Author Archive
Thoughts on variance
Before I continue my little WSOP trip report, I’m having a few existentialist thoughts on variance. No, I’m not having a losing streak, but several of my friends are. Yeah, variance can be brutal in this game, when all your opponents’ 2-5 outers seem to come in and you start doubting, whether to raise your AQs in the BB when there’s already 5 limpers in. But at what point is it not variance anymore? At what point it is you who’s playing bad? Maybe you were on a heater before? Maybe you are tilting because of your downswing?
Day 5 of my WSOP week. Event #12, 1500$ Limit Hold’em
Finally, some sleep. It is 11:30am and I am just waking up. The TV is blabbing idiocies about Hillary Clinton and her endorsing Barack Obama. But I just have to watch. I make my way down to the coffee shop. I am so hungry, I say to myself “screw the comps” and just go in and pay for a nice hearty Omelette breakfast. God, it is taking me so long to get going. I don’t know if it’s the 1k I lost the night before or just laziness on my part. I do not feel excited at all. As I sit in front of the Video Poker machine to get my mailings activated, boredom settles in. Man, you can lose so much time in Vegas and survive.
Day 4 on my WSOP week. Mt. Hopkins - Las Vegas
I’m sorry, I just ended this report so abruptly. Las Vegas happened, plus a bunch of other personal stuff (good stuff, don’t worry). Finally I’m getting to update this. Anyway, this is Day 4 on the WSOP trip. Let’s get on with it!
Observing was great. We got a lot of data and I’ve got a lot of work for the next few weeks. But this isn’t about work. This is the day I go to Las Vegas. A lot of driving to do today, but I have done the trip before and I know it’s beautiful. So we all get up at around 11 am (after having worked until 5:30 am), I guess we are all just eager to leave the mountain. After driving down the long and winding road, basecamp is reached at around 1pm. I am in the real world again…
Day 3 of WSOP week. Observing on Mt. Hopkins
You know, when you are observing, there’s not that much to do. You sit around the computer, analyze data and enjoy the beautiful view. Then again, time flies by so quickly, you wake up at 1pm, still groggy from last night and at 5 you go up again for another night. So between 1 and 2, I did what any poker degenerate would do in a groggy state of mind: Play some HU limit Hold’em online… and lose 190$ (200$ - 10$ bonus). grrr…
Day 2 on my WSOP week. Phoenix - Mt. Hopkins
It is always nice finding a bargain. The hotel in Phoenix certainly was one. It was almost like a nice little mini-suite with sofa and everything for 53$ (tax and everything included), less than my tank filling anyways. For good bargains in terms of hotels, especially in Las Vegas I have two recommendations.
Day 1 on my WSOP week. Pasadena-Phoenix
So this is it! Travel week is here. I’m writing this on Tuesday, but it is a small blog of my weeklong experience that will be observing and playing at Event #12 (1500$ LHE) at the WSOP.
Elements of Poker
I just finished reading “The Elements of Poker” by Tommy Angelo. “Wow!” is one of the few words I can say.
The book gives very few strategic comments. In fact, most of the book can be described as Zen-like mumbo jumbo, with Tommy spending many pages on breathing techniques and Yoga. But guess what? It WORKS. Not because I have tried the breathing or other stuff he says in his “elements”. It works, because Tommy is a professional, who knows how to talk about poker. He’s been there, playing his C-game, chasing losses, lamenting bad beats. Every single one of us has been there…
Some small stakes live poker
San Manuel Indian Casino
I was at a conference in Lake Arrowhead, just north of San Bernardino, which is just a half an hour drive from where I live. If you ever get to go to Lake Arrowhead, it is really beautiful and a nice cool-off from the warm weather in the valley. I did some hiking and felt so refreshed coming down the mountain, even though I was working there. So I decided to stop by San Manuel for some poker.
E-pass is passe
Just 2 days ago I used e-passporte for transferring money between sites to get 600$ to Poker Stars to get that new bonus they had. I guess I was lucky. E-passporte will no longer accept and transfer money to and from poker sites. They pulled out. I find their motivation understandable, but their timing is weird. Is something to come in the world of online poker / UIGEA? Or is this just a random event in an online poker players career?
Commerce last Saturday
So, I finally went to Commerce again. It’s sad, that I only get to go once a month. Before my daughter was born, you could find my in a card club about 3 times a week. Well, I didn’t work much then either… Anyway, I had decided, I was going to go and there was going to be no stopping me. I thought, I could meet up with PokerKat also, but unfortunately, she had to cancel last minute.
