“Whether he likes it or not, a man’s character is stripped bare at the poker table; if the other players read him better than he does, he has only himself to blame. Unless he is both able and prepared to see himself as others do, flaws and all, he will be a loser in cards, as in life.”
–Anthony Holden
Short post today, as I’ve gotta watch the WPT special before the big game. Lederer and Hansen at the final table, so I’m expecting some fireworks. People have called Gus “lucky”, but from what I’ve seen, the guy can really play, and his bluffs are well-timed and well-planned. It will be interesting to see how Lederer fares against the uber-aggressive Hansen. I was also shocked to see that Juha Helppi, the Finnish amateur who won the Aruba tourney, made the final table. He seemed like a good enough player, but he doesn’t have much experience in live tourneys… but neither did Moneymaker. I suppose if Varkonyi can win the world series, anybody can… short term luck beats skill every time…
For my superbowl pick, I’m reposting my prediction from 1/19:
But this week Delhomme will be overwhelmed by the brilliance of Belichek and Crennell. The Pats will pick this boy clean, and the backers will eat him alive. The Pats are giving up a whopping 6.5, but I think I’ll still drop a few bills on my boy Billy B. This game will probably be low scoring, but I’d be happy to see a couple Patriot defensive TDs early. Billy also gets an extra week to prepare, which is worth at least 3 points.
The Pats have been to the Big Dance before, and from the interviews I’ve seen, Carolina has been partying it up all week. Business trip for the Pats, party for the Panthers. I took the Pats and the points today.
To Play or To Write
Yesterday I blogged about becoming a grinder, but the most important thing about grinding is that you put in the hours. Both Iggy and Grubby have lamented recently that reading and writing Poker Blogs has severely cut into their playing time, and I couldn’t agree more. There are lots of great blogs out there, and my daily reading list is growing exponentially, as I discover more folks who can both write and play poker.
Grubby explained this well in his post yesterday:
“More and more, poker has consumed my life. The excellent poker blogging going on is no help! Catching up on the poker blogs is an addiction unto itself.
If I were doing it for a living, that would be a different story. That would be an excuse to play even more. But trying to balance time spent playing (which is at least 3-4 hours a day, plus another couple hours with Poker Grub as well as reading other blogs and boards) with the day job and personal life and sleep is becoming harder to manage.
Personal life and sleep — eh, what’s that?”
Iggy also weighs in on the effort involved in coming up with daily posts:
“Good God, I’m too drunk tired to post anymore. I really just want to play some damn poker, rather than writing about it. I hope you all appreciate the time spent on this craziness.”
I like to write, and I like to play poker, but finding the balance is tough. Especially when you’ve got to pound out code day after day at the 9 to 5. I wish I didn’t need sleep.
Poker Blog Patrol
Grubby’s most recent post takes us through a journey through poker addiction and a big multi-tournament victory. This post is one of the best I’ve read in a while, and I was at the edge of my seat reading it. What a story– you devote yourself to something, you dive in, you struggle, and then you’re rewarded. That’s how it’s supposed to be!
Iggy continues to bring us the best of poker on the web, and he saves me the hassle of scrolling through junk posts on RGP by only providing quality links. Oh yeah, and there’s a chance that I’ll be on the rail with a Guinness, cheering the poker BlogFather at the WSOP final table. If he gets to face off against Hellmuth, I think my head will explode…
Chris H. has a fancy new blog format. Hopefully I can get mine to look as good when I get the site moved over to Movable Type.
Paul finally ponied up for PokerTracker, and I’m looking forward to a breakdown of his 10K hands at .50/1. Hopefully that will heat up the cold cards he’s been getting lately.
The Penguin continues to blast out intellectual posts, and has reached the second rung on the 100 BB challenge. He also got 3rd in a Multi… between him, Grubby, and Lord G, I think I’m gonna get crushed in the poker blogger tourney.
Mean Gene is cool, his Mom told me:
“The dealer would shake his head. “I’m sorry, you’re playing Chip Jett. No one as uncool as you can beat him.”
I’d fight hard to keep my lower lip from trembling. “My mom says I’m cool.”
Stick and Move writes about his recent run of cards… I wish I was pulling in 31 BB pots.
There are a bunch of great blogs that I haven’t got around to linking up to yet, but hopefully I’ll get a chance to roll through those soon.
Poker’s On, time to go! Hope the cards hit you in the head, and Go Pats!