Probably gonna jinx myself.../Big Game talkby Carthac, October 08
But I have been running fairly decent and feel my play has improved significantly. With bonuses/rakeback/winnings, im not too far off from taking another shot at NL25. However, I may stay here for a little while longer and make sure my game is strong and this isnt a nice piece of short term variance.
If you have not figured it out already from my previous blogs/posts, I am a huge fan of TV poker, and this week has been huge in that aspect. The Poker After Dark table this week is literally amazing, and the Pokerstars Big Game table is pretty awesome as well.
Table consists of the amateur loose cannon(who is surprisingly not too bad compared to the other participants that have been on the show), Antonio Esfandiari, Tony G, Ike Haxton, Jason Mercier, and Phil Hellmuth.
Ike Haxton has truly impressed me from what I have seen so far. However, the person that has blown me away is Phil Hellmuth. He has completely changed his style in this cash game, and is playing very solidly. Along with this, he is taking huge beats but keeping his cool, even with Tony G being a complete ass and doing his best to needle him in every way possible.
If you have not checked it out yet, you really should.
One of the most common attacks against Marijuana these days is that weed "kills your memory". The degree of memory loss depends on who you're talking to, but ranges from "only mild short term memory loss" to "life long memory damage". The truth? Life long damage is a crock of shit, and the short term memory loss depends on the type of weed you smoke.
All of the previous studies on MMJ in labs in the USA were using low quality government provided MMJ or solely THC extracted from the plants. It is found that THC does mess with your short term memory, making it harder to remember things that are learned while high, though it's not very severe and it is still possible to learn new information while high and then remember it later while sober. But another ingredient in MMJ called CBD actually counteracts THC and totally eliminates any memory impairment.
Finally a study actually used a realistic setting to test the affects of MMJ, having people smoke their own supply in their house before undergoing testing. The results have researchers thinking that CBD might be a cure or treatment for people suffering from memory related diseases like Alzheimers.
The findings suggest that an ingredient more plentiful in some types of marijuana than in others may help to reduce the memory loss that some users suffer.
The key difference between the types of cannabis is the ratio of two chemicals found in all strains. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the primary active ingredient, and is responsible for the effects associated with the classic 'high', including euphoria and giddiness but also anxiety and paranoia. The second chemical, cannabidiol, has more calming effects, and brain-imaging studies have shown that it can block the psychosis-inducing effects of THC2. Skunk-type strains of cannabis contain a higher ratio of THC to cannabidiol than do hashish or herbal types.
To test this hypothesis, Curran and her colleagues travelled to the homes of 134 volunteers, where the subjects got high on their own supply before completing a battery of psychological tests designed to measure anxiety, memory recall and other factors such as verbal fluency when both sober and stoned. The researchers then took a portion of the stash back to their laboratory to test how much THC and cannabidiol it contained.
The subjects were divided into groups of high (samples containing more than 0.75% cannabidiol) and low (less than 0.14%) cannabidiol exposure, and the data were filtered so that their THC levels were constant. Analysis showed that participants who had smoked cannabis low in cannabidiol were significantly worse at recalling text than they were when not intoxicated. Those who smoked cannabis high in cannabidiol showed no such impairment.
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The results suggest that cannabidiol can mitigate THC's interference with memory formation. This is the first study in human to show such effects. One previous study, led by Aaron Ilan, a cognitive neuroscientist at the San Francisco Brain Research Institute in California, failed to find variations in cognitive effects with varying concentrations of cannabidiol3.
Ilan attributes the positive finding of Curran and her team to their more powerful methodology in analysing subjects' own smoking preferences. In the United States, government policy dictates that only marijuana provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse can be used for research — and it "is notorious for being low in THC and of poor quality", says Ilan.
Lester Grinspoon, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachussetts, who has studied the effects of marijuana on patients since 1967, says that Curran's study is important. "Cannabis with high cannabidiol levels will make a more appealing option for anti-pain, anti-anxiety and anti-spasm treatments, because they can be delivered without causing disconcerting euphoria," he says.
I'm forcing myself to make this blogpost. I don't want to forget this lesson to hopefully in the future minimize it's chances of ever happening again.
Since my last entry I've primarily been playing live. That in itself is an adventure. Before I went and played live, I had cashed out to pay off all of my bills & debts. Immediately after doing so I started to have a case of the cashout blues so I decided to switch to live for a bit. Even though I'm not properly rolled for live atm, it is completely my money (yessss!!) and when you combine that with knowing 100% how juicy the live 1/2 games are plus the online cashout blues it becomes an easy risky-yet-profitable decision. As I am not up as much as I'd like to be (primarily for getting bored and being two+ steps ahead instead of one) I did have to make a few adjustments and remind myself that even online at best I don't usually win more than 60% of my sessions in the longterm. Live rocks though and I hope to eventually do that just as much if not more than online.
I'm procrastinating from the point of this blog tho. Live is not the reason for this entry
runester: bets $3
~~N!CHOLAS~~: raises $3.50 to $6.50
Hero: raises $13.50 to $20
taroff: folds
runester: folds
~~N!CHOLAS~~: raises $19.95 to $39.95
Hero: raises $42.35 to $82.30 and is all-in
~~N!CHOLAS~~: calls $15.20 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($27.15) returned to Hero
River (Pot : $119.30)
Showdown ~~N!CHOLAS~~: shows (a straight, Five to Nine)
Hero: shows (a straight, Three to Seven)
~~N!CHOLAS~~ collected $116.30 from pot
Summary Total pot $119.30 | Rake $3
Board
Seat 1: runester (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 2: ~~N!CHOLAS~~ (big blind) showed and won ($116.30) with a straight, Five to Nine
Seat 3: Indra81 folded before Flop (didnt bet)
Seat 4: Hero showed and lost with a straight, Three to Seven
Seat 5: istnurgeld folded before Flop (didnt bet)
Seat 6: taroff (button) folded on the Turn
This is the dumbest hand I have played in . . . . hell it's been so long I can't even tell you the last time. At nowhere in the hand did I even think of 89 as a possibility. I thought an 8 was possible, but I was just thinking set set draw set draw and set. I felt so incredibly st00pid after this hand that my mentality completely deteriorated. I usually let things go rather easily but after this mishap I was laughing & berating myself so much that my game immediately turned stale then completely fell apart. I told myself multiple times (outloud even) that I should just stop but I didn't as I wanted to make up for such a silly dumbass mistake. You can see just by the graph my outcome.
This session reinforced my belief in how much of this game is mental more than anything else. It's quite ironic that just a few weeks ago I was showing someone a graph where I had started out devastatingly bad and then made a comeback to completely even before calling it a session and upon showing this I had mentioned how that type of session/graph was soooo much better than it's opposite because at the finish line you have a completely reversed feeling. Truer words have never been spoken.
The moral of this post for me is primarily that I need to listen to myself; especially when I talk outloud. I am usually very good in this department if not the best but today shows that no matter who or what you think you are, anyone can sometimes fail miserably at something that's so easy and obvious to them. Maybe I could be proud I finally did stop and at least it was in the green but even now I am berating myself and that is why I'm making this post; to learn my lesson and hopefully let go
So I'm back after a long hiatus. Playing some poker, and really trying to focus on my game to hopefully grind out enough to justify not working minimum wage jobs.
A nice recent cash of 700 for 5th in the 10k $1re Rush has helped alot. That coupled with a deep run in the Daily Dollar deepstack cashing 80 bucks for 10th reminded me that poker is just full of money to be had.
So I've done some reading, talked to some guys about how good ways to approach building a br and now have a plan.
45 man Turbo SnG's are rediculously soft and easy to play. So the goal is to play lots of them. Currently only playing 1 dollars and splashing 3's because I needed to take most of the winnings from those tourneys off. I'm left with a BR of about 200 bucks. Plan is to have 50 BI's of the lvl. I could be playing 3's at this point but I want to stick at the one dollar lvl until I'm sure I have the game figured out.
Currently I'm crushing, not going to lie.
155 games played 32.09% roi overall.
Since I've done some reading and really focused up (obv a small sample but) 29 games played 81 percent ROI.
How I'm approaching this plan is to basically grind out this SnG's any time I can during the week. Come Sunday I'll look back at the week, and use 20 percent of my winnings that week as buy-ins for Sunday. This will allow me to play in some bigger stuff, so that when I run/play good, I don't get 80 bucks for beating 8000 people. I feel this is a solid plan, as it allows me to take alot of shots at MTTs that could GREATLY increase my BR without actually making a big BR risk. I can't play more than 4 MTT's unless they are SnG's that I'm botting anyways, so I might as well make my 4 on Sunday count.
Also glad to be back on LP. Missed reading everyone's stuff and posting about life and poker and such.
Today i set a goal for my self to put some hands into this month, since i have been occupied with school n stuff. Due to running really bad, i lately feel some kind of lack of confidence as well. Really dunno, bizarre shit's been happening lately. Im not used to running this bad.
Oh man i am waiting for the day i will have some good sessions again.
I have played longer sessions, instead of 1,5 h - 2h i have started playing 2h - 4h sessions. Maybe there lies the key to why i haven't been on top of my game.
Anyways here's a graph i played on 7th of October:
PokerStars Game #50768512720: Tournament #318845413, $55.00+$2.50 USD Holdem No Limit - Match Round I, Level II (15/30) - 2010/10/07 23:47:52 AT [2010/10/07 22:47:52 ET]
Table 318845413 1 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: ooyama (1020 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero (1980 in chips)
ooyama: posts small blind 15
Hero: posts big blind 30
Holecards(Odds) Dealt to Hero
ooyama: raises 30 to 60
Hero: raises 120 to 180
ooyama: raises 840 to 1020 and is all-in
Hero: calls 840
Showdown Hero: shows (two pair, Kings and Threes)
ooyama: shows (a pair of Threes)
Hero collected 2040 from pot
ooyama finished the tournament in 2nd place
Hero wins the tournament and receives $110.00 - congratulations!
Summary Total pot 2040 | Rake 0
Board
Seat 1: ooyama (button) (small blind) showed and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 2: Hero (big blind) showed and won (2040) with two pair, Kings and Threes
I saw a video not too long ago whereby Ivey loses 2nd in chips at the FT of some WPT or EPT event. He gets it allin with AA or something, as a huge favorite. Potential 2 million dollars lay before his eyes. Then what did he do? He did nothing. He didnt run around the table hooting and hollering saying "one time! one time!". He didnt stand up and watch the cards get dealt. He didnt go to the rail to hold his buddies. He just sat there and let poker do its thing. He loses to a 2 outer. And his very next move, after being horribly sucked out on, was to simply shake hands, get up, collect his things, and leave. Either it didnt bother him, or he didnt let it bother him.
I want to be like Ivey. Just got back from another unbeatable table of fish. 3 BI's gone. Standard 90/10 coinflipping. I can only get it in ahead so many times. If this happened online shit would be breaking. Probably be out another monitor. Thank god it was live and the 20 minute drive home gave me time to cool off. I'm still on the verge of snapping. One wrong move and I'll lose it. Anyway, I am flat out done with playing in fishy games, just too much variance. At least fishy ring games where donkeys can threaten my entire stack. Gonna investigate the CAP scene, or maybe the 50BB tables, just anything where some fish cant quintouple up and then stack me for 100BB's randomly clicking buttons.
Exploiting low stake sit and go'sby bro, October 07
Now a week has past since I started playing again. The results I guess have been OK, however it feels like not much is happening and I was kind of believing it would be easier to beat these games. I'm of course aware of variance and all that but I do have to question my own play every day while playing.
I believe my strategy for this kind of sit and go's is good. It was quite a long time since I was doing single table tournaments, but I was playing a lot of multi table ones last year and these super turbo singles are basically all about pushbot play, which isn't that hard to pull off in a kind of balanced way.
Since this is low stakes though I shouldn't just stick to what is the proper way to play theoritcally. There's tons of weak players to whom I should adapt my strategy. I've started doign some observations and this is what I've come up with so far:
- Tighten your range when is villain opening/pushing, since most players at low stakes are way too passive
- You can easily get away with being more aggressive at the bubble
- Pushbot play should start when average stack is around 15 big blinds
I'll be thinking about more ways to abuse the lower level players weaknesses, my head is kind of empty right now. I was just thinking I could bring this up to reach out to you guys reading the blog, giving me some ideas of how to exploit players at low stake sit and go's, instead of just focusing on playing game theoritcally correct in every situation.
So I am ill again (talk about fucked up health lol. Working on it though), and had some time on my hands. So I went to youtube
Time Management from a real expert - a person with 6 more months to live (he is now dead).
It really highlights the needs to evaluate what we do, plan our time and focus on important things.
The overall goal in whatever you do should be to have fun.
[quote]If you can dream it, you can do it[quote] - Walt Disney
Tips:
1) Use to -do lists. Always do the 'ugly' things first
2) Do things from Important, Due soon-> Important, not due now. People focus on unimportant things due now way too much. Always keep opportunity cost in mind.
3) Find your creative times and your 'dead' times. Do boring/repetitive or easy things in your weak times during the day
Time is the most important commodity, that you never can get back. You can get money later, but time is gone once it passes.
It is useful to set up a time journal for 3-14 days, and see how you spend your time, and see how you waste it
Interview shortly before he died:
Values/needs in life
Every human has the need for:
1) Certainty - achieved through knowledge or skill or experience
2) Uncertainty - we want new things to happen
3) Significance - we like to matter, be it through money, power, influence or clothes
4) Love/ connection (with people)
5) Grow -we want to get better/further
6) Contribute beyond ourselves - we want to help others
Every person has a different map of needs and values, and will lean towards one or more of the above. Still every person needs all of those.
Obama
Pretty refreshing seeing an intelligent president that doesn't take himself seriously (and is not a complete retard like Bush - seriously, how fucked up a country must be to have voted him in the office. TWICE.)
Bill Gatesbefore his retirenment
Skip to 5:30 for pretty funny vid with a truckload of A-listers.
P.S. re my previous blog, there are easy steps for balancing nutrition and moving towards 100% Health (derived from a study of a 55,000+sample of respondents to a health survey). These are just a basic general changes, and my first step in the next few weeks before I will go into specifics.
1) Reduce wheat consumption to 1 serving/day (White bread, pasta, pizza)
2) No refined sugar snacks. At all.
3) Stop adding extra salt to food.
4) Refined foods = max 1 serving/day (white bread, flour...)
5) Eat 8-10 servings of vegetable/fruit per day
6) Lower consumption of red meat to max 2 servings/week
7) Eat fresh oily fish at least 3 servings/week
8) Eat fresh, raw seeds 3 times per day
9) Drink 11 glasses of water minimum every day
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(a straight, Five to Nine)
(a pair of Threes)
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