If I fold will you call?

Observed a hand at Crown Casino last night that led to an older, middle-aged man having a melt-down. At the end of the hand he was In Position and had bet strongly on the turn. The river card delivered a possible runner-runner back door straight. The older guy bet strongly on the river. The Out of Position guy started talking. And said "Before that river card it would have been an easy fold. Now not so easy....... If I fold, will you call?".  The older guy immediately nodded his head and the younger guy insta-called saying "I call". The older guy showed his cards - K7o for two pair. The younger guy then showed K10 for a better two pair. The older guy looked confused when his cards were mucked and the pot was shipped to the younger guy. The dealer explained the action. Others at the table explained the action. But he has not impressed. He either did not understand, or did not want to understand, that the phrase "If I fold will you show" was not a fold. It was a question about what may happen should he hypothetically fold.
He revisited the scenario and was muttering about the younger guy being an a**hole on and off over the course of the rest of the session.   The very next hand he received AA in the hijack. An early position player opened to $15  and he flats. The SB pops it to $65.  The initial raiser calls. He jams for $252. Everyone at the table assumes a tilt-jam. The SB calls, The initial raiser calls. He scoops the pot. But it didn't help calm his feelings. Even though he had more than recovered the money he had lost in the previous hand, he was still on tilt.

Taking Notes at the Cash Tables

Both Jonathan Little and Alexander Fitzgerald advocate taking notes at the table. Jonathan Little recommends taking notes in a spiral bound notebook. Alex advocates taking notes in Evernote on your phone.

I've gone for taking notes in Evernote. And tonight was my 3rd Cash session taking notes. I've been taking notes in any live tournament from about October 2016. And had felt a little self-conscious about taking notes in live cash. However, after watching Jonathan Little's note taking video, I found the impetus needed to start taking notes at the tables.  And today was the 3rd session that I've taken notes at the table.

The first two sessions were losing sessions at -$15 and -$175. With this session being +$425.  Far too often  when not taking note, I've slipped away mentally while at the poker tables and, while there are still hands I miss when taking notes, the number of hands missed has been getting lower with each note taking session.  A side benefit of this process is that I'll finally be able to take advantage of some poker coaching that I paid for in 2015 but have yet to take advantage of.  There are a couple of hands from today's session that will be suitable for review with my coach. Those hands will be entered into the ShareMyPair app, along with some notes into a mind map, with a pointer to the ShareMyPair hand. This will allow me to build up a bunch of hands for review.

Taking notes takes mental energy. And you cannot be as social at the tables. But that is a small price to pay for focusing on the action. Especially in hands that you are not involved in. It is those pieces of information that are available in the hands you are not involved in that may allow you to know when to fold, or when to bet for value, or when to bluff.  Still much to learn. However, I feel as though an important step has been made in my poker skill set.

Daily Pages vs Blogging

In "Tools of Titans", one of Tim Ferriss's guests refers to the daily practice, recommended in "The Artist's Way", and known as daily pages.

Wednesday Feb 7th marked the start of my experimentation with a "daily pages" exercise.  I'm deviating from the recommendation to write the pages in long hand. Partly because I didn't have any journals lying about when I started, partly because I am itinerant, and carting around unneeded weight is an activity I wish to avoid, but mainly because I have an element of discomfort when writing by and have been touch typing for near on 30 years. My preference would be for avoiding any need to allocate any of my brain cycles to the act of writing by hand. Touch typing is an activity which needs little in the way of conscious thought to perform The same would not be able to be said should I write by hand. Frankly, the daily pages activity would be destined to die a very quick death if I adhered to the recommendation to write longhand.

Blogging will continue intermittently. And it may even come to pass that I manage to execute the daily pages routine along with blogging at a reasonable rate. Time will tell.

Poker wise my results have been up and down over the past week. With a significant losing session on Friday being balanced by winning sessions on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Monday being the best session in a while. To be fair, after having some bad beats in Jan, it was nice to be on the receiving end of some good beats. Always nice to have a set when someone has two pair and they are betting into you.

It seems I am having more good days than bad days at the moment. And often having some really good days.

Several fasting days were thrown into the mix with Saturday and Sunday being days where food did not pass my lips until 08:00pm each night. It is a good feeling to start a day with the thought "Think I'll fast today until at least 04:00 pm. Then to reach that goal and go beyond it. Weight wise I continue to carry a little too much fat. Although, at 88Kg I am now down from the 95Kg I started 2016 at.

Comparing Echo Cardiogram costs NZ Vs Aus

In late 2014 I had my first echo cardiogram in Auckland, New Zealand. From memory, that cost a pretty large chunk of change. And most of it had to come out of my pocket, despite my having health insurance in New Zealand

Fast forward to today and I've had an echo cardiogram in Melbourne, Australia that has been bulk billed to Medicare. And the amount billed was around $219 or so.

Today I'm grateful that I took out Australian Citizenship back in 1993 and that Medicare means that low-income people do have access to a pretty darn reasonable health system.

Another Psilocybin article

A psychedelics expert says he's 'absolutely sure' magic mushrooms will be approved for depression before 2027.

A small recent trial of psilocybin in people whose chronic depression had not responded to repeated attempts at treatment with medication suggested that this may be the case. While the trial, co-directed by Amanda Feilding, who founded the Beckley Foundation, was designed to determine only if the drug was safe, all of the study participants said at a one-week follow-up that they saw a significant decrease in symptoms. The majority said at a follow-up three months later that they continued to see a decrease in symptoms.
"We treated people who'd been suffering for 30 years, and they're getting better with a single dose," said Nutt, who was one of the authors of the study. "So that tells us this drug is doing something profound."

The Artist's Way

Tim Ferriss's "Tools of Titans" made it's way onto my ipad last week and I've been dipping in and out of this cook book since then. One of the recommendations resulted in my purchasing "The Artist's way" for #2 son, who I believe has great creative potential, with the book due to arrive at his residence sometime in the next few days. However, while I have yet to read the book myself, I have acted on one of the recommendations and started today to trial the "daily pages" routine recommended by the books author, Julia Cameron.

While the book recommends writing the daily pages in long hand, I will be writing on my laptop. Touch typing has been my preferred mode of writing for about 30 years now. It would be tough to start writing by hand again after so many years at the keyboard. And my last experience with hand writing, during my written exams for a graduate diploma in Psychology between 2008 - 2012, was a very unpleasant experience. Hand cramps, poor, illegible writing, spending more mental time trying to keep the hand writing semi-legible, all these factors contributed to a sense of relief when the last exam was over and I knew that I could return to the keyboard for any writing where I had to communicate with others.

Watching the Super Bowl with sports gamblers

Watching the Super Bowl yesterday with a couple of sports gamblers was an educational and amusing experience.

Matty had a betfair account and he was able to view the odds changing throughout the match. The odds for a Patriot win, at one stage, went all the way out to 20 to 1. At the same stage the odds for a Falcons win were around 1.14 to 1. Brett, who has followed the sport more was saying when the Patriots were well behind at 28-3 that you shouldn't bet against the coach of the Patriots. That "He made a deal with the devil 20 years ago. You don't bet against him". And so it proved eventually. With the Patriots staging an amazing comeback to win the match.  My intention had been to head into town and spend some time at the library studying some poker related materials. This is one time I'm glad I was able to change my plans and take advantage of a changed situation.

one of my worse poker sessions

A C class session yesterday. Bombed out of Sundary Arvo NLHE tournament at Crown with a poor call. And, in the cash session, made a tight fold that cost me a large pot when I was against a guy who bluffs a lot. Reminds me again of Ed Miller's book "Playing the Player". Having pegged him as a guy who bluffs a lot, I needed to call down wide against him. Super scary board with 4 to a straight, and a paired board.  Holding KK on 6c7c10d6h9h. Any eight beats me. Any 6 beats me. Any Full house beats me. Recent episodes where my KK has been beaten may have been front and centre in my mind.  Earlier in the same session had folded AA on a board QdJdJh8d5d.   Had raised a guy who had limped. He called, which at Crown can mean small pocket pairs, Suited Broadway cards (because Crown runs a jackpot where, if you flop a Royal Flush, you win the jackpot). So any suited broadway cards are eligible candidates preflop. And you often see people with those hands calling large raises in hands they would otherwise have no business being in.  And so it was with this hand. If he had called with a broadway hand that included a J he beat me. And if he called with Ad10d he beat me. Kd10d beat me.  Any diamond beat me. And, while the flop checked around, he bet into me on turn and river. Calling the turn was easy. The river being an easy fold with a paired board and 4 diamonds

Time to take some time out and study, study, study. And meditate, meditate, meditate.  I will invest in a guided warm up tape from Eliot Roe to see if that helps me to be in the right mind frame going into a session.

Van wise I'm finalizing the order to have a bed built in the back.  That will be installed March 6/7th.  I will have to do some maintenance work paint wise as the paint on the roof has taken a bit of a battering. I will need to acquire a ladder to make this happen.

Knowing when to quit

Today was a day where Tommy D'Angelo's advice with respect to quitting was followed. One of my better study days was followed with my fronting up at the Casino at around 5:45pm with the intention to play some cash before entering a tournament that kicked off at 07:10pm (on a Friday evening). Past experience suggested that somewhere north of 100 players would enter and that the Final Table would probably wind up sometime after 03:00am.

Shortly after 06:00pm I began to feel slightly off color. To the point where I suspected that playing in the tournament may well be a negative Expected Value (EV) proposition.   Previously there was a high chance my desire to play would have won through and the chance of it all ending badly, with my exiting the tournament through poor play due to playing my C or D game would be high. This time, with Tommy D'Angelo's advice about quitting when it was a negative EV proposition to continue being front and center, the decision was taken to quit.

With the cash session having been a profitable session, I'm a thinking that I saved the entry fee and some physical discomfort by heading back to my digs early. With the time now being 09:00pm, I can easily get to bed early and have another day studying tomorrow.

Getting back to an even keel

After my encounter with the cardiologist on Monday my equilibrium was given a nudge. And I chose to stay away from the Casino since then as my mind was distracted. Today it feels as though I'm getting back to equilibrium.

The information has been shared with the ex and our offspring.  The headline being "Long Story Short: Probably all ok for another year".

Today is the second day of my five minute journal. And putting the information in this blog post that I've started a 5 minute journal hopefully nudges me into continuing with the exercise.

Catching up with Disco

During my time at Vipassana in 2016 I became friends with one of the blokes who served at a couple of the courses I served on.

For a time he went by the name "Disco", after he raided the lost and found and borrowed a jacket that was reminiscent of Michael Jackson at his sparkling best.  After a while that name went sour for him but to me he will always be Disco.

Disco has returned to Melbourne after six months in and out of Vipassana with the intention of finding work in the near future. And he was available for a chat today. A chat that I needed to help process the information my cardiologist had put front and centre on Monday. That is, that I was going to most likely need major open heart surgery sometime in the next 5 to 10 years. Surgery that carries a reasonable amount of risk.  

And Disco was a good person to talk to. Having a chat is a good way to alleviate anxiety. Especially if the person you are talking to is having their own drama that is causing them suffering.

Disco had fallen hard for a lady who served on the same 30 day course in August. An attractive lady with a great personality that had flirted with all the males on the course.  Disco fell hard. And I've heard his agony with respect to his unrequited love many times. Unfortunately it seems that there were some drunken phone conversations about two weeks ago where he had consumed too much alcohol, phoned the lady and then let slip to this lady that he loved her. And now he has to deal with the fall out. Which is specifically that there is no hope of a romantic partnership developing.

And as usual, when you come across someone who is suffering more than you are, you end up feeling better within yourself. Disco's expression of his suffering has nudged my mood back towards equilibrium.  For which I am grateful

Review of Tools of Titans

Today I started a five minute journal as per the recommendations in Tim Ferriss's book "Tools of Titans".  The Tim Ferriss podcast became a highlight of my week during 2016. Many enjoyable hours listening to Tim interviewing his guests and learning from some high performers across a diverse range of occupations and careers.  "Tools of Titans" was gifted to my sons for Christmas 2016 and hopefully they will have read the book and picked up some useful tools from the book. There is much wisdom in the book and more can be found by listening to the podcasts. The hope is that they choose to read the book and/or listen to the podcasts so that they can have a better path through life with the wisdom they consume. However, as with leading horses to water, there is no way to ensure they inhale the wisdom. I am well aware that in a certain age bracket, often offspring will reflexively ignore any information that they perceive as having come via their parents. All I can do is what I have done. Which is gift the book and hope.

During a moment of non-frugality I chose to purchase the kindle edition for myself and have been reading Tools of Titans this week. This morning I went over the 5 minute Journal section and decided to give it a whirl. The fact that about six months ago I had set up a google calendar daily reminder to do five minutes journaling per morning probably helped nudge me over the line. I'm pretty sure the calendar reminder was set up after having listened to a podcast where Tim mentioned that he uses a 5 minute journal each day.  Having set up a daily reminder, then failing to act on it possibly could be a point of public discomfort. However, as I'm sure no one reads this blog other than me, what harm can there be in publishing my inability to follow through on my reminders.

Son #2 will be receiving the book "The Artist's Way" this month. Another recommendation from one of Tim's podcast guests.  Son #2 had quite some painting ability in his younger days. Which unfortunately he did not follow through on once we stopped sending him to art classes. He also has a passion for drama and I have seen him working on manuscripts (none of which I have seen at anything but a distance).  And while we effectively have pretty much zero bi-directional communication since my move to Melbourne, I continue to believe he has high potential somewhere in the artistic world.  Sending "The Artist's Way" is an attempt to continue to encourage him to look at working towards improving his creativity via persistent effort.

To quote from the section on Brian Koppelman in Tools of Titans:

  “[ Every morning,] what I do is based on the Morning Pages by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. It’s three longhand pages where you just keep the pen moving for three pages, no matter what. No censoring, no rereading. It’s the closest thing to magic I’ve come across. If you really do it every day in a real disciplined practice, something happens to your subconscious that allows you to get to your most creative place. I’d say— and I know you’ve had this experience with other things you’ve given people— I’ve given that book to 100 people and said, ‘I’m telling you, you need to do this….’ Of the 100 people I’ve given it to, maybe ten of them have actually opened the book and done the exercises. Of those ten, seven have had books, movies, TV shows, and made out successful. It’s very spiritual and I’m an atheist.”

Ferriss, Timothy (2016-12-06). Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers (p. 614-615). Ebury Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

In some ways, the Morning Pages idea reminds me of the "Sharpen the saw" concept I first say in Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of highly effective people".   Writing each day is likely to strength the creative muscles in  your brain.