Grand Adventure

Modifying my starting hands lately has paid tremendous dividends. In the last 3 weeks I’m up about $20, and for the level of buy in I play that’s pretty significant. I’ve switched to almost exclusively “non-turbo” game formats, which allows for 10 mins per blind structure. The natural adjustment to this is being more selective on hands. Once you’ve decided to play a hand, you must play post-flop well too. One thing I didn’t have an appreciation for is that I play pretty well post-flop (for the buy in level I jump in at). The result is many days of being slightly ahead, with a second place today in a $1 buy in tourn of 90 players which is a nice rake. Below are my results:

The really cool thing for me is that I feel much more in control of my game by not feeling rushed. Some players want to think they are good enough to play a loose-aggressive style of play (Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey are pros who pull this off wonderfully) but the reailty is that we just don’t have the skills to pull it off consistently. I’m now what is referred to as a “tight aggressive” player. I am selective about my starting hands, but once I’m engaged I’m playing aggressively. I’m playing less speculative starting hands, and really am paying attention to position and the betting style of my opponents. When you combine these I’m becoming a formibale opponent.

I’ve been voraciously reading poker texts to improve my game and even the worst of them has had a nugget I’ve internalized. But it wasn’t until the Poker Mindset text (refer to previous postings) did I make a quantum leap in the outcomes of my play. The key concept: play like you will play poker for your lifetime (my interpretation). Don’t feel “lucky” or like you are “due for a good hand” or pressure yourself into situations where you have tough decisions. That last piece is increasingly important…when I’m in a hand I pretty much know if I’m going to fold or not these days. I’ve layed down some pretty nice hands if the situation warrants. And even bad beats are absorbed relatively okay. The other night I raised pre-flop 5x the BB with AKo ( also known as Big Slick, not suited). This is a powerhouse of a starting hand, and even worth a reraise if someone raises in front of you. Anyways, I raised 5x the BB and a guy on the button called me. I figure he has a pocket pair, but I’m only worried about Kings or Aces in the hole, and I figure (correctly) he didn’t have that or he’d reraise me. One other philosophical point: there are hands where you must resign that you might be all in, that the other guy will beat you, and that’s just the way it is. Can you really fold pocket Kings if someone pushes all in?? If they have Aces chalk it up to the poker gods. If they have Queens and hit a third queen, c’est la vie. Anyways, this guy had 32o…the worst hand by many texts to do anything. The flop gave him two pair, but I blindly thought I was in command because who calls with 32 a preflop raise?? Unfortunately I hit an Ace on the Turn, so I pushed hard, and he reraised me all in. I snap called thinking I had him. And…he hit a 3 on the river giving him a full house.

The old me would have bitched in the chat window about how poor it was he even called me. The current me typed in “nh” and left it at that. If I am playing good poker I am MORE in danger of losing to a bad beat than if I wasn’t. I played my hand by the book, and the doofus called me on a whim and a prayer and hit a monster hand. There is nothing you can do about that, and getting steamed only helps him and doesn’t do squat for me. I am in this for the long haul, remember?

It truly feels like I’ve turned the corner for my play, and winning is MUCH more fun than losing even if my play style is less exciting than it used to be.

Poker has consumed much of my free time lately, as you know if you are an occasional reader of my site. If you are a longtime reader here you know that I’m also very much into woodworking. I like both, some for the same reasons and some for their very different ways fulfilling them is therapeutic to me.

Poker is sedentary (which is good and bad) and mostly a game of the mind, emotional control, and application of skill. Granted each of those three need much work in my case, but all three are improving as I play lose more. Interestingly, I took up learning how to play better poker as a result of not being able to fulfill doing much with woodworking. When we moved from the NW out to our home I didn’t take many of my tools with me. Some I found new homes for, some I got rid of, and some are in storage. This decision was based on the possibility we may not move into a home that had a decent garage to house my woodworking hobby. We did, and I am in (fortunately/unfortunately) in a job that affords me enough free time to delve into a hobby seriously. What I do have here are the basic tools to do generic handyman projects; I’ve made steps for the back patio, and that’s about the limit of what I can do.

I took up woodworking because it was not sedentary, pushed my mind to design things that would fit together and function, and to gain skills. Not so different from my poker motivation. One thing I had done for my first half dozen projects or so was to try inserting a new technique to try to learn (note I did NOT say master…many more years to go there). As you might imagine, none of these projects were craftsman pieces because even if I retained skills from before there was a brand new technique that knocked me down a peg. One of my (our…Shelley and I did it together) more large-ish projects was replicating a game called “Can’t Stop!” as gifts for families and friends a couple of years back. Even today I can list out a couple of simple improvements that would greatly enhance what I made then.

Since playing poker routinely in Fairbanks, AK with military buddies in 2002 I really liked the aesthetics of the game. In addition to the fun it was (Honest Disclosure: I lost more than I won then too!). A friend has a marvelous set of regular weight poker chips. The facing is better than many casino chips I’ve used playing Blackjack, etc. If there is one thing I know, once you play with 11.5 gram (or thereabouts) weight poker chips you will never want to go back to plastic ones, pop tops, or even real coinage. I paid a ridiculously high amount for chips shortly after finding out he was moving away, because all the poker team agreed we’d not go back to chip “dial-up” when we had tasted the nectar of “broadband” poker chips. Call it a big kid’s desire to have an adult sort of toy because he can now (apparently) afford that sort of thing. I still have those chips, but also have a regular set of non-denominational ones to expand if I started hosting bigger poker parties. (FYI…Target or other stores like them can sell sets of 300 colored weighted chips for about $20. At that price, buy 2 sets and you are covered for a home tournament). All of this was pre-Hold Em mania due to Chris Moneymaker’s improbable win at the 2003 WSOP. But the group of us were hooked then even if we didn’t know it (and many still are playing today).

Another buddy has a drool-over poker table. With chip racks, cup holders, green felt. Nothing appeals to a guy like something like that. It *demands* to be played in the garage not the house, almost makes the most squeamish of us want to try a cigar as you sit around it. The type he had is the traditional octagon-shaped table where 8 players can bellyup at the same time.

The image above is an example of what my buddy had. From a woodworker’s perspective at my level of experience, this is a master’s project. Many months to complete, perhaps weeks in the design and rehearsal of steps. Expensive due to wanting to use quality hardwoods and accounting for mucho mistake making. All worth it in the end, even if you can buy one for a hundred dollars less. Pricing for this sort of table hits around $600 when I’ve priced it…frankly less than I paid for the first set of poker chips. But the cool factor of doing one myself would overrule trying to save a few bucks.

But I play a bunch of Hold Em. The oval poker tables we all see on TV accommodate up to 10 players (a tight fit) but certainly 8. Hold Em is a game where you could play with 20+ with one deal/deck. Not that I’d advocate that, but it is nice to play when you’ve got 8-16 buddies in a poker party bash. And the table supports that. Note that this size of table and layout supports other poker games just as fine, so other than aesthetics you lose little by having the oval table v. the natural wood octagon one.

I got to researching the octagon style table the other day, for pricing and just to dream. And hit on the oval style in my search. Looked up plans, and saw the plans for the oval one too. As I reviewed the oval plans not only were there step by step instructions online for free, but also pictures and dialogue of their missteps and triumphs. An example of one is below:

What you can’t tell in the photo is the wood is all plywood. The foam rail material can be purchased at JoAnn’s fabrics. The folding legs (a must for Shell and I) can be purchased separately. Cup holders are inexpensive. The total cost can run well under $200. And it would accommodate our Casino theme parties we occasionally have, serving as a decent blackjack table. What you may not tell is that the main tools required are a jigsaw, holesaw, cordless drill and spade bit, and a staple gun. Hey…I’ve got those!

So, I’m setting aside time from the poker tables to build a poker table. I’ll definitely keep you posted.

Most who read my postings on my website know I serve in the military.  But I’ve not shared my thoughts on this, mainly because I prefer to not discuss work on my personal site.  However, after reading an opinion article (and the many comments to it by readers) I felt compelled to comment myself.  The original article was posted in the NY Times, found here http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/opinion/06herbert.html

First, I will tell you that I support keeping near the forefront of our consciousness prayers for our Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines as they conduct their duties in support of our Nation.  I particularly worry about the families, because they don’t always have the best of it.  From my aisle seat, I have interesting equipment and get to head to new parts of the globe I’d never go before.  But Shelley has to stay home and pickup whatever I was doing, plus worry about my wellbeing.  In fact, I stopped sharing with her when I’d go on missions in Iraq because I knew she would get all tensed up with worry for my safety.

When you read the NYT article, what I would disagree with is the generic stamp of calling those who serve in uniform as “heroes”.  Most of us disagree with using that term about our service.  Sure, there are some who joined to serve expressly because of 9-11 and wanting to do something about it.  But many, if not most, have more pragmatic reasons for joining the military (and I’m no exception, at least for why I joined).  Even the featured Soldier in the opinion article balanced “doing something about 9-11″ and stating it would pay for his college.  And it’s a valid assumption that recruiting and retention gets better for the military during economic downturns.  On this point, however, I don’t want to diminish one key thought: we are doing something that many of you won’t or can’t.  It is not your average citizen who volunteers to put their lives on the line in service of others.  Policemen, firemen, Soldiers, and others do just that and I’d say no amount of money can compensate for the sense you may not return home at the end of the day or at the end of your combat tour.

If you take a gander at the comments, I was suprised how few actually addressed the issue of taking care of these Warriors when they returned injured or “not the same”.  There is mostly variations of “we shouldn’t have been there in the first place” arguments.  Okay…I’ll concede that point for the sake of argument.  So answer my response: now that we are, what are we doing now??  Saying we shouldn’t have been in either Iraq or Afghanistan but offering no solution to what remains a problem for our society lacks moral courage.  You vehemently disagree with calling those returning as “heroes” because you feel they are “professional killers?”  They are under your payroll, Dear Taxpayer, so man up and just say you refuse to pay your taxes because of your beliefs on this issue.  That is your only option and retain the high ground.

Regarding just/unjust wars, let me share from my two tours in Iraq and discussions with those who’ve come back from Afghanistan: we really are wanted there by the average citizen of those countries.  Read the news about the recent uptick in violence in Iraq, and you may even find a quote or two from John Q. Iraq stating they are concerned about what happens when the American’s leave.  Here again, you cannot wish the issue away by saying we shouldn’t have been there in the first point.  In financial management terms, that is “sunk cost” and cannot be used for future valuation decisions.  We are there, and now must make decisions from this point on.  The same goes for casualty counts…can somebody make an argument that is logical that we pass a certain # and now must leave?  (Conversely, we cannot say we stay in forever or the previous casualties were “in vain” due to the sunk cost theory). 

We went into Afghanistan to take immediate action against those who attacked us on our own soil.  Brazenly, unapologetically, and fanatically they brought the fight to us.  Leaving that country needs to have certain conditions set, one of them being a greatly reduced or eliminated threat from those elements who attacked us.  I read all the opinions about “Pull Out Now!” and wonder if that will improve things, or make them worse.  I don’t know, and have to have faith in my leaders to make those decisions.

On the issue about the sergeant in the article, I’m sure he knew what he was getting into.  I see no evidence of him complaining about being wounded per se.  I certainly know what I signed up for, way back in 1985 and expected I may be in harm’s way at some point.  And as my family knows, I don’t want any sort of politicizing of my death or injury if that ever would occur.  I had to make this clear in the aftermath of Cindy Sheehan doing just that over her son’s death.  I am a man, capable of making decisions about my life choices and am responsible for those decisions.  Even if they mean my ultimate demise.

My recent experience of commanding a unit designed and directed to take care of returning wounded, injured and ill Soldiers gives me some authority to speak about the mindset of this group.  Or at least more than many/most commentors to the NYT article.  With a few individual exceptions, those wounded returning from either Iraq or Afghanistan are not bitter about their condition.  There is a very small minority that are unhappy, but these are the type of people who are generally unhappy about life in general.  Nothing ever seems to be enough to satisfy them, and they come across as what I term “professional victims” who can’t/won’t take ownership of their own thoughts and behaviors.  After a certain point in the healing process the patient must want to get better, must want to find the “new normal” for them and living in the past isn’t going to fix things for the future.  I could share dozens of anecdotes about Soldiers like this. 

A larger portion of the disgruntled, ironically (to me at least) are NOT wounded in action but either had injury when in the combat zone or back in the US, or had multiple minor injuries (not wounds mind you) or some sort of illness.  I had a guy with bad knees (!) be one of my worst Soldiers to try to help.  Nothing seemed good enough to him.  To put this paradox another way…those who were wounded in direct combat action (and therefore have earned the Purple Heart) are much less likely to complain about their situation.  This applies to even very severely wounded Soldiers.  I recall one kid telling me, who’s wounds were sufficient for a full medical retirement, that he was grateful he was still alive and that it could have been much worse.  He said this with tears forming, holding his wife’s hand, and her thanking me for all that I did for them both.  Man…how can you ever feel like you do enough??  (Note: if there was ever a job that delivered me multiple moments of humilty and respect for my fellow Soldier and what they do, it was that job).

So…don’t call us heroes, because we all knew what we were stepping into when we signed up and we are adults.  Understand, now that we are there, that the conditions need to be met for us to leave or we may make things worse later.  And get beyond if we should have been in these conflicts in the first place and start developing solutions for the problem that is real and exists.  Whether you agree with my views or not about my profession, the fact remains my generation of citizen-Soldiers will be a societal problem to tackle.  And the longer we wait as a society the harder it will be to resolve things later.

There are several terms in poker, just like any other game/sport, that have grown into the lexicon over the years. Many of the poker books you can buy will have a glossary at the end and I find it fun to read through there as well. Knowing these terms helps you come across as a regular player (also fun is dropping pro names as references to the guy’s play…poker geekiness I guess). Some terms you should know

Betting Types:
-All in (aka “shove”). A bet of all your chip stacks, mainly associated with No Limit Hold Em (NLHE) but any other no-limit game, or later rounds in limit betting depending on your stack size, etc.

-Check-raise. This is exactly as it sounds. It usually denotes a powerful hand, where the player is seeking to squeeze in an extra bet or two or get a free card on the next “street” (street: a term for a round of cards. Third street is the third card dealt, fourth street, the fourth, and so on).

-Limp. This is one of my favorite because it is so descriptive of the bet type. This means you merely call the Big Blind’s money already committed, or follow a previous bettor with the same level of bet. It’s descriptive because it generally denotes passive play (most times a raise is recommended…if you have a good enough hand to call someone, you probably have a good enough one to raise).

Terms to denote a player (some are derogatory):
-Donk (or Donkey). A really bad player. Usually used by a so-called superior player at the table when another player hits a draw (most times, these draws are mathmatically based…I will expound later) but the “better player” doesn’t like it so he calls the other guy a Donk for hitting a hand that the original player would sometimes beat.

-Fish. Same as Donk, but somewhat less derogatory). New player, waiting to be sucked in.

-Shark. The opposite of a fish. What’s funny is guys who think very highly of their novice to intermediate play will sometimes either have a reference to a shark in their ID, or for their avatar picture.

-River Rat. A guy who just seems to hit cards on the River (5th Street for NLHE, last street for any other game with betting rounds).

Miscellaneous Terms:
-Suck out. A hand that shouldn’t have won does by hitting an improbable draw. Usually in Hold Em or any poker type that has a community board.

-Bad beat. Related to Suck Out, and River Rat. A bad beat is a hand that should have won but didn’t…you got a “bad beat”.

-Tilt. Many times after a bad beat, or when a player hits lower chips stacks they are said to go on “tilt”. Betting wildly or inappropriately to that level of game. Note: you will see players at the fake money tables play like they are on Tilt all the time. These players are considered…

-Maniacs. No rhyme or reason to their betting, crazy pre-flop raises (I saw, no kidding, a 410 times the Big Blind raise the other night at a fake money table. Note: the standard raise pre-flop at a real money table, preflop, is somewhere between 2 and 5 BBs). You routinely see maniacs at the fake money tables, some at the freeroll MultiTable Tournaments (MTTs), and even at cash tables during heads up play. At the end of a tournament its mostly a controlled maniac mode because of the large blinds + ante money in the pot and people are vying for it.

-Under the Gun. The first bettor after the blinds.

-Button. The “dealer”, usually last to act in a betting round. A very important position to be in, especially for NLHE.

-The Cutoff Seat. The player just to the right (just before) the Button/Dealer.

-Expressed Odds. The odds you have to make your hand based on the number of outs and the number of cards left to be dealt.

-An Out. A card (or cards) that would make your hand either the most powerful on the board or you think will beat the other player(s) hands.

-The Nuts. The absolute best possible hand based on the community cards. Even the most spreadout board with all four suits (so a flush isn’t possible) has Two Pair, top two pair, as the Nuts.

-Table Captain (aka Table Bully). An aggressive player who is pushing others around with playing a lot of hands, raising often, and pushing people off their hands by their aggressive betting.

-Chat shorthand. nh/NH = Nice Hand. gg/GG = Good game. GL = Good luck.

NLHE Hole Cards slang:
-Rockets, American Airline, and Bullets. Pocket Aces (a pair of Aces).

-Cowboys. A pair of Kings.

-Snowmen. A pair of Eights.

-Big Slick. Ace, King.

-Hooks. A pair of Jacks.

-Ladies. A pair of Queens.

-Good Buddy. A 10 and a 4.

YEAH, RIGHT
Okay, I’ve shared a few of the terms and some of the slang. Let me share some things I’ve noticed in the three months I’ve taken up playing poker regularly.

1) Even at the penny level of player there are guys who have a way-inflated view of their skills. In fact, it may be true that all regular poker players think they are at least one notch above their actual skill level. I watch serious stake buy-in tournaments on occasion that are replayed for all to enjoy later. These replays show each person’s holdings. There is an inverse relationship between level of play and actual trash talking. (it’s perhaps for this reason so many hate Phil Helmuth…he whines, bitches, and complains about how someone shouldn’t even be in the hand when he hits a bad beat. It’s contrary to most of his professional colleagues who roll with the punches. Phil can get away with it because he’s a mathmatical and human read genius). At the penny tables…bitching and whining occur fairly often.

2) When I see the term “Donk” used in the chat window, it invariably is from a guy who took a bad beat. What cracks me up is the highest level I’ve played is a $3.25 buy-in table. And, yes, I’ve seen this sort of bitching at the fake money tables. There are days when I’m a good guy and just ignore the comments made. There are others when I confront them via chat and ask them what the heck, if they are soooo good, they are doing at penny tables. This usually shuts them up. Or, even better, they start going after me. When that happens I know I’ve got their game influenced, and so long as I don’t get emotional I’ll usually prevail against them.

3) Chatty players, or players purposefully trying to annoy others. This is a sure sign of lack of skills. I mostly ignore these types, even the innocent ones just striking up a conversation. The other night a guy was abusing (via chat) multiple players at a free-roll tournament that led to a small amount of money. Interestingly, players with the “fake money only” install of the poker client can play in free rolls and have real funds transferred to their account if they somehow got in the money. Anyways, a guy with one of the “fake client” installs was laying into a player who had a normal account. The abused shot back “I’d play you for real money, but I see you have one of the kiddie accounts.” Priceless comeback!

Chatty players can annoy too, and I think it’s part of some people’s arsenal. A guy started chatting me up the other night about McKinley. I use a pic of Mac as my avatar, in a common nod to “Dogs Playing Poker” art (the most common avatar type is a dog, followed by poker chips or cards, then fish/sharks, then cats. Go figure). He said McKinley was a good looking dog, etc. I chat-mumbled something back. Just a little bit later I had Pocket 9’s on the Button, and my “buddy” was in the cut-off. He raised 4 times the BB, I slightly reraised him, he went All In and I called (he had a bigger stack, so I was looking to double up, and he’d still be in the tournament). He had…Pocket 2’s. Before you question his sanity, Pocket 2s can be a winning hand, and I think each of his bets was to move me off the hand and fold. At that point, I’m thinking “No 2s, NO 2s!” because my 9s would beat him outright. I actually hit a 9 on the Turn (4th street) and doubled up. He then replied “Hmmm…I thought your nines wouldn’t hold up.” What?? Dude had 2’s!! I didn’t need trips to beat his hand. Whatever. Note that his comment was a feeble attempt to display he was a good poker player. Also note he definitely should have folded when I reraised him even slightly (doubled his bet, with 8BBs). Perhaps I should have not called his All In, but that’s the best way to get more chips sometimes and I felt like he may have been bluffing. (All ins with Pocket 2s preflop is a semi bluff…it’s a favorite most over cards, and if he hit a set of 2s he’d be a huge favorite).

As I’ve posted before, my latest hobby is learning how to play poker.  To accomplish this I’ve purchased many (over 10 now) poker texts in the hopes they will help me learn the basics, and ultimately play better.  Note: I still contend that I’m not playing for money, and have resisted the urgings by some authors to either play seriously or don’t play at all.  I’m still okay at my developmental level to be essentially a consistent loser with a few upswings.  And I may never leave the micro bet level of play.  I’m just having too much fun as it is, and growing in my sense of how to play.

The pantheon of self-help books, across any of the domains of help, have good advice and plain garbage.  Poker literature is no different.  About half of the books are worth the cost on the cover, and the money spent on the other half would be better used actually playing on a micro-stakes table and taking lots of notes.  Here’s my list of recommended books, by type, and why.

1. The hands down best overall book series is written by Dan Harrington.  His Harrington on Hold’em (HOH) series (Vol I here: http://www.amazon.com/Harrington-Expert-Strategy-Limit-Tournaments/dp/1880685337/) covers hand strength, position play, techniques (aka “plays”) and done in a way for a multi-table tournament from start to final table heads up play.  I have the first two volumes that cover thru heads up play.  The third volume is a workbook of sorts.  I may purchase that at some point.  But for now it’s much more important to re-read it several times until I’ve really gotten the concepts down.  Note: this is the case for any of the good books…read and reread.  You will pick up much on the second and third readings.  HOH, written for tournament play, holds up well for the basic concepts and plays at a cash table too. 

2. A very close second is a book I am only half-way through.  David Sklansky’s Theory of Poker (http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Poker-Professional-Player-Teaches/dp/1880685000) is a gem because it covers in depth things brushed upon by Harrington.  Harrington talks about the value of bluffing and even when it kind of makes sense…Sklansky covers with math how a semi-bluff is a profitable tool in your kitbag.  His Fundamental Theorem of Poker, once really understood, changes how to think about plays from something intuitive into an actual decision process.  I’ll probably reread this dozens of times before I feel like I’ve squeezed out all I can.

3. Gus Hansen wrote a book that is a recap of nearly every single hand he had in a tournament where he ultimately won ($1.2 mil).  Find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Every-Hand-Revealed-Gus-Hansen/dp/0818407271/  The remarkable thing about this book is his sharing of his thoughts on why he played each hand from that position.  Much of it has to do with his ability to read his opponents, and most of his success came from his reputation as an expert post-flop player (considered one of the best, up there with Phil Ivey).  It opened my eyes that there are situations where you can and should play *any two cards* against an opponent.  I do want to caution that you can’t be successful following blindly what Gus did because none of us has the reputation he does.  Especially true for online play at low stakes level…people will call you with most any hand even when they should fold.

4. Full Tilt Poker’s Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition (http://www.amazon.com/Full-Tilt-Poker-Strategy-Guide/dp/0446698601/) is a great purchase as well.  The chapters on Hold ‘em offer something that the other books I’ve listed do not.  The hand strength tables are very helpful (e.g. 7, 2 offsuit is widely considered the worst hand in Hold ‘em, but that’s for multiway pots.  3-2 off is worse for heads up play or not many players in a pot).  This book covers other poker types which is key to round out your portfolio.  You pick up things that can be used back in your Hold Em game by playing other game types.  For example: 7 Card Stud is very similar to Hold Em (you have 7 cards to use in both, there are betting rounds, etc) yet you can see more of what your opponent has and are less likely to fall to tricks or maniacs.  The writing style of the contributors in the Full Tilt book is engaging, and you hear from a variety of experts v. just one or two in the other books I recommend.  Well worth the purchase cost.

5.  Marginally speaking, I think Doyle Brunson’s Super System is a decent purchase http://www.amazon.com/Doyle-Brunsons-Super-System-Course/dp/1580420818/.  Much of what he covers is covered well in Harrington’s and Sklansky’s texts.  But Super System as I’ve posted before, has real nuggets for Stud poker, particularly Hi/Lo Stud.  Almost like a recipe for success.  I think my biggest revelation is that Stud Hi-Lo is all about hand selection, more than Hold Em or other games.  It has to do with the betting architecture and the fact that pots can and do get split.  I am increasingly playing Hi/Lo types of games, now delving out into Omaha (a variation of Hold Em) mainly because I’ve overcome my fear of this new territory.  In essence, if I’m playing a hand in Stud Hi-Lo I’m sticking to it because I made  a good decision at the start.  This reduces chasing a drawing hand.  I still have work to do on Omaha, but Brunson’s book opened up for me a nice alternative to Hold Em and the 2-7 Low I play.

Books highly NOT recommended: Hold Em for Dummies, and Vorhaus’ book about playing Killer Online poker.  Of those two I’d buy the Dummies book over Vorhaus’ one.  The first is still good if you are just really starting out.  The second is a meandering mess, with not much else than platitudes to “play to win” and the like.  The whole chapter on user IDs/avatar names boils down to this: the names may or may not mean a darn thing.  Does that really take 20+ pages of text to say?  (Note: on Pokerstars players who play a lot for $$ can display their “play level”.  I’ve also noticed that heavy players will slum around in the penny games I play.  However…the “Gold” “Platinum” or Super Nova sorts of guys aren’t necessarily way better than the level of play…so I’ve turned off the display of their level)

Parting tidbit, out of Harrington’s recent book on cash games (I’m just starting out to read, so not included above) is a trick for outs.  It’s called the 4/2 Rule.  If you have two cards to come (e.g. just post flop for Hold em) you can multiply the # of outs you have by 4 and get an approximate percentage of your chance to hit one of your outs.  If you have one card to come, multiply by 2.  I’ve reviewed it and it’s a good estimate, which you then compare against the pot-odds your opponent is giving you when they bet. 

If you are wanting to improve your game I believe my booklist will definitely help.

One of the cool things recently shared with me is the Netflix video service.  For a minimal fee you can have one DVD sent to your home, watch when you want, send it back and get another a couple of days later.  I’ve used this to catch up on missed seasons of Battlestar Galactica.  It’s much more inexpensive than buying a boxed set of each season that I’d likely only watch once.  As there are no late fees I don’t have to watch in a rush.

All that’s great.  But even greater is the ability to stream movies over a computer or other devices with that same fee covering the cost.  There are literally thousands of movies and TV series to watch in this manner.  Streaming content does not count towards your “1 DVD Only” restriction.  I also like that I can queue up titles and have them waiting for me.  I was in Chicago earlier this month and part of my entertainment (living in a hotel room sucketh) was to stream my Netflix titles over my laptop in the room.  It saved me a lot of money v. going out to do something or see a movie.

Until a few days ago the options for viewing streaming content was either a PC or my XBox 360.  The preferred way was via XBox because it streamed over my HD LCD TV with surround sound.  Not anymore.  This last weekend I purchased a wi-fi capable Blu-Ray player that also supports Netflix (the wi-fi + Netflix is precisely why I bought it).  Photo of it is below:

This allows me to watch Netflix comfortably while Shelley uses the main TV that has our DVR also linked to it.  Surprisingly, the streaming over wireless does well and I’ve not noticed any lag time once the buffer has been filled by the device.

Particularly nice is that many TV shows that I thought I’d like to watch I can now watch.  I absolutely *hate* being tied down to a schedule to watch any show.  And the DVR is too cumbersome + Shelley uses it heavily.  Now I get my Legend of the Seeker fix when I want to watch it.  And get to catch up previous seasons of Lost, The Office, 30 Rock and many others. 

If broadband costs continue to lower for unlimited download amounts monthly, technology for streaming yet keeping picture/sound quality improve, and more devices come out that universally play content (not just Netflix but also YouTube, et al) I believe the era of Blockbuster or even broadcast TV may soon be over.  Its that convient to the consumer.

It’s been about a month (5 weeks) since I started back with a regular fitness regimen.  Overall I’d say I’m in better shape than I was when I started, particularly on the running aspect.  That’s good news because my efforts on my last fitness test for the run were abysmal (only barely passing).

Last night we attended our step aerobics class together on post.  This is normally a killer event for me, and one evening about a month ago I nearly passed out in front of a bunch of “elderly” ladies who are fit like a 20 year old would love to be.  Last night I held pace pretty much, with my only challenge is trying not to trip over the steps as the instructor did more dance moves than exercise moves.  When she does that I slip into a basic step mode until I can regain composure.

We later did a walk/jog with McKinley.  The total distance (gross estimation) is about 3 miles + or -.  Shell, McKinley and I have gotten to the point where about 1.6 miles or greater of that is solid jogging.  Last night on two of the .4 mile stretches I opened up the engine and did a 90% jog pace.  Note: I only can do it for spurts like that because of the darkness of the neighborhood and I need to keep tabs on Shelley for safety reasons.  McKinley is a champ even running that fast…unless it’s uphill.  Then he’s a wuss and I have to push/cajole him.

Shelley really is getting to the point where the jogging mental blocks are dissipating.  My goal, and hers, is to build up to a full 1.6 chuck of jogging.  Then keep improving on that. 

On the nutrition and behavior change parts, I’m doing okay.  We have more fruit in the house, I take a multi-vitamin daily and generally feel better throughout the day.  This last Friday I decided I had been diligent in my new lifestyle, and allowed myself an evening of beer celebration: BIG MISTAKE.  I woke up Saturday AM feeling horrible, and it reinforced to me how I don’t like feeling that way.  It will be a long time before I go back to that, and I may swear off beer and replace it with O’Douls or something like that.  Seriously.

By my countdown I’ve got a month, maybe a little less, until my fitness test.  I feel good that I’m on track this time.  And it’s important I pass easily this time as real money could be riding on it.  The flip side is if I fail I may have enough time to continue to improve before my expected pin-on date to the next rank and get off the “flagged” list in time to get promoted.  If not, I lose a large monthly pay raise.

Most importantly for me is that everything I’ve done up until now to get in better shape is something I can do indefinitely.  And, of course, that’s exactly what I plan to do so I don’t have to worry about future fitness tests.  Depending on how you calculate it, I could have 8 or more fitness tests before I retire from the service.  And I sure don’t want each one to be a struggle as I get older.

I’ve been trying out play money stud hi-lo. Doyle Brunson’s Super System poker bible has the most clear and concise strategy chapter on how to play this version of poker I’ve ever read. (and I’ve read a LOT of poker books lately). It’s so good, I guarantee you will increase your fake chips if you follow his system.

The format of Stud is what you’d expect like you play at home. Fixed # of cards, some dealt down (first two, last card) and 4 cards are dealt up for all to see. Three cards are dealt at the start, two of them down. Most Stud Hi-Lo is a limit game. If you are to a hand you’ve got to bet, and hope people raise you to build the pot.

Doyle has very sound advice: Try to win both the High and Low pots. Simple enough. He says this is because if you just split the pot you are essentially just winning what you put in back. Note: this is probably most true when you are playing against real Stud Hi-Lo pros…less so online at the ante and Blinds I would play. If there are multiple people in the pot, who are chasing either a high or low hand (perhaps both, but that’s rare) then they are building it up for you to scoop.

For the low hand, it must be 8 or less with no pair to qualify. Here’s where people forget: flushes and straights don’t count when considering the low hand. I see a lot of players going after the high hands and winning. But mostly just half the pot. And that will only incrementally increase your chips. You are better waiting for a good starting hand that can be a strong hand both high and low.

I like Stud Hi-Lo because the pace is pretty stately. Way less stress than No Limit Hold Em. Nobody can make a huge move forcing you to agonize over folding or not. You are more likely to stay in pots longer than you should but that will rarely break you (i.e. you can recover from bonehead moves…and we all make them). A disciplined player who sticks to the system (i.e. much less luck/variance in Fixed Limit, Stud Hi-Lo) will come out ahead because the system works. I can’t even say that about 2-7 Single Draw (even though I play that passably well).

Some tips:
1) Go for LOW HANDS. A 4-8 straight is a strong hand for high, and qualifies for low too. Examples of good starting hands are 7 or lower non-pair. A baby pair + and 8 or later. For more refinement than that pick up Doyle Brunson’s book.
2) If you hit “paint” on your fourth card or greater, you should toss in the hand unless that paint gives you a dominant high hand. At that point, forget about making low, and pay attention to see if your hand will get beat. If it is beat, dump.
3) If you have two cards greater than an 8 already, you are pretty much beat. Sometimes I will hang around to see if I keep getting low cards but if that third card > 8 pops out I dump. This has served me well because so many new players will stick around for their high hands. Only stay in if your high hand is dominant. (check other’s up cards…you can often tell if you are drawing dead, or all your outs are pretty much covered).
4) DO NOT chase both high and low simultaneously. You will probably get burned. If you do this you did a poor job in your hand selection at the start.
5) A low three card straight is a solid starting hand.
6) Remember that Aces are both high and low. Trips Aces is a really good starting hand because you know that few others will have a good chance at the low end, and you already have a very strong high hand.

Hi-Lo is a nice change of pace, and expands your skills beyond the run-of-the-mill NLHE. And it’s much more like the “real thing” with play money than NLHE is with play money unless your blinds are much higher level. Lots of get-rich-quick guys at NLHE play money tables playing like they’ve seen on TV. Its frustrating if you are trying to play a straight game. So…try out Hi-Lo if you need a break.

Played in two tournaments tonight. Both No Limit Hold Em (NLHE). As I’ve posted before, I have an affinity for 2-7 Single Draw but it’s darn hard to find a Sit-n-Go match (short tourn format, 1-multiple tables that start when filled). Not for the buy ins I want.

So, I usually play one to three of the .10 multi-table tournaments (MTT) for NLHE. They start about every 10 mins depending on how many people are online. The skill level varies, but mostly beginner level until about 2/3 of the players are cleared. This is fine by me. I’ve placed in the money a few times (about 1 in 10) and even made it to the final table bowing out at 5th place (for a $2.20 payout). Lest this impress you, Brady has placed first in a MTT clearing almost 6 times that. Considering he is playing with Pokerstars.com’s money, that’s truly truly cool.

I had played one time before the .02 (yep, that’s two cents) game. What a hoot! The format is referred to as “hyper-turbo”. In regular mode the blinds move up a relatively stately 10 mins. This favors tighter play especially in the beginning of the tournament when your chip equity is such that a preflop all-in that may lose your stack is just plain dumb. Better to wait until you have an absolute premium hand to make your move. When you play turbo mode, the blinds bump every 5 mins. That’s the normal mode I play in because the rake the house takes is much lower for the S&Gs…you pay more to have more time to analyze your hand. These tournaments can take 3-4 hours to get to the final table and finish things out.

So, tonight to pass the time during the wait for good hands in a .10 MTT I played in the hyper-turbo .02 MTT. 990 players to start, only $500 in chips and the blinds start off at 25/50 so your stack gets whomped hard early and the pace never lets up because the blinds double every *3* minutes. The strategy for this game is simple: you are hyper aggressive to go with the hyper-turbo. If you don’t double up in a few hands you will face a sure increase in the blinds. You must double up again soon after that. And the antes kick in crazy early. It makes pot stealing moves a must, but you essentially have to go all in to do so because everybody else is just as deparate. The last piece of the strategy is blind dumb luck. Playing this aggressively means you are making big moves with medium to weak hands most of the time. And praying to hit any sort of piece of the board to improve your chip stack.

I won’t give a play by play but suffice to say I won the hands I needed to…until the very last one of course. Out of 990 players I took second and earned $3.30 for my effort. Screenshot below:

The first time I played I didn’t like the pacing. Too frantic, and the obvious issue of needing a bit o’ luck to build enough chips to play “normally” somewhat. I only got a reprieve for about 5 mins of the whole hour the tournament took not counting the scheduled break at :55 of the hour. Although its easy for me to say I now like this format (which is only partially true) since I won money tonight I will probably play it again in the future. It’s a laughable two cents to play, but I recommend you don’t build too many habits by playing this tournament format much. Too fast, unrealistic card selection is common and necessary.

The sure thing is that you won’t be playing this MTT very long because of the insane pace and how the pot builds just from antes and huge blinds.

The final guy and I had about 500,000 in chips between us. During heads up the lead changed twice then he hit his cards when I made a move. Heads up is like that, and you can’t be timid when you have a bettable hand or you’ll get butt handed to you. Since there was over $70k in chips in the pot before the betting even started when we were heads up you should think about playing any two cards and only fold the dogs.

It’s back to the cash tables for me for a bit. The pacing there is MUCH more to my liking. But I had fun tonight. (If you wonder how I did in the .10 tournament: I missed the money by one place. That’s called being the “Bubble Boy”. That’s poker. I more than made up the difference from the measly .02 tournament!)

I’m not much into New Year’s Resolutions, for all the reasons those of us aren’t. I simply don’t do well keeping them, and that can tend to have a negative effect.

Those of us in the military have a real incentive to stay physically fit. In a literal sense, our jobs are on the line. Twice a year I trudge out and take a physical fitness test. Back when I was younger, and serving in line (combat) units it wasn’t a major issue because daily we exercised with our troops. The higher up you go in the structure, the less you are in direct supervision of troops and the more diverse your responsibilities are making a fitness routine more challenging. Make no mistake, some of my colleagues thrive on implementing an invididual fitness plan…and some of most in-shape 40+ people I know are in better shape now than I was in High School.

Shelley and I started doing step aerobics around the first of the year together. Pretty cool for us to do that, a first in our marriage. The sad part is having all the 55+ women in the class make me look like a exercise doofus and someone who would really benefit as a contestant on The Biggest Loser. Really…some of those ladies have the muscle tone of 25 year olds.

Shelley was gone the last two weeks and I purposed to start back up my personal exercise regimen. I have a fitness test in April and there isn’t much time left to get back to a base enough level to where passing the test won’t put me six feet under. (this isn’t a big exaggeration…my blood pressure isn’t what it should be and medication isn’t lowering much yet). With that test, and plenty of alone time on my hands as catalysts I started back up. For me, running seems to be a best bang-for-buck activity.

We’ve been taking McKinley for walks in the evening most nights, and interspersing chunks of jogging stretches. While Shell was out, I extended those legs of jogging longer and longer, and doubled up some days time on the treadmill at home. Concurrently, I must improve on my core fitness as the Army fitness test involves a 2 mile run (for time obviously), 2 minutes of doing pushups (min standard of XX pushups based on age and gender) and 2 mins of situps (same as pushups). You do the pushups first, then the situps, then the run. Up to 10 min breaks in between events. I’m pretty confident I could pass both the pushup and situp events if I had to do them tomorrow. But the run is problematic (note: I used to achieve max points on the run portion when younger…it is a ego killer to know how far I’ve slipped and old my knees have gotten).

The key thing is to not try to make up for months + of slothfullness all in a week or so. That’s a sure recipe for losing your motivation. Since I’ve started back up, I’ve lost 2 lbs and gotten much more tone. Increased the mileage of what I’m running at a chunk to 3 miles (about every other day to give my knees a rest) and do the minimum amount of pushups and situps required for my age back-to-back with no break in time. That’s a good sign. Here’s a recipe for overall success that’s playing out for me well.

1) Again, don’t try to overcompensate with how much exercise you are doing for months of inactivity. Do something each day, or every other day. You should have a good, relaxed feeling afterwards for the first week and not hurting or aching all over.

2) Look at other aspects of your lifestyle that will improve your feeling of well being. At some point I will modify my sleep cycle to go to bed earlier, but mostly because I will be kicking in a “daily double” mode of evening/night treadmill stuff with early morning standard Army fitness mode.

Some things besides getting good sleep: a) hydrate more. I will admit to being a mid-week beer drinker. Come home, eat dinner then have a couple of beers to “cut the edge” off of the day. The problem is that sometimes that morphed into more than a couple of beers. Instead, I now have a large 64oz cup of diluted koolaid, sometimes two of those. Yep…makes you want to pee a lot. But I am feeling much better. My experience with hands on medical care in combat units is that many of us are partially hydrated nearly all the time. So…drink more clear fluids (koolaid is way cheaper than gatorade or that kind of stuff). b) Change your mental script about what your motivations are, who you are, and why you are doing this “new” exercise stuff. No, I’m not saying to look into a mirror each morning and say outloud to yourself “You are a MAGNIFICENT BASTARD, and an ADONIS!” And don’t take off your clothes and use your body image to create a self-loathing motivator. Be matter of fact that you are over 40, that you are going to improve your health overall and build on that. c) Improve your diet choices. Don’t go overboard here early. You are exercising now like you haven’t in months (maybe years) and the body will need time to adjust a bit. Pay more attention to what you are eating, how much, and when. I think you will naturally either forgo bad food choices, or at least consciously dive into that Stouffer’s French Bread pizza slice. Start taking a daily All-in-One vitamin to help the body slowly get back to getting the nutrients you’ve been lacking.

3) Do as many of these things you can with a buddy, your wife, etc. Here again, for me especially, don’t go overboard or you’ll lose that other person who can help motivate you when both the spirit and flesh are weak. I’m very proud of Shelley, because she never was into jogging/running. When we were a younger couple I tried to convince her to work out with me but the couple of times she actually did I’m sure I was too intense for her. Now she does a bunch on her own, we do some things together and she’s really getting fit. She finished her first 5K run last month (I was on a business trip) and it was a huge motivator for her to continue. We will run in one this Saturday together for the first time in 22 years of marriage. Very cool.

4) Don’t get discouraged if you don’t improve fast enough for your tastes. You want to change your habits and lifestyle and that takes time. Physiologically, you will likely lose some weight early on to a certain point then gain a little back as you are putting back on muscle in place of fat. You will plateau at times in how far/fast you can run, or how many reps you can do or how heavy you can lift. That is a natural thing. Just keep plugging away and you’ll move on from that log jam.

5) Rest your body. A 7 day regimen can be more harmful than helpful. Every other day is fine but if you are on Day 3 with no planned activity start gearing up your mental dialogue to do something exercise-wise. I also think rituals help us get in that mode mentally, so I have a set of workout clothes that I suit up in. Do that, and just go for a walk for 20 mins. That purposeful activity will get you over the hump mentally and you’ll be back to your regular routine the next day or even that night.

I believe the above strategies are going to be very successful for me and anybody else like me. And I hope to sustain them.