It’s been almost two months since my last post. I’m sorry if you’ve been hanging on the edge of your chair, checking hourly. I’ll try to love you more. I know, I know. I’m a bad blogger. But would anyone really read this anyway? Does anyone?
Pictures: My camera broke and I have yet to send it in for repair. I was trying to upload some pictures that I do have but was having connectivity issues as well. So I’m going to post this for now. The multimedia experience will be improved upon later, I pinky-swear. Visit the “PICTURES FROM MY TRAVELS” link above in the meantime if you haven’t.
Politics and Travel
My last post was about Obama, the Arab world, and international affairs. Speaking of which, I hope that Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s rebuff of Obama’s extended olive branch this past week was more internal politics and pride management than long term, unbudging beliefs. Obama hasn’t blown me away on this handling of the economy – even with the 20% stock market pop during March. He’s doing OK with a horrible situation but I have major streaks of fiscal conservativism in my blood (my libertarian bent). However, I do think he has more than risen to the occasion on foreign relations thus far.
Time here in the Middle East (I’m currently based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for 3+ weeks out of the month) has been interesting. The first stint wasn’t easy but I’m not fully acclimated and am enjoying my time. I do miss home – the U.S. as well as Atlanta and family – and am glad I have such a strong sense of home, place, and community. These are the longest stretches I”ve had outside of the U.S. or, for that matter, my “home cities” of Atlanta, Nashville, and San Francisco. Traveling and meeting new people and experiencing new cultures nourishes and thrills me; but the groundedness of home has its own place in my mental happiness as well.
But I digress. I tend to do that. Digression can be fun. But I’m guessing that’s not why you are here. Or maybe your are.
The Past Few Months and Continual Learning
So the Caribbean Pokerstars tournaments at the Atlantis in January were a blast. Good people, great weather, and my best results thus far. Good activities in the spare times as well – thanks to Kathleen for being there to support and go have fun on boats.
My game has taken a turn over the past year and I finally feel confident in my ability to compete with the big dogs. Not beat them at their game, but hang with them. Word. Poker is an activity that – like many things in life as well as life itself – always leaves room for learning, improvement, and adjustment. I still have a long way to go but for the first time, I’m feeling like I could sit down at the table with a few major pros and hold my own (which would at times mean getting out of their way knowing they are better than me). Last year I sat at a table in a $1,500 HoldEM event at the WSOP and had Howard “The Professor” Lederer to my right, David “The Dragon” Pham 3 seats on my left, and David Williams next to him. Although I played OK (although busted out) I was not as confident as I needed to be to really perform. Playing scared due to people, cameras, or being out of your buy-in or bankroll zone is deadly. Luckily I’ve never been one to be “star struck” which helps when sitting next to people you see play on TV all the time… well – never star struck except for my infatuated crush on Dina Meyer post-Starship Troopers, but that’s another story. Charlie could tell you ALL about it.
Since the Atlantis / Caribbean event, I’ve been in the Middle East for work. This has meant Saudi Arabia for most of the time during the week (which interestingly is Saturday through Wednesday) and in Dubai on the weekends. I hit Sharm El Sheikh Egypt one weekend as well and hope to be doing more of that traveling in April and May. There are a few pictures in the blog as well as in the pictures section (see link above on banner).
So I bought Daniel Negreanu’s new book, Power HoldEm Strategy and have been devouring that. Interestingly, I’ve read and re-read many poker books over the years but the past 3 have both been the most impressive as well as done the most to adjust my approach to the game. This year’s WSOP run – should I make it in – will be a different game for me. I hoping the difference will not only be in my play but also in my ability to go deep.
For those who care, the three books, and value I personally got from them are:
Kill Everyone
This book approaches the game from a holistic and analytical view. It discusses the styles of play, the dynamics of the fields over the past several years, types of counter-play, and the perceived strongest approaches for different situations. It also has deep analysis of play variances based on table-position and on stack size vs. the cost-per-round (your “chip stack index” which is the same as “Harrington’s M” and inflection analysis) but I found this version to sit with my brain much easier and deeper. The math gets deep (too deep even) in some places in Kill Everyone for my liking but I did learn a huge amount in that area. Overall I felt this was the largest “game improving” and “big picture” book I’d read to date.
Every Hand Revealed
This next volume is a hand by hand discussion of Gus Hansen’s walk to his Aussie Millions win. He actually took a tape recorder with him and whispered in what each hand was, how he felt, and so forth as well as taking notes for later complicaiton into this book. It has some strategic discussions, especially at the beginning and end of each day of the tournament, but focuses more on hand by hand thought processes. Unlike any other book or video (although I hear Negreanu’s PokerVT site has some of this), you really see – ok read about – EVERY HAND What he played, why he played it, and so forth. Watching poker on TV you miss the far majority of hands. What they should you is the exciting parts. That’s only a small portion of the game. This book is the only place I know of that you can see a top aggressive, small-ball player play through an entire deep-stack, multi-day tournament and hear his thoughts, reasoning, worries, rationalizations, mistakes, and all. It is a learning by “watching and listening” as an apprentice would rather than, like most poker books, being more analogous to sitting through a professorial lecture and text.
Power HoldEm Strategy
This was the perfect follow up to Gus’s book because this is Daniel Negreanu’s seminal work on “small-ball” poker. There are a few chapters on online play, mixing it up, short handed games, and so forth written by some top players that I also found incredible value in. Most so probably on David William’s chapter on mixing up your play and being unpredictable and overpowering. I was the direct road-kills of his ability to do that in that $1500 WSOP event I’d mentioned. Actually I was a the wasted scraps of the combination of him AND David Pham doing that at the same table. Bastards. But I digress again.
Daniel’s chapter on small-ball is a major eye opener into this seemingly sneaky and certianly powerful deep stack tournament strategy. Such a big change can’t be perfected quickly so I’m practicing online here and there. Small-ball can be described pretty quickly. But it’s the nuances and the whole picture that I never had before – the the slight variations in how you look at the game, what hands become better or worse (better to call 4-6 in middle position to a raise and fold A-8), how it all fits together as part of a grand strategy, how you effect the other players and react to their reactions – it’s quite elegant, I must say. Maybe that sounds dorky, but it’s true.
The Plans Through July
So I”m planning on hitting Vegas on April 5-8 to party and play games with a dear friend as well as get some serious poker and tournament time in. The Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza and the Five-Diamond tourneys over at the Bellagio are both going on at that time. That is, if my crazy job here in Saudi doesn’t blow up on me like it does now and then. Let us pray. I’ll let you know how it goes.
So the plan is to hit Vegas then, practice and play now through June online when I can, work in the Middle East, win a Pokerstars satellite into the WSOP main event (they start in mid-April they just announced) and be in Vegas for the last week of June into the Main Event (July 3-15 depending on which days I play). After that – well….we’ll just have to see. I may take some time off work to manage non-work life and have a mental health break. That is: a break FOR mental health, not a break IN mental health. At least that would be my plan.
A special prayer goes out to from dear friend Christine’s mother who just had surgery for breast cancer. It went well, nothing seemed to have spread to the lymph nodes, so all looks bright thus far. Please send some positive energy out to Midtown Atlanta (Chris) and Madison, Georgia (her mom).
If you read my blog and enjoy it and want more, let me know and tell me what you like about it or want more of. Feel free to email or comment with any thoughts, feedback, or what not.
