1. 2008-06-04 22:59:02

   I hate poker, too! ...Not?

   Lately I've been terrible at keeping up with this thing. I meant to write a post about how I'd be taking a break from poker for a while for various reasons.

   First, I'm moving (yay), but not far. Moving is a pain. Secondly, I haven't had enough time to relax and just hang out and still get all my work and other necessary stuff done. Finally, I haven't won in a while, and in fact lost a good chunk at Lucky Chances, so it would be a good financial decision to take a break, especially considering my rent is going up by 30%.

   Hatred

   Check this blog out. Chris Fargis describes why he hates poker, but not in a whiny way. He suggests a book called "Fooled by Randomness" that might help you cope with your hatred of poker, too. He also says the book "is a great read if you're into markets/investing, math, probability, logic, philosophy, or identifying which successful people are lucky idiots." If you know me, you know I'm adding it to my wish list.

   Anyway, I was doing just fine not playing poker. I was able to focus on other important things, and I realized the thing I missed the most was not the actual playing of cards or gambling - it was the social aspect. Thankfully, I could still keep in touch with what was going on in the groups I play with on this wonderful site ;)

   Foiled! (TYVM)

   Last week Wednesday I was going to attend a game, but then decided I should continue my break, work a bit late, and then take care of some stuff at home. Adrian had other ideas, though, and he convinced me to play in the game instead of being responsible.

   To make a long story short, Adrian busted out early because he needed to get home, Teresa and I pounded some Coronas and had a few margaritas, and I somehow won.

   I folded more than usual in the later stages of the game, partially due to my tasty chip stack, and partially due to the fact that I didn't feel I could make very good judgment calls, so I just stuck to the math. Whenever somebody put me all in after I made an infrequent raise, I calculated my expected odds against their range of hands and either called or folded. Each time I was right and didn't get unlucky.

   Lesson?

   The lesson is for me is that maybe my judgment calls aren't as good as straight math and increased folding. I'm going to have to think on that one for next time.

   Again!

   Off to South Lake Tahoe for some relaxation. Darren and his girlfriend (Jessica) procured the supplies, did the driving, and planned most of the activities for Megan and me. Overall, it was a very good time. Of note: the Beatles tribute show by the band "Yesterday" was surprisingly good/cheap.

   We didn't have much time for poker, but Darren dragged me out of bed to hit the 10am tournament on Saturday. Thirty-five mugs showed up to give us their money. I was pretty spleepy and tried to "resteal" with a flush draw, but it turned out my opponent flopped a straight. Good thing I had two cards coming (and hit). I later got my money in with twice against underpairs and made it. When I went in with against , I didn't get unlucky, either.

   Chop?!

   At this point, we were down to 8 players and the blinds were near 1000/2000. Some players had as little as 4000 in chips, yet everybody but me wanted to chop the $1400 prize pool. Insane! We played on and a few other players dropped. Again, everybody wanted to chop. I had a very healthy stack and others were doing quite well, but I guess they just wanted to not have fun and play.

   Acquiescence

   People stopped bothering with the chop when they realized "I came to play" and we made it down to 3 players. I had roughly 30 big blinds and my opponents had 10 and 5 or so. My luck finally went south and I lost 5 in a row when I was way ahead or even each time. So now I have the short stack, and they offer to chop again so I agree. :p

   Lesson

   Early in the game, four times I put my money in on a 50-50. Four times in a row I won. Not very likely... However, after the first time, I would have been in great shape had I lost any of those other coin flips. I'm sure there were other times when I pressed and people just folded similar match-ups. Fold equity is your friend. If you have a big stack, take advantage of it. And remember, if you get called, you can still win!

   So What?

   I guess I'm rounding again :p

   Posted by Jason M at 2008-06-04 22:59:02

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Comments on “I hate poker, too! ...Not?”

1. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-06 18:36:49
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   • Like I said, good luck :D

2. • Posted by Krishna g 2008-06-06 05:42:01
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   • It was 4 buyins when I hit rock bottom.
     I am back to 10 buyins now.
     I hope it only gets better from here.

3. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-06 01:34:42
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   • Oh wow, 100% rent increase!? My new place is going to be about a 50% increase. Ugh!

     Only 4 buy-ins? Good luck, man. I have only played a couple times online and just can't win. Micro-limit cash games are just not for me. I think I'm going to buy in for a tenth of the roll in a larger game and just see where it goes.

     The chop was equal amounts in the end. We were actually pretty close to each other at that point, but I was down :)

4. • Posted by Krishna g 2008-06-06 00:22:02
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   • What was the chop like? Equal amounts?

5. • Posted by Krishna g 2008-06-06 00:13:11
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   • Welcome back!

     I could not stay out myself longer than a month.
     As soon as I moved to my own apartment (100% rent increase!!), I started grinding online.
     I am playing well but running average.
     I think I made few bad decisions but overall I put my money in good.
     Overall I am building my roll again after being down to 4 buyins.
     PLO play is helping too.

6. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-05 20:42:08
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   • i especially don't mind putting my money in when i have four times more than the person i am putting all-in. if they fold 50% of the time and then it's a coin flip the other 50% of the time, that means i'm not losing 75% of the time!

     and so what if i lose a fifth of my stack? i think it's worth the risk when you either take the dead money or gain 20% most of the time.

7. • Posted by Nick L g 2008-06-05 11:27:04
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   • Love the post, you know all is true with putting your money in with 50-50 chances just see what happens and hope not to get unlucky when ur holding the small pair. I know I have been rounding myself and just like the saying goes "NL Texas Holdem has bie swings in money it is how you handle your losses is how your identified as a player". I feel I play great then shit but overall better than average over the last couple of months. Sometimes I need to grow some balls, and bluff more but that is for the crazy players right. But then again I am tight but crazy that goes off of reads that is how I am identified as.

8. • Posted by uzjedi g 2008-06-05 00:56:52
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   • Winning coin flips is not possible...maybe I'm just being fooled by randomness...NOT.

     "This suit is black not."

     Keep rounding you round rounding rounder.

     I'm weird...

9. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-05 00:48:55
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   • tank you veddy much

10. • Posted by Ethan g 2008-06-05 00:30:55
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    • Nice work. I'll have to take a look at that book. And WTF is TYVM?