The Monk Speaks

It’s taken me a year, but I’ve finally got my first guest post. It’s written by none other than my protege and prodigy, the mighty Monk. He’s been my best friend for a long, long time, and I plan to take his advice. Here are his words…
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Dear Hdouble,
The classes have sunk in and after the twists and turns of the 1-2 world i fought up to the 2-4 fields of green. Now that i am comfortable there you sent me to “promised land” of 3-6 where i was promptly Moses-ed and denied access. so i hit the multis and saved myself and am now preparing to make another biblical rush for those green valleys. but before i do that i thought i would send you some of the thoughts that having been chasing flushes in my head.
1. Poker is no end
There was an old man who was dying, he had been a successful farmer his whole life, and on his death bed he told his three sons that he had buried a treasure out in the fields. when he died they began searching the fields systematically, starting by digging rows through one field and then the next. as they had already dug up the field they planted seeds behind them (my guess is that it was on the advice of their wives) and after five years they had discovered no treasure and decided to make another round. after ten years they had become successful farmers with families and perhaps realized, as the old man on the train tracks in “O, Brother Where Art Thou” says that “you will not find the treasure you seek.”
now each and every one of us out there on the tables, be it in a casino or logged onto one are searching for a treasure. but it seems that the only one worth having is one you can use, and nothing is more useful than self knowledge. so when i am out there plowing the field i remember that the unexamined life is not worth living and heed yours and the great Igg-father’s words so that not a win or a loss go by that don’t imprint some new knowledge in me.
2. As Above, So Below
Each action at the poker table needs to have two aspects to it. the temporal and the eternal. i need to be paying attention ot the table and the mood of the players. even the mood of the whole, like some ugly 100 toed 20 armed mammal, needs to be carefully monitored. but the most difficult perhaps is watching your own mood. i don’t mean only “table image” but how your mood is rearranging your play. i think there are times when my play fits my mood and so i “see” more clearly. other times it doesn’t and it costs me.
but there is also the long run, as you poker vets call it. each move needs to stand far into the long reaches of mathmatical probability. you need to be able to see yourself making the same move over and over again. some sort of pokerish eternal return. how well these two facets, now and forever, come together and how aware i am of them both dictates how well i play each session, and every session thereafter.
3. “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Ask, and it shall be given unto you.”
this one goes out to H and Iggy. there was a girl i really liked when i was in school. i used to talk to her every chance i got. she was great. we laughed alot and i thought we enjoyed each others company. after graduating (she was a year younger then me) i returned to see if the school was still doing ok without me there. i met this girl that night and she promptly told me she had had a crush on me throughout our time together at the school. now if that girl’s name’s not 15-30 then i’ll be sewn into a potato sack and tossed in the Trosa river. do the words “ripe for the plucking” mean anything to you. some of us don’t do our work first and pay for that. others don’t use the hands they have.
4. “its nothing personal Sonny!!”
the lesson michael never seemed to learn. the game can’t run you. whenever confused i try to remember that i am sitting in a chair, at a table, on the earth, round the sun a-spinning, swimming through a galaxy thats a tiny part of the whole thing that i know nothing about. i must remember that i am chosing to play the game and not get so caught up that i have to kill my brother to feel safe.
Whoah. i jumped into the local river this weekend after a good night of drinking with your wife and my wife and some friends. then a remarkable thing happened. SHE JUMPED IN TOO. our friend Johan told me all the boats dumped the piss and crap they had on board in the river. i told him i was doing the same right then. no one should take themselves too seriously right?
Sincerely,
Monk