Back to the Books
Monday, May 08, 2006
[Insert 5/4/06 Post Here]. Yep, I did it again. I played like crap.
Last night, I finally began playing late at night. I signed up for PokerShare via PokerSourceOnline, in the hope of finishing the 500 points (necessary for the PSO bonus) quickly. After that, I would get 9000 PSO points, which, along with my current 1000 points, would earn me a $100 gift certificate to Party Poker (immediately withdrawable). Yeah. Nice plan buddy. But it didn't work out, because apparently, once you deposit on PokerShare, you then have to "transfer" your money from your Share account to the actual poker account. Whatever! I found this out this morning. At least their customer support was quick and painless.
In the meanwhile, I decided to fire up some Noble. They are still giving me the run around on some of my referrals, crediting me for 2 instead of the 5 confirmed referrals that I know about (and a sixth one that is apparently one of the 2 confirmed, but from an unknown person), but I'm hoping we work it out. That said, I can't turn down their soft as stool action. Okay, bad mental picture. (On that note, if you decide to get in on Noble, please use my link AND bonus code HighPoker. I don't mean to be repetitive, but the problems I've had so far have been so ridiculous that I just want to avoid future problems with them. I also don't want to discourage people from playing there or at Titan. They share the same tables and the same fishy fish fish action.)
Side note, I noticed the Titan Poker commercials on TV. There is a couple of shots where they show the monitor with Titan running. If you look carefully one of the two players whose names you can read is: fckcongo. So apparently Titan Poker hates the nation of Congo. Can you blame them? After all, the Congo was previously a French colony. And if you don't know the official High On Poker stance when it comes to them Frogs: "Fuck the French!" They do make good mustard though.
So, Noble. Unfortunately, my Omaha H/L games were empty, so I decided to play some .25/.50 NL. Lovely. I lost half of my $50 buy-in and left the room. The action was weird, I wasn't getting a good feeling from it, and I had fired up a Rio. The Rio was going well, so I fired up a second one. I busted out of the money in both. -$72 or so last night. That pretty muched wiped out my hard-earned Saturday winnings and then some.
The usual problem, of course. I was anxious to play, but not into the game. I was watching the Sopranos and trying to fit in some poker. This does not make a winning combination. I guess I found my 2nd leak after sports betting: unfocused poker. I must work on both.
That's about all I've got in my engine right now. On Thursday, I will be playing in a home game hosted by the ladies of I Had Outs. SoxLover was throwing around the idea of a home game on Memorial Day weekend as well, since Weak_Player would be in town, but that went the way of the dodo (apparently) because I have an engagement party. Nine times out of ten, I'd be pissed, but the part is for none other than Dave Roose himself, so I can expect some good food, booze and company.
These NYC homegames are really great. It reinforces the idea of the poker blogging community for me. I've never been to a WPBT event, mostly because of money and timing. I mean, how the hell do all of these people get so much time off from work, and can spend so much money traveling around. Color me impressed. All I know is that when I had the blogger tourney at my apartment, it was a great time.
I should also probably say this: SoxLover has really been challenging me with my game. He convinced me (rather easily, even though I put up a stubborn fight) that I need to finish Harrington Vol. 1 and read Harrington Vol. 2. I stopped reading them because I was getting bored with all poker all the time. I prefer my train rides to be for escapist literature or mindless magazines. But he is right. Even if I don't use the strategies, 30% of the field is using them, and if I have their playbook, I'd be an idiot not to read them. Oh, and I probably will use the strategies. One of the things I noticed when I was reading Vol. 1 was that I use a lot of Harrington's techniques, even before I knew that he used them. Other things were new and helpful. So, back to the books.
Aside from that, Sox is just willing to talk about the game in an open way. And I trust what he has to say, even if I did whoop his ass at my homegame tournament and cashgame (oh sting!).
So, thanks Sox, and thanks readers. I'm out!
posted by Jordan @ 10:22 AM,
9 Comments:
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At 2:00 PM,
said...
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Harrington on Hold Em Vol. 1 and 2 are two of the best poker books I've ever read. Has anyone read Kill Phil? Admittedly, I'd rather be self-taught, but the concept behind the book sounded cool. So did the name.
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At 2:03 PM,
said...
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I'm all for being self-taught. That is part of the reason why I curbed my poker reading. After reading the pertinent sections of Super/System, and all of Caro's Book of Poker Tells, Sklansky's Theory of Poker, and Hellmuth's Play Poker Like the Pros, I had enough. I was learning more from playing than reading, and at times, reading negatively effected my play when I was misusing techniques. But, Harrington shall be read. It's almost stupid not to.
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At 2:43 PM,
said...
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How do you feel about the Belgians?
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At 2:51 PM,
said...
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Impressive, on_thg. For those not 'in the know', Congo currently comprises two nations, the Republic of Congo, which was formerly a French colony, and the Democratic Rebublic of Congo, formerly Zaire and a Belgian colony.
Don't know much about Belgians though. I do know that they are the vanguard of International Human Rights prosecutions against heads of states, and that is pretty cool. They also make kick-ass waffles (not of the SirF variety). Also, Peyo, the creator of the Smurfs, was a waffle-loving Belgian, so they have that going for them too.
So overall, Fuck the French, Don't Mind the Belgians. -
At 10:14 PM,
said...
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Enjoying the blog. Keep up the great work.
If your interested, would love to share links.
-Adam
www.adamlabare.com/poker.htm -
At 12:53 AM,
said...
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Stop playing crap. It just makes you feel...crappy later on.
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At 8:01 AM,
said...
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Thanks for the note.
10PM start time for the Dadi on a Monday night? Oh well, I suppose you'll find a West Coaster to replace me... -
At 9:22 AM,
said...
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Are you serious Sox? 10pm is too late? That's a shame. I'll keep that in mind for the next time.
Oh, and thank you new commentors. I will be checking out your sites shortly. -
At 4:43 PM,
said...
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Tom, I bought Kill Phil during my Amazon splurge, but haven't gotten to it yet.
