Tommy Angelo is my new hero

Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo hit home with me really well. In the book he has an example about an archer training with some monk in Asia. The archer has spend a year and is not any better than he was. Finally one day the monk tells the archer to breathe in a certain way before shooting and finally the archer improves a ton. The archer had to endure the bad before he would be willing to really try something so stupid as breathing.

I think that story follows exactly what I went through reading the book. I have had a lot of problems with tilt and the book made a ton of sense to me. Just before going back to college I mocked my brother about going to a meditation, and didn't get it at all. Now I get controlled breathing. It really is just to get your mind off of everything.

Two other things really stuck with me. The first one is that just like playing better, quitting better is a poker skill that will help with your hourly. If you quit while still playing your A game and someone else waits until they are playing their C game you are going to win off of them. Quitting isn't something that the weak do, its a competition just like poker itself. Whoever quits better will win.

The other element that helped a lot was when you are all in consider what you should do if you lose when you are ahead. At that point you aren't tilted so make the decision that if you get sucked out on whether you will continue or not. That way you make the decision before you get tilted not after.

In the last two days (since reading the book) I am up $78 with an ROI of %30 just playing for about 3 hours. Its a sick hourly for someone playing the $11s. I'm only $90 away from the $22s!

Bursting into the $11s

I finally made it fairly deep into the $11s (bankroll wise). I ended the day up 2-0 at the $6s and 7-4 and the $11s for a nice $39. My bankroll is up to $200 so I would have to lose 4 of the $11s before I would drop back down to the $6s. I'm really hoping that this is the last I'll see of the $6s, with another couple winning sessions I should be easily away from the $6s. I'm also closing in on being +ROI for the $11s (I'm 15-18 at them so far).

Poker Update

Yesterday I tilted off a 4 buyins at the $11s, I got the money in good for the first couple, lost then lost a few more. I didn't play that badly, but definitely not my A game. I did well at the $6s winning 16 out of 23. I took two shots at the $11s, got it all in really early in both one with 65% equity and the other with 80% and lost them both =/. I don't want to get into bad beat stories, but whenever I try a higher limit I seem to run bad at the start. I still think I'm massively +EV on the $11s so eventually I'll make it fully into them.

Don't Vote: Why I didn't and you shouldn't

If you, the reader, happened to vote in this election why did you do so? From a purely logical point of view the probability that one vote swings an election is minuscule. Sixty one percent of Americans voted in this election, but logically only a few should actually vote.

One of my many cynical views is that people have a need to feel that they are significant. The United States is a democracy and your vote counts, even if we all know that in reality doesn't. The other side of this argument is that we need something to blame for our problems. If you voted for the "correct" candidate and the country takes a turn for the worse its not your fault. You voted for the other guy!

What people fail to recognize is that while their vote doesn't count, that doesn't mean that they don't matter. The choices each of us make every day affect our lives more dramatically than a lifetime of voting. Voting does not make America great, voting has simply allowed for the preservation and creation of our rights. This country has been made strong by generations of citizens looking out for their own well being. The act of voting does not guarantee prosperity, only fighting for ones own personal well being can do that, and through that fight everyone gains.

So next election don't vote, spend that time pondering how you can make your own life better, and through that simple act you will accomplish the goal of voting, making everyone's lives better.