It's like that doughnut...

I had an algebra teacher in high school, I can't remember his name, which is not that unusual as in college I didn't know the names of many of my professors even during the semester. Most of my friends would pick classes based on professors, trying to always take the easiest ones. I, on the other hand, picked classes almost exclusively by time. So, I would have no reason to look at a professors name. Sometimes in the middle of the semester someone would ask me who I had for a particular subject, and I could not honestly tell them. Well back to high school algebra. This teacher was terrible. He repeatedly got in trouble for telling in appropriate jokes (he once showed us the movie Porky's in class). He told the principal that telling those jokes was like having a Danish in the refridgerator at night. He said that sometimes you lie in bed knowing that you shouldn't get up to eat it, but you do. I have always remember that story as I think we all do things that we know shouldn't. Yesterday I played Omaha HiLo for the first time in months. I know that you must play super tight and go only for scoops in that game, but on the contrary, I kept calling with crap, and even going for only 1/2 the pot with only one other opponent. The entire time, I knew I was playing like a donkey, but it was just like that doughnut....

First time since May

I put together back-to-back winning weeks for the first time since May. I think this was accomplished by tightening up pre-flop. Let me see if I can extend the streak to 3 weeks.

I hosted a home game on Friday that went quite well. Everyone had a good time and I won 40 bucks. I smoked some ribs that turned out a little under-cooked. They did not fall off the bone. I was low on charcaol, and thus I could not get the right tempurature. I fixed them on Sunday by cooking the leftovers in the oven wrapped in alumium foil for 1.25 hours.

As I prepare for hosting a poker night, I decided to play one sng last night (even though I should have just went to sleep, see yesterday's post). I made one particularly bad play drawing to a flush with only one opponent early in the tournament. I figured if I won, I could stack him, but I should have just let it go as those type of draws have too little chance of paying off, especially early in the tournament. I managed to climb back up and with 6 players left I was was short-stacked with about 10 BB's. Big blind was 150 and UTG raised it to 450. I had KK, so I pushed all in, it was folded around to UTG who called my $600 raise and showed 9dTd. I liked my 78% chance to double up until the flop gave him a four flush and oesd and putting him as the favorite. The turn, Tc, gave him a pair as well, but this put me in the lead again, until the river brought the Qd. Oh well I lost, which sucked, but I got my money in as the overwhelming leader ( was was 3.5:1 to win).

I played a bit this morning. I posted on my first and was dealt 4h7h. The flop came 6d5d4c. For some reason I though I flopped a str8 and bet and raised until the end. The reast of the hand was As Jd. I figured that I could only lose to a flush now, which was possible, but the pot was $48, so I wasn't going to fold for a $2 bet. When the pot got pushed to trip jacks I was thoroughly confused until I reviewed the hand history to reveal that I only had a pair of fours and NOT a str8. That is twice this week that I mis-read the board for a non-existent str8. Must pay more attention.

I finished last week with a positive in the poker column and a positive in the stock market column. But I also finished the week with a negative in the job-hunt column and a negative in the fitness column.

I know my biggest leak is that I am not patient enough and that I stay in unprofitable hands too long. I am slowly adjusting to that. I must keep in mind not to play drawing hands with only one opponent, it is usually not worth it. After starting off the week cold, I ran hot on Saturday morning making back the money I had donked off earlier in the week. I still find that Saturday and Sunday mornings work best for me as 1 I am well rested 2 most other players are not. The only problem with this is that this is the time that I would like to spend on my bike. Maybe I should compromise and play online Saturday and bike on Sunday.

In the market, I bought some Merck options after the had two unfavorable decisions returned on the Vioxx cases. They have made me some money already plus some of my other investments had nice runs last week. I had good returns, but I still think I need to spend more time on investing.

I missed the gym for most of the week. This can be attributed to the fact that I lost money early in the week at poker and was attempting to make it back so I could have a positive week. While I accomplished that goal, I missed fitness. I obviously have mixed priorities. I must shift focus away from short-term goals and towards long-term goals. I did manage a bike ride on Saturday afternoon, which was cool.

I did not make any forward progress towards my job hunt. It is as simple as that.

The main problem is that my priorities are out of whack. I must start acting in quadrant 1 activities

MIlf's and money

We went to the Wiggles show last night. I was amazed at the number of Milf's. But, it goes along with my general theory of wealth and beauty. I'll explain it below.

Ugly people do not make as much money and good looking people, this is just fact. If you have two identical applicants for a job, but one is better looking, you will pick the better looking one. As you move up through the ranks of an organization and the competition gets tougher, the winners get better looking. So all of the better jobs go to better looking people, and thus the money follows. These good looking people have money to spend on their kids then and take them to places that cost money, while the ugly people have less money and then take them to places that costs less. This is coupled with the fact that these well-heeled parents want their kids to also be well-heeled so they take them to places and events that will make them so.

So then it follows, you will see more Milf's at the Science Center or Wiggles show that at the Butler County Fair Demolition Derby on $1.00 off night.

Sucked in again

I had said yesterday that I was going to take a few days from poker. So guess what I did yesterday, twice,...yes I played online poker. The first attempt I actually made a few bucks only to lose most of it to calling with a weak hand when I was probably beat (it turns out I was). The second attempt was a O8, which I know how to play, but made dumb mistakes of playing hands that I know I shouldn't. I lost money on 08, but made it all back at blackjack. I of course know not to play blackjack because it is -EV. Maybe you see a recurrent issue here. I play poor EV bets. This must be corrected.

Hot pork, cold cards

I posted a while back that smoking a pork shoulder is like doing crack. The first time you do it right is pure euphoria. Every time after that, you are trying to recreate that wonderful first time. Saturday's pork was no exception. It was so tasty that one of the wife's cousins actually wrote down the rub recipe from "Smoke and Spice" and was contemplating opening a BBQ joint with me. I will briefly go over the smoke details. I bought the 15 pound shoulder at Wal Mart (it was on of those cryovac packages that I usually buy) On Friday morning I applied a generous amount of yellow mustard and Worcestershire sauce slather to the pork and then rubbed it with my standard bbq rub. At 9:10 PM I lit the coals in the chimney starter. At 9:30 I put the lit coals in the smoker using the minion method, using a mix of cherry and pecan chunks. At 10:00 PM I put the pork in the smoker. I checked the temperature a few times before I went to bed at 1:00 AM, but I had it under control around 220 degrees. At 8:30 am it was still holding pretty good. At 10:30 AM the pork was about 165 degrees, so I figured I would make 190 in good time. I had planned to finish the pork on the grill wrapped in foil, but didn't need to. I added some charcoal to the smoker and opened the door for a while to get it lit and that did the job. The pork hit 190 at around 2:30 PM, so I wrapped it in foil and put it in the cooler. I pulled it a 4:30 using a fork and a cleaver. I poured a drizzle of cider(1/2), cider vinegar (1/4), vegetable oil (1/4), and rub over the pork and then wrapped it up again. It was outstanding, probably my second-best ever.

Cards on the other hand, are treating me horrible. My VPIP is around where I want it to be, but I cannot win a hand, my last 250 hands have a winning percentage around 5%, which is less than half of usual. I know that this is a small sample and is just statistical variance, but it sucks. I was hoping to have a winning week, but my streak at the end of the week ruined that chance. I just couldn't win a hand Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I am going to take a few days off and read "The Theory of Poker". I know that this is something I should do anyway, read books or watch videos to help my game, but now I have an excuse.

Leaks in poker, leaks in life

There is conventional wisdom that says that many bad poker players are decent poker players but have a few leaks in their game and some good poker players are otherwise poor because of leaks in their lifestyle (Stu Ungar, for instance). Maybe I fit into both categories. Let me explain.

In poker, here are the leaks I see:
1. Calling raises/bets with inferior hands
2. Being passive
3. Entering hands from early position with marginal hands

In life, here are the leaks I see.
1. I play too much poker- for instance, last night I should have went to bed at 10:00pm so I could get to the gym, instead, I played poker until 11:00pm and did not wake up this morning for the gym.
2. I do not actively pursue what is important. Really it is part of one, as all I seem to do now is play poker.

I guess to remedy this, I need to play less poker, keep moving forward with my life work, and play well when I do play poker.

How quickly we forget

As quickly as I had regained my prior form last week, I lost it this week. I seem to have forgotten how I dug myself out of my losing rut last week. I did so by playing selectively aggressive poker. So what did I do this week to continue, I played loose passive of course. I have been playing on Titan Poker to clear a bonus. Traffic on the site sucks, but they had a good sign up bonus so I have played. The sign-up bonus will take forever to clear, UB's is even easier. It seems to be looser than the other sites I play and I have made the mistake of loosening my play too much. A loose table does allow starting hand requirements to be relaxed a bit, I have taken it to the extreme. I need to tighten up and get back to 25% of flops and below, even on this site.