I'm out of the loop completely in regard to hardware, my current machine is Athlon 3200+ with some bullshit ATI x1600PRO GPU (which went into "legacy" like 2 years ago) and 1gb ram, which basically means I have 3 bottlenecks in my setup. I don't plan on gaming like a madman and "ultra" settings in highest resolutions are not really what I find interesting in games, however it would be nice to be able to run SC2, DOTA2 and D3 and sort, without reverting to obscene 800x600 in lowest details, so the new setup must not go obsolete in next year, preferably still alive 3 years from now but obviously on lower end. I plan on using virtual machines and I need to run one seemlesly, obviously strictly for programing/development and not multimedia. Other than that, I don't plan on doing any video or graphic editing and if I do I can cope with substandard specs. It would be nice to be able to run some sound editing though, either out of the box or as an extension. Considering all that I want a comfortable, budget machine that would still be decent in few years.
First of all, I desperately need multicored CPU. I'm pretty sure I want Intel this time unless someone makes a very good case for AMD. I was thinking 2 cores 2 threads each would be optimal, but apparently only i7 has hyperthreading enabled and there's a HUGE gap in prices between i5 and i7, currently I narrowed it down to i5-2400 and i5-2500, both have 4 cores (no hyperthreading). According to specs I'm seeing only difference is bus multiplier (seems more important) and in turn about 200Mhz less on 2400 (less important), but 2500 one is about 1/8 cheaper and I'm leaning towards 2400.
Other thing is, for some reason all CPUs I'm seeing have an integrated GPU for no apparent reason, is that standard? I don't need one since I'm defenitely getting a standalone GPU.
Graphcis - nVidia and there's no discussion, not only do I have rather bad experience with ATI, I need CUDA v2.1 support. Also, almost defenitely only one card, I don't see the reason to get two, I would rather just get one but better card. Unfortunately that's as much as I know, need serious help here. One I found (selected at random almost) is Gigabyte GTX460SE, 1GB memory GDDR5, 256 bit bus on PCI-E 2.0 x16, but everything here is a guess except for nVidia chipset. Do I need more memory? Bigger bus? According to some benchmarks I've seen it does decently enough for now but it seemed to be right in the middle as far as shading units and internal clocks go. Also, there are tons of manufacturers with cards on this chipset, once again I'm at loss.
Memory - I was thinking 4GB and maybe 8GB, don't really see need for it at least for now. Not much research done here, need opinions once again.
Finally motherboard, vendor I was looking at only had some uATX boards with LGA1155 socket, quick glance at some other gave soooo many results at all prices. I just don't really now what to pick. uATX actually doesen't sound bad since I don't think there's any need for internal cards aside from GPU, if I want a better sound card I will just get an external one. Also, what kind of AC do I need? 600W?
TLDR:
Need new machine for decent gaming time up to one year ahead and poker, need comments on:
Hey, I've been listening to a lot of Joe Rogan podcasts lately, and sometimes when it's about really cool topics, or they talk about people who's amazing I look up some of their work, to learn and find out more.
One fascinating character called Terence had a lot on his mind, I listened for a few hours to some of his speeches and I made a summary of some the stuff I felt was really well said, thought provoking, and awesome.
Catalysts to say what is never been said, to see what has never been seen. To draw, paint, sing, sculpt, dance and act what has never before been done. To push the envelope of creativity and language, and what's really important, the self presence of direct experience.
We have to stop consuming our culture, we have to create culture. Don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR.
Create your own roadshow, the nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your Universe. And if you're worrying about Michael Jackson, lady gaga or somebody else, then you're disempowered, you're giving it all away to icons.
Icons which are maintained by an electronic media, so that you want to dress like X, or have lips like Y or something, this is shit brained. That is all cultural diversion. And what is real is you, and your friends, and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans and your fears.
And we're told no.
We're unimportant, we're pheriperal, get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that, and then you're a player.
You don't even want to play in that game, you want to reclaim your mind, and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half baked moron, consuming all of this trash that's been manufactured out of the bones of a dying world.
I take a single buyin shot at NL200 live a few times a year when I can, just hoping for a little rungood when I do, and now that time has finally come. +5 BI's in a week = fun time. It's always nice to see your work go towards something, so I took Holly for her first joyride in a private plane.
Miro Mijatovic interviewby PuertoRican, February 25
A must watch for PRIDE fans.
- In Part 1 of our extended interview with Miro Mijatovic, the former manager of Mirko Cro Cop and Fedor Emelianenko discusses his initial contact with the Yakuza, their involvement in Japanese MMA, Naoto Morishita's mysterious death, and rumors of fight fixing. http://www.spike.com/video-clips/rrpt...-miro-mijatovic-interview-part-1-of-3
- In Part 2 of our extended interview, Miro Mijatovic details how Pride impacted the Japanese TV landscape. He also mentions why Mirko Cro Cop never fought Yoshihiro Takayama, and how signing Fedor Emelianenko to Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye led to death threats from the Yakuza. http://www.spike.com/video-clips/leoi...-miro-mijatovic-interview-part-2-of-3
- In the final piece of our extended interview, Miro Mijatovic retaliates against the threats of the Yakuza with help from the Japanese police. He also discusses the magazine Shukan Gendai's dealings, why he left the fight game and the climate for MMA in Japan today. http://www.spike.com/video-clips/3y57...-miro-mijatovic-interview-part-3-of-3
So I got some stuff in the mail for free online casino money from tiptop2012.com
Why the fuck is there about 6 online casinos for US customers where you can put real money online and play casino games... yet like 2 actual poker sites that cater to US players?
With that question asked... which casino game should I gamble away this free money on?
It's like video poker, black jack, baccarat, craps, pretty much all casino games other than poker.
Hey guys, I just got back from a trip to Niagara Falls and I decided to play the 1/2 game they have there at the Niagara Casino.
I arrive, I'm a bit tired but nothing a large Tim Horton's coffee couldn't solve. It was a Thursday night so it wasn't too busy, I went there with a friend who doesn't really know anything about poker. I gave her $60 (The min buy-in) to splash around with to have some fun and apply some concepts I kind of nonchalantly been teaching her about.
I sit down at a table and my friend sits at the one next to mine. As I take my seat, I recognize one of the players there: a girl that played at the CNE casino I've been dealing at in the summer. I remember her because she's cute, funny, very friendly and talks a lot.
There's five hands until I'm the big blind so I observe the table. A ~30-year old black man in seat 7, from the table-talk, he is very tight and from the way hes putting in bets pf and post, I'm assuming he's nitty-TAG. The white-man to my immediate right has tattoos, and the way the dealer knows his name I assume he's a regular. He's in a hand with an older white man ~40-50, where he gets it all-in on the river and Showdowns the J10 nut straight. The older white man from the way hes looking had a very very badly played Two pair. He re-buys for $260
The white man to my left is around ~20-30 enjoyed talking about poker and he threw around terms like equity, set-mine, and pot odds so I assumed he was a bad-but-thinks-hes-good player.
So I post the big blind. UTG White Poker Player (~$350) limps, and the Friendly Whale (~$170) limps when the Black Man(~$200) raises to 16. It folds to me where I peel an Ad. Then I think about the ranges I'm continuing with hoping for another A, where I peel a Ks.
I wanted to play longer than this for my first real decision since my friend was still splashing around learning and having fun and my stop loss was only at $260 and I didn't have any REAL reads. My initial reads weren't really concrete but I decided to just flat OOP (which is probably a mistake) than the other option of re-raising where I didn't really expect anyone to fold and playing OOP in a large pot. UTG flats and we see a flop of:
Pot (~$55)
10h 9h 5d
I check, Poker-Player checks, Black-man checks to a
Turn:
4d
I check, Poker-Player bets ~$15, Black-man calls,
I fold.
It's my second hand T_T and I wanted to play longer for other reasons as stated above. So I'm thinking that he's a regular and probably a some-what decent hand-reader who knows what I probably have. I wasn't sure if he could do this with a FD so I thought for about a minute and whispered call. He didn't reveal his hand or anything and the dealer didn't seem to catch it, so I moved my chips to the middle and announced louder my call.
My thought process was that I didn't know how he played and since the pots around ~$300 and I'm risking $100 so I'm getting ~3:1 and in a vacuum against 1/2NL players, I could be against badly played QQ or a FD. I thought 55 and 66 would play it exactly like this and it was my first thought. But I figured there was too much in the pot to fold and I was going to shove any turn anyway so might as well.
Turn came the 4s and the river measured the 5s where he announced two pair. I show my KK and he says that's good. Apparently he had pair + FD.
Which comes to the VERY next hand on the BU where I have 66 and limped behind. I was talking about the KK hand where people thought I was going to fold and told them that maybe he had a set and I continued talking where I saw a flop of
It continues, I play tight, get AK two more times, Raise PF this time! And get folds around. Pick up KK (AGAIN) UTG-raise to $11 and get folds. Get AA Raise $15 pf to a limper. Bet flop he folds.
I ran really good but no action unfortunately. I'm just talking, agreeing with people's poker logic, listening to stories, laughing, making sure everyone's having a good time. I somehow got the image of a tight-winning-poker player. I decide I should start stealing more and making more bluffs.
Kind-of new player sits down, Middle-Aged Lady (MAL) who seems nice, we welcome her to the table and I assume she's a reg as the dealer knows her name. She posts 4 to the bb away so I assume fishy.
She checks her option and flops two pair where she bets it aggressively.
I'm dealt AsQs UTG so I raise to $11 and get called by (MAL)(~250) in the sb and (WMT)(~$85) in the bb.
Going on my reads, I guess MAL is doing it with ~A5 or ~AJ or ~55 but I wondered if she could be doing it with a smaller Ace as thats what 1/2NL players do. The shove from (WMT) could be an Ace or a J or a FD. Pretty weak and I'm almost certain I beat him. I think for about 10 seconds and fold.
(MAL) calls and showdowns AK and (WMT) had a FD apparently.
Then we come to this hand where I feel like I made a pretty bad mistake.
UTG+1,(MAL)(~$350) limps, I limp on the BU with 4s4d, sb completes and the bb (Tight-Older-Asian-Gentleman)(TOAG)(~$500) decides to raise $15.
(MAL) calls, I call and sb thinks and folds.
Flop:
pot (~$50)
10h 6h 5d
(TOAG) does something strange and he decides to c-bet to $10.
(MAL) calls.
I smell weakness, like (TOAG) has ~AK, AQ because I figured he'd bet bigger for value unless he's looking to c/r, and like I don't really think this particular gentleman would play AA,KK,QQ that tricky on this board. (MAL) I guess maybe picked up on this? Has something like a pair of 6 or a 5, maybe a FD, maybe a SD and maybe a 10.
So I re-raise to $50. Reason: TOAG probably has a weak hand and MAL has something pretty marginal that she might fold. I had a plan to bet a A,K,Q,3, MAYBE 7, and obviously a 4 turn card.
TOAG folds and MAL starts thinking, and looks pretty distressed. So I felt pretty good about it until she asked how much it was and she did that,
"Mehhhh, Ehhhhhh, Okay, I call."
Turn:
6c
Bad bluff card =[. Not folding anything but maybe a draw. But if she's calling with those on the flop I think I have to bet huge on the turn to make draws fold.
She checks.
I check.
River:
6s
Worse River card haha, but Maybe I'm good so I check behind,
I always pull stupid bluffs to take a chunk of my profits almost every session but w/e, I'm still trying to learn and I did leave with a healthy $200 profit after ~2 hours of playing.
Plus my friend ended up with $85 (She was up ~$130 at one point) which is really really good for her first EVER live poker casino experience and probably her 10th time playing overall.
Well I'm really settling into my schedule. Grinding 3 days during the week for 7 hours (5-12), and grinding 8-10 hours on fridays and trying for 8-10 hours on Saturdays and doing Sunday + one random weekday off. Seems like a good work-life balance right now, so hopefully that keeps up. Ok, enough with the scheduling mumbo jumbo...
I'm still a bit behind pace on hours played, but I should get 180 hours in this month because I've been playing a lot, which will almost cover up my 95 hour January. If I can add a couple extra hours here and there I can bump my monthly average up to 150 hours by May I'm sure.
For other stats, Hands per hour is probably around 30 for live play, so you can derive most things from that. i.e 240*30 = only ~7200 hands played so far.
I've recently started playing PLO again after a two year absence. I've got a full-time job so I don't have a tremendous amount of time. My goal was to just focus on learning and not care about the results. At times my emotions still get the best of me but I'm getting stronger at dealing with it. Knowing I don't care about the money and I can just approach poker as a hobby certainly makes it easier.
In 18k hands I've won $257.00. A pithy amount playing PLO50 but hey it's something I guess. The all-in EV has me at $710.00 so as usual I'm well below equity. That of course isn't calculated by street so it's a pretty useless metric considering the number of 3-bets in PLO and if you run bad on flops (where you get it in most of the time) you're losing huge amounts of money to trash play from gambling fish but it is what it is.
I'm used to it so it's no big deal I suppose. I'm trying to play a maximum of four tables and preferably less. Focusing on just learning as much as possible and improving my game. I feel like I've gained a lot of knowledge this month and hopefully I'll keep getting better. My roll is short because 1k is still tied up on FTP but I see no point in playing lower than PLO50. It's a 10pt/bb rake trap even at the stakes where I am now.
Winnings: $257.00
Rake Paid: $1788.00
Yep that's fair. I kill the games at 12pt/bb and Pokerstars takes nearly 10pt/bb for my trouble. that really makes games beatable and fair. I'd estimate 97% or more of PLO players at PLO50 and below are losers. Even the players who deserve to be winning. Honestly not sure why I even bother playing for such a greedy site.
They repackaged a bunch of lies about fixing things but don't kid yourselves. Pokerstars is 100% in it for themselves. The sad thing is if there were say 40% of players being winning players, then Pokerstars would have thousands of people spreading the word about how they're kicking ass and making money. People can't help but brag. People who hear them bragging can't help but want to get into it themselves. That's how the poker boom got going. The idea of easy money. Oh well though, Pokerstars still wins and rakes in millions so they're obviously doing it right for them, can't really fault them for it.
Just remember though if you play poker and you think you work for yourselves, you don't. You basically work for Pokerstars. Part of a giant pyramid scheme. A brilliant one at that.
Hey guys!
If you dont know yet I challenged myself into making 20K playing MTTs in Thailand in the next 6 months starting in February. I bloged about it a couple entries ago so if you wanna know more about it take a look.
Yes I know, almost 1 month gone and I havent made any money.
I'm feeling pretty good about it actually! I've been putting some good game volume and have learned a lot so I dont feel it was a waste of time. I strongly believe I'm gonna be able to accomplish this challenge. My average buy-in is $6 cause I have a pretty nitty BR Management. At the moment my BR is $2.9k. Take a look at my BR Management Chart:
Very nitty right? I like it this way cause I know MTT variance is pretty crazy and I hate mixing my finances with poker, so I rather make sure I will never need to put a penny in PokerStars ever again.
Lets keep this forum active guys! Dont let LP die.
And grind hard!
Cheers!
Just checked my account today just to keep track of the transfer then I see that a whole lot of vip exchange rates got unlocked for me out of no where. For the past month I only had 3 options as far as exchanging points go and my highest option was something like 130 points for 3$. Now I have like 40 options and a lot of them are like 1800 pts for 80$, 6k points for 300$ etc. Did this happen to anyone else? Just bought 300$ woot OoO
About a month ago I had an interesting dinner conversation with some close friends that are also poker players about poker communities (one of the very rare times we talk about poker). One side of the argument was that making any sort of contribution to a community of serious poker players is a really bad idea. You're decreasing your own future EV by making other players better at taking money out of the poker economy, and you aren't really doing net overall good in the world when it's specifically a zero (or negative with rake) sum game like poker, where one man's gain is another man's loss. It was the opinion of the guy who held this side of the argument (don't wanna out anyone as they might get berated lol) that while leeching advice when he was new and coming up in poker was really useful for him, he always thought even then that the people giving the free advice back then were being stupid and should've kept quiet to preserve their bottom lines, and all current pro poker players should also be keeping quiet.
The main pro-community participation argument was, if you gained so much from the community by reading forums and leeching advice when you were new and coming up in poker then you owe it to the community to give back/pay it forward. Even though you're not giving back to the same people whos forum advice helped you years ago when you were learning poker, it's not about specific members but the idea of community as a whole. The idea that if you give and help freely in an environment with people who are also giving and helping freely, and encouraged to do so then the net outcome is better for all participants than if everyone keeps to themselves - the very idea of a community.
I'd be interested to hear what you guys think.
Personally I didn't have any strong stance either way and hadn't thought about it before this conversation came up. Years in the past I may have thought similarly to the guy in the first paragraph (and that is a part of the reason I haven't done almost anyblogging or hand posting here since 2008), but during this conversation I became increasingly convinced by the pro-community side. Even though it might hurt your bottom line and this might outweigh the intangible benefits of being a contributing community member (debatable), I think it's a better way to live life. On this vein I plan to participate a bit more on 2+2 and especially here starting now. Don't expect replies to every single strategy thread or anything like that (infact I never open any strategy threads just cause I find it kinda boring to engage my mind in poker strategy in any way that isn't directly playing, not cause I don't wanna share knowledge or something) but I def have an updated attitude towards community.
If anyone has any information or knows where I can find a furnished apartment across the border (Fort Erie'ish, Ontario'ish)
Please PM me, goin back up when I find a place;
Having a problem with log in on pokerstars, the log in screen appears, I enter my username n password but nothing happens.. anyone having the same problem?
I swear i read someone writing something about this, but i cant seem to find it anywhere. Basically it was about, you can drink caffeine as normal on a day to day basis for x days, then you have to take y days off so that your body doesnt become dependent. Has anyone got any info on this? - links to articles or studies etc would be great. I tried googling, but not really having much luck on finding this
Thanks everyone, hope you're all crushing it at the tables in 2012
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