It's near the end of MY week, dammit

[peterbirks]

I realize that I haven't been posting a great deal about poker the past few days. Part of this is because I don't really want to give away too much of my own style, and there is a chance that some of the people I play at $5-$10 (and certainly a chance that some of those playing $15-$30) might read this. So, in effect, I am on a hiding to nothing. I have no such worries posting about lower level PLO, where the stakes are fairly unimportant and the whole thing is a learning experience.

I may make up with it with a few hand über-posts this weekend. I'm going to work from home tomorrow and we have an "official" half day, so I can play poker or write gibberish from 10am onwards without feeling guilty.

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I could never run out of material to write about here -- the Financial Times throws out so many examples of the world going mad every day that I discard thoughts by the dozen before they even approach "that would make a good article" status. And then there are other people's blogs. Some of the, er, younger bloggers, print hand histories that have me cringing with embarrassment for them. They head off on a wrong path at step one, and then wonder why, when they get to step four, they are in deep shit with an almost impossible decision. Fortunately they are probably playing $50 no-limit, so no real harm will be done in terms of their lifetime earnings.

Clearly we can now ignore 99% of the posts (and posters) on Gutshot or The Hendon Mob. I have no desire to educate them any more and I can't be bothered to sit down to try to take their money -- particularly since 40% of the time they are likely to get lucky and do a Homer Simpson Woo Hoo war dance when ... ohh, whatever. I'm sure that you can think of examples.

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The Japanese business system seems to be on its last legs, to me. Their company structures look like they need dragging into the 20th century, not the 21st.

I'm developing a macro-theory here (I can't understand why macro economic stuff is what I understand these days -- it was my worst subject at University after statistics) on the far east. This is that for a fast-developing economy the business structures seen in these countries are very suitable. Thus South Korea and Malaysia are now taking over the Japanese mantle of some kind of far-eastern myth that has found the answer. However, as soon as these countries reach First World average levels, the business structures that they have in place (kind of substitute families, little job mobility, heavy egalitarianism, the concept of "manager" as a job title in itself) work against them. The rigidity of the Japanese business world is murdering it, leading to the farcical situation that the Japanese companies now achieving success are using foreign workers abroad.

However, this is very much a theory-in-progress at the moment, in the sense that it might be completely incorrect, and that in reality the Japanese business world today is a hive of adaptable efficiencies. But somehow I doubt it.

Comments

[geoffchall.livejournal.com]

Japan was always going to go that way. Financially successful societies do. The shock of unification has kicked Germany in the balls, but I think the decline of the economic miracle was always coming as the society matured to enjoy the fruits of its success instead of striving towards them.

The tiger economies are maturing and will follow Japan into nil growth and stagnancy sometime in the next few years. China and India though have some significant way to go before they become post-developed. The next boom economies will be those of eastern Europe who can build a car and stick it on a train to Frankfurt.

What interests me are the ways in which the US continues to grow despite economic policies that just make me want to stab myself in the head with a letter-opener.

[alanj]

How often do you actually play against the same players in Party $5/$10 or $15/$30? With such a massive player pool, I find that I see even my most frequent opponents very rarely. What's more, if I were a clueful player who saw you around frequently, my reaction wouldn't be to read your posts to see how you play, it'd be to *avoid* you. I doubt you have much to worry about in tipping off the details of your style by posting here.

(Just a lurker who's found your posts, particularly the hand histories, interesting.)

The 5-10 pool

[peterbirks.livejournal.com]

I come across the same players again anf again, mainly because during the week I tend to play late afternoon/early evening UK time, so I pick up the multi-tabler daytime players in the US, many of whom are, I suspect, grinding out some kind of a living. Late night US time and at weekends, I am less likely to see as many recognizeable names.

You are of course correct (as was Bluff). I shouldn't really worry about these limit players working out my style. If they play me often enough and have any kind of clue, then they are likely to have worked it out anyway, and, with luck, I will have spotted this and thrown them off with some "faders"!