Starting a blog on lp.net has been one of my new year's resolutions for this year. So we're almost 3 weeks into it and I think it's time to begin. For the record, I don't count some bonus whoring attempt from 2008 as a legitimate start of my blogger's career...
So, about me. I'm 21 and I'm currently on a gap year after 2 years of studying economics. Originally I had a beautiful plan of going to Thailand this year with some of my friends to grind there. Then we changed it to going to Brasil with just one friend. Then I went busto so farewell my plans, I'm stuck grinding in Poland living with my family.
The grind was pretty much a struggle before January. I was in debts and I couldn't make any decent profit. When I had a session in + I would lose it the next day and so on. Currently I'm up 10k in Jan, paid my debts and managed to earn a golden star on sharkscope so I'm pretty excited about that. But knowing how sensitive that shit is I captured it with a screen shot in case I will need a reminder of this achievement http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8283/gslol.jpg
But I'm not planning on grinding 180man sngs forever. The games become more and more reg infested and pushbotting 7-8hrs a day isn't that fulfilling nor giving a perspective of becoming REAL BALLA. But it's definitely the best option for a small bankroll, so I'm gonna stick to it for some more time and if I score some big tourney or grind up a decent roll I'm gonna jump into PLO for good.
The second big goal for this gap year is to lose weight. Working on it. Signed up to the gym some time ago and started running this week. Gonna have to force myself into some diet I suppose and that's the hardest part.
The last thing I wanted to say is that I am always pissed off at myself for dicking around on interwebs and not doing anything useful when I don't grind. So recently I came across this cool series of Neil deGrasse Tyson's series that is fun to watch and doesn't make me feel like I'm wasting time. There it is:
Well I realise this is not the greatest thread saver of all time, maybe I will search the web for some chicks next time. We'll see
In defense of Internet Explorerby TheLink, January 18
Ok so to cap off a bad afternoon I finally caved into friends and the internet in general and decided to switch from Internet Explorer and mess with some other browsers. Fuck has that ruined my day.
1. I don't care if Firefox is protecting me from the bad people if you have to spend 10 minutes every time I fire it to update then its an unusable fucking browser. And no I don't want a million add-ons to get features you should have as default.
2. Chrome, fuck off. I don't care about google+, I don't use gmail, stop forcing the whole google thing on me, all I wanted was your browser.
3. Opera, stop displaying my porn sites everywhere for friends and family to see.
4. When I hit new tab I want google to come up. Why do I have to navigate away from a blank page through a series of menus every time I open a new tab? why is explorer the only browser on the web that is capable of taking me to the home page?
5. I'm a starcraft player and a gamer in general, I idly spam clicks, a lot. Pokerstars drove me nuts until I figured out how to stop it bringing up options every time I right clicked. As I type this I can't tell which random clicks keep telling Opera to go back a page, at least it saves this post for me.
Explorer has none of the above 5 problems whereas the browsers I've tried so far have most/all of them. It has by far the easiest to navigate interface/tools etc. especially for those who are tech illiterate like me. I know people like to quote speed and security as I.E.'s faults but any differences there are totally unnoticeable to 99% of the world so unless any tech-guys want to quote numbers at me or something proving its incompetence then its definitely the best browser on the web.
Also, felt like leaving my graph here too. I suck but I run good.
I have this friend of mine who plays NL10 SH and wants to move out from Stars. I haven't played anywhere else except PS for some time, so I'm not familiar with recent possibilities.
He 4-tables. Bonus/rakeback greatly appreciated. Please help.
Tilted? Come. Some songs to feel better ...by whamm!, January 18
My favorite new Remix artists, RAC (Remix artists collective)
they mostly do indie type or hipster music and somehow make the songs even better.
If you felt better after listening. You're welcome
I had a right total ACL reconstruction on the 10th of this month and i've been in a lot of pain ever since. I'm also missing bone cartilage in parts of my right knee so they created microfractures in the bone to stimulate cartilage growth. The thing with the microfracture is that i cant apply any weight to the right leg for 6-8 weeks, so when i try to talk i have to use an imobolizer (special knee bace) on my right knee, and when i'm using my crutches i cannot let my right foot to ever touch the ground. So everywhere i go for about 6 weeks i have to use crutches. Long story short, today i had my 1st poker session in over a week which lasted for about 2 hours (baby steps, will try to go for 3 hours tomorrow). After 2 hours my knee started to get really warm, i guess because i was sitting in my computer chair and the right leg wasn't elevated, but tomorrow i plan to have some ice packs on hand. All i can say is i'm feeling much better each day and i keep seeing improvements in the range of motion of my knee. I still have to pee in a hand held urinal because i pee every 2 hours usually (even before the surgery, i just always pee a lot since i'm always drinking water) and putting on the knee emobilizer can be sometimes painful just for a bathroom trip and back. Anyways, wish me luck for a speedy recovery, take care everyone
I'm in graduate school for physical therapy (doctor of pt program), caught an acquaintance of mine cheating on our last exam. Our faculty is very trusting (to a fault, apparently). Long story short, + Show Spoiler +
dude sits next to me for the exam and I keep seeing him looking over at my exam. I cover my sheet up. Next, he decides to sort through his backpack, looking for a pencil, 6-7 times (coincidentally, every time someone is asking our professor a question). Towards the end, he whispers to the girl in front of me (who was getting up to leave), "what'd you get for number 24?" She gives him the WTF look, he pauses, and says "just kidding..." Later, dude goes up to the front of the class to ask a question, I turn in my exam and go back to my seat. I then decided to check to see what he was looking at, I lift the flap of his backpack and see our filled out study guide (the only thing in the backpack). Mention it to my roommate, she tells me she saw him cheat on an exam earlier this term. So,
100% dude was cheating. He then has the audacity to say "easy exam" to my friend and I afterward. So what do you do?
70% Passes as long as your GPA is above a 3.0 cumulative. Dude is an A/B Student, If I had to estimate, I'd say he's got around a 3.6 after 2 terms. We had the same study guide, as we did it as a group, and our study guide had about 85% of the questions on the exam covered; so anyone who studied with it should be expecting about a B to a B+ on the exam. Whether you get an A or a B really doesn't matter unless you're A) trying to get into the military afterward or B) considering getting your Ph.D at some point.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/userpoll/draw.php?poll_id=1274
update: program is competitive, clinical rotations are done by lottery, with the highest GPA's being most likely to get their top choice. Additionally, there are competitive clinical sites which require you to be in the top 5% of your class in order to apply/attend.
Poll: Game plan?
(Vote): Let it go.
(Vote): Go to the instructor.
(Vote): Call dude out.
(Vote): Other.
My flatmate Stroggos and I have extra motivation for the next 2 weeks. Grinding it out, who ever makes the least in $EV will have to do a stunt.
Things like Extreme Ironing in the freeway road island, or loser has to sing Rebecca Black in the city center for cash.
But for the first one we decided on something simple and good for personal devlopment: Loser has to talk to 5 hot girls in the mall, each for more than 2 minutes, without them walking away/ slapping/ calling the cops.
Going to be pretty hard to keep a convo with a stranger going that long with my current skills. Winner pays the loser a completion bonus of $200 which will help to even out variance a little, and make sure the stunt gets done.
Keeping he focus on EV is already making me play better and rethink some spews.
Going to play some monster sessions of focused poker so strogg has to deal with akward conversations!
I saw Arlo Guthrie live a few days ago. The guy is fucking awesome. He's funny as hell and he can sing a whole bunch of different things really good.
"Comming into Los Angeles"
"St. James Infirmary" (classic old blues standard)
"Evangelina" (Crappy country)
"This land is your land" (his dad's most known song)
In my darkest hour (great song)
Check him out if you have the chance. The guy seems like a soberish version of that guy in that film with the dude from the Big Lebowski and that guy that was in Miami Vice.
So I slept all on sunday, really ALL day, and woke up at 11 PM and just tried to sleep again to fix my sleeping schedule. But I just couldn't sleep again, and at 6 AM I was talking to my friend janekaaa and said I slept all sunday, so he said "lol, so now you're gonna GRIND all day! you'll go and play 500 games!" and before I could say "no, I'm tired, I don't even wanna play today" he said "I'll give you 15 bux if you play 500 games today".
Hey LP! I have been away from Poker for about a year now and for the last few weeks I've been craving for some poker. Since I have stopped playing, I did cash out all my funds from PS and Microgaming. I don't have the kind of money on hand that I would need to fund a good BR so I could return to NL25/NL50 which is what I played when I stopped (built 25$ free BR promo into roughly 1.5-2k overall). BUT! I do have 40$ sleeping on my Paypal account. As you all know, no site accepts Paypal payments, so I'd be looking to transfer 40$ to your for the same amount on my PS account.
I have done a successful transfer on LP before with voodoouser (back in early '10 lol) and am willing to send my money first, to a reputable LPer.
I know these are ridiculously small amounts for most of you and your time might be worth more, but I realllllly need my poker fix right now I'm actually installing HEM as we speak I would love you forever and take your side in every argument on this site! (ok maybe I'm pushing it for 40$, but you would make my day!)
Also, lol @ my title, my peepee for your PS. Yedig?
I hope everyone had good holidays and a good new year. I basically have just recently really got back into poker. After BF I pretty much just stopped playing for a good while and just didn't really have any passion to grind. It was a good break and mentally I got back to where I need to be.
I started to really get into the live scene. Playing a lot around town and going to some casinos. I had 1 final table in a $215 event where we ended up chopping 3 way and I ended up getting 4.2k.
A few months after that, I went to West Palm Beach, Florida to a place called the Kennel Club with my roomate. This place was probably the best poker room I've ever played at in terms of soft/good games. I played mostly 5/10 which played really deep and loose (more like a 10/25). The first few days I won about 2k, then had a pretty bad day and lost 3.5kish. The last day I was there I did really well and won around 4k and could've won more. I took 50% of my roomate in a shorthanded 5/10 game and very first hand live reg raises CO, My roomate 3bets the BT w AQhh and they get in $1500 each on a 654hhh flop, run it once and his 66 wins when the turn pairs the board. Regardless, a fun and profitable trip.
The next few months I played primarily online on a skin on Cake Poker anywhere from 1/2 to 5/10 did pretty decent. The games were much softer than the other sites I messed around with that were open to US players. I was really starting to build confidence again in poker and life and things were going well.
Not too long after this (probably abt month ago), my good friend from High School called me and told me about a 2/5 game that was super juicy and good. It was in another part of Tennessee that was about a 3 hour drive from me but I decided to check it out and see if it was worth the drive.
.....IT WAS!
The game played like minimum 5/10 because there was literally a $10 or $25 straddle just about every other hand. Also it played super loose. There were 2-4 guys that just literally would never fold pre if they straddled. So I felt it was super +ev and did pretty well the first day I played it winning about 2k. I came back the next week it ran and had another great session. My biggest live cash session of all time actually, winning about 7k total. It felt really great and while playing in this game I was making a lot of good connections and friendships with people that could help get me into more games and just open doors for other things. Well this past Wednesday, life finally went bad.
I called my buddy and decided to come back again for the game. My plan was to play it and just drive right back home the next day. Well I did that and won about 2k. I woke up at a friend's apartment the next day around 11:30 am and was trying to decide whether to go home or not. They ran a 1/2 game that played super loose and deep too that started at 12:00 pm every Thursday. Well I decided I don't really have anything to get back for at home so I might as well play it until 4pm or so and just go home whenever I feel. A little background on this game - it has been running without any trouble from the police or other businesses close by it for over 20 years. The guys who run it are really nice and good people and for the most part do a good job of running the game. I had no fear of getting robbed or anyone there doing anything shady.
This Thursday everything was going fine. We just finished eating some delivery pizza and at around 4pm we heard someone knocking on the front door (usually everyone goes through the back entrance). The knocking gets progressively louder and everyone hears shouting and yelling. One of the people who help run the game saw that it was the police and ran into the main room where we were playing poker. Everyone starts to scramble around and it's just utter chaos. I dash to gather up my things with my first instinct to just run away and the get the fuck out of there. This all was in probably a 10 second timeframe and after this the door gets busted down. Five policemen in vests and with guns drawn burst through the door. The crazy thing about what was happening was that some of the people at the game thought we were getting robbed and not busted by the police. So a couple of these guys pull out their guns, ready to shoot. In these split seconds the guys who pull out their guns realize we're not getting robbed (illegally anyway) and put their guns away. One guy however, just throws his on the ground. It lands next to a Mexican gentlemen who doesn't speak/understand English very well. The police are yelling "GET THE F ON THE GROUND OR WE'LL BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT". Not exactly police protocol. The Mexican doesn't understand what they're saying and isn't listening. This causes the police to try to wrestle him down and cuff him. While this goes on, one of the policemen knocks over a cup of hot coffee that spills all over another guy's back who was laying under the table. When this happens the guy reaches in his lower back because it is burning. The police interprets this as he is reaching for a gun in his back pocket. So then this causes another shit storm. All in all was a really crazy experience. After things finally settled down and half the people there were cuffed, they gathered everyone around and said they were going to search the area and everyones' possessions, including everyones' vehicles outside. Well I'm thinking that this is really bad for me. I have $1600 on the table, another $2k in pocket and about $4k in my bookbag. I normally would never bring this much to a 1/2 game but I had played higher the night before which requires you to have a lot of money to play and I won a decent bit. So my initial thought was that they were only going to take what was on the table but I was wrong. They took everyting...
I wasn't arrested but they took down all my information and money (-6.6k). They then searched my car (thank god I had no weed in there), and took the remaining $60 on I had on me. While the cop was searching, I asked him if he could just leave the $60 in the car because it was the only other money I had on me. He said, "I'm sorry man, I gotta take it all". I then said, "Man listen...you guys just took almost $7k from me, can you cut me a break, I play for a living and wasn't even using all of that money for the poker game, ect". He's like, "YOU LOST HOW MUCH?!", "That's messed up man, let me see what I can do". He then goes back inside and talks with the other policemen for about 15 minutes and comes back out and says he couldn't do anything for me.
All in all a very bad experience and big hit to me. The fact that the game isn't going to be around anymore really sucks too. I've talked with some friends who know the laws and police work pretty well and none of them think there's any chance of me getting the money back ;(
Anyway, now my plan is to just grind a ton online and try and make all I lost back by the end of the month (or at least some of it). I had plans to travel to Biloxi, Mississippi and back to West Palm Beach to play WSOP circuit events and cash and now this puts them in jeapordy.
That's about all I really have to update. I've had some thoughts of trying to get back into coaching. I still feel iffy about it just because I've never done it before and there's just so many coaches out there that can't beat todays games. Since I've been playing on Cake I've been changing my SN every week so it would be a pain to look up all my old SN's to provide results but I could do it if anyone would like me to. I'm thinking my rate would be somewhere between $35-$50/hour which I think would be pretty reasonable. Maybe I could provide the first session at a discount so potential students could get an idea of what my coaching would consist of and decide if they want to work with me in the future.
I also have been playing a decent bit of PLO. I still have lots to learn and plan on getting coaching from someone in the near future when we both have free time -_-
Anyway GL to everyone and send me a PM if you're interested in the coaching. I'll probably blog soon in the future with updates on my results so look out for that.
What do u think? Heuristics/Biasby Night2o1, January 14
YO SONS
I am not sure if this is an article, a speech, or a casual essay. What do u guys think of it?
Heuristics And Bias of The Mind
Have you ever had to read a long text that simply didn't pique your interest? We've all tried to get it over with in one long session, just reading and reading.. Until suddenly realizing, “Hey, I've read the past two paragraphs but have no idea what they said.”
Let me be the first to welcome you to the enormous field of research in mental heuristics (or shortcuts), dedicated to uncovering the what's and how's of which actions the mind performs outside of awareness – reading in this case – and how these mental shortcuts can lead us astray, causing biases in everyday decisions big and small. If some part of your mind can automatically, effortlessly read, what else is it doing without your knowing?
Research has shown that mental heuristics are universal among all peoples, and those in the field have come to describe automatic thought, which happens constantly and outside of awareness, as the work of System 1. Effortful thinking on the other hand is the domain of System 2. For instance, finding the solution to a difficult math problem is done by the deliberate and logical operations of System 2. The steps taken toward the solution can be logically followed back and forth. But reading simple words in your native language, or solving 2+2=? is an automatic activity of System 1. Certainly we can't afford to think through every single thing we do, nor do we always have the time to, so when does System 1 benefit us and when does it mislead or influence System 2 without our even recognizing it?
Imagine yourself in the kitchen preparing a meal when a sharp knife is accidentally knocked from the counter. In what may be called instinct, the mind immediately asks and answers several questions, “What object fell? Should I catch it or move away? Where should I move to avoid danger(back, forward, left, right)?” then sends the appropriate commands to your limbs. You've already moved, the knife having clattered harmlessly to the floor. System 1 worked it out quickly, effectively, and decisively – you didn't have time for conscious thought. But what if a pot of boiling water was balancing on the counter behind your left elbow? Depending on the urgency (or if you usually have a pot of boiling water there) it is possible that System 1 wouldn't take the boiling water into account, at which point you're in a world of hurt.
“Surely, I wouldn't be so foolish as to place a pot of boiling water on the edge of a counter!” But System 1 heuristics extend beyond the home kitchen, an environment under your control. Read the following sentence,
“Which fast food restaurant...”
It is likely that the name McDonalds popped into mind over any of the other myriad fast food restaurants in town. Why? Does McDonalds serve the tastiest french fries or burgers, the healthiest or highest quality food, are they even your favorite fast food joint? Probably not. Yet the name is so prominent that System 1 brings it into consciousness when the words “fast food” are uttered. Their marketing has embedded the brand into your and the public's mind, knowing that research has demonstrated that when a consumer has a choice between a familiar name and an unknown, they are likely to choose the familiar. System 1 recognizes McDonalds and feels safer; System 2 is lazy, often adopting the first's suggestion without question. If this unconscious bias towards familiarity is universal. Then what other, more important decisions, are effected by thoughts of which we are unaware even occurred?
The study of mental heuristics and the bias they cause was pioneered by Amos Tversky, PhD and Daniel Kahneman, PhD over twenty five years ago. Since that time the field has become a full blown avenue of research within the field of psychology while the research coming out of it has transformed the way we think about such diverse fields as economics, management, marketing, and more. Systematic bias in Systems 1 and the way they effect System 2 are part of the very basis of what it means to think; therefore past and ongoing research in the field is relevant to every single form of human inquiry. While here we've only just begun to scratch the surface of what is already known, we all have much left to learn; I expect you'll come along for the ride.
I have decided to go for sales, pretty much it's a mix between talking to people where I can use the psychology stuff I studied. I worked in finance in a large dull corporation before and it was well... all that the phrase office drone means and this is just so much better on paper (although hard work).
But also It's good for the bottom line and sick fast progression if you work like a madman (going to Managing director with your own branch in 1-2 years is pretty common)
I already got accepted to a purely commission based marketing company that sells broadband door to door and got 2 days long interview and a long phone call for a sick good Norwegian tech company that started 10 years ago and creates software as a service analysis of news, social networks and some other stuff.
Fingers crossed innit; the second one is pretty much flawless and they put a lot of emphasis on fun, and if I want I can point at a country and pretty much go there as they are all over the world and the Edinburgh office has Norwegians, Russians, Canadians and have a sick good portfolio like HP Coca Cola Gucci etc...
Although going into the wild and selling door to door and chatting with so many random people would be just a great thing for social skills and for getting better at chatting up the ladies, I wouldn't mind it either. I had a full day experience and you really meet some weirdos but in general people in Scotland are really friendly to sales people.
Tell me what you think guys. I will put poker on hold for now, especially in the first couple of months when I will need to learn the ropes and get into management and build proper capital ASAP. I got £3k student debt and I want that gone and then put some money into a roll to play on the side, at limits I should be playing if I didn't cash out - NL50-NL100.
So I'm thinkin about Costa Rica as my next grind station as my 6 months in Canada are nearly over. Does anyone have experience with this? And if so How are the key components such as: Internet connection? (how fast, stable) Secure banking/online banking methods, and housing? (prices availability etc)
Thanks a lot for any input. If you know anyone that knows anything about this tell me as well ^^
I'm in the middle of a Macau trip with the girlfriend. Poker-wise, the trip has been a little rough - I took a shot at 100/200 HKD, the table became a "must-move", became 3handed, and I lost a huge AQo vs TT allin pre. Besides that I've been playing well so nothing to really complain about. We've been playing at the Wynn, which is pretty cool as it's packed with high-stakes tables; I really need to get my act (bankroll) together and enter that arena. I saw Johnny Chan (@300/600) and heard that Ivey and Antonius are at the nearby Starworld playing nosebleeds. Not so much a fan of Ivey after hearing his exorbitant/mo salary at FTP but will maybe check it out.
Outside of poker, Anna went bungy jumping off the Macau Tower, the world's highest jump. I didn't participate but will probably be forced into it the next time she jumps. She really enjoyed it and is uploading the vid to Youtube, so I'll have her blog about it. Took her to Morton's which was pretty nice. Now she has a constant craving for crab cakes! That's about it for now - will post pics when we get back to Taiwan.
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I would love you forever and take your side in every argument on this site! (ok maybe I'm pushing it for 40$, but you would make my day!)
