Gig

Growing up, through elementary school and right on up, I would sometimes think about how in high school, you get to have a little quote under your picture in the yearbook. I would wonder what my quote would be, what it would mean to me and whether it could make me laugh. I decided early on though, that I would make no commitments or serious considerations until I would eventually have to fill out the form in the winter of my senior year.

I can be a bit of a quote junkie sometimes.
Saying just the right thing in just the right way is quite appealing...

"Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out."

"Bereavement is a darkness impenetrable to the imagination of the unbereaved."

"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else."

Of coarse, I still remember my quote and consider it to be a true testament of my feelings at that time. Different from the typical "NBHS Hurricanes rule!" however, I can honestly say it reflects my mindset still today.

I thought of this because of an announcement I have to make:
I'm excited to report that in addition to blogging here at Quad Seven Poker, I'll be joining the great team of bloggers over at Poker Bankroll Blog as a weekly blog author, providing a new post every Friday on their site!

If somehow you haven't visited them yet, definitely surf on over. It's a great resource for improving the way you look at and operate your bankroll. Not to mention, there's a great Poker BRB Forum and an awesome cast of characters blogging throughout the week...hmm, I guess I did mention it after all.

So my yearbook quote?

"Fill what's empty, Empty what's full, and scratch where it itches."

Life is good.

Del


Note: Poker Bankroll Blog is now featured in Quad Seven's Top 7 Links

Healthy Competition

A couple of days ago I made my weekly visit to the bookstore.

I've always been a sucker for bookstores and libraries. Maybe it’s the smell, the sounds (often the lack there of), or even the memories of my childhood self, checking out nudie pictures in the art or photography sections without fear of being caught. "What, it's educational!" I would say if it ever came up...

Well, as I was reminiscing to myself about this and making my way to the magazine rack, I saw an image that startled me. A kid, not much older than I was during my ‘nudie art picture phase,’ was looking at the March issue of Bluff Magazine.

I've always hear ‘seasoned’ poker players, not 'old' - let's just say seasoned... talk about young players, wishing that they had the amount of poker material at their fingertips when they were at their age, that 20 year olds have today. "Imagine how good I would be by now," they quip.

The poker saying “...a lifetime to master" is true - the longer you play - the better you get. Seeing thousands of hands played out is much different than seeing millions of them. You can learn something about the game and yourself to apply to future hands every single time. We all know that the 20-something poker player population is getting so much larger - this can pose a major threat to the 40 to 60 year olds that have been playing since long before you could just go online or buy a poker mag in any bookstore!

So, when I saw this kid - flipping through this poker magazine, I had a terrible thought...I didn't get the poker bug until I was 19...when he is my age, he'll have a full seven years more exposure! We could say for sake of argument, that sometime in the future - this kid will be all grown up - sitting across a table from me...taking my money! That bastard! Then I thought about how much harder I would have to work...how much I would have to do just to keep up with him. Ha, I had to laugh - this thought made me want to go play poker right then. The mere hypothetical challenge injected me with excitement - damn I love this game!

Besides, I figured as I grabbed a copy for myself… I won this battle little dude- he’s just flipping through it, but I’m old enough to buy one!


Del

Poker vs. Bowling

Superstitions can be good in some types of games.

I remember when I was thirteen and on a bowling league - you run into some hardcore superstitions when you’re in a bowling alley. We've all heard of a pitcher wearing the same socks throughout a winning streak, but the pure lunacy that encompasses bowlers every second of the game is just startling. Bowlers get new superstitions after every frame because they are attempting to do the EXACT same thing twelve times in a row! Having the same exact plan and execution twelve times back to back to back is what makes champions in bowling. Now, it goes without saying that this is a complete improbability in poker, and yet, you'll run into superstitions all around the felt in every state in the nation and country in the world. What's yours? There are so many... how you look at your hole cards, how you stack your chips, or what if you get your 'favorite hand'?

Maybe the hand you 'always lose with'…
“Damn this Jack-Ten, I'm in the small blind with no raisers, but I always get screwed on the river with Jack-Ten...fold – done!”

I decided right from the get-go, that I was not going to have any superstitions in poker. It is just not good for your bankroll to make crucial decisions based on ‘how many times you tap your chips between hands.’ Of coarse, I found out almost as quickly as I decided not to have superstitions- that they are unavoidable.

Or are they?

Well, it just so happened that the answer was right in front of me...
Taking after the old adage, I decided that I would be 'superstitious to superstitions.'

You see a black cat for instance- and boom, your running to the other side of the street. Something bad might happen right? Well, if I start paying attention to lining my card protector up straight between hands - boom, I change my focus to mentally counting the chip stack of the player in seat four. After all, I would hate to accidentally develop a superstition…I always get screwed on the river when I have a superstition.

Delik