I've seen some threads (on 2p2) where people compare chess to poker and find the posts ranging from painfully obvious to not very thoughtful all the way to pure trash.
I'm posting this short clip, not to provoke a discussion on the similarities between poker and chess, but simply because it touches on themes universal to competition and self-improvement in general. With respect to poker, I think it's a good reminder that we should:
- Keep challenging ourselves even when we're having success
- Review winning sessions along with the losing ones
- Review winning hands along with the losing ones
- Learn from our opponents mistakes even when we win or play a hand profitably
- Look for opponents mistakes we missed even when we win the hand
- Look for where we could have made better plays, even in spots where we won
- Look for mistakes in our own play that our opponent may have missed
My apologies if you took the 2 minutes to watch and felt it was a waste of your time.
For those who aren't familiar with these - it randomly generates a number every minute that I now have to enter to log into Pokerstars. (You don't plug it into your USB or anything - just type whatever number it is presently showing) So now a hacker has to steals all 3 of my my password, my pin - they still need this physical token I carry with me to access my account.
It adds another level of comfort especially if you use a wireless and are afraid of someone stealing your password via a key logger etc.
edit: 1:10am 3/21
Sorry for not responding sooner but I believe its available to all upon request via email. Also it is about 50 bucks in FPP, but thats basically selling at cost if you check prices on the interwebs - this is supposedly a 5 year version too.
For those wondering, I believe its not necessary if the 50 bucks is a huge chunk of your bankroll - since stars is already top of the line with security and they already have the pin. And the risk of hack attempt is greater the more you have to steal I suppose. Stars also has a lot of other behind the scenes safeguards. For instance, my account was frozen once for trying to make a transfer from an IP address that wasn't one of my standard play locations (I was on vacation and it was unfrozen after a simple phone call). Nonetheless it is nice to have the token for just an extra level of security especially after all the stories from the LAPC.
By the way it says it takes 4-6 weeks but it took 10 days from VIP store purchase to delivery.
I'm a degen looking to get down on some of these games for microstakes 5-20 bucks since I expect most of my favorites will often be dogs and I'm not exactly versed in SC strategy. I may require some incentive to take some big dogs i.e. 30:20 etc but just post here if you want on a side and we can work out 3rd party to hold. I'll do last longers with one or multiple players as well as head to head bets. Just let me know what you're interested in.
For starters I'll offer 20 even money on Leta, if anyone wants Flash.
I'll also put 20 on over 3.5 Terran making to Ro8. Since Flash/Leta is auto 1, basically I'm saying 3 of Hwasin, NaDa, Forgg, Frozean, UpMagic will win. If 2 or less win, then I lose.
Also other people feel free to offer/take bets they want in comments.
UPDATE: In the money with 25 and 30bb in 2 events 5/12 in one and 27/54 in the 50-50 (154 paid) and FTP loses connectivity with the whole southeast apparently. My internet still worked, and I could chat on AIM with people watching me blind down while others still played. I finally reconnect like 30 minutes later with less than 10 bb in both those events.
I've been running a game on my PC and my monitor keeps going into power save mode. I've updated the drivers for my vid card and monitors but it still has this issue. I also went into the control panel and turned all the power save and hibernate options to 'Never'. Still no luck even after searching Google and seeign many people have had this issue, but no one seems to have found a resolution for it.
It of course may be that my system wasn't exactly bought for gaming and I need to upgrade a little bit. Although I can't confirm that this is the issue, I have no problem upgrading the vid card (GeForce 7300LE) and RAM (1GB) if anyone has any suggestions of what and where to get it. I don't want top of the line stuff just something to update me into the last year or so. I assume I can do this from 50-200 bucks.
I'm looking to incorporate some higher stakes MTT into my play. I have a friend wanting to stake me for some FTP events and tbh neither of us are that versed in staking agreements. So, if anyone has any info on standard agreements please share or direct me to a place where I can find out more. I'm guessing 50/50 after makeup is standard but wanted to seek feedback.
Additionally, I would like to play the Sunday slate on stars and potentially some live events in Florida when I visit (in the 300-1100 buyin range) so feel free to sweat my results if you're in the market for buying action.
Book Recommendation: Elements of Poker
I've done my fair share of reading poker texts with a strong focus on strategy books. I unfortunately can not say any of those has highly impacted my game. Despite focusing mostly on strat books, the only books I can recommend are Harrington's series and now Tommy Angelo's Elements of Poker. (I suppose I'd recommend Barry's Ace on the River b/c he's a sick hero and it has no strat at all - it's just about Vegas and how he's a degen). I've had the Angelo text on my shelf since I pre-ordered it from Amazon and just now cracked it open during my recent flight to Vegas. Already I feel like it's going to impact my game and bottom line. It by no means is a strategy book, but actually is more of a study on tilt and minimizing the time at the table we play less than our best game instead of focusing on improving our game when we're at our best. Many of the anti-tilt and stop-loss concepts are not new but it's really putting it in terms that I can apply and use to convince myself to end sessions when I'm not bringing my A game. It's too early to tell, but it's been a very refreshing read so far and has left me very optimistic about the potential impact it will have on my bottom line simply by shortening the time I play under conditions that are less than optimal.
Other notes.
- Vegas trip should be the last distraction from heavy grinding/study for some time. I said this before the Vegas trip but Myth making the FT and another friend playing the ME after satting in for $7.50 were reason enough alone to sneak out there for a couple days even during double FPP week.
- I may look for a student - not for the profit but as with other areas of study, the best way to really understand something is to be able to teach it. I think it's also a good way to revisit things I presently take for granted. This is not high on my list and I've definitely run good to have many solid players on my contact list in order to get plenty of discourse in. That said if any one wants to chat strat / set hand & hour goals / etc send me a PM - no harm in adding more accountability on my study.
- Reducing tables in play: End of day profit is trivial at this point and the real focus during the grind is improving my A game and maintaining my A game longer while I play.
- Starting to play/study more MTT. At least 1 day a week (usually during the weekends) will be reserved for this. I haven't started playing the 215 Sundays yet but with some success Sundays will probably become mtt day for me. The longterm target is to make myself an attractive potential stakee for some fishy live events within a year - or have a resume large enough to justify taking on the variance myself in these massively +EV opportunities.
