S as in Sklansky?

My addendum comments about Bayne_S’ final hand got more comments from the engineering side of his brain. He sought clarity in his background. At least it is more current than my required course side that lead to “Stix” and “Calc” with the order reversed for course requirements. Fuzzy is – these days – an accurate statement of my Sklansky side.

Bayne is a engineer and so is a good friend. I’ve a couple of buddies that have doctorates from the University of Chicago in economics. My tendency is to avoid arguing the numbers side with both groups. I’ might do that on occasion using a poker calculator. I like this one. But, in the real world I use the old rule of 42 on my supposed outs and the need for that is often occasional and retrospective. So much for Sklansky.

I’ve had blog topic after blog topic promoting one side or the other. They’ve include:

• gear change

• small pot poker

• the push monkey case

• reads as the trump card

• no look success

• the gods know how many more

We have debates – often drunken – about things like folding AA. We kick sand in the face of the guy play JJ or XX under the conditions of the moment. Some wax poetic about a succession of 83o to the point of their/our annoyance/anxiety. What percentage of a stack is acceptable with speculative holding is acceptable with position or pot odds? Arguments ad infinitum.

Poker in any form is a battle between the left side and right side of our brain. We have pressure in ring and tournament from blinds and bring-in. Tournaments raise that pressure dramatically.

Poker is a battle between empirical and theoretical. The incomplete information aspect plays no favorites. Poker players with doctorates in math and game theory are pawned like the rest of us. Even with big starting stack and slow blind progression we finally end up playing a turbo 99% of the time.

About 2-3% are problem gamblers. Maybe less well under 1% are truly successful professionals over a long period. Then we throw out another low percentage for those who are moderately successful or better. The fact is that the majority are recreational players. For some that kick translates to substantial reinvestment. It is our disposable income versus our enjoyment. We dump a pile on a premium car, cable bill, cell phone or whatever. For most – including those reading poker blogs – it is the simple feat of maintaining perspective. When you do that you’ve succeeded.

Make no mistake. I enjoyed Bayne_S rambles on ‘that hand‘ and its alternatives. He approached it from varied angles and all he showed is that he had fun along the way – even with the frustration poker entails. Fuel55 loves those 1:150 hands he post and he provides an always interesting mix. I could probably cite another 20 or so in the always enjoyable category to visit. Even Waffles show us his form of success.

The reason all those of us in that massive percentage of typical players do it is for enjoyment and, yes, arguing hand histories – for better or worse – is a big part of that. But that is a component that is only a part of why we play.

Somehow we’ve all found a way to make the game enjoyable on our terms. Maybe Pauly think were a bunch of degenerates but overstates and maybe misstate the issue. The reason Iggy kicked all our ___ was his irreverent approach with an emphasis on the real reason we play.

Poker is fun. So, I love the arguments and ideas we blog about or use for bar talk. It is a big plus that we can share with others. It is one of the few instances where even our difference can bring us together.

ADDENDUM:

I’m still having problems with that damn .50-1. I am profitable above and below but this level continues to kill me. And, I am pig headed in making it work. Unfortunately, I’ve been pig headed at the tables more than is prudent of late. So, I’ve moved to computer games for a few days of vacation.

Another on a tough run is Kenna James and his blog is an interesting one. I keep him in my RSS group as one of the few pros I follow. And TJ has one about another good side to poker.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 7:45 pm and is filed under Journal.