play poker, but what it will do is give you a great understanding of what types of hands exist and how infrequently people actually pick up monsters. I ended up playing a whole MTT with my opponents hands exposed and while I obviously won, I really think that it is an important tool in evaluating why you should be betting in certain situations and probably the best feature of the program.

The hand evaluator and advisor do a decent job at recommending certain plays but it is certainly lacking in that "human" aspect of the betting lead and aggression. For example, if you raise KQ and you get one caller and miss the flop, often times it will recommend you to check (since your absolute hand strength is weak) disregarding the fact that you have the betting lead and will take the pot down with a continuation bet very often. Also the AI will tend to lead into you when they connect on the flops when you have the betting lead, making it a misrepresentation of the natural flow of most games.

The problem with ranking your hand based on its absolute hand strength is that it ignores all hand reading ability and just states that if you have x% hand strength facing the bet size you are facing you must do y. This is first level poker and doesn't take into account your opponents hand range at all. For example If the board is 4567 rainbow and your opponent bets big, it doesn't really matter what your hand strength is as long as you can beat a bluff since they are generally representing a straight or nothing. Relative hand strength is what you should be thinking about at all times.

However, this isn't to say there is nothing to be learned from playing the AI. They generally play a very solid, tight game that most beginners should try emulating. They also provide a decent representation of a typical tight/weak abc player (the type that make up the majority of low stakes players) to play against which will help beginners learn how to beat that player type.

Also you can tweak the opponent AI type. From the tightest of tight to aggressive as possible, you can play vs any of your choosing. This is especially useful if you want to experiment with ways to exploit certain player types.

One of my biggest concerns with the program is that it seems to have been designed with tournament play in mind, with ring games as an afterthought. In tournaments it is fairly standard to stack off with top pair or even 2nd pair depending on how deep the stacks are but in cash games it isn't. The AI seems to almost always play for stacks in the cash game when they hit top pair, where this just isn't correct play against most low stakes players. At the low stakes games it is mostly about pot control until you get more familiar with certain player types and their tenancies. The advisor makes the most errors in cash games advising to raise much too often, creating huge pots regardless of position or relative hand strength.

But I'm sort of nitpicking here as overall the software is a great tool for learning especially for players new to the game. Of course there is no substitute for real money play against real players, and obviously the AI is lacking those human qualities that you need to learn how to adjust against - but it is almost definitely a better substitute for learning than playing play money as at least your AI opponents are somewhat responsible with their chips. The ability to see your opponents cards as well as your absolute hand strength are amazing learning tools for beginners. But beyond the low stakes tournaments and cash games I'm not entirely sure how helpful this program would be.

You can download the fully functional demo here and test it out yourself. If you are new to the game or have been struggling to win for a while I highly recommend it as it will surely get you on the right track and at the very least open up your mind to new hold'em experiences.

Bill O'Reilly is calm cool and collected

There are very few people on TV that actually anger me just watching them. Bill O'Reilly is one of them. He may be the most insincere, self absorbed douchebag in the history of the planet. And its way too easy to hate on him, but in case you don't, enjoy this video of him going insane for no apparent reason. I've never seen someone so tightly wound.

I love TV mishaps.


http://view.break.com/501946 - Watch more free videos

Bonus Vid:

This one makes me laugh on so many levels. I've watched it about 10 times and I still keep finding new things to laugh at. The crowd reaction is 10/10. Notice that he actually slams his groin into the bar somehow.

And what the fuck is this event anyways? Looks like the dumbest event in the history of track and field. Previous worst? Walking "races".


http://view.break.com/501813 - Watch more free videos

In poker news I'm happy to report that I've already reached half my monthly goals, which is a good sign for my progress as a human being on earth.

Cue Doomswitch.

And now for something... completely boner inducing

So heres a new trailer for "The Dark Knight". This movie looks too sick for words. I absolutely loved the first one. Christopher Nolan is incapable of making bad movies (ok not insomnia). With what has been seen from the trailers Heath Ledger seems to have absolutely nailed the Joker character. Combined with the sympathy from his death I predict he is going to make this studio a billion dollars.



I saw Iron-Man last night, and while it was a great movie with some seriously kick ass scenes, I have no doubt in my mind that this movie will blow Iron-Man's impressive box-office results out of the water.

This dead horse wont die

Here was my actual response to the comment left on here a week ago.

hey

I just read your comment on my blog.

First, I want to thank you for the criticism. Most people who read my blogs are friends and would never criticize me. Its nice to have an outsiders point of view.

I'm not sure I could ever come up with a satisfactory answer to your queries. I know I have a problem with laziness, and rather than deal with it head on I suppose I just make light of it. I can see how this would be annoying to someone who actually has drive and motivation in life.

But the crux of the matter for me is basically a lack of motivation to improve. I'm pretty happy as is, and if you want to call that complacency then so be it. I'm not entirely convinced that complacency is a negative thing.

I have no visions of grandeur, nor the desires to impress ANYONE that I meet. In fact I generally go out of my way to make everyone feel good about themselves, usually by diminishing my accomplishments, skills, etc.

I'm happy in life. I've come to my own understanding of happiness. This endless search for improvement and increased wealth/status/items I feel doesn't necessarily lead to increased happiness or wellbeing.

Like I said, I'm not in it to impress anyone or to make anyone feel worse about their situation.

And even with my laid back strategy, I'm still improving, moving up in levels and making more money, so even I consider the future in all of this.

Maybe my whole outlook is flawed. Or maybe its just different. I wouldn't worry about anyone else with the same experience/skill set as me going pro as I know they will probably do a lot better than me in the long run naturally.

This is just my explanation. I assume you still won't approve of it but I do thank you for the comment. It obviously struck a cord with me since I ended up writing a blog post on your comment section. I know I need to be more motivated and I think that the more I hear people tell me this the better I can become at it.

Thanks,
RikkiDee

I realize that this is basically the opposite viewpoint of most 20-something intelligent males with a lot of options, but its not one that I've come to without thought or consideration.

Happiness is a funny thing. I don't know a lot of old people but I'm sure if one talked to them there would be a strong consensus that chasing the all mighty dollar led to a lot of wasted life for them. I understand that to most people money and working are just means to an end. But I really feel that many people get lost in their original intentions. They forget what end they are trying to achieve. Yes, money is a means to an end, but if you don't have any "end" in mind, what are you really doing?

I guess what I'm saying is that I really don't understand most peoples insatiable desire to impress other people with their amount of money, job status and other superficial things of such nature. It is the driving force behind all western society. Battling your insecurities by trying to out-do your peers seems to be a colossally inefficient way to live. By this I mean, how efficient you are in achieving your happiness goals. If you derive your happiness from your comparable level of success (as most people seem to do) then you are wasting a lot of resources thinking about other people, when they shouldn't even be in your happiness equation.

I realize its hard to be happy without some sort of basis for comparison. And this is something I am currently struggling with. One side of my brain says, "never be satisfied, always improve" and the other says, "fuck it, be happy". At this point in my life the "fuck it, be happy" side is winning the struggle, and I'm trying to rationalize why. But in all honesty I am worried that it is an elaborate cop-out that will allow me to be lazy.

Or maybe I have it all figured out. Maybe my happiness/work ratio is the most efficient in the history of the world. I'd really like to talk to some old people about this. Because they have had a lot of time to think about what is really important in life. I'm sure when you ask them, money, status, etc will be at the bottom of their list. I suspect family, friends and personal improvement would be at the top of their list. You don't need money for these things but I suspect that some people will never accept that.

And I haven't changed my thoughts on what I said in my previous post. I still need to work a ton more, and I will be, simply because its becoming obvious how inefficient it is not to.

Respond Ambition

So in case you missed it, a reader of this blog left a comment a week ago criticizing my lack of ambition and drive to succeed. Heres what he put:

i've been reading this blog for almost a year now. and it's fucking weak.

not because of the poker content, but because of how you continually poke fun at your own laziness, and accept it, like it's cool/amusing. i would kill to have the time to put into poker that you do.

and you just write things off and say, "LOL I'M LAZY IZZNT IT FUNNEH". It's not. It's pathetic. I've got friends who are on the verge of leaving their day-time jobs and going pro- / semi-pro, and I ALWAYS direct them to this blog.

"beware this guy's attitude. put yourself on a schedule that keeps your mind, body, and social network strong. don't fall into his trap."

Depressing shit, man. Retardation? You should quit worrying about being snarky and think about COMPLACENCE. Where's your drive? Where are your goals? Where are you trying to be in a year or two years?

wtf?

Can't say that I disagree with him. I responded on his blog about how I basically lack the incentives to continue to work past my monthly expenses since I'm not obsessed with wealth, power and status like 99% of the population is.

A pretty weak argument I think.

Since even if I'm not obsessed with all that stuff, I can still be motivated to work by the simple fact that I am in the position to make a lot of money RIGHT NOW, while the future of poker is somewhat uncertain. I mean, why not mine this shaft for all its worth? And I've been saying shit like this for months (years?) now and while I have increased my skill level a ton as well as my bankroll, I still have slacked hard.

So while I'm not delusional about being able to change my entire outlook and motivations, I am going to be more conscientious about working more in general, just because I need to start respecting how fortunate I am. I mean, without poker I'd be 9-5'ing it, making 1/4th of what I do now with 10x the effort. There is virtually no excuse in the world that I can use that allow me to squander this opportunity.

I imagine if they somehow shut down all of online poker tomorrow I would be damn regretful.

And it wouldn't be the first time I've had regrets about my decisions. My education is a prime example. I coasted through all of high school without even thinking. I was the envy of a lot of the "try hards" as I would get just as good grades as them with 100% less effort. I thought I had it all figured out, but then I went to university. I'm sure there are people who can coast through university as I had in high school but unfortunately my intellect has a ceiling, and first year was it for me. I had gotten myself into such a horrible study pattern that bringing it up to "university level" standards would have taken a complete overhaul of my psyche and thought process. Obviously I just dropped out and gave up on life for a while, only to reenter school and fake my way through a simple econ degree.

I'm basically not proud of anything I've ever done since I know I've never tried for anything in my life. So this month, even though I know I still won't be maximizing my potential, I am at least going to set daily # of hand goals and also a monthly dollar figure goal. If I reach that dollar amount before the month is up, I'm moving up to 5/10 for a shot.

I've been dominating 400NL for months now with a win rate over 6ptbb/100. I actually think one of the biggest reasons for my lack of play is simply boredom. There is virtually no challenge at 400NL for me anymore. Almost all the regulars are a level of thinking below me and it pains me to force myself to think at their level to make a living. I think in my mind I'm ready to move up, I just need a half decent month to support my BR.

So thats that. A mini goal is an improvement at least. I won't be putting in a 100k hand month or bringing in mid 5 figures but I will be improved over last month. And if all goes well, who knows, maybe this is the start of something good for me.