Recently I decided to take on a new poker student. He's very smart, hard working, polite and grateful. He seemed to be the perfect student. But after living with him, I lost a lot of respect for the guy.
He makes weird sounds when he eats (similar to sounds my dog makes when it eats), he can't speak a word of English (after 10 years of Starcraft and traveling the world for a year), he can't get a free parking card for our apartment because he doesn't have the proper documents (it took me 5 minutes with my limited Korean abilities, not taking "No" for an answer, and my charms i guess, to get it), he'll cook and use the whole bottle of sauce he's using to make 400 grams of chicken curry (we now use 1/10th of a bottle), to make it short, he doesn't seem to think very much, wether he's cooking, working out or dealing with a figure of authority.
I didn't except that from him. He's got the longest winning streak on TV (or used to have?) as a progamer ever, he's famous, smart, good looking. His name is Chrh. He seems to have it all; he's so talented, but why, sometimes, does he seem FUCKING STUPID? It blew my mind, until I read the book Outliers. It taught me that no amount of talent will get you anywhere if you don't get help along the way. Mozart, Bill Gates, Bobby Fisher and Wayne Gretzski needed help (and they needed ten thousand+ hours of practice, the magic number to become a master at anything) to get where they got.
Chrh's mom is a 600$/month waitress in a restaurant, his father is an alcoholic who spent the last two years in a hospital. His older brother calls him crying because his ugly girlfriend (who stole money from him) won't marry him and now he wants to commit suicide. Chrh didn't go to high school when he was a boy. Things weren't easy for him, to say the least. It's amazing that he became who he became under those circumstances. I didn't know how truly amazing it was untill i read that book. I now have a newfound respect for Chrh.
"Outliers" is currently a top 10 amazone.com book, by Malcolm Gladwell. When you order it, you must also order "Blink", Gladwell's most famous book. It will teach you why you can type 120 words a minute without knowing which letters are next to "G" on your keyboard. It'll tell why sometimes you know you've got the best hand without really knowing why.
-------------
Other recent reads that improved my life greatly.
"The south beach diet". Yea, I used to be fat. My whole family is fat. Now i nearly have a 6 pack, and i eat pretty much whatever I want. I just stay away from fast carbs. I'd say that my success rate in nightclubs is 10 times higher. I'm not fucking kidding. Those Korean girls don't like the fat foreigners. Thats why Rekrul is currently temporarily living in the States until he gets in shape LOL.
"A man's search for meaning". This is one of the best selling book of all times. It's about a doctor who became a war prisoner during world war II. If you think life suck, that you're running bad, think again. Your life is fucking GREAT. This guy, and 2.5m people his in prisoner's camp, had it worse than you. They had it so bad that only 1 out of 28 prisoners survived. You can't go on tilt after reading this book. It just doesn't feel right.
"Decoding the universe". It's a small book about the theory of information. When physicists fully understand this theory, they'll understand the universe. After reading this book, you'll realize that you are not special. You do not matter. Nothing you do matters. Really, nothing matters. (Elky says that all the time, and he didn't read that book. He's a genius.) I don't know why, but I loved that book. I felt at peace after reading it. (It'll also teach you that your life, that life itself, is just a way to conserve information, that you brain is just a computer that can and will be duplicated, and, of course, that a black whole's size isn't proportional to its mass). Again, how can you tilt at anyone or anything if nothing matters?
"Fortune's formula". The title sounds retarded, but the book isn't. It's one of the best selling book right now. It was recommended to me by Tillerman and Slayer, possibly the two richest gamers turned poker players. It'll tell you how someone used that same theory of information to beat casino house games (yea, you must be thinking what the fuck is that theory of information by now). It'll teach you that even if it's plus EV for an insurance company to sell you insurance, it's also plus EV for you to get insurance. (What that last sentence means: taking a shot at 25-50 with a 25k bankroll isn't plus EV even if your expectation is 4bbs/100. It does not increase your geometric mean to play in that game.)
"Blink". There's thinking. And there "blinking". Blinking > thinking. When you play Starcraft (assuming you're a gosu), you're blinking, you'r not thinking. When you're getting shot at, you're blinking. When you're typing a reply to this thread, you're blinking. Cool stuff. When you get really good at something, the subconscious part of our brain is taking over the conscious part.
"Freakonimics". If you plan on having kids, you must read it. It's important for your kid's education. The book answers all sorts of questions, like how it's obvious that Sumo wrestling is rigged in Japan. I was going to buy this book for my favorite Japanese gambler Masta but its banned in Japan. (Masta not to be confused with Massa.)
Dan - LA/Commerce says:
we were int eh rhino
Dan - LA/Commerce says:
elkys stripper memphis
Dan - LA/Commerce says:
was trying elky not to drink the vodkaa
Dan - LA/Commerce says:
and i told elkyk
Dan - LA/Commerce says:
do whatever u want, nothing matters
Dan - LA/Commerce says:
and he started laughing his ass off
Dan - LA/Commerce says:
then 1 shotted half hte bottle
Dan - LA/Commerce says:
then kept saying it more and more
So rekrul's the genius. He's given me the title to this post as well.
fuck i posted this in the wrong forum. someone move this to General
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qwerty67890 New Zealand. Feb 27 2009 20:24. Posts 14026
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TenBagger United States. Feb 27 2009 23:02. Posts 2018
thx for the heads up giyom, I just ordered fortune's formula, blink and outliers on amazon and I can't wait to get em. It would be nice if others shared their favorite books.
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TenBagger United States. Feb 27 2009 23:44. Posts 2018
I'll start by sharing some of my personal favorites:
"Understanding Power" Noam Chomsky
- I'd have to say that this is the single most influential book that I've ever read. Before I read this book, I was politically and socially leaning right, a product of an elite prep school education. I feel as though I learned more about the world by reading this one book than I did through a lifetime of formal education. This book is an excellent overview of Chomsky's politcal views and it covers both foreign issues ranging from US involvement in South American countries such as Nicaragua, Guatemela, Chile, The Vietnam War, Iraq Wars, Israel/Palestine conflict, East Timor, etc. to domestic issues such as the role of the media, US educational system, class warfare, etc. Most importantly, this book comes with an online resource of footnotes that reference a plethora of primary sources. I no longer accept the commentary of others as truths, rather I actively seek out the primary sources upon which they draw their opinions and I draw my own conclusions from the unaltered facts. I did extensive research on my own after reading this book to check up on Chomsky's claims for they seemed quite extraordinary at the time, and they all turned out to be substantiated and this was what converted me into the diehard liberal that I am today.
"Historical Baseball Abstract" Bill James
- The bible of baseball. An absolute must read for any baseball fan. The book is very balanced between a very readable conversational type overview of the history of baseball, different players, eras and stadiums, etc. and a very detailed statistical overview of win shares, his mathematical formula that breaks down the total value of a player down to a single number. Coincidence that the red sox went almost a century without a title and right after they hired bill james as a consultant, boston has already won two in less than a decade?
"Fooled by Randomness" Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- In Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a professional trader and mathematics professor, examines what randomness means in business and in life and why human beings are so prone to mistake dumb luck for consummate skill. Well, I don't necessarily agree with this book 100% but it was nonetheless a fascinating read. This book is especially relevant for poker players and traders since it discusses in detail the effects of variance. Although somehow I doubt Fayth will have any interest in reading this book.
That's it for now, but I have many more that I would like to share. I'll just put them up a few at a time.
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collegesucks United States. Feb 27 2009 23:48. Posts 5780
On February 27 2009 22:44 TenBagger wrote:
"Fooled by Randomness" Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- In Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a professional trader and mathematics professor, examines what randomness means in business and in life and why human beings are so prone to mistake dumb luck for consummate skill. Well, I don't necessarily agree with this book 100% but it was nonetheless a fascinating read. This book is especially relevant for poker players and traders since it discusses in detail the effects of variance. Although somehow I doubt Fayth will have any interest in reading this book.
NEED MY BLACK SWAN HEATER PLZ
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JYang United States. Feb 28 2009 00:16. Posts 2669
looooooooooooooooool Jyang I dont even get it and yet I find it hilarious hahaha
Half Pot!
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RainyDay Korea (South). Feb 28 2009 00:35. Posts 484
I expected new chapters from rekrul's book he's working on but this post was interesting well
GL Chrh
stay sharp.
Last edit: 28/02/2009 00:35
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RainyDay Korea (South). Feb 28 2009 00:48. Posts 484
Mastery by George Leonard
Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill
stay sharp.
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TenBagger United States. Feb 28 2009 00:58. Posts 2018
I'm not usually a big fan of self-help type books but both those books looked pretty interesting. thx for the recs KSC, I just ordered both.
4
Bigbobm United States. Feb 28 2009 01:12. Posts 5511
Lol I thought the entire thread was about how you were going to kill your roommate, but it turned out to be about books.
And wtf is Chrh is real name or tag? it has no vowels. how can it not have a vowel
Its time to stop thinking like a bitch and think smart like a poker player - ket
On February 28 2009 00:12 Bigbobm wrote:
Lol I thought the entire thread was about how you were going to kill your roommate, but it turned out to be about books.
And wtf is Chrh is real name or tag? it has no vowels. how can it not have a vowel
Chrh is his Starcraft gamer ID. Like mine, it doesn't have any vowels.
- In Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a professional trader and mathematics professor, examines what randomness means in business and in life and why human beings are so prone to mistake dumb luck for consummate skill. Well, I don't necessarily agree with this book 100% but it was nonetheless a fascinating read. This book is especially relevant for poker players and traders since it discusses in detail the effects of variance. Although somehow I doubt Fayth will have any interest in reading this book.
.
So is Warren Buffet and Georges Soros just running hot?
I heard about this book before. It's next on my list. thx
wow really nice read Grrrrrrrrrrr, I will definitely take those books into consideration for future... and it's always interesting to read/learn more about the progamer behind the gamer... I remember watching Chrh in old old reps, and esp the one vs boxer TvT.
these documentary vids on progaming for foreigners in korea is how i learned more about ElkY...
has nothing to do with books but just thought i should share for anyone that hasn't seen them
totally agree about frankle's man search for meaning. every time i feel bad about myself after i read that book i just hear his voice in my head calling me a pussy bitch
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RainyDay Korea (South). Feb 28 2009 02:04. Posts 484
On February 27 2009 23:58 TenBagger wrote:
I'm not usually a big fan of self-help type books but both those books looked pretty interesting. thx for the recs KSC, I just ordered both.
You're welcome I'm pretty sure you won't regret ordering them; good investments imo
stay sharp.
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RainyDay Korea (South). Feb 28 2009 02:06. Posts 484
On February 28 2009 01:01 bane wrote:
totally agree about frankle's man search for meaning. every time i feel bad about myself after i read that book i just hear his voice in my head calling me a pussy bitch
Although it's not as extreme, I feel the same way whenever I read Lance Armstrong's autobiography
"the brain that changes itself" is a book about neuroplasticity. it's an easy read that should interest almost everyone, every chapter of this book gave me something really interesting to think about because a lot of the content is very applicable to the real world as well as being interesting. i'd recommend further reading for a lot of the subject covered in this book if you're interested since it really only gives you the 'main points'.
i haven't read blink, but sounds like if you like blink you'll like this
I find "The Poker Mindset" very helpful but I guess it doesn't count cuz you said to be a non-poker related book -.-v
Wish him all the luck and fun from me since he isn't on on msn that much (not that I am 24/7 but anyway xD)
ChRh Fighting!~
Enjoy the game
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infamOuskong United States. Feb 28 2009 11:02. Posts 172
yeah "blink" is a very intriguing book and i highly recommend it.
believe me ejectulation is the only thing that comes easy
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Pokemyface Australia. Feb 28 2009 14:27. Posts 762
Interesting story about Chrh, Giyom, was a interesting read, didnt know he had that kind of family background.
hmmm books ay, ive heard of these things...might try em sometime.
can you briefly explain, why its obvious sumo wrestling is rigged?
cuz the results are impossible otherwise. big fat guys fuck up occassionally, right? they trip and fall and accidentally miss grips and lose to sumo fishes. this, strangely, never seems to happen to the top sumos.
lets go fucking mental la la la la lets go fucking mental lets go fucking mental lala la la
On February 28 2009 16:04 sawseech wrote:
cuz the results are impossible otherwise. big fat guys fuck up occassionally, right? they trip and fall and accidentally miss grips and lose to sumo fishes. this, strangely, never seems to happen to the top sumos.
there is also some stuff about how if someone has no chance of making it to next round they will purposly throw a match to someone just so they can make it
On February 28 2009 13:27 Pokemyface wrote:
Interesting story about Chrh, Giyom, was a interesting read, didnt know he had that kind of family background.
hmmm books ay, ive heard of these things...might try em sometime.
can you briefly explain, why its obvious sumo wrestling is rigged?
In sumo, the top 81 guys get paid a lot, but the 82nd guy makes almost nothing. So you want to stay in at the top. The way tournaments work is like this, theres 9 brackets of 9 wrestlers. To advance to the next round, you need 5 wins and 4 loses or better. So if you're already 5-0, you can lose on purpose to the next 4 wrestlers and still be guaranteed to advance. The winrate for wreslers who are already guaranteed to advance (or guaranteed not to advance) to the next round is much closer to 0% but should be around 50%.
Theres 2 obvious reason for this.
-They "trade" wins, when you guy give a win to an other guy, ur owed a favor, so the next time you need a win, you ask for it.
-Sumo gambling is huge in Japan.
Last edit: 28/02/2009 17:46
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Rekrul United States. Feb 28 2009 23:02. Posts 3338
'new chapters' lmao giyom thats the gayest title ever
LOvEDoM says: ALL IN WAR
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masterfrywad United States. Feb 28 2009 23:43. Posts 329
The Book of the Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi - 16th century, undefeated samurai gives his takes on how to master your craft. Here is an english translation: http://www.miyamotomusashi.com/gorin.htm
picked up fortunes formula today and it seems good, ty~
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milkman United States. Mar 01 2009 01:37. Posts 5719
once upon a time i had this room mate named "aj" he couldnt figure out that coca cola explodes in the freezer, how to microwave bagel bites, that hookah coals dont spontaneously combust, and that a 73in tv is more then 3 ft wide..
but he beats 5/10 ok.. lol <3
Its hard to make a easy buck legally, its impossible to make a easy buck morally.
goin to read blink maybe soon. i hate audio books and i have the text version on order from amazon. personally i hate fooled by randomness, i think its retarded.
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JYang United States. Mar 01 2009 12:38. Posts 2669
goin to read blink maybe soon. i hate audio books and i have the text version on order from amazon. personally i hate fooled by randomness, i think its retarded.
of course you hate fooled by randomness since you have so much faith in technical analysis. =)
again, I just want to say that I don't totally agree with everything he says in the book. I think he takes it a bit too far and overreaches to try and make his point. However, I do agree with his central point in that winners tend to attribute all their success to skill and they underestimate the role of luck. Do I think that skill has zero impact? Obviously not, and this is where I think he goes a bit overboard.
The greatest value of this book IMO is that it tempers our innate tendency for hubris. I'm not much of a believer in karma and I fully recognize this in itself can be where I'm "fooled by randomness" but it just so seems that whenever someone gets to the point where they are very successful and are so confident and proud of their own skill and ability, is precisely when things come crashing down. I seen a lot of traders go on a good run and they think they are so hot and start bragging to no end, and boom, they get doomswitched. For me personally, I never had any illusions that I was a great poker player. I always knew that I was just a marginal winner at low limits grinding a decent side income. But I hit a super heater last year that lasted for about 4 months and I must admit that I got extremely confident and that was precisely when variance smacked me upside my head. I recently posted in my blog Warren Buffet's annual letter and one thing I admire so much about him is that despite his incredible success over the past 40+ years, he always takes a very critical view of his own decisions and he never exihibits any signs of hubris. I believe this personality trait is a major factor in his long term success and it is a trait that I commonly see in everyday life among people that are successful.
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JYang United States. Mar 01 2009 17:55. Posts 2669
i totally missed that blog entry
but that taleb book imo is just some random life theories by some random guy. people just respect it more cuz he's rich.
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JYang United States. Mar 01 2009 17:56. Posts 2669
and warren buffet failed during these few years
BRK profits are trending downwards
gonna go negative soon
is he too old to adapt? only time will tell
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TenBagger United States. Mar 01 2009 19:13. Posts 2018
On March 01 2009 16:56 JYang wrote:
and warren buffet failed during these few years
BRK profits are trending downwards
gonna go negative soon
is he too old to adapt? only time will tell
wat? how do you link the words buffett and fail in the same sentence? buffett's track record is truly one of the most phenomenal achievements in investment history. good luck shorting berkshire.
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TenBagger United States. Mar 01 2009 19:29. Posts 2018
On March 01 2009 16:56 JYang wrote:
and warren buffet failed during these few years
I'm curious, what few years you are referring to? Was it 2008 when he outperformed the benchmark S+P 500 by 27.4%? Or are you referring to the past 4 years, in which he outperformed the S+P each year. Or is it the past 63 years? 59 of which he outperformed the S+P.
Of course BRKA profits are trending downward, this economy has spared almost no sector and the profits of virtually every corporation is trending downward. Consider that over the past 63 years, the year over year book value of BRKA shares have gone down only twice, once in 2001 when 9/11 ravaged the markets and last year.
I really don't need to defend the performance of BRKA because it is common knowledge and that is a fight that cannot be lost. Rather, I wanted to highlight the process with which Buffett makes his money and that is a style defined by a lack of hubris, a self critical eye, and an unrelenting attitude towards staying on top of one's game. These are traits that I highly value and aspire to attain. Fooled by Randomness certainly has its faults, but I appreciated the fact that it has helped me keep a level head and avoid the hubris that plagues so many.
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JYang United States. Mar 01 2009 20:08. Posts 2669
why is having a negative year such a positive thing these days...
my parents outperformed the S&P by staying in cash and FDIC insured CDs by 40%, time for them to start a hedge fund?
getting into the derivatives market and buying conoco philips at the top of the market is pretty bad. not saying he sucks, i'm just saying he might be too old.
TenBagger United States. Mar 01 2009 21:26. Posts 2018
On March 01 2009 19:08 JYang wrote:
why is having a negative year such a positive thing these days...
same reason why a score of 65% can get you an A on an extremely difficult university exam. staying in cash and outperforming the S&P in 08 is not comparable to getting a 100% on the exam. it is comparable to having the foresight or being just plain lucky to have not taken the difficult course in the first place.
On March 01 2009 19:08 JYang wrote:
getting into the derivatives market and buying conoco philips at the top of the market is pretty bad. not saying he sucks, i'm just saying he might be too old.
this is one of the reasons why I like to read his annual letter. he explained his position in derivatives in depth and there were a lot of interesting things in there. I highly suggest you read it. First off, Berkshire incurs little to no counterparty risk which is one of the biggest issues in derivatives. Berkshire's core business and the area in which they have consistently outperformed the industry is in insurance. The derivatives contracts that Berkshire is involved in is fundamentally similar to their insurance and reinsurance businesses. They receive a premium and they payout if certain conditions or events occur. Since they are the ones receiving the premium and since they refuse to post collateral, this effectively works to a free float as long as they don't suffer an underwriting loss.
BRKA uses mark to market accounting and they use black scholes to value their contracts and as such they have written down the value of these contracts and took a loss on their balance sheet. However, this loss is in paper only as they haven't actually paid out on these contracts yet, only that it is more likely that they may do so in the future. In fact, after reading through his letter, I'm convinced that this type of market gives berkshire an even bigger edge in insurance/derivatives/credit default swaps since there is so much fear in the marketplace and BRKA can charge a hefty premium based on their credit rating and rock solid balance sheet.
Buffett himself admits the ConocoPhillips investment was a terrible move and he makes no excuses for it.
I just started outliers on a few days ago and love it. amazing book.
great thread, I am making a nice list of books now!
InnovativeYogis.com
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fakeshaver United States. Mar 05 2009 19:29. Posts 1313
i just started reading freakonomics. i like it a lot so far
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seatown12 United States. Mar 05 2009 20:27. Posts 1193
I read Outliers and Blink in one sitting each and was not impressed. I see why everyone likes Gladwell but he kind of strikes me as the Stephen King of nonfiction. Plus the not-so-subtle endorsement of his social views was irritating.
I am trying to get back into hardcore reading though so anyone with suggestions please speak up!
well, the opposite of fooled by randomness must be atlas shrugged by ayn rand, pretty much changed my life in first year uni
the road less travelled by M scott peck is also quite good
MaidenFan: Stop worrying about what might be or what coulda been, the former is totally out of your control, and the latter is nothing but a twisted fantasy
On March 05 2009 19:27 seatown12 wrote:
I read Outliers and Blink in one sitting each and was not impressed. I see why everyone likes Gladwell but he kind of strikes me as the Stephen King of nonfiction. Plus the not-so-subtle endorsement of his social views was irritating.
I am trying to get back into hardcore reading though so anyone with suggestions please speak up!
I don't know what you were expecting when you bought those books. They aren't for "hardcore" readers. If they were, they wouldn't among be the top selling books on amazon. Books that are easy to read sell more.
If you want books at the lvl of Moby-Dick and The Art of War, you're asking for suggestions in the forum.. on your wrong website ;P
On that note, I started reading a new book, "The next 100 years". Some dude is saying that within the next 100 years there will be a global war and there's nothing we can do to stop it. We're all gonna die!!!
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collegesucks United States. Jun 18 2009 05:36. Posts 5780
lol sorry to dig this thread up
but i just read Outliers and immediately thought about starting a thread on lp.net
i just happened to remember GiYoM's old thread about some books and thought i could just bump that instead and whaddaya know... he was thinking exactly the same thing in the original post
lolol u poker players should go read the book, especially the part about "10,000 hours"
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terrybunny19240 United States. Jun 18 2009 09:00. Posts 13829
I might pick up the book sometime since it is supposedly so interesting ;D!
. Gotta read it. 
Australia. Feb 28 2009 07:50. Posts 3538
