My last blog I talked about the ugly square brick I purchased which did its job in relieving my tech anxiety. So now it's round 2 with a more refined level of watches available, the Moto 360 vs the LG G watch R. Which would you buy?
The 1st up is the Moto 360. This watch's main feature is a very thin bezel and "elegant" design. Due to technical limitations they had to cut off a sliver at the bottom of the screen to house the display hardware, which drives some people nuts. I myself am undecided. It's one of those "cannot be unseen" details. So far reviews say you get used to it and the super thin sexy bezel overall makes up for it.
The other option is the LG G Watch R. Rather than going for an edge to edge screen they simply let the bezel remain fat, and camouflaged it with chrono markings to make it blend in. As a result the screen is slightly smaller than the Moto 360, however because it is smaller the pixel density is higher, thus making the images theoretically seem sharper. Some people feel the markings around the bezel are chintzy and remind them of a cheaper department store watch. Others like the sporty feel of it.
Awwwwwww yeeaaahhhhh... for any of you tech geeks out there the new toy this week are android smart watches. While the term "smart watch" has been out for a couple of years thanks to other vendors, none of them could do it right without a major player like Google/Apple obviously. So Google released a new fork in their OS called Android Wear meant for smartwatches or anything similar in this ultra portable category. I saw some vids and talked myself into believing these things could actually be useful, plus I have been without a watch for a year since my battery died so I just said fuck it.
I just bought this lil guy in black
My first fears were that it would be some gaudy brick like monstrosity on my wrist screaming "NEERRRRDDD!" while making women's vaginas dry up like a.... like something that makes women's vaginas dry up.
Anyway I swung by my local Verizon store who had one on display without all the cumbersome security crap so I could actually wear the damn thing and get a good feel for it (which by the way I have the most amazing Verizon store in my neighborhood. They have a fucking bellhop at the door who's sole job is to just open the door for you and greet you, then they take your name and enter it on a tablet that uploads it to a sales rep who comes and somehow knows exactly who you are you without ever meeting you. They arent pushy at all, actually answer legit questions, bring out demo units from stock of anything you want. The whole store is just bustling with activity, lots of neat toys like drones and remote control devices that interface with your cellphone all on display and fully interactive for the customer to mess with. Gotta give Verizon credit here for creating this little tech mecca in their stores lately).
Oh yeah, so I try on the demo unit and I'm instantly sold. It's perfect. It's comfortable, it's snazzy, the band feels great (the band looks like a cheap piece of shit at first but it's actually incredibly soft and comfortable. I still want to upgrade to a black stainless steel one though), it's light weight, the watch face isnt some huge unsightly eyesore gathering attention and the corners dont stab me in the wrist bone. It's just a really nice feeling watch. I buy it on the spot, get it all set up and so far I'm in love with it. It does exactly what I wanted it to, and that is remove the necessity to check your cellphone every time it beeps at you.
What you have to wrap your mind around is what the watch is really for; the purpose is to serve as a notification delivery system for your phone. Sure there are apps and stuff you can interact with on the watch by itself, but the big deal is that it ties in with your phone and just relays information between the two. The watch is not a standalone device, and the sooner you come to terms with this the sooner you can enjoy it. You arent supposed to be constantly fucking with it like you would a full featured phone. All it does is display whatever notifications are in your notification bar on your phone. While this doesnt sound like much it really bridges the gap between making your phone this total seamless experience with your life. One of my major 1st world problems is the struggle of having to whip out a 5" phone from my pocket hundreds of times per day. Or leaving it on my desk in a cradle so I can observe active notifications. The 2-3 seconds it takes to do this are converted into about a fucking nanosecond when you have it on your wrist. The phone wrist vibrates, you look down and boom, you instantly have your phil ivey twitter update. 5 minutes later you get an email confirming payment for something, BAM you see that shit and disregard it. Then your girl texts you whining about dinner and KABLAMO you swipe that shit into the trash, or maybe reply if you're a good boyfriend using voice-to-text.
You think it's silly right now, but once you acclimate yourself to it and get into the groove you instantly feel like you have saved 5-10 minutes of your life every day by not having to reach for your phone ever again. It's almost relaxing in a way, because you are satiating your phone addiction by having instant gratification at all times. Think of having unlimited crack if you were a crackwhore. The pipe is always lit with the effervescent tinge of smoke swirling from its tip at all times. You want a hit? By god have one my man, this one's on me. There are still dozens of other direct watch-to-phone interactions you can conjure such as changing profile status (silent/vibrate/etc), placing phone calls while driving using Google search (just say "ok google, call Sushi Taro" even though they arent in your phone book since it uses google search to identify the business name and lookup the number for you). The list goes on.
So to any of you tech guys who have been on the rail about one of these things, you'll love it. The market is very new so there's going to be tons of competition with lots of new devices coming up. Everyone said "wait for the moto 360, wait for the HTC" blah fucking blah. Yeah I'm sure my LG watch is going to get smoked by a competitor in no time flat, but right now it's amazing and I'll just sell them on ebay and upgrade my way through as I see fit. Losing $50 in depreciated smart watches every 3 months is an acceptable sacrifice to stay bleeding edge for a guy like me until the hardware/software fully matures and you can keep stick with a device. To be honest though I see no reason why this one wont receive plenty of love from LG and the community.
You are probably well aware of politicians to outright PR firms who specialize in "disinformation campaigns" to help push a certain agenda. But how often did you think regular Joe Nobody engages in this activity? Some people suspect a lot of "Joe Nobody's" are really plants by the aforementioned groups meant to blend in with the general public, but all too often such suspects have extensive online histories on a given forum that it's hard to imagine they suddenly converted to the dark side.
Today I was arguing with someone about the efficacy of EV cars and started to notice a trend in their posts. What I observed was a certain speech pattern, i.e. they went from speaking in a very casual forum sense to extremely well written grammatically punctuated responses. I got suspicious that someone else was doing the writing and did some string searches for their responses, and came up mostly empty handed. So then I decided to do a more broad keyword search and after clicking through a few links I hit jackpot. I positively identified the source of their statements coming from another author discussing the same topic. The disgusting part was that the user I was dealing with had made obvious efforts to manipulate the wording so his plagiarism would be obscured, but it was all there.
Besides manipulating the sentence structure ever so slightly to avoid detection, they also manipulated the context of everything by sourcing their information from sites that actually conflicted with their own point of view! For instance, this certain poser used an article that was actually supportive of EV's but cherry picked some of the short-comings they mentioned to paint an overall picture of why EV's are so bad. It would be like if I tried to convince you that sunlight is entirely bad for your health because it contains gamma rays. I'm failing to mention the benefits of sunlight and thus leaving you with the impression that it is all bad. I finally caught what was bugging me so much about this user; they were completely full of shit, and so heavily invested in such that they would do anything to misrepresent the facts to fulfill their agenda. They were on their own little personal disinformation campaign volunteering information nobody was even arguing about.
I'm still bugged by this because I cant imagine why someone would do it. It also bugs me because the efforts were so subtle that I'm sure this person poses for a normal every day walking guy in real life, which means he blends in with the public, which means his words can do damage because people will not have an immediate distrust for him. Why should they afterall? What does he have to gain? It's sick, when people volunteer themselves for evil for no purpose whatsoever. I guess he feels he has some kind of vested interest to "do his part" to sway history.
Lets say you observe 3 rapid showdowns whereby a player never cbet as the initial raiser and just gave up if he didnt have a pair. This seems like a good opportunity to start picking off flops when he checks, but what if you miss a bunch of opportunities due to other action? Do you just kinda pick up right where you left off and test your theory at the next available opportunity? Or do you feel like if he hasnt been able to play the last 20 hands that he's probably looking to win his next pot and thus give him some room to fall back into his ways?
For your time I present to you trailers for Doom4 and The Division. Try to keep in mind The Division is supposed to showcasing a new real-time engine. Hard to believe this isnt CGI but there are some frame skips and other telltale signs of imperfection that make me believe it really is real-time.
oh yeah, and new trailer for Interstellar by Chris Nolan
So I finally got my hud restored and started spectating PLO tables and saw people running around 45vpip on average all the way up to 90+ and told myself "this looks fucking profitable", and it is. I'm up a bunch of buyins at NL25 hoping to move up aggressively as long as I'm not just a fish on a heater. My average stats are usually 30/23 or so which I think is pretty decent for a PLO player, so I know my results arent just due to maniacal play. But all of that is beside the point, what's really great about PLO is how deep it builds your understanding of other poker fundamentals.
For starters I have graduated into deepstacked play. I used to be terrified of playing more than 200BB's deep and even quit playing live poker for the last 6 months because I couldnt stomach big pots. All that is gone now because in PLO you end up playing 300-400BB's deep pretty quick so you have to sack up and get used to it. Whats even better is that in PLO you want to play deep. It gets deep for a reason as any PLO player knows because it is a "drawing game" or so I've heard. Draws make for big pots.
The other thing I've learned is just how desirable and down right fun value betting can be. In NLHE I've always had a slight case of MUBS or "Monsters Under the Bed Syndrome", whereby I'm paranoid of every turn/river thinking my opponent has probably sucked out on me somehow. So I make big bets and actually feel relieved when people fold instead of call. Almost satisfied really, which probably has more to do with my ego than fear sometimes. I never tap the glass, but in my head I'm always thinking "fuck you you piece of shit fish". Now they're just like warm cuddle bears that I want to snuggle with and never let go
But in PLO I find myself riding on the edge of my seat begging for calls. Why? Because in PLO you often make big hands, which puts me at a high degree of confidence. When you're flopping sets and turning flushes every other hand it's hard not to get excited about a payday, which is great for boosting confidence with your value bets. So many hands in holdem revolve around single pair scenarios that it's hard to be thrilled about getting it allin with just top pair. But in PLO it's like "oh shit I haz a boat! PLZ PLZ PLZ CALL ME!!!" Wanting calls and playing deep is like the perfect recipe for success.
And finally, I have dropped my winstop nonsense. For awhile I would set arbitrary goals like "win $100 today" and then quit no matter what once I got there. The idea was to give me something to aim for to stay focused, and to have something to feel proud about and finish each session on a high note. I knew I was leaving money on the table but it didnt matter, my mindset was so poor that I just had to win something to feel good about the session at all. Besides being counter-intuitive to general poker strategy 101, it's absolute blasphemy in PLO. So now I enjoy grinding out long sessions until the fish run dry. I often find myself the last one at the table before I quit. As long as you're not minbuying I'll play.
Anyway I know Joeingram is on some sick 20 year hustle to populate the PLO crowd for his grandkids, but it really is a good game and quite enjoyable once you learn the ropes. It's funny looking back at how I just now learn things that the rest of you have preached for 5 years.
Sure got burned for the second time utilizing one of these online video streaming rental services (google play, vudu). Rented the hobbit last night, got bored watching it, came back to finish it tonight, EXPIRED. You know what? Fuck you. Fuck you hard bitch. I tried to play fair. I tried to give you a reasonable chance not to horse fuck me. I gave you my money. I played by the rules, and this is what I got. An unreasonable time frame. Well good job MPAA, you just drove another user to 100% dedicated piracy. You had your shot, you had one of those elusive users who knows all too well how to steal your shit, but decided that because he can afford to pay that he should pay, and this is how you return the favor. You put me in a situation where undoubtedly the goal was to see if I would pay twice. I mean afterall who can only watch half a movie right? What other possible motive would there be other than to stack the deck so that the movie expires during the next logical viewing period (the same time the next day). Why wouldn't you give someone 48 hours? What do you have to lose? What advantage does this give me?
Anyway downloading HD version right now along with half a dozen other movies that were in my wish list to pay for.
The following hand accurately reflects almost every hand my opponent played for approximately 3 hours at this table. Thats right, I am going to show you just one hand, because this one hand is all you need to know how this player plays, because this is all he did all night long. This isnt a whine blog, i finished this session +300BB's. I'm just trying to figure out what the best approach is to someone like this with hands other than the nuts. I can only presume his stats would have been around 80/50/30. I'm getting a hud after this session since it would have really come in handy last night.
Submitted by : NewbSaibot
PokerStars Hand #2844108277: Holdem No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2014/04/06 3:30:39
Table #7779792 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Small Blind ($191.73 in chips)
Seat 2: Big Blind ($43.67 in chips)
Seat 3: UTG ($42 in chips)
Seat 4: UTGplus1 ($15 in chips)
Seat 5: Hero ($67.71 in chips)
Seat 6: Dealer ($62.55 in chips)
Small Blind: posts small blind $0.25
Big Blind: posts big blind $0.50
Holecards(Odds) Dealt to Hero
UTG: folds
UTGplus1: folds
Hero: raises $1.75 to $1.75
Dealer: folds
Small Blind: raises $2.75 to $3
Big Blind: folds
Hero: raises $7.75 to $9.50
Small Blind: calls $6.50
Small Blind: checks
Hero: bets $48.46 and is all-in
Small Blind: folds
Uncalled bet ($48.46) returned to Hero
Hero: shows
Hero collected $37.05 from pot
Summary Total pot $39 | Rake $1.95
Board
Seat 1: Small Blind (small blind) mucked
Seat 2: Big Blind (big blind) mucked
Seat 3: UTG mucked
Seat 4: UTGplus1 mucked
Seat 5: Hero won ($37.05)
Seat 6: Dealer (button) mucked
I shoved because he had paid off earlier with top pair bottom kicker so I figured surely he has something here. But in general his entire playstyle was similar to the above. Just lots of nonsensical raises from out of position, floating every flop etc. I dont know if he was a maniac or just trying to pick off every single pot when he perceived weakness. Regardless, I was dealt all sorts of hands like 44, 76s, ATs, KJo, that I didnt know how to play vs him. Should I bet 3betting the ever loving shit against him? 4bet too? Or just call?
so deep, put your ass to sleep. Thats how I'm going to play from now on. I'm going to play so deep it's as if a large black male has his erect penis so deep inside you that it pinches an artery shut and your butt cheeks begin to tingle. I've been half-stacking NL25 on Bovada for awhile with success before realizing that 50BB poker is heinous and puts you in lots of weird spots where you dont know if you should ship it in or just call/fold or whatever. You cant buy in for any less, and I've been avoiding fullstack play since the games are anonymous and I didnt feel like there was much EV getting set up with coolers vs random players. Then again it's bovada and everyone is terrible so there's certainly value in playing big pots.
But the real goal is to practice for live play again. I havent played live since last november, when I folded a 2000BB pot with a set because a fish shoved on me and they always get there. Of course he had 2 pair and is just being a fish, but it rattled me nonetheless. I didnt stop playing because I lost, but because live games always end up super deep, especially live home games where there's some expectation that you stay awhile. At that moment I realized I was not prepared for deep stacked play, and thus I cant play at all since I'd have to hitrun every time I doubled up.
Well fuck that, there's just too much money in these games to avoid them due to fear. So I'm going to start playing Bovada and basically never table change unless the game breaks. NL25 is a perfect limit to simulate live play (not too retardedly fishy but certainly no talent either). The players are trying to win, just like at live NL200. They just have huge leaks. Hopefully this way not only can I break my fear of assuming the worst suckout always got there, but I can start to hone proper value betting techniques. There's still lots of 200BB stacks at NL25 on bovada which is a start.
By the way anyone hear about that Malaysian plane? Crazy shit..
So I finally got me one of them newfangled 120 hurts television sets, the kind that gives everything the "soap opera" effect as it has been coined. Holy shit this thing is wild, I spent all afternoon watching random shit on netflix upscaled to 120hz and it's sooooo weeeiiirrrddd looking. I cant tell if I like it or hate it. On one hand the picture comes in so insanely clear you can actually follow the eyelashes and pores on peoples faces as they move around on screen. But of course it also exposes flaws in the production and makes every movie set look just like, well a movie set. Suddenly the whole show is completely fake and you know you're watching a movie instead of this portal into another world. Peter Jackson and James Cameron are signing off on this saying it'll be the next big thing. Apparently the 1st Hobbit movie was filmed like this but I never saw it. Going back to "normal" movie mode of like 24fps or whatever was consistently jarring. Even movies I have already seen in their original format were suddenly jittery looking as all hell, almost as if the original was completely fucked up and needs to be recut. It's like "damn is your camera broken?" kind of filming. After about 5 minutes or so I'd get used to it again, and of course the scenery would seem much more realistic, since the missing frames kind of help blur out the details that you catch when you're running at 60fps.
The one truly fascinating thing was watching documentaries. Since documentaries are usually filmed at a slightly higher frame rate anyway, the transition simply made even an HD documentary transformed into like a SUPER HD documentary. Then it dawned on me, if they could make movies look as good as a documentary, by having the utmost in background details and realism (you know, the kind of things that already exist naturally in a documentary because it's not supposed to be staged), then movies would become like REAL FUCKIN LIFE YO!!! And I dont mean movies filmed to look like a documentary, like Cloverfield or Blair Witch or whatever. I just mean if set designers just made sure to include enough detail that the scenes literally looked exactly like they would in real life, we will be taken into the next echelon of fantasy from any filmmaker who can execute this. I just imagine the budgets would have to be even higher since you would need hundreds of people polishing each set to make it real. Which by the way is probably a failure in and of itself since it's the very act of staging a set that creates an inherit bias of falsehood. The best real set is a REAL set. Either that, or they just start filming in real locations that have already been "lived in" to create the fine detail and micro chaos necessary to make it convincing to the human eye.
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