Round The Blogs
Aug. 23rd, 2008 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksSome interesting events in the roster of bloggers that I read:
Bad Blood conclusively proved that too much weight-training addles the brain and weakens the wrists. Accepting a prop bet during a poker game to run a sprint, Blood's upper body got ahead of the lower body. Net result, falling forwards during race. Final result: Six weeks of this:
and, of course, losing the prop bet.
But, seriously, get well soon BB. His blog (http://badbloodonpoker.blogspot.com/) has an interesting list of things which it is difficult or impossible to achieve when you have one fractured wrist and one sprained wrist.
Opening doors
Turning keys, door or car
Twisting bottle caps off sodas
Cutting food with a knife
Wiping my ass
Waving bye to the kids after I drop them off at school
Typing
Moving a mouse, although I can still click pretty well
Using a steering wheel
Lifting a drink and tilting it towards my mouth (What drinking problem?)
An obvious one I don't need to detail right here but one which everyone is probably thinking
So, now you know.
++++++++++++
Bill Rini often comes up with some interesting material (http://www.billrini.com/) and in recent weeks he has not only been hit by a plagiarism mishap (it's a nightmare for publishers that someone writing for your publication is actually nicking the stuff wholesale -- I've given up on Indian freelancers because three out of three have just nicked material from local newspapers and not even bothered to rephrase it) and has also revealed a worrying development at 2+2. The latter seems to hinge on allegations that Malmuth has been pressurising 2+2 moderators and business partners (Ed Miller in particular) to reduce the number of 'useful' strategy posts, because this was impacting 2+2 book sales. I would have thought that the money Malmuth has saved by not tipping dealers in the Bellagio over the past couple of decades would have elininated any need to worry about income from 2+2....
++++++
Otis, one of three of the UpForAnything collective, reports that the Excalibur is turning its poker room into a B&M online poker experience. (http://www.upforanything.net/poker/archives/watching-an-old-friend-die.html#comments).
We all knew that this was coming, but it's a surprise (to me, at least) that an established and individualistic cardroom such as the Excalibur should be the one to do it. I would have punted on one of the Harrah's casinos (one without much of a poker income or reputation, such as Harrah's itself) being the first to take this route.
However, LV uis suffering in the current recession, so cutting salary costs and shifting the investment to the "one-off" line makes the numbers look better for the men in suits and the fund managers (mainly still in nappies).
++++++++++++++
Jerrod Ankeman (http://hgfalling.livejournal.com/) has been accepted for an online graduate applied math programme at Columbia. He is also to become a father for the first time, confirming that Michelle is pregnant.
+++++++++++
Andy Ward speaks to Vannesa Mae, no, I mean Jessie May on Five in this clip:
http://www.five.tv/poker/
Just click "Watch Now" followed by "Latest" and there's Andy Ward at #30.
Andy seemed concerned about his teeth, although I'm not sure why.
Of course, what Andy says isn't really what the poker mediarati want to hear -- that the advanntage of online poker is that you can play one hell of a lot more hands and that it's effectively a matter of being able to grind better than the guy next door. Winning online seems more and more to me to be a matter of not getting bored and trying something different. If I can play to a set system (this system varies from site to site and from time of day to time of day, but the principle is not to 'try something new' just because you are getting bored) then in the long run I do okay. Nearly all deterioration in long-term results has been due to me getting a bit too loose and passive because of the sheer monotony of playing four tables for more than 500 hands.
(The other 'mistake' that many players make because of this ennui is that they move up in stakes 'for the excitement'. End result, getting slaughtered).
Indeed (and I typed the above before I looked in on Andy's Secrets of the Amateurs), I see that Andy makes a not dissimilar point in his latest post there (http://www.secretsoftheamateurs.blogspot.com/)
But the point remains, and it's a good one. If you have good technique, good discipline and you put the hours in online, you can indeed grind up $200K-$300K in a year, and then, as Bond says, you're in a position to play a few live tournaments with some judicious selling and swapping of action. You don't have to be a genius or a great player, you just have to work at it, put the hours in and play consistently to a reasonable standard.
Quite. I grind out at a lower level than this because
(a) I'm not a naturally talented poker player
(b) I dislike the downswings of higher stakes play
(c) I don't like the idea of grinding full-time, even for $200K a year and
(d) I have a job, which is reasonably well-paid, which I don't dislike intensely, and which has lots of benefits that I would not have if I played online full-time (variety, and meeting people).
But Andy's main point is that there is a huge disconnect between what the publicity seekers, the television junkies, the poker sites, the poker clubs, and the television producer want, with all of them working together in unspoken collusion to make poker seem to be something that it's not, and the reality of winning at online poker. Winning at poker is work, effort, and sweat. It is not easy money. And the 'thrill' of the game is your enemy, not your friend. 'Fun and profit' it isn't. As I think the good Doctor once observed, a game can be good craic and a game can be good value, but they aren't often both.
+++++++++++++
Chan Poker has closed down. Usually there's some kind of transfer to a network, becoming a skin, but the recession seems to have got to the stage where some poker sites literally have zero brand value (www.chanpoker.com).
Rumours are also circulating that the staff levels at Bodog have been cut back seriously. Bodog has always spent a lot of money on marketing, and I am often baffled that, just because the guy looking after your money is driving a Rolls Royce, that doesn't mean it has money to spare. Warren Buffett, remember, drives a rather modest (and old) sedan. If Bodog's heavy marketing plays (an attempt to emulate Party Poker in its early days) have blown up, then you have to wonder whether its curtrent scale (about 10% of the size of Full Tilt and 5% of PokerStars) is sufficient.
Elsewhere in the moving homes land, I hear that Littlewoods Poker is moving over to the Pacific network. The rakeback deals are being carried over. This looks like a good deal for me (I don't have a Littlewoods account) because 30% non-contrib on Pacific is a good offer.
++++++++++++++
Hugo The Chinney Sweep is one of the best tellers of Vic tales and his "When I Grow Up I want To Be Like Yilmaz" is another excellent post, as is a follow-up "Tilt!!!" (http://pokerwiththesweep.blogspot.com/)
+++++++++++++
Bad Blood conclusively proved that too much weight-training addles the brain and weakens the wrists. Accepting a prop bet during a poker game to run a sprint, Blood's upper body got ahead of the lower body. Net result, falling forwards during race. Final result: Six weeks of this:
and, of course, losing the prop bet.
But, seriously, get well soon BB. His blog (http://badbloodonpoker.blogspot.com/) has an interesting list of things which it is difficult or impossible to achieve when you have one fractured wrist and one sprained wrist.
Opening doors
Turning keys, door or car
Twisting bottle caps off sodas
Cutting food with a knife
Wiping my ass
Waving bye to the kids after I drop them off at school
Typing
Moving a mouse, although I can still click pretty well
Using a steering wheel
Lifting a drink and tilting it towards my mouth (What drinking problem?)
An obvious one I don't need to detail right here but one which everyone is probably thinking
So, now you know.
++++++++++++
Bill Rini often comes up with some interesting material (http://www.billrini.com/) and in recent weeks he has not only been hit by a plagiarism mishap (it's a nightmare for publishers that someone writing for your publication is actually nicking the stuff wholesale -- I've given up on Indian freelancers because three out of three have just nicked material from local newspapers and not even bothered to rephrase it) and has also revealed a worrying development at 2+2. The latter seems to hinge on allegations that Malmuth has been pressurising 2+2 moderators and business partners (Ed Miller in particular) to reduce the number of 'useful' strategy posts, because this was impacting 2+2 book sales. I would have thought that the money Malmuth has saved by not tipping dealers in the Bellagio over the past couple of decades would have elininated any need to worry about income from 2+2....
++++++
Otis, one of three of the UpForAnything collective, reports that the Excalibur is turning its poker room into a B&M online poker experience. (http://www.upforanything.net/poker/archives/watching-an-old-friend-die.html#comments).
We all knew that this was coming, but it's a surprise (to me, at least) that an established and individualistic cardroom such as the Excalibur should be the one to do it. I would have punted on one of the Harrah's casinos (one without much of a poker income or reputation, such as Harrah's itself) being the first to take this route.
However, LV uis suffering in the current recession, so cutting salary costs and shifting the investment to the "one-off" line makes the numbers look better for the men in suits and the fund managers (mainly still in nappies).
++++++++++++++
Jerrod Ankeman (http://hgfalling.livejournal.com/) has been accepted for an online graduate applied math programme at Columbia. He is also to become a father for the first time, confirming that Michelle is pregnant.
+++++++++++
Andy Ward speaks to Vannesa Mae, no, I mean Jessie May on Five in this clip:
http://www.five.tv/poker/
Just click "Watch Now" followed by "Latest" and there's Andy Ward at #30.
Andy seemed concerned about his teeth, although I'm not sure why.
Of course, what Andy says isn't really what the poker mediarati want to hear -- that the advanntage of online poker is that you can play one hell of a lot more hands and that it's effectively a matter of being able to grind better than the guy next door. Winning online seems more and more to me to be a matter of not getting bored and trying something different. If I can play to a set system (this system varies from site to site and from time of day to time of day, but the principle is not to 'try something new' just because you are getting bored) then in the long run I do okay. Nearly all deterioration in long-term results has been due to me getting a bit too loose and passive because of the sheer monotony of playing four tables for more than 500 hands.
(The other 'mistake' that many players make because of this ennui is that they move up in stakes 'for the excitement'. End result, getting slaughtered).
Indeed (and I typed the above before I looked in on Andy's Secrets of the Amateurs), I see that Andy makes a not dissimilar point in his latest post there (http://www.secretsoftheamateurs.blogspot.com/)
But the point remains, and it's a good one. If you have good technique, good discipline and you put the hours in online, you can indeed grind up $200K-$300K in a year, and then, as Bond says, you're in a position to play a few live tournaments with some judicious selling and swapping of action. You don't have to be a genius or a great player, you just have to work at it, put the hours in and play consistently to a reasonable standard.
Quite. I grind out at a lower level than this because
(a) I'm not a naturally talented poker player
(b) I dislike the downswings of higher stakes play
(c) I don't like the idea of grinding full-time, even for $200K a year and
(d) I have a job, which is reasonably well-paid, which I don't dislike intensely, and which has lots of benefits that I would not have if I played online full-time (variety, and meeting people).
But Andy's main point is that there is a huge disconnect between what the publicity seekers, the television junkies, the poker sites, the poker clubs, and the television producer want, with all of them working together in unspoken collusion to make poker seem to be something that it's not, and the reality of winning at online poker. Winning at poker is work, effort, and sweat. It is not easy money. And the 'thrill' of the game is your enemy, not your friend. 'Fun and profit' it isn't. As I think the good Doctor once observed, a game can be good craic and a game can be good value, but they aren't often both.
+++++++++++++
Chan Poker has closed down. Usually there's some kind of transfer to a network, becoming a skin, but the recession seems to have got to the stage where some poker sites literally have zero brand value (www.chanpoker.com).
Rumours are also circulating that the staff levels at Bodog have been cut back seriously. Bodog has always spent a lot of money on marketing, and I am often baffled that, just because the guy looking after your money is driving a Rolls Royce, that doesn't mean it has money to spare. Warren Buffett, remember, drives a rather modest (and old) sedan. If Bodog's heavy marketing plays (an attempt to emulate Party Poker in its early days) have blown up, then you have to wonder whether its curtrent scale (about 10% of the size of Full Tilt and 5% of PokerStars) is sufficient.
Elsewhere in the moving homes land, I hear that Littlewoods Poker is moving over to the Pacific network. The rakeback deals are being carried over. This looks like a good deal for me (I don't have a Littlewoods account) because 30% non-contrib on Pacific is a good offer.
++++++++++++++
Hugo The Chinney Sweep is one of the best tellers of Vic tales and his "When I Grow Up I want To Be Like Yilmaz" is another excellent post, as is a follow-up "Tilt!!!" (http://pokerwiththesweep.blogspot.com/)
+++++++++++++
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-24 02:47 pm (UTC)I fondly remember telling an unwanted guest at college that "I would shake your hand, but I'm pumped up right now, and I don't want to ruin your sex life." It appeared to do the job. He left.
None of the other incapacitations hold water, as far as I can see. One billion Muslims would take issue with the ass-wiping thing. As for waving good-bye to the kids, well then, how do you explain this to a six-year-old?
"Talk to the right hand, because the left hand doesn't give a fuck about you?"
But then we're back to the original in re ...
no subject
Date: 2008-08-24 02:58 pm (UTC)Given the prevalence of porn sites on the Internet, I feel that the latter has more commercial possibilities. Although I can certainly see the possibilities of the former.
"Her heart beat excitedly as she watched him, wondering if he was lying about his connected diamonds. The hormone replacement therapy kicked in. Was it a flush? Or was he merely loose-passive? She painted. He looked low, dangerously low, but she was fairly certain he was straight. The river, she thought, the river would be interesting. Would he flop?"
Not that there's anything pathetically psycho-sexual in an online poker addiction, of course.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-24 03:09 pm (UTC)It's a plaque, I tell you, a veritable plaque.
Or is that what I really meant?
Damn this typing with an injured right wrist.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 11:55 am (UTC)Waving bye to the kids after I drop them off at school
Aren't these one and the same?
I'll get me coat
no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 10:35 pm (UTC)Sod these anonymous responses.
On the other hand, as it were, a male giving birth to school-age children through his anus is ... well ...
Oh, look, there's a medically interesting story on Channel Five. Excuse me for a moment.