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RiKD   United States. Apr 27 2024 20:05. Posts 9020 | | |
All this poker talk and I find myself playing again. It's related to Alan Wake 2.
I know when I wake up in the morning I have some valuable activities that I can take part in. I can garden, I can play my guitar, I can go for a walk, I can read, I can connect with friends. These are all Rockstar Activities. Sometimes when I am bored I don't want to contemplate philosophy / life. I want a game like Alan Wake 2 to cut through the time. Then I realized poker is probably / maybe a better activity than that. One similarity I realized between Alan Wake 2 and poker is that the cortisol gets churning in the belly and the adrenaline starts pumping through the veins. Sometimes it is a kind of uncomfortable sensation but sometimes it leads to flow and some sort of high. It's probably something that humans can get addicted to. I noticed there are times when I don't want to play Alan Wake 2 or poker because I don't want to jump into that suffering feeling. I'm risking an uncomfortable feeling to win a flow state and to win at the game and making me slightly happy. I'm also risking losing at the game which makes me slightly sad. I could also lose a lot and sit in a lot of suffering or I could win a lot and feel better than God.
Between a GTO trainer and GTO charts it's incredibly easy to play well pre-flop versus what I was doing in 2010. Although it's pretty pretty difficult to play perfect. I was just thinking about one today. I raise sb. bb 3bets. I have Jd9d. I'm supposed to raise about 60% and call 40%. The RNG says 59. My inclination is just to call but that is wrong. I have no idea why I raise the Jd9d in this spot so much. I mean the solver has the bb 3betting some J + small hands (suited)...
Playing better pf makes post-flop go a lot smoother but I need some work post-flop because the turns and rivers are where the money is made. The (solver) strategy and betsizes really owns 2010 poker.
I just wonder what I should be doing with my time. I spend a fair amount of time on the job hunt M-F but on my downtime what should I be doing? How do I get better post flop without a solver? Should I even be playing poker in the first place? Should I read The Burnout Society for like the 5th time?
I already read a couple of Simone Weil's books. There is no straightforward path of what to read next it seems. But it kind of is funny that I was going down this spiritual path of Catholicism and now I am playing poker. I guess I am just wondering about the endgame with poker. It's Saturday I have time on my hands. I think I would prefer to read a good book than to play poker but the new strategies of poker really interest me.
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RiKD   United States. Apr 27 2024 20:18. Posts 9020 | | |
AI Answer (google)
Adrenaline can make you feel happy because it stimulates the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter
known as the "happy hormone". Dopamine is associated with pleasurable sensations, learning, and memory.
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PuertoRican   United States. Apr 28 2024 03:55. Posts 13132 | | |
Does playing poker still give you the same rush that you used to get when you were playing poker all day every day? |
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RiKD   United States. Apr 28 2024 04:24. Posts 9020 | | |
| On April 28 2024 02:55 PuertoRican wrote:
Does playing poker still give you the same rush that you used to get when you were playing poker all day every day? |
That is a good question. Back in my 20s I didn't think about cortisol, adrenaline, or dopamine. I was typically drugged for most of my hands (marijuana, caffeine). I would say poker still lights me up even though I'm sober when I'm playing. I'm playing relatively low stakes so I don't know if the rush is as keyed in compared to when I used to play especially in bigger situations. Although the speed of the tables and playing big pots gets me going. It's just a matter of playing more hands and getting used to the software and the rush will die down except if I was playing higher stakes or more tables then I would probably get more of a rush. |
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RiKD   United States. Apr 29 2024 02:52. Posts 9020 | | |
What solver should I get? |
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RiKD   United States. Apr 30 2024 04:51. Posts 9020 | | |
Great poker players are autistic performance machines.
Also, I'm probably set on Pio Solver v. 3 but I don't know whether to get Pro or if Elite is worth it. |
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PuertoRican   United States. Apr 30 2024 06:31. Posts 13132 | | |
| On April 29 2024 01:52 RiKD wrote:
What solver should I get? |
I never played with a solver, so I have no input.
Were solvers a thing pre-Black Friday? I haven't played online since then. |
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RiKD   United States. Apr 30 2024 09:11. Posts 9020 | | |
| On April 30 2024 05:31 PuertoRican wrote:
I never played with a solver, so I have no input.
Were solvers a thing pre-Black Friday? I haven't played online since then.
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No. Solvers were not a thing pre-Black Friday. In 2010 there was Pro Poker Tools and I don't even remember what the best software was called for nlhe but it was similar but had better visuals. Basically, there were equity calculators and there was a bit of voodoo involved with constructing ranges and doing math. According to a quick Google search solvers became commercially available in 2015. This means that solvers were around before 2015 and that solvers were probably not adopted until later than 2015. I was not around online poker then so I don't know. Either way going from Pro Poker Tools / other to solvers was a mahousive jump in ability to "solve" poker in the "lab." I remember casually following Stroggoz's hands and marveling at how much better at poker he was than me. Now, I have access to charts and GTO trainers pre-flop and my ranges are so much more powerful than in 2010. My hand reading is still pretty strong but now post-flop people use smaller sizing typically and also overbets which I understand to a point but I am far from "perfect" post-flop. Hell, even pre-flop will take a long time to "perfect." Even something as simple as BB v SB open is complicated to get ranges / frequencies perfect. For example, I don't understand why I 3bet K7o ~60% of the time and call 1% of the time yet 3bet K8o 5% and call 55%. It's similar in SB v BB 3bet. I don't understand why I 4bet T9s, J9s, Q9s, K9s 50% of the time and call 50% but call the A9s 100%. Call QJs 100% yet 4bet KJs ~90% and call 10%. It can be difficult to memorize all of that without actually understanding why it's doing the things it is doing. |
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RiKD   United States. Apr 30 2024 09:16. Posts 9020 | | |
Poker Stove is the software for nlhe I was trying to remember! |
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RiKD   United States. Apr 30 2024 09:20. Posts 9020 | | |
Which Poker Stove and a calculator was a mahousive jump over nothing!
The thing is back then you could just kind of play a lot and not study but it's pretty obvious now that if solver is not studied there is really no hope probably even at 100 NL or lower these days. |
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RiKD   United States. Apr 30 2024 22:33. Posts 9020 | | |
"A hyperactive person would have disgusted Nietzsche: the "strong soul" keeps "calm," "moves slowly," and "has an aversion to what's too lively." Thus Spoke Zarathustra declares:
All of you who are in love with hectic work and whatever is fast, new, strange - you find it hard to bear yourselves, your diligence is escape and the will to forget yourself.
If you believed more in life, you would hurl yourself less into the moment. But you do not have enough content in yourselves for waiting - not even for laziness!" (Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society)
Nietzsche would not have been a fan of multitabling online poker. I am unsure if it is possible to maintain a leisurely, contemplative, slow, lingering type of lifestyle and get a bunch of poker hands in. That lifestyle is difficult to maintain being in any late capitalist situation / employment though. Han is kind of insulated by being a college professor at an arts school and a writer and now professor emeritus. Poker player is kind of a hidden blessing and curse because it is easy to exploit oneself and most are playing to acheive pleasure and desire through capital. One does not escape the achievement-subject / auto-exploitation just because there is no boss. On the contrary, it probably increases this idea of being compelled to perform and poker players must perform or they lose money, time, attention. It's even easier to burnout in poker. Kudos to all who are still playing it for a living. It's fucking tough and treacherous out there. |
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RiKD   United States. May 01 2024 03:39. Posts 9020 | | |
I've been putting forth a lot of attention and energy towards improving at poker the last few days and I'm exhausted. Improving at poker is definitely a game for 18-19 year olds. It is still possible at 40 but where is the stamina? I am used to being inactive most days and treat everyday as if it were the Sabbath but everytime I get involved in a rat race I end up tired and burnt out. |
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PuertoRican   United States. May 01 2024 04:53. Posts 13132 | | |
| On May 01 2024 02:39 RiKD wrote:
I've been putting forth a lot of attention and energy towards improving at poker the last few days and I'm exhausted. Improving at poker is definitely a game for 18-19 year olds. It is still possible at 40 but where is the stamina? I am used to being inactive most days and treat everyday as if it were the Sabbath but everytime I get involved in a rat race I end up tired and burnt out. |
This is where going to the gym comes in handy. It not also makes you look better, but it also makes you feel better in several ways.
For example, you mention you lack stamina. If you go to the gym, your stamina will improve on the poker table and in the bedroom. |
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RiKD   United States. May 01 2024 05:28. Posts 9020 | | |
At the poker table I need A LOT of work.
In the bedroom there is nothing going on there.
Gym is a no brainer I just can't find a program I'm excited about. |
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RiKD   United States. May 01 2024 06:05. Posts 9020 | | |
I think a problem for me is that I want to play hands but I'm not near as +ev as I want to be. Some work with a solver would likely fix that except it's sort of an unknown because I've never used one before. |
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RiKD   United States. May 01 2024 23:18. Posts 9020 | | |
I am having fun grinding and kind of learning on the fly but I have to ask myself: Do I really want to be sitting behind a screen grinding out all these hands as well as tedious work in the lab (solver)?
It's a lot of time, attention, energy that could probably be used elsewhere. The thing is it is mind candy for me. Like, probably better than reading a good philosophy book, or doing math, or learning how to play chess. I don't know what I'm going to do. |
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RiKD   United States. May 01 2024 23:35. Posts 9020 | | |
The thing is when I was 18-19 years old I had plenty of time and the opportunity cost was not studying as much or "building a network." Neither of those things ended up mattering whatsoever there was opportunity cost by studying or spending time with friends (I couldn't be making money at the tables (probably 50c / hand 6-8 tabling which is by no means trivial)).
Now, I am 40 and the fact I didn't study or "build a network" in university still doesn't really matter. My resume is a piece of trash that can only attract trash. I majored in history which taught me "how to think" and write papers. Most employment does not give a shit about those type of things. If I start to think too much about my employment situation I start to think about killing myself. So, I guess poker is a nice escape and there is the pipedream that I could make more money in a year doing that someday. My therapist says I should go back to school and get a PhD in philsophy. That seems like a pipedream too. I've heard the market is trash. |
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RiKD   United States. May 02 2024 03:10. Posts 9020 | | |
Didn't have any cards, didn't hit any flops, and played weak tight.
I was going to say that poker is probably a more fun intellectual activity than say reading late Heidegger (which I thoroughly enjoy) but man after a session like that just sitting and losing maybe I'll read the Heidegger next time. |
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RiKD   United States. May 02 2024 03:44. Posts 9020 | | |
Better than losing a bunch of big pots.
I didn't really want to read the Heidegger anyway. |
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RiKD   United States. May 02 2024 22:04. Posts 9020 | | |
I think that I am leaning towards GTO Wizard. I have a powerful computer so that is not an issue. GTO Wizard just seems more accessible than PIO. Am I making a fish play? |
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