I started playing No limit holdem and after about 6 months of play and over 5 k in losses I decided to try other games. I worked very hard in Limit holdem and built a respectable win rate but was never quite able to get myself out of the 2/4 3/6 zone and move into the higher limits. Then I found the 10 game on full tilt. I quickly became addicted to learning how to play each of the games and decided I would play for awhile until one of the games realy grew on me and that was fixed limit omaha high low. Took me a year to build a respectable bankroll and because there is very little resources on the internet or in terms of books that show you how to play this game correctly I had to learn entirely through trial and error. This year was my second year and then black friday happened. I lost my entire bankroll except for a couple thousand I had cashed out to book a vacation and was very bummed out. I have taken the last few months off and decided to start playing again in october. I have started with a 2 k roll and I have taken the attitude that if I ever see my money again from full tilt it will be a bonus to me. It's been the only way to cope with a 50 k ++ loss like that.
Anyway Ill be updating my daily stats starting december 1st and maybe there will be someone else interested in this game who would like to discuss it or play matches ect... Ill be starting in the 1/2 to 5/10 ranges and working my way back up to 50 100 and the 75 / 150 games in the coming months so it might be interesting to follow along.
Also for those of you who are interested in adding this game to there repitoir for mixed games or horse i am very interested in trading coaching in this game (sorry no showing my live hole cards while im playing for money... I just dont feel comfortable exposing myself to being cheated) for someone who can coach me to beat 0.50 1.00 NLHE I think we could work something out.
So it begins, what's on the line in December?by Joeingram1, November 30
It looks like the time is finally upon me, December 1st. Currently blogging from my December headquarters for the month located street level in a different part of Vancouver, a much easier place to sleep in during the day. I've been putting off all my crazy hours for the last 2 months in anticipation of this day to begin the end of my journey in 2011. This might not have been the most effective plan or way to handle things but my main goal for November was to build my online roll big enough to be able to handle the swings that December would bring. As a result of this November was my first real winning month after relocation with +5k at the tables and +13k from fpp's.
What exactly is on the line for me in December? I am currently at 550k VPP which means I need 450k VPP to achieve my goal. By doing this I stand to make $36,000 from FPP's along that way. $11,600 from 3 milestone bonuses, $20,000 bonus from when I do achieve SNE, $5,200 WCOOP ME ticket, an extra $24,000 if I were to hit SNE again next year. That is $96,800..... That is a pretty serious amount of money on the line. Add in an extra $45,000 from prop bet money and well you will see there is no room for failure.
What do I need to do to be able to achieve this? Well simply put, I will need to set a new record for most hands of PLO in a month. I'm pretty sure I have the current record but these hands will need to be played at higher/more challenging stakes. Ideally I would like to play most of my volume at 2/4 where I have been playing the last month. My vpp/hand their has been 1.09 with some of that coming during off peak hours when there are a few less games running but they are much better. I plan on playing most of my volume during the midday-night time hours of PST so I anticipate a lower vpp rate during that time. I need to get 14.5k vpp/day which if I am getting 1500/hr equates to just under 10 hours per day, assuming I play straight through. I anticipate a break at some point so that most likely will end up being 11+ hours/day with joing tables to begin each session taking longer. Before prop bet money I can lose 3k/day and actually still come out +ev in the end, do I anticipate losing that much money? No way, PLO is a game where even the unimaginable can happen. I feel very good about my mass multi tabling PLO game right now and have changed 2 things to my game that have not only made it much easier to grind long sessions but have improved my ablilty to actually win some money
My plan for December is one that I do not know as of yet. I did find someone here to help me with my meals/ie cooking/preparing them daily for me. Its a girl/woman I met randomly when I first moved here who I went to the nude beach with lol but she was telling me her ideas/plan and it sounded exactly what I was looking for and I think it will make my ability to put in the sessions and feel better good. I do have some ped's (aka grind drugs) on the table if I do feel like I need them but my plan is not to use them for whatever reason. Fridge is stocked with water/vitamin water, place to sleep is dark at all times, hooded shirts and sweat pants are lined up, and the money is there for the taking.
So been playing on merge (carbon) a little bit when i have time dominating from 4nl - 10nl - 25nl. I just play whatever looks good within those stakes mostly 4-10 though. Roll is big enough to play some heads up but is the rake at 25nl too brutal to make it worth it?
If you hear this song many a time beforehand without the video like I did, you will most likely imagine this serious but free looking woman and a great feel good melody.
Then the clip strikes and you just can't stop laughing, well at least I couldn't. A+ execution.
From the same guy, the original version of the song that got later destroyed by a commercial vocal version and a mainstream video. Just make sure to watch the whole thing, as the point is nothing short of epic.
Off to a good start :D DON's generally make my eyes bleed, but it beats sitting around doing nothing! http://imgur.com/yXOT3
Off to a good start, will probably update the blog again before heading to Mexico in mid Jan Hope my other LPers are doing well!
Unfortunately I was not present for anything in this part 3 so all that is said here is from talks directly with my sister/lawyer/mother
The lawyer extended the thiefs time to give money to 2 in the afternoon and nothing came from it except for some talks of the thief wanting guarantees that my sis would do nothing to him if he gives money.
Finally my sister had enough of it and went to the police station make the formal complaint. There she showed the video/audio etc, she overheard the police officers making nice comments like 'imma f*** this sob up" and such. The lawyer really wanted her to add info such as the thief went through her panties and her daughets panties saying that such info makes criminals be treated differently and that once he got out of jail his voice would resemble that of mike tyson.
Polife chief there sent police officers overs to the guys house to give him a 'intimation' requesting his presence at the police station tomorrow.
Later my sister talked with the thiefs sister and told her all the story. The sister started crying and was not surprised about the situation but said a lot 'we have to pay you back'. She said she was also at the apartment of the brother visiting.
Around 9'oclock at night the thief called my sister directly crying and asking for forgiveness and saying he has 1/3 of the money he can give tomorrow and the rest he will get to her somehow but to please to not arrest him because he has a 8 month pregnant wife. Tricky situation as I find myself and my sister feeling pity on him but the guy has robbed lots of people and he has to pay for what has been done. She said 'look if you want to pay me thats fine but the charges have been made, lets meet at the police station tomorrow and you give me the money there' and he agreed. She had already set up to release the media in this sensationalist news of the local area but is asking them to hold the broadcast of the material until further notice (something i'm not sure the media will hold up to). Later he called again saying 'hey your boyfriend is a musician right? do you want a new guitar for the troubles you have gone through?" my sis is like 'wtf just focus on giving me back my money and not things'
My sister asked me to put the videos all in one synchronized and I did so.. while at it I added some dubbing of what was going through his mind in portuguese and showed it to the family last night to which most everyone started crying laughing hehe. I won't open it to public yet until she decides to show the media. I have put it on a private youtube link and if extremely trustworthy lpers (i.e. green star or i know u for a few years) want to see it, u can pm your youtube name or email and ill send invite all I ask is to not spread the vid.
For now thats all folks.
update 3.1
morning meet at the police station
thief arrives and tries to shake hands with my dad and everybody is just like 'wtf'
he has some struggles in transferring money but finally manages to transfer about 3k dollars to my sisters account
my sister tells him he has till tonight to give the rest in exchange she will let the charges go but if he doesnt she will go through with it
regardless of if she drops the charges or not the guy has robbed the whole building already in previous occasion and the people who now know are already setting up a building meeting to get him evicted and get some lawsuits against him.
as extras the guy throughout the meet is like 'man im such an idiot, im so sorry.. god i cant believe what i have done' and yadayadayada but all throughout my sis feels he is a scammer by nature and trying to con his way out... which in some ways he is if shes actually gonna drop the charges but doesnt bother me so much cause the rest of the building will go after him including angry old lawyer and police chief that live there
shes now trying to get him to talk about how he has a key and who else is involved and why he did it
also the sensationalist media will be aired anyways apparently and it airs in about 10 minutes.. gonna check it out and if that goes through ill just release my vid
mini update 3.1.1
video was just aired on live media here so i'll liberate my own video compilation of the entry + Show Spoiler +
[HELP] Looking for a good set of cardsby offsuit, November 29
Hi everyone, I'm looking to start a home game and I wanted to get a nice set of cards to start it with. Anyone have any recommendations for sets they personally like/have good things to say about? I think I want a plastic set, but I'm definitely open to suggestions. I was reading some reviews for some of the better looking sets on theory11.com, but some of them say things like "(And yes, the hidden one-way marks are handy - it was a few months before I discovered them.)" which leaves me thinking I might be buying cards that aren't necessarily made for playing poker. I want a slick, cheap, unmarked deck that's stylish enough to play with at weekend games regularly. If you have any suggestions on sites to buy from, let me know too!
I'm living in China right now and would like to get on Stars. I have a chinese bank account but they don't use visa or mastercard or anything useful for internet payments. Great story right?
I have 50$ I want to get onto stars, and this looks like the last option I can come up with. I'll trade it for 45$ on stars.
sup fellas,
Allright so november was a very interesting month for me. This was the ''first'' month over a while when I moved back up to 1/2. I am mostly 6-7 tabling but sometimes when the games are good i do take few more tables, not more than 9 tho. So right off the bat i managed to play good, solid poker. The game is a little diffirent than 0.5/1 as the regs are better and more agressive. As the month advanced i started to feel more and more comfortable. I did not put in super volume, but still im glad i played ~48 k hands as my goal was at least 50 k. I am going to end the month right now since i will take a small break from poker and take care of some university stuff. It is going to be hard to put in the same volume in December. I will have a bounch of exams in school and i will have my birthday and xmas as well. Nevertheless i will try to grind as much as possible.
I am glad i improved my winrate a little bit. I have discussed the winrate questions with my team ( Shout out to Cariadon and dUUd_ here ) and we pretty much thought that a 2-3 BB 100 is very solid. And its very hard to play better. Lets take a 200 k hand sapmle. So i ask better regs who play at least 1/2. How much do you guys think it is possible to beat 1/2 over 200 k or 500 k hands considering the toughness of the games NOWADAYS ?
Anyways, this is my Graph:
SoCal live non-holdem games?by PillPoppin, November 27
Anyways folks, my 21st birthday is getting closer, and I will likely be able to procure a valid ID that looks a lot like myself before than. As a result, my game selection will soon be a whole lot more than just Indian casinos that don't hand out free liquor.
LHE live has been a profitable, but pretty dull grind. Live NLHE makes me want to blow my brains out. In part because half the table is usually shortstacked, and because its hard to differentiate between rich kids with neither hygiene nor style, and disenfranchised mass-multitablers that have been sitting there for the past 10 hours blasting trance on their ipod and mentally calculating everyones vpip%.
But back to the point, I need some variety. So where in Southern California can I find PLO, O8B, NLO, Stud, etc... games that run on a consistent basis?
So far all I've got thats reliable is mondays at Morongo where a bunch of senile hicks from the high desert bring their social security checks to play 5-card O8B.
2-3 months ago my sister moved in to her new apt
few weeks ago she got robbed for about 8k usd cash that she stupidly had in her house
she went to the police and yadayadayada her maid got fired and that was that -- no proof no nada
a week ago she got robbed again for about ~600 usd
this week she put security cameras in her apartment --- in the weekend she left the apartment and stayed at my parents
today (sunday) she went back and checked the tapes to astonishingly found video recording of the burglar getting inside the house at around 8 in the morning
when i heard this i must say that i got chills all over my body
so we all go over and look to see its a young 25ish looking year old middle-upper class guy wearing an adidas shirt and shorts, big ass watch and decent sports shoes with sunglasses pale white... guy comes from a well off family -- the reason for this is that where i'm from your only pale white if your albino or fairly wealthy lol besides the obvious expensive clothing
also checking the video he seems to have a key that gives him access to the apartment ---enters the apartment and immediately seems to go to my sisters main room to look for money, spends a few minutes there and then comes back to living room and searches a little there before realizing theres a security cam to which he tries to hide for a bit but then pokes his head to see whats up --- comes out again and starts following the cameras cable to find the back camera and after not finding anything else just leaves --- this is all recorded and I have already uploaded to the internetz but will not share here yet since case is not yet resolved
so the person who lived in this apartment before is from my sisters boyfriend family -- she gets in touch with them and one of the girls after checking out the video immediately recognizes the burglar -- she says he is the son of my sisters neighbor who lives one floor above her and that he is a douche
so now we all get to talking -- i immediately talk with a good friend who has the hook ups with lawyers and cops here -- u have to remember this is brazil and stuff here works differently than in 1st world countries
after talking to the lawyer for quite a bit he says theres basically 2 options
1) go to police and get him arrested where he will be able to get bail and u will most likely win the case against him but most likely not see the money and have some headache
2) tomorrow me and the lawyer hit up the mothers apartment , show her the video and threaten her to pay back all that is owed on the same day or else we go to cops --- if they pay the lawyer says we then we go to cops anyways --- apparently this is legal and he thinks is the best way of getting the money back -- if they decline to pay then sell the tapes to the news and take him to the police
We are leaning on option 2
the lawyer after investigating him a bit has found out he has 7 other prior cases of him being sued and apparently nothing happening to him -- this to me tells us this won't be a walk in the park and that he has connections
so overall its a shitty ass situation that will be a hassle for my sister as she will at the very least have to leave her apartment given the famlily of villain lives in the same place!
As for conversations with the cops so far it has all led to "how badly do u want me to beat him up or even eliminate him"
So this morning I go over to my sisters place and arrive to find a group of people over there
my sis , her boyfriend, the building supervisor (forgot the correct name in english, he basically is someone who lives in the building and takes care of all matters regarding the building in exchange for not paying monthly building fee which does not include rent) this supervisor is also a lawyer, me and some others who work for my sis and her business
so lots of talk going on and this lawyer there is sort of a problem for my sister as apparently this burglar has robbed the whole building pretty much and the supervisor has fired doormen amongst others probably wrongly. As soon as our lawyer arrives and this supervisor gets his name you can see he immediately respects him a bit even though our lawyer is like 30 years old and this supervisor-lawyer guy is like > 50. The respect however seems more in the fear kinda of respect as in this lawyers family has some power. Anyways thats my impression of the situation.
The conversations gets pretty interesting and most of the time I am just listening and it becomes clear old supervisor wants to get all of the residents in this while my sis and her lawyer are like "hey she found it , she deserves the gold first and if everyone gets in it right now basically no one is gonna see nada" and just becomes a sort of battle of wits an power to see who wins what.
Anyways conversations goes on and supervisor guy wants to get in the action and go talk with the thief with myself and our lawyer but our lawyer eventually lays down his finger "listen your gonna stay here and me and my bud here (me) are going up .. we'll be back shortly"
my sis lives on the 1st floor, thief lives on 2nd floor opposite side to her
as we go up the elevator i turn on my recorder in my pocket
a bit about me and the lawyer -- im about 1'92 or 6'3 and very heavy dude.. the lawyer is big as well and heavy as well
we get to the hall and we hear immediately the burglar speaking on his cell phone
lawyer knocks on the door and after a few moments the burglar looks through the magic hole and all we hear is "i'm gonna have to hang up now" and then "one moment, friend" and he walks away from the door
once he does this-- i found out later on me and the lawyer thought exact same thing --- which is we are gonna get fuckin shot in this hallway-- my hearts starts pounding a bit faster and since the lawyer is in front of me i slowly start imagining me just tip toeing to stay exactly behind him hehe and imagining at what angle I can't get shot --- oh well but no time to be a wuss now
guy opens the door and its the thief--- lawyer walks in 'we need to talk' the thief is shirtless and removes himself to get his shirt
once he comes back the lawyer is like "look, i'm gonna be straight forward here, i'm a lawyer and we know what you did, we filmed it and we want to settle this now' to which the thief is like 'im sorry for what i did, i have a 8 month pregnant wife in the back so please lets settle this amicably' lawyer is like 'thats fine thats what we want as well'
we keep on chatting a bit and decide he has two hours to call us back with the money in hand or some immediate plan to get the money he stole from my sister or else we start going to police/media and he says ok
my thoughts throughout this were basically that lots of my friends were like 'man u have to beat the shit out of this guy and feel angry and whatnot' i just personally felt pity for him as he seems relatively normal person who just fucked his family up hard
we went back to my sis place -- i put the audio in the internetz once again and waiting the 2 hours out and no reply from him
so the lawyer and i left --- the final plan now was that by coincidence a female police chief lives in my sisters building and she is actively involved in finding the burglar and will arrive in like 4 hours from sao paulo--- so we decide to wait on her to come and meet up again to go through with the arresting part of the plan unless some other contact is made from our burglar
lawyer gives me a ride home and the chat home was kinda messed up.. i don't know this guy much but have met him once or twice before but know his reputation and that he is very good friends with one of my best friends--ill leave that chat to another time
will update later when we have more stuff
part 2.1
I ended up passing out in the afternoon, when I woke up my wife had gone out and babysitter would be leaving shortly which means I had to stay with my baby and could not go visit my sis to see the updates
as far i know police chief + lawyer+ sis all met up
lawyer called burglar and burglar is agreeing to payup money apparently and asked that my sister write him a receipt of receiving back the stolen money
what is hilarious as well is that we said he owed like ~10k dollars but then he is like no the total was like ~9.2k dollars and my sis is like 'oh snap he is probably right cause i remember spending like x amount of the money for some bills or something' . The lawyer quickly agrees to write this receipt as it has really no effect. They all agreed for tomorrow morning for this money to be given and afterwards she would go to the police station with the police chief...
some extras that i recall are
Lawyer is not charging anything which is extremely generous. He comes from a very rich family and has just married into an even richer family but still very nice of him. He doesn't even know my sister till today.
Everyone here when dealing with important figures tend to call them 'doctor' as a respectful thing, so the lawyer was like 'doctor' to the police chief and she after finding out his name is like 'hey i know who you and your family are please call me by first name' which i found amusing.
Next steps of interrogation will be coming up as the video of him breaking entry he seems to have the key to the apartment -- how did he get the key-- possible doormen involvement in this as well... also when talking to him personally the guy seems fairly normal --> what the hell was his motivation to do this stuff? Clepto or necessity or what? Cause he comes from a middle-upper class family which is just bizarre.
The whole process is going really slow in my eyes.
Powerlifting Nationals Chile 2011by GoTuNk, November 27
Sup, haven't really posted anything lately but I wanted to share what I posted on tl about my results on powerlifting nationals. Hopefully it will be interesting for many.
I traveled on thursday (2 hour drive), so I would have entire friday to cut weight.
Friday:
Morning I weighted in (brought my scale to my friend's house cause I am that crazy) at 77,35kg. My goal was to compete at 67-74kg weight class. Couldn't find the exact suplements I wanted, but just because of it and not drinking water except from a glass at the morning I was down to 76,3kg.
I then proceeded to use a hot bath tub to dehidratate, and after many inmersions I was down to 74,4 kg and I just couldn't lose more weight. I wasn't even thirsty, so I think I could have gotten down the rest down with more pills, on which I erred on the side of extreme caution (WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO THIS, I DID MY HOMEWORK BEFOREHAND AND TRIED IT PARCIALLY A FEW TIMES BEFORE)
So I was in time for weight ins, and couldn't fit into my weight class; on their scale I was at 74,6kg, so I would compete in 74-82 weight class.
I was kinda sad, but the experience was worth it; it is important to learn how to cut weight safely and effectively as it is a prerequisite to elite competition on weight class based sports.
Anyway, I started the rehidratation process and was at 78,9kg before going to bed. It was really awesome to stuff myself watching SKT vs Team 8. I woke up the other day weighting 77,9kg.
Saturday:
I woke up around 11 am, had eggs with bacon plus 5g of creatine (creatine is a great way to increase water uptake).
I got there around 12:30am, and smaller guys were competing. They decided to troll me by entering the woman's competition inbetween, so my weight class started at around 5pm.
It was fucking hot, and I'm not used to it, but luckily it clouded up so I got into my car and listened metal for around 30 mins with my shoes off; great relaxing before the lifting.
The competition:
It was time. I decided to start with 170kg, as I had squatted 165kgx2x2 the week before.
During the warm up I noticed something that really bothered me: the bar knurls weren't at the same place as the barbells on my gym, so I had no clue where to place my hands. Anyway, I proceeded to my first attempt:
1st attempt: unracked to bar, heard the "down" command, squatted the weight and racked it. I didn't waint for the "rack" command, so it was a no lift. FML
2nd attempt: Ok np, just get there and squat it again, its a light weight. Except it wasnt; for some reason the weight felt fucking heavy and I didn't get deep enough; no lift. OH SHIT DID panic. I had 1 last try, or all my hard work would go down the drain.
3rd attempt:
FUCK YEAH.
It was time for bench press. Judges had decided to be particularly gay this competition, so I wanted to start with a light weight: 110kg.
1st attempt:
Supposedly I moved my feet. No lift.
2nd attempt:
Perfect and ez.
3rd attempt:
The strongest guy on the lower weight class (where I wanted to compete) benched 117,5kg. So I asked for 120kg, a moral victory (and would have been a national record on that weight class).
I did it, with ease. However the camera man was at the toilet -_______-.
Now, my favorite lift. THE DEADLIFT.
1st attempt:
ez
2nd attempt:
not that ez, but still.
3rd attempt: I wanted the 3x bodyweight lift.
because there wasn't any great lifters on my weight class. I beated guys up to 7kg heavier than me.
Had I competed on 67-74, I would have been 3rd and set a national bench press record.
Looking foward to the next one, and taking down those 2 guys, who are for sure among the best lifters across all weight classes. They totalled 550kg and 560kg.
A perfect poker setup, part #1: a good chair!by Defrag, November 26
You can see this all around: poker players throwing money away at often ridiculous stuff, buying the most expensive and luxury things that they often get bored with within days. But even high stakes grinders often don't care or simply underestimate effects of having a proper poker grinding setup. No, I'm not talking only about buying a fast desktop computer and 2* 30"Dell Monitor that covers playing on 40 titled tables at once; I will try to talk about this as well, but first I would like to focus on something that's been bothering myself lately: a comfortable chair.
It might sound ridiculous, but I would argue this is one of the most important parts of every poker setup, especially for players that tend to spend 8-10 hours, or even more, per day in front of their computer. A good chair will make not only your posture correct ( which will result in less health problems in few years ), relief back pain during long session, but will simply make you win more - the more comfortable you are, the longer you can sustain focus and play your "A" game. It's as simple as that.
There is quite a big choice of good ergonomic chairs on the market, and as I spent 3 full days riding around and trying various chairs to have a good comparison, I will try to give my own opinion on the most worthwhile ones.
Order of reviews is random, I will give a summary at the end. I'm going to skip on all 'presidential leather' chairs, as those are not adjustable and there is about a million of them available - if you want one like those, just go and test them yourself!
The Aeron chair is long in the tooth as office chairs go, having been introduced to the market way back in 1994, and is a signature "dot.com" chair that revolutionized market for office chairs, by being a first company to use a mesh instead of classical materials. It's also available in million configurations, you can choose base color, mechanism and back spine color ( black/white ) and seat material coor.
Long story short, this is an extremely comfortable chair that comes in 3 sizes ( A,B,C ) that should fit pretty much everyone. There are ton of versions of the chair, with standard black or aluminum polished base ( it's for looks only, costs are significantly higher for the aluminum option ), different back support options ( lumbar or posture fit, with the second one being better and more expensive ).
Mesh material was a spot on hit - it's not only comfortable to sit at, but provides a good air conditioning, which helps a lot, especially during summer. The chair doesn't offer a head support, but that's Herman Millers policy, as none of their chair have that option. I'm not a huge fan of it, so it wasn't a problem for me.
Whole chair is TOP A quality, design is slick and nice, but that's obviously my personal opinion.
Biggest downside? Cost obviously, in Europe this chair retails at $1500 in the best setup, and around $1200 for the basic one. In USA it goes for around $720 for a new basic setup ( black base, lumbar option, fully adjustable ) and around ~$1000 for the fully loaded option.
The chair also comes with a 12 yeas warranty on mechanism + 3 year on gas cylinder + 5 year on material. However, if you materials wears out after warranty period, it's possible to replace parts like seat pane, or back, without replacing whole chair, at lower cost.
Worth a note: If you would want to buy it, make sure you ask if it's fully adjustable option, and not just up/down and lay back model. Also, even this comes with a 12 year warranty, it covers only ORIGINAL BUYER, which means if you bought this second hand you are not eligible for warranty, even if the chair is week old.
The prize is WAY higher, especially in Europe. In USA this chair retails at around $1090 for the basic option ( worse material, standard black base ) and around $1390 for the fully loaded one ( aluminum base, better material ). However, in Europe I was quoted at $1300 for the basic option ( inc VAT ), and around $1800 ( yes, 1800 ) for the fully loaded option. There is also one size option only, but it's supposed to fit 98% of people. It's also available in million configurations, you can choose base color, mechanism and back spine color ( black/white ) and seat material coor.
Herman Millers policy regarding 12 year warranty and second hand products applies here as well.
Let's talk about Embody then: it looks fuc%@*ng amazing. Seriously, this thing looks huge, and looks like a bionic spine. This is obviously a personal opinion, but I loved it, it looks exclusive and doesn't really make your home office/poker setup feel like a call center setup with 100 people around in their cubicles.
The most important part obviously, is the back panel. Herman Miller claims at their site that "a matrix of pixels creates dynamic seat-and-back surfaces that automatically conform to your every movement and distribute your weight evenly." They also say it will even help your heart rate and other insane stuff, which is hugely exaggerating, but one thing is sure here: this thing 'moves' with you. If you try to turn your body by a small margin, while still putting pressure on the back, it will adjust, thanks to the multiple panels on the chair.
Arm rests also have more configuration option then Aeron ( you can adjust how close to body you want them ), however the back support is less configurable, as the back curve is pre-set and can only be configured by setting a proper level of tension. You can also adjust the depth of the seat.
So how does it feel? Do you know those hard-foam pillows that are supposed to adjust to your body? I have one of those ( from Ikea, paid like 15$ for it ) and I cant imagine sleeping on a standard pillow now. I mentioned it simply since Embody is close to that, basically the mechanism covers your whole back when you sit in it, which could make it comparable to an expensive suit tailored exactly for your body, even there are less adjustable options the on Aeron. I sat in it completely straight, close to standing posture ( which is supposed to be perfect for your health ), and I simply didn't feel the chair at all. It didn't change after half an hour, if the effect stays same for 10 hours straight, this has to be one of the most amazing things ever designed.
This is unfortunately a clear winner for me from all ~30 chairs I sat in, if not the cost I would be buying this in a heartbeat. However, this thing IS EXPENSIVE, so let's take a look at other alternatives.
Prize level here is comparable to basic Aeron option, it costs around 750-800$, pretty hard to get in Europe, no problem in USA. Happily, I have a friend who owns it, so I had an opportunity to test ride it.
Standard material, no mesh, which I now consider a worse option, but I'm pretty sure some people will favor it hugely over mesh. The chair itself is supposed to adjust itself to your body ( hence the Freedom name ), and it does the job pretty well. As opposed to previous two chairs, it does have a head rest, which will make quite a lot of people consider it over chairs without head-rest.
My personal opinion: I didn't like it. I prefer to set the chair as I want it, I didn't like the headrest and used material.
This costs around $550 ( cost is pretty much the same in USA/EU) for a brand new chair ( $750 for the version 2 with improved tilt mechanism that makes your whole chair lean back instead of just back panel ), and provides higher number of adjustments then any other chair out here I think. Material used is mesh, same one as in Aeron, but it's also possible to get a leather one for a few bucks more. You can adjust almost everything here, and even arm rests have 4 adjustment options ( height, direction, how far they are in front/back, and how close/far away from body ).
The base is aluminum, which makes it looks quite exclusive and nice ( especially you don't have to pay extra for it, as opposed to other brands ), and it comes with a headrest that you can take off if you don't like it - a huge plus.
Verdict? I liked it a lot... but! There is a major con, that I hated and made me not buy it. Some people will say it's funny but.. the arm rests don't have an option to block them ( only height regulation is block-able, 3 other option use pure physical force to adjust ), which makes them loose a little ( maybe half a centimeter each way, not much ) and that really irritated me. Basically if you try to shake them, you can do that freely in every direction, and it made me feel like I'm paying quite some money for something that's about to fall apart ( well , in EU you get 5 year warranty, but regardless it was irritating ).
In the end, I think the quality of the product should be way better for the prize.
This is a low budget option, this chair costs ~$200 and comes from one of the biggest worldwide furniture shops, Ikea.
There is not much to say about it besides it's a very solid, comfortable chair.
Obviously it doesnt offer as many adjustable options as more expensive chairs, as you can adjust height,tilt function and that's about it. It also has a built-in lumbar support which provides extra relief and support for your back, very comparable to basic Aeron lumbar support, however this one is not adjustable as opposed to Aeron. The headrest is also really nice in my opinion, as it doesn't "force" it's use, as opposed to Ergohuman or Steelcase chairs, where it sticks way forward.
The chair is a hybrid made from mesh ( back support ) and leather ( head rest and seat ). Worst thing? Arm rests are not adjustable at all, and they were way too low for me, meaning my hands were floating in the air. Best thing? It's probably the best chair you can get for 200$.
Few other chairs I didn't look at ( or didn't have option to test them ) and might be worth considering:
-Humanscale Liberty Chair, comparable to Freedoman, but little different ( mesh back ), I had no access to it
-Other Eurotech chairs: Ergohuman is the only one available world-wide, and the rest is just slightly cheaper, so it's not really worth considering them at the moment.
-Other Herman Miller chairs ( I tested them, but they were not that good to pay over 1k in Europe for them, so not really worth a mention, maybe Mirra is worth consideration, but back is made from a soft-plastic a-like which I hated )
-Random leather chairs, as mentioned in the begging.
-Amazing and stunning FitBall Chair, check spoiler tag: + Show Spoiler +
http://i.imgur.com/y0696.jpg
L O L.
My personal summary: 1) Best comfort and overall feeling: Herman Miller Embody, nothing comes even close when it comes to comfort for me. As I said previously, if this chair didn't cost ~$2k in Poland, I would already have it. This prize is ridiculous for a chair, and I find it irrational that the cost is double of what it costs in USA. 2) Best price/quality and comfort - USA: Aeron, as you can get a fully loaded version ( fully adjustabe, posture fit kit, but with black base ) for 738$ now with sale on HermanMiller's site ( till December 12th 2011). Consider this a 12 year investment, and this turns out to be a great value. 3) Best price/quality and comfort - Europe: Really hard to say. If not the fact that Herman Millers chair cost TWICE as much as in USA ( yes, twice ), they would be a clear winner here. However, I would say Ergohuman is a pretty good choice here, as for $500 you can get a really nice mesh chair with ton of configuration options. 4) Low budget : Ikea Markus, all day long. To be honest if the arm rests fit you without problem, I think I would get this over Ergohuman, as it costs 1/3 of the prize and looks nicer in your house/apartment environment. I liked it a lot.
Last, but most important advice: you should NEVER, EVER buy a chair without an option to sit in it first. If you are in USA it's no problem as most of companies offer a 30 day return policy, in Europe it's way more problematic.
All opinions in this blog are my personal, so please don't blame me if you order something without testing it first and don't like it.
Just to make it easier to compare I am 178cm / 75kg.
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