The value of a decision: to play or not to play

For various reasons, I found myself exhausted at 10pm. I had wanted to play tonight, but figured sleeping was a better decision than playing while tired. So I turned off the lights and laid down, unsure if I was taking a nap or going to bed. I knew I didn't want to be totally back on a real-world schedule, so I was leaning towards nap. But I sure as hell wasn't going to set an alarm had no reason to suspect I'd wake up before morning. I woke up around 3am and had to make a tough decision between getting up and playing for a while or rolling over to go back to sleep.

A funny thing about playing poker is that it creates a distorted picture of the value of those kinds of decisions. Theoretically, I should look at my long term average hourly earn rate, R, and how many hours I'm going to play, H, and multiply those 2 numbers to figure out the expected value of playing. H x R = EV. But variance is high in this game, so the actual result is often in a very different ballpark than the H x R projection.

So here's a common scenario. I decline an invitation to go out on a Saturday night, opting to stay in and take advantage of the juicy weekend action on Party Poker. I have a rough night at the tables: big pairs get cracked, miss all my flush draws, flop set under set 3 times. When my friends drunkenly call me at 3:31am and ask how my evening went, I know my excel sheet says I've lost $389 but I just mutter "Eh, not great... what did I miss?"

Our brains are built to make results-based associations. If I eat some berries and 30 minutes later I throw up, I associate the result of vomiting with eating the berries. I have an abstract understanding that I should be counting my imaginary EV dollars to determine how much the decision to stay in was worth, but its hard not to think that going out drinking would have been a $389 profit. I'm not going to eat those bastard berries any more.

Luckily tonight it went the other way. Instead of going back to sleep I got up and played, winning $884, far above the most generous estimates of my H x R. So what was the value of the decision?

DMB

I caught the Dave Matthews Band concert last night in Manassas, VA. This was the 15th time I've seen them. I've been a huge fan ever since my mother randomly gave me their album "Crash" as a gift in 1998. I try to avoid mainstream pop culture, so I've always kind of resented that my favorite band is so hugely popular among the teeny boppers and frat boys, but I guess this a rare incident of the dull masses having good taste.

I used to be pretty fanatical about collecting recordings of their live shows, which they generously allow fans to tape. My collection includes almost 300 shows from 1991 to 2002. I started collecting them my freshman year of college, and early on I had a weird ability to remember setlists for a given show date. Because of my setlist fetish, when I started going to their concerts I would write down the set as they played it. So now I have 15 scraps of paper with a bunch of songs scribbled on them.

Feel free to congratulate me on these tremendous accomplishments.

I enjoyed last night's show. Most concerts feed off of crowd energy though, and playing 10 new songs in an 18 song set isn't going to have the crowd into it as much as a set full of road-tested classics. So this wasn't one of my favorite of their shows, but I liked hearing their live versions of the new material, and was glad they played Warehouse.

They brought out a guest performer, Robert Randolph, who I had never heard of. But this guy laid down some nasty pedal steel guitar and tore the house down. The 3 songs he played with the boys at the end of the night were definitely the highlights.

Last night's setlist:

Sunday Jun 26 2005
Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge

Dream Girl
One Sweet World
Don’t Drink the Water
Hunger For The Great Light
Say Goodbye
Too Much
Out Of My Hands
Grey Street
Steady As We Go
Hello Again
You Might Die Trying
Where Are You Going
Warehouse
Stolen Away On 55th & 3rd
Stand Up *
Louisiana Bayou *

__________________

American Baby
All Along The Watchtower *


* - featuring guest performer Robert Randolph

Punk Kids!

Around 5pm today, I was sitting on my bed reading Freakonomics (more on this later) when I noticed a red SUV pull into the parking spot next to my car and two kids get out. Something about them immediately seemed suspicious so I kept my eye on them.

They got out and started unwrapping something in front of their car, and dropping the wrappers on the ground. They then disappeared behind a large pine tree, but I could see they were behind there smoking something and nervously laughing. I was hoping they just were back there smoking cigarettes or pot or something relatively harmless, but they came back to the car a few minutes later making no attempt to conceal their smoking.

As they continued to unwrap something and talk about it, I had the idea to take some pictures. It was hard getting a good shot through my windows and screens, but I got a good one of the license plate and some blurry ones of the kids.

I relaxed as they finally pulled out, but was startled when I heard loud crackling of small fireworks from the direction they drove off. I went out and looked around, and saw (and smelled) the discharged fireworks on the road and the wrappers on the ground near where they were parked.

I've been debating what, if anything, I should do about the incident.

On the one hand I'm a little bit pissed that they decided that in front of my house was a good place to fuck around with explosives. They could have damaged my property, and worse there are some little children that live around here. So that makes me think I should report this and make sure the kids get a smack on the wrist.

On the other hand, they clearly picked this area cause it didn't seem like anyone was around, so they weren't likely to hurt anyone other than themselves. Its close to the 4th of July so they were probably just testing these things one time so they'd know how to use them next week. It doesn't seem like its worth it to get them in trouble, especially if they find out it was me that made the complaint and then they decide to come back and key my car or egg my house or something.

I've decided I'm just going to keep my eyes open for them. If they come back, I'll cut them off and nicely suggest they go somewhere else to do whatever they came here to do.

Cartesian Pokery

My total poker income is the sum of 2 categories: poker wins and other. The first category is self-explanatory. The second category is income from various promotions that online sites use to attract players, net of poker-related expenses (travel and lodging for casino play).

Since I play mostly online, "other income" is a fairly consistent stream, linearly correlated to the number of hands I play. It is nice to have that stability in an otherwise highly volatile business.

The graph below is the cumulative sum of each category over the 14 weeks I've been doing this.




Observations/Analysis:

• As recently as week 11, I'd made less playing than I made from other.
• Almost 70% of my total poker winnings have come in the last 3 weeks. I'm on a huge upswing right now.
• Overall, I've made as much in the last 3 weeks as I did in the first 11. Again, huge upswing.
  
• Weeks 7 through 9 were brutal. Sooner or later I'll have another downswing like that. Sooner or later I'll have downswings much worse than that.
  
• In week 10 I switched from playing 4 tables of $5/10 to 2 tables of $10/20. You can see that the poker wins immediately skyrocketed while the growth of other income modestly declined as a result of playing fewer total hands. I'm not planning to add a 3rd table any time soon. I might move up to $15/30 soon though.
• Generally its just good to see a positive trend. I don't expect to continue crushing the games like I have the last few weeks, but hopefully my long term trend won't look as flat as the first 9 weeks here.
  

Batherings

• My cable went out this morning for a few hours. I called Comcast to report the outage, and I actually talked to a friendly and professional representative. I've long been vocally anti-Comcast, but between On Demand, the Comcastle, and my first ever good encounter with a Comcast employee, I might be softening my nay-saying stance.

• Plumbing problems suck.

• In spite of my various predictions (Mavs, Rockets, Heat, etc) if I had to bet all my money I would have put it on the Spurs at any point in the season or postseason. I predict with my heart, but bet with my head.

  In the words of Dr. Farthing, "Hindsight is 20/20 my friend!"

• If you play limit hold'em and want to improve your game dramatically, read Small Stakes Hold'em by Ed Miller immediately. That and Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players are the best poker strategy books I've ever read.

• After reading this, Kira asked her mother, a native speaker of Tagalog, if there is a word in that language that sounds like "Betty" and means "drunk." Ma said she didn't know of any, but maybe it is some slang she doesn't know. She also pointed out that "Kira" means "gullible" in Tagalog.

Opportunity cost

In 13 weeks, I've made about $4,200 less playing poker than I would have earned from the job I quit. That extrapolates to a $17,000 annual paycut. The benefits aren't as good either, but what can you expect from flexible part-time work?

If you add back the 2 weeks vacation I got paid out, and consider the expenses I'm saving on commuting and lunches out in Bethesda, the financial difference looks much better. Plus I got a nice tax refund this year, so with that buffer I haven't really felt any pains in the wallet at all.

As a return on that $4,200 investment, I honestly expect my earn rate over the next 13 weeks can completely dwarf what I've done so far. My understanding of the game is growing every day, I feel like I'm playing the best poker I've ever played, and my results are starting to show it. Or maybe I'm just catching a good run of cards and in the long run I'll struggle to break even. It has been fun either way.

Its 11:20am, I guess I should go to bed.

Beautiful

"I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them."

Well done.

playing online poker for a living

pros

• don't answer to anyone:
  
• this is all on me
  
• no boss
  
• no corporate interests or politics
  
• no pants
• no annoying coworkers (no, not you)
  
• obvious and immediate correlation between effort and reward
  
• no alarm clocks
  
• my own schedule
  
• sleep when i want
  
• take days off when i want
  
• life is just a game
  
• don't have to take anything seriously
• "work" is fun
• easy money
• challenge
• matching wits
• opportunity for advancement - moving up limits
• applying skills to new areas - learning new games
  

cons

• "so what do you do?"
• parents don't like it
• people generally look down on gambling
  
• why did i bother with college?
  
• sketchy healthcare coverage
• no 401k, pension
  
• no sick leave
  
• life is a just game
• hard to take pride in outplaying a drunk or a rich moron
  
• greater good?
  
• future?
• what if the games dry up?
• huge hole in my resume
  
• downswings
• pyschological challenges
• financial challenges
  

input?

Wow.

I just heard a commercial on the radio that started out with a bunch of guys talking about how their buddy can't join them on the trip to Las Vegas this weekend because he's stuck with babysitting duty. They go on to make fun of him saying that the kid doesn't even look like him, that a smart guy with an MBA ought to realize that the kid probably isn't his. Just as I'm wondering where the hell the commercial is going, the ad kicks in for at-home paternity testing by mail. Thank god for science.

DOES YOUR SON LOOK SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE THE MAILMAN? ARE YOU STUCK AT HOME BABYSITTING HIM, KNOWING YOUR FRIENDS ARE LAUGHING AT YOU AS THEY SNORT COCAINE OFF A STRIPPER'S ASS IN VEGAS?

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!! WITH OUR FAST PRIVATE TESTING, YOU'LL HAVE YOUR ANSWER IN NO TIME.

DON'T LET THAT BITCH MAKE A CUCKOLD OF YOU! CALL US TODAY!!

Raising the river with the worst possible hand

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 2♥2♣
3 folds, MP2 calls, Hero calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: (6 SB) 5♦, 5♥, 4♥(6 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds, MP2 calls.

Turn: (4 BB) 6♦ (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets, MP2 calls.

River: (6 BB) 6♠ (2 players)
MP2 bets, Hero raises, MP2 folds.

Final Pot: 9 BB


Normally I don't put any more money in the pot without flopping my set, but in this hand I bet the flop and turn because I thought it was highly likely I had the best hand. When MP2 called the turn, I figured he probably had overcards and a heart flush draw, but not a good flush draw because he probably would have bet the flop. So he probably had something like T♥8♥. Although a hand like 3♥3♣ or 4♣3♣ also seemed possible.

The river seemed like the worst possible card for my hand, since now I'm playing the board. But when he bet out it seemed like a desperate bluff attempt consistent with a busted heart draw or a pair of 3s. So I took a chance and raised. If he had called my raise, he would have won the pot with any hand except for 43, 33, 42, and 22. Those hands would have won half of it.

I don't know if it was smart, but this bluff won me $177.

At least I'm building home equity?

I just spent the last hour doing the closest I'll come to manual labor. It was somewhat enjoyable, but now my lower back hurts from being bent over for so long.

I've had some water leaking problems in my house, and concluded that my bathtub/shower needs to be recaulked. It took longer than I thought it would to scrape the old caulk off, but it was definitely damaged in several places and there was dampness seeping behind it.

So now the old nasty caulk is off. I'll swing by the Home Depot later and pick up some gunk to finish the job. Hopefully the new seal will solve my leakage problems. I'm not really cut out for home ownership.

I love this picture

Reading, Thinking, Writing... Being a Lazy Jackass.

This is what happens when I see a simple poker winrate projection...

I was reading Luke's latest, when I came to this quote:

In theory, playing 12 $2-$4 tables, beating each table for a bet per hour, and receiving a partial rake rebate would yield more than $250 thousand at 8 hours per day. A quarter of a million dollars at $2-$4 is actually possible!

Something about that math didn't add up to me as I thought about it, so I busted out the excel and crunched some numbers. I was about to ask him what kind of crazy rake rebate deal he had, when I realized what I was missing. When I hear "8 hours per day" I think 40 hours per week.

He meant 8 hours every single day. I can't do that. I know there are tons of people out there who work more than 56 hours every week, but I don't think I could ever be one of them. I can't think of any one thing I'd be willing to devote that much time to.

Coming out of college with a double degree in finance and economics and strong math skills, I could have gone for an investment banking gig. I knew I could make a ton of money that way, and my friends who went that route are making huge 6-figure salaries at age 25. I saw that potential, but I didn't want to slave through the 80 hour work weeks they make the entry-level analysts put in.

Hell, it got to the point where 40 hour weeks at GE was too much to bear.

These days I'm fully aware that playing poker for more hours is the most important thing I can do to build my bankroll, thereby allowing me to move up to higher limits, thereby allowing me to make more money. But I struggle to put in more than 30 hours per week.

Clearly wealth accumulation isn't something I've shown a willingness to invest much time in. Which is not quite the same as saying I wouldn't be willing to invest a great deal of time in something that would lead to wealth, just that I'm not willing to work simply for the sake of wealth. We'll get back to that point.

But for now, if not just for money, then what would I invest tons of time in?

Well, I'm pretty sure that I'd work 18 hours a day to ensure my own survival. And if I have my own family some day, I assume I'd include their survival as a higher priority than my own.

But that's really all I can think of. I'm too selfish to include any kind of altruistic causes that help people outside my small circle. God bless the soldiers and the Peace Corps and teachers and law enforcement, cause I sure can't do what they do.

Before you write me off as 100% worthless and lazy, note that so far what I'm writing about is devoting myself extensively to any ONE thing. I couldn't dissect balance sheets or fight crime for 80 hours per week. But I could probably do those both for 8 hours per week, and throw in 7 or 8 other things too.

Ok, maybe not all in the same week. I am 90% worthless and lazy. I have a short attention span; spending too long on any one thing drains my energy.

I guess the point here is that I want to enjoy my time, not just slave miserably towards a goal. My means are just as important to me, if not more important than the ends. Some people enjoy poker enough to play 8 hours every single day. It turns out I enjoy it enough to fill about 30 hours per week, and it turns out that amount of play meets my survival needs. I'm very lucky in that regard.

For some people, meeting survival needs isn't enough, and they don't mind working 80 hours a week at jobs they dislike if they know they'll eventually have more money. Some people trudge through the hours knowing their work is serving a higher cause. Some people never stop moving because they don't know how.

I got a job after college because I wanted to live on my own instead of having to mooch off my parents. I liked the job more than I liked the other idea. After a few years I found a solution I liked better and I started playing online poker in my underwear in the house I bought instead of sitting in a cubicle in business casual working for the man.

That was an improvement, and now I think I can do even better. I know myself, what I'm capable of, what my limitations are. I have a better idea of what I want. I don't want to put more time into poker, because I want to spend some more time on other things.

When I was working 40 hours per week, I was spending about 10 hobby hours on poker. Both those time chunks had direction. These days I'm putting 40 work hours into poker (30 playing, plus I probably spend 10 hours reading or analyzing my game), but I haven't picked up something else to fill those 10 hobby hours. Nothing with direction anyway. I've enjoyed a couple months of filling that time with diversions - movies, video games, etc - but recently I've felt the urge to start something with a purpose.

I love writing this blog. I'll sit down and start typing and suddenly an hour has gone by. I like it when I can entertain, inspire, amuse, or mostly just annoy people with my ideas and the way I express them. I look forward to hearing about people's reactions, and I'm always on the lookout for new material to write about. I don't mind making an ass of myself with this kind of public introspection, and I know that people find it interesting.

I'm going to start writing something else. I'm not exactly sure what form it will take yet, or if it will ever be worth anything to anyone else. But I have some ideas that I know I'll enjoy spending some time developing. Those are the kind of time investments I'm willing to make.

Help!

3pm

Say you're buying movie tickets online. Say you get a window that looks like this:



How long are you supposed to actually wait? Its been about 8 minutes now...

3:09pm

I gave up and closed the window. I went back and ordered again. This time I got a confirmation right away. Is there any chance I won't be charged twice? I better check my email and see if I got 2 confirmations...

3:15pm

Only one confirmation, but wow, I get a lot of spam email for penis help - Viagra, Cialis, Levitra.

These are some of the subject lines of the spam I get:

• Re: A clean the confabulate
• Of send my marrowbone
• Or go he malnutrition victory
• her need he arugment indisposition

Aside from the advertisements for their drugs, the bodies of the emails also contained the following messages:

• It got late, and Harlan, Anton, Brian and the many thousands of krill took off, December, there is a complete sentence (Season's Greetings from the
• it's a straight line." In the words of Karin Foreman, "That and innovative ideas for the future. Total Recall is one movie
• Football Team, and so on. At least Brown has interesting, if wacky, ideas. Although some electronic galleries will probably develop their
• to take my honey, I may kill him." Jupiter was much displeased, ground and limped away, howling dreadfully. His yelling soon

I assume that these subject lines are randomly selected words and that the messages are snippets automatically picked out of text from websites or something, all in an effort to beat spam-blockers. I'm glad our top minds are working for shady penis-help marketers.

Todd Heap

What up

Trip Recap

BULLET I suppose the trip was a modest success, financially. I had a great 3-hour session in a $10/20 game at the Taj the night I arrived, and the rest of my play basically evened out. Not a hugely profitable venture, but a nice change of pace.

BULLET After a 14 hour session on Friday I decided to head home Saturday instead of playing again. I didn't want to risk burnout after 3 long days of playing. Even though I'm sure the Saturday action was great, I'm happy with my decision.

BULLET For the first 2.5 days of play, I had very good feel for my tables. More than ever before, I really had a good idea what my opponents held and how they'd act. But towards the end of my session on Friday, a guy sat down who completely altered the dynamic of the table, and it really threw my game off. There had been one maniac at the table who played any 2 cards to the river almost every hand. He had been amazingly lucky and had a very large stack of chips in front of him. But I had been sitting next to him for several hours and was doing a pretty good job of reading him in spite of his wildness. The new guy was a preflop maniac, playing any 2 cards, often for a raise, but he played fairly well postflop. They were sitting next to each other and their antics pretty much put the whole table on tilt. With one exception, I did a miserable job of adjusting my game. Hopefully with more experience, I'll know how to adjust properly to changing conditions.

BULLET I mentioned one exception, which was a play I made shortly after the new guy (NG) joined the table. This was certainly the greatest poker play I've ever made. We'll pick up the action on the turn, where the pot was already very large. I held 98 (suits irrelevant) on the button, and after several checks the original maniac (OM) bet with the board showing K978. I knew him well enough to know that he'd try to checkraise any hand that beat me, and the pot was huge, so I raised hoping to force out the 3 people acting after me. 2 of them folded, and then NG 3-bet. He hadn't been at the table long enough to know that OM was a complete moron, and he had heard others at the table talking about how tight I was, so I knew his check/3-bet meant my hand was worse than his. At worst he had to have a set, more likely a straight, and probably JT for the nut straight. But after OM called, I had to call 1 more bet and hope for a miracle on the river. I expected any miracle would have to take the form of an 8 or 9, but the river was a J, which seemed like a horrible card for me until NG checked. He looked genuinely concerned about the Jack. Then OM bet again. At this point I it was obvious to me that NG had the best hand and I had the 2nd best hand. OM betting was an blessing, because I realized that if I raised, NG would have to assume I have at least a T for a straight and he might fold. With the pot so large I figured it was worth a shot, so I raised and looked at NG and made a sheepish "I'm sorry" face. NG agonized and finally folded. OM called my raise, and NG immediately informed OM that I had a straight. When I turned over my hand an announced 2-pair I think he might have thrown up in his mouth. "JUST TWO PAIR???! I FOLDED 5-6!!! OH MY GOD!" I quietly stacked the $425 pot.

BULLET Asian casino employees have some cool names:

secondary bullet He
secondary bullet Trung
secondary bullet Nho
secondary bullet Thang
secondary bullet Phat
secondary bullet Supa

It makes me wonder if any American name sound like cool words somewhere in Asia...

secondary bullet Ron is the Vietnamese word for "pudding"
secondary bullet Betty is a slang term for a state of inebriation in Tagalog
secondary bullet Charlie sounds kinda like "shitbird" in Korean
secondary bullet Your average Cambodian would find the name Ralph highly amusing, but couldn't really explain why. Actually that might be universal.
secondary bullet Tony sounds like the Cantonese word for "girth," especially with that Hong Kong accent.

BULLET I played a bit of the $15/30 game at the Taj, and I really felt the difference that the 2/3 blind structure makes. I've got much more experience with 1/2 or 1/3, and the $10 small blind really made the game feel a lot different than what I'm used to. I don't remember feeling that way in my occassional shots at Party's $15/30 game, so that makes me think I've come a long way since my last try at that game.

Atlantic City

I'm taking a 4 day trip to AC for some live action. These will be my first casino sessions since I quit my job, and a much needed change of pace. I don't know of any 2-7 triple draw lowball available up there (my new favorite game), so I'll have to settle for the mid-limit hold'em action.

I'll be back home Monday after I go to the doctor to see if there is any tendon damage in my finger.

11 weeks now

I've tracked 11 weeks (Wed to Tues) now.

9 out of 11 weeks have been wins.
7 out of 11 weeks I made less than $500.
3 out of 11 weeks I made more than $1,000. 2 of those I made more than $1,500.

My worst week was a $705 loss. I followed it with a $1,507 win.

My worst day was April 3. I lost $965.
My best day was April 17. I won $560.

My worst single session was losing $727 in two hours on May 27, playing four $5/10 full tables.
My best single session was $604 in one hour on May 27, playing two $10/20 full tables.
May 27 was a long day.

My average week is 25 hours of play and $480 of income. If I did that for 50 weeks I'd make about $24,000. If I kept the same earn rate and put in 40 hours instead of 25, I'd make about $38,000. Nobody would mistake these numbers for evidence of great success.

Discipline is my biggest problem. I rarely play my "A-game" for an entire session and I don't put in very many hours. I quit too soon when I'm ahead, and I play too long when I'm behind. I let emotion cloud my judgment in big hands. I don't know a lot of odds as well as I should. I am horrible at multi-table tournaments mostly because I don't have enough patience.

I've started posting on the 2+2 forums, and it has already helped my thinking about the game, beyond what simply reading them had done for me. I've felt improvement in my game. Game selection is a growing strength. I'm getting more effective at using statistics and other information to find situations where I have a greater advantage. I've read and reread a few excellent poker books, and tried some new games.

I'm making ends meet, and enjoying this time. I don't think I'll want to be a professional poker player in 10 years (considering myself a pro now seems like a stretch), but I don't think I'll be getting a job any time soon.

I suck

So to clear the 1,050 raked hands I'd need to earn PartyPoker's $150 bonus this month I decided to 4-table the $3/6 game. I might as well have just banged my head against a wall for 7 hours.

7 hours
1873 hands (1050 of which qualified as "raked hands")
$68.71 profit, including the bonus

I'm filling out an application at Taco Bell tomorrow.

Hyperbole? Probably not...

This is the most amazing hand of poker I've ever played.


Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Kc, Ad. MP2 posts a blind of $3.
2 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 (poster) checks, Hero raises, 1 fold, BB calls, MP1 calls, MP2 3-bets, Hero caps, BB folds, MP1 calls, MP2 folds.

Flop: (13.33 SB) 5s, 3d, Qc (3 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets, MP1 folds.

Final Pot: 7.16 BB


I almost just called the 3-bet, but said to myself "I guess I'll cap and maybe someone will fold." And then I laughed, because the idea of someone folding was preposterous. And then 2 people folded.

Has anyone ever seen a preflop limp(check)-3bet-fold??

And then MP1 folds the flop getting over 14 to 1 on the call. Astonishing.

In response to kiraness

I feel the need to address this comment from my recent post, "Buncha spoiled babies."

kiraness said...

who's everyone, weirdo? seems like you get more feedback with poker related biznass than much else. makes sense. it's the only subject you can effectively trick your audience into believing that you've got some working knowledge base. i agree with brian, your hike blogs are yawn inspiring. .... i'm surprised more comments aren't blaring with incredulity that you of fair skin actually ventured out into the daylight.

First of all, speaking of Brian, I know of at least 3 gentlemen with that name who read this and comment. Usually I can distinguish which one is Brian "Bwian" A. in New Zealand, but I never know if its Brian P. from my fantasy leagues or Brian my sister's friend. Or maybe it is Orioles star Brian Roberts. Oooh or figure skater Brian Boitano!

But getting back your point, kiraness, maybe this is hard for your feeble little mind to comprehend, but people do find ways to communicate with me other than through the comments on this blog. And lately, a lot of the feedback I've gotten by phone, email, IM, telegraph, carrier pigeon* and in person has been complaining about too much poker content.

What you, Bwian, Brian, Brian, Brian, Brian, and all my other clown/readers need to realize is that I write this 98.3% for my own enjoyment and amusement and 5.1% for any other reason. But here I am, several times a week giving it 103.4% effort.

That's a lot of effort.

So I'll write about poker if I feel like writing about poker. I'll write about hikes and post a bunch of boring pictures if I want to post boring pictures. If you don't like it, YOU CAN GO TO HELL!!

So there...



...yeah...



...OK FINE, WHO AM I KIDDING?!

I can't keep up this ruse anymore. I love you all. Its all for you!! You aren't clown/readers!! I need your approval, kiraness. I need to entertain Brian with poker stories, Bwian with movie reviews, and Brian with sports commentary. I'm just a pale boy who hardly ever goes outside! I need love! LOVE ME!!

LOVE ME!!!!!



* - Yes, I realize that "carrier pigeon" is completely hackneyed as an example of an obscure communication channel. I might as well have just said "smoke signals" and flushed all my self-respect down the toilet. Luckily the rest of this entry in no way compromises my self-respect. My self-respect is 103.4% intact.

More from that hike

The "Billy Goat Trail" of Great Falls starts off on an elevated area above the Potomac River, and offers some great views.



When we got to a point overlooking this, I snapped this picture and

we decided we wanted to climb down and explore that far ridge. The third picture in my previous post is from the same point, but aimed a bit more to the right. Luckily there was an easy path down a little bit ahead on the trail. When we got down, I looked back up at the spot from which I had taken the picture 10 minutes earlier.



Once we were down that far, we wanted to get across the ridge to the edge of the Potomac river, but we had to cross some pretty nasty terrain to get there. (If you look at the top right of the snapped picture, you can see the fast-moving water we were trying to get to.)



Finally we got to the edge of all the rocks.


The river moves pretty fast


and it was nice dangling our feet in and enjoying the view.

Some cool wildlife:


We saw 2 of these black snakes; neither picture came out great. Some guy ahead of us on the trail nearly stepped on this one. The dude nearly fell over trying to avoid it, then freaked out big time. The snake pretty much ignored him.


This big old snapping turtle was sticking its head out of the water getting some air.


A little skink chilling on log.


Mean bastard of a turkey vulture.

Buncha spoiled babies

Everyone starts complaining to me if I post a few poker entries in a row. I don't know if you guys know this but I PLAY POKER FOR A LIVING. WHAT ELSE AM I GOING TO WRITE ABOUT?? I HATE YOU ALL!!

Just kidding.

I haven't had time to write much. I've been kinda busy. By "busy" I mean "drunk." Just kidding.

What?

While I go insane, enjoy these lovely pictures I took while hiking around Great Falls this weekend. I tried to do thumbnails, so I hope that works.

2-7 Triple Draw

On a whim, I played $2/4 for an hour and won $90. Maybe I've got silly secret lowball skills. Or maybe nobody has a clue how to play this game, and I have 1/20th of a clue thanks to Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu.

In one lovely hand my opponent raised me after he drew one card on the 2nd draw, this after I had checkraised him after the 1st draw when I made a 87642 on a 2 card draw. I was so baffled by his turn raise that I almost broke my 8 to draw to the 76. Eventually I decided to stand pat, and he quickly stood pat behind me as expected. I check-called him on the river and he showed 8754A which would beat me if we were playing A-5 lowball. But unfortunately, and apparently unbeknownst to him, the Ace plays high in this game and I took down a large pot.