Friday, May 06, 2005

I've got nuthin'

I don’t have much to post today since I’m still mired in a heated battle and must concentrate on my corporate-fu, so stop by and read My Little Poker Blog’s kick ass post.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Serenity Now!

The next WPBT satellite is next Wednesday, go check out Iggy for the details. And wouldn’t ya know it? This one counts for leaderboard points and I can’t play. What on earth could make me miss? School. Goddamnit.

Holy poop on stick, Mr. Hat. I can’t wait till this week is behind me.

To say that this week hasn’t really been very good would be akin to saying that Fat Joe wasn’t really all that fat. I’ve been feeling the corporate pain. Big Time. Not quite ScurvyDog bad, but damn close.

For anyone who escaped and may be pondering a return to corporate life, please heed the entreaty of someone still mired in it: DON’T.

I would go into detail, but it’s exhausting, and I’m quite sure none of you all need or want to hear about it. Needless to say, I’m so worked up from this week that I don’t dare play a single hand of poker lest I end up taking out my frustration on an undeserving machine.

I see lot’s of drinks in my very near future. Vegas can’t come soon enough.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Notable Nugget

“Cards are merely the tools for manipulating money”
--Iggy

The above quote contributed to another ‘click’ moment. I had never heard put quite that way before, but let me say that it gave me a completely new perspective on this oftentimes infuriating game. Only time will tell, but that tiny statement may be the most important thing I have read about poker in quite some time. Why? As you can read just about anywhere, a HUGE part of this game is emotional control. To play great you need to exercise cold logic, be utterly rational, and not allow those pesky and swingy emotions to take over.

Of course, it’s easier to type about than to actually put into practice. With consistent play, such things become easier many times. However, when you play as little as I do (especially lately), emotional control (which=good play most often) can be lacking if one or more of the few sessions played turns out bad. At least in my case, this will many times lead to blaming luck, not catching a break, etc., when the simple fact is I haven’t used my tools correctly.

Granted, luck and randomness and all that DO play a part in this game. That said, let me say that the above tiny sentence merely helped shove the luck, etc., further onto the backburner, where it rightfully should be. When I sit down with my chips, I am the manipulator, the onus is on me. If I lose, more often than not it’s because I haven’t used my tools to manipulate things correctly within the current conditions of the game. The cards don’t use me, I use them, and I think on some subconscious level I had been thinking just the opposite, hence the emotional control breakdowns. If I choose to use a mediocre tool to try and manipulate things, I may or may not get the job done, but being a manipulator means that I can only blame myself, and being upset with myself is much easier to handle and correct than being upset at the cards and how they happened to run at a particular moment. After all, I can correct the way in which I handle the tools I’m given in a particular session, but the cards are how they are (or, if you speak jive, they is how they is).

But what about the chips? Aren’t those tools, as well? In my humble opinion, sort of, but I think that they play the role of augmenting your tools (cards) more than anything else. Perhaps using a gamer analogy will help make more sense, since I fear I’m not being completely clear. Let’s use a role-playing example. The character in question has a weapon/tool (the cards), and the effectiveness of it will many times be determined by the strength with which it is wielded. The chips are the strength that augments the use of your weapon/tool (the cards). If your weapon/tool is sub par, you can wield it with all of the strength (chips) at your disposal, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you will beat into submission whatever is in front of you. In fact, if your weapon/tool is weak, worn, small (insert favorite euphemistic adjective here), you will likely only ding your adversary in a couple of spots before being crushed by the bigger, badder, and stronger weapon/tool.

Well, hopefully the above nerdy example helped clear the waters instead of further muddying them. I guess what I’m most trying to say is this: Take Iggy’s words and think about them, I mean REALLY think about them. Properly internalized, I think they go along way towards keeping detrimental emotions in the background where they should be and elevating your personal game.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Dirty Joke Day

Since I am short on time (which loosely translated, is also code for short on content) today, I thought a joke might be nice.

Warning for Puritans: THIS IS NOT A CLEAN JOKE.

Nearing the end of her freshman year in high school, Jane is surprised one day when the coolest senior in the whole school suddenly comes out of nowhere and asks here to go to the prom with him. Jane is completely bowled over, and is so excited she’s about to burst. Full of joy, she runs home to share the news.

“Dad! The coolest guy in the whole school just asked me to the prom, can I go?”

“Sure, but you have to blow me”

“What?”

“I said you can go if you blow me.”

“Disgusting! NO!”

So, spiraling into the depths of freshman despair and crying her eyes out, she runs upstairs and locks herself in her room. After a couple of hours worth of crying, she starts to think…

Well, it might not be so bad. I can just forget about it after it’s done, and then I can go to the prom. It will be worth it, I mean after all, he IS the coolest guy in the whole school.

Heading back downstairs she says, “OK, I’ll do it.”

Dad stands up and whips it out. “Alright, go to it.”

So Jane goes to work, but after about thirty seconds, she stops.

“Jesus, Dad, your dick tastes like shit!”

“Yeah, your brother wanted to go to the prom, too.”


Hee hee! Disturbing AND funny. Remember, I don’t do it for the money, I do it all for you guys. Back tomorrow.

Monday, May 02, 2005

WPBT Satellite: The Second Coming

Typically, Sunday nights aren’t too much fun. For most of us it means only a few more hours till we head back to work for another week. However, this Sunday was a bright spot that brought a second chance WPBT event to get a seat with Bob and Otis in the $1500 WSOP Event #2.

When I got my seat, all I could utter was a silent “well, crap”. I had The Blogfather directly to my left. I don’t remember who else was at the first table, because I was moved pretty quickly. Out of the frying pan and into the fryer, my second table had The Good Doctor, DonkeyPuncher, Lefty, Rantsofayoungmind, and JoeSpeaker , all great players. Well, what the hell am I saying? I would have uttered the same “well, crap” regardless of who I sat with…after all, this was a blogger tournament.

I didn’t play very well, but I didn’t embarrass myself this time, either. I finished in 24th which was hella better than my previous performances. Funny thing though, I lost with those goddamn Hilton Sisters…AGAIN. The Fat Guy whipped out his AK pimp hand and smacked those bitches down.

Playing against bloggers is difficult. Normally trolling the low limits as I do, thinking stays on the first level and that’s it. With these folks, your game better be at a higher than normal level if you’re gonna make a good showing because they are no punks.

Go see Pauly for a complete tourney write-up. Congratulations to ABVidale on the win!

So close to Vegas, yet so far….only four more weeks. I think they’re going to likely be the slowest four weeks since I was a little kid waiting for Christmas.

I’m still EXTREMELY busy, so there’s not so much time for Thinking Big. Other than the tourney last night, I haven’t played any poker for the last week, which sucks. I plan on getting some intense sessions in before we head for Vegas, but for the next couple weeks they’re going to be few and far between. Meh.