What's wrong with poker

Take a look at this blog post from Rob. It's an interview with Dominick Muzio, a poker dealer at TI in Vegas. He has a lot of thoughts about what's wrong with poker--specifically the lower stakes games--both in terms of players and in terms of how casinos are running poker rooms. I agree with most of his points.

http://robvegaspoker.blogspot.com/2015/02/dominick-muzio-and-state-of-poker-today.html

PokerNews article #52

Why having, knowing, and using names for things in poker matters:

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/why-the-words-we-use-matter-in-poker-20659.htm

When NOT to be polite: A traffic warning

Yesterday I witnessed a traffic accident. I saw it coming, but could do nothing to warn the drivers involved. Strangely, it was caused by a misplaced act of politeness. It's a situation I've seen many times, and it's always clear that those involved haven't really thought through how their politeness is creating a serious danger. So now that I've seen my fears realized, I think it's time that I put this out into the world, because I've never seen it discussed anywhere before.

Here's the set-up. It's rush hour on a four-lane city street. (This was Asheville's Charlotte Street just north of the I-240 overpass, though it could have been just about anywhere.) There's a long line of southbound cars at a red light. There's a northbound car wanting to make a left turn across the southbound lanes onto a small side street. Let's call her Driver A. She's a middle-aged woman in a Toyota Prius in this specific instance, though that's all irrelevant.

Driver B is in a small truck, in the left-hand southbound lane. He or she (I couldn't see the driver) sees that Driver A is going to have to wait forever to get an opening to turn left. So when it's his turn to start moving forward under the green light, he instead waits, and waves to Driver A to go.

Unfortunately, Driver A does not have a clear view of the southbound RIGHT-hand lane. There's not a car immediately adjacent to Driver B, or even a little way back, so Driver A goes. But what she doesn't see is the car that's coming.

I was four or five cars behind Driver B, so I saw Driver A starting to make her turn at the same time as I saw another car--Driver C--zipping along in the relatively clear right-hand lane next to me. I could see both of them, but neither of them could see the other. So they collided--right front corner of A to left front corner of C. (Because this is Asheville, Driver C was also a woman in a Toyota Prius. Yes, really.)

Neither driver was apparently injured, but A's car had a wheel bent badly enough that it couldn't even be driven far enough to clear the road. I saw her turning the steering wheel, trying to move her car, and the right front wheel was not turning with it. Broken axle or tie rod, maybe?

Driver A will clearly get ticketed for making a left turn when it wasn't clear to do so. And well she should. She was indisputably at fault. But if there were such a thing as an "assist" in the sphere of moving violations, we'd have to award it to Driver B. It was her yielding her right of way to Driver A that caused the problem. It lured her into an unsafe situation.

If you stop to think about it, you can imagine other ways that this scenario can go wrong besides the most obvious one that was played out yesterday:

• Driver A recognizes the danger and hesitates making the turn. Finally she works up her nerve, but at just the same moment, Driver B has given up, having decided that A isn't ever going to go, and she can't keep on holding up the line forever, because cars behind her are starting to honk their horns. So A and B collide. 
• Driver A goes halfway, turning in front of B but waiting to go the rest of the way until she gets a better view of the right-hand lane. But just when she concludes that it's clear, the car immediately behind A gets tired of waiting, and whips into the right lane to go around. Crash.

I've been Driver A countless times, faced with a polite but not clear-thinking Driver B, who can't understand why I'm not taking advantage of his or her generosity. Well, it's because I can't be sure that the OTHER lane is safe to cross. There's no way to communicate this by hand gestures, so I've seen many of them finally get an annoyed look on their face and accelerate rapidly past me. 

There's a Pedestrian Corollary to this scenario that frightens me even more. I'm pretty diligent about stopping for pedestrians trying to cross the street, but most drivers around me are not. Several times I've had a car behind me see me stop, and just move into the other lane to go around me without even slowing down. If I'm in the left lane and the pedestrian is coming from the left, or if I'm in the right lane with the pedestrian coming from the right, this is fraught with the danger of the pedestrian crossing safely in front of my stopped car, only to get plastered by the jerk zooming around me. And, again, there's not a damn thing I can do about it, except maybe hit the horn. Fortunately, so far all of the pedestrians involved have been sufficiently wary to wait until it's clear. 

The scenarios are less problematic when Driver B is in the right lane, because Driver A can easily see the left lane for herself. But they're still not problem-free, because of an impatient driver zipping around B at just the wrong time and smashing into A just as she starts the turn. 

Note that these scenarios are NOT problematic when there's only one lane. In that case, when you stop to let somebody turn in front of you, there's no danger of unseen traffic in an adjacent lane. 

Asheville drivers are, on average, more polite to each other than those of any other city I've lived in. (I wish they were just as polite to pedestrians, but that's still kind of foreign to the driving culture here.) However, there are situations where being polite creates a needless hazard that may not be perceived until it's too late. 

Politeness between drivers must be tempered by keen situational awareness, and a healthy respect for the worst-case scenario. Sometimes it's best not to yield your right of way, and just go when it's your turn. 

ADDENDUM: I found the accident report online, in case you want to look at it. I was curious to see if Driver A had, in fact, been cited, but the "citations" section is blank. Awaiting further investigation, perhaps?

PokerNews article #51

Are you using your most aggressive moves for the first time when you actually have your strongest hands? Yer doin' it wrong!

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/picking-profitable-spots-learn-how-to-set-up-your-aggressive-20584.htm

The importance of bright-line rules

I had not previously heard of or seen the phenomenon that Lee Jones discusses in this excellent blog post--calling an all-in bet by just tossing out a single chip instead of a stack. But he effectively shows why this new fad should be definitively disallowed, and in the process has some good words about the function of rules in keeping the game fun and fair.

http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/en/blog/lee_jones_journal/2015/rules-keep-the-game-fun-154041.shtml

Training a cat

As most cats with a regular feeding schedule will do, Lucy is prone to an hour or two of yowling when she thinks it should be dinnertime. Because, you know, on any given day I might FORGET TO FEED HER or something if she doesn't insistently remind me.

Fairly soon after adopting her, I resolved to extinguish this behavior, lest it drive me mad. So I instituted a simple rule: even if it's her dinnertime, she doesn't get fed until she has been quiet for five straight minutes. This has been remarkably effective, and it's rare these days (maybe once a month or so) that I have to actually enforce it. She just knows that meowing to remind me to get her food backfires.

I was feeling pretty darn clever at having trained her this way. Instead of putting up a fuss, she instead developed a habit of crawling into my lap, if I'm at my desk, or onto my legs if I'm on the sofa and just waiting quietly for dinnertime.

Lately, however, she has developed an alternative way to communicate the fact that she's hungry--one that doesn't run afoul of the vocalization rule: She jumps up on the couch, where I'm relaxing in front of the TV, sits on my chest, and stares at me, eyeball to eyeball.

It looks a little something like this:

Here's the reverse angle on the staredown:

I bought a tablet computer a while ago, and some nights recently I've been playing games on it instead of watching TV. When that happens, she carefully steps over the tablet, planting herself between me and it. I haven't been able to get a selfie of that, because it makes me laugh so hard.

If I still have not gotten her food after what she deems to be an adequate time, she just lies down to continue giving me the message:

The only thing that breaks her concentration--other than me actually fetching her dinner, of course--is taking pictures of her posturing. Then she's all like, "Hey, why u take pikchur uv me? I did not giv u mah permishun."

The whole thing is just completely hilarious, and if my neighbors are listening through the walls, they must wonder what has me laughing like a maniac every night lately.

It's also completely ineffective, because her food time is set in stone at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m., and will not be moved earlier on the basis of any cat entreaties, no matter how intrusive, pathetic, funny, or insistent.

It does make it rather difficult to either play computer games or watch TV, though. So I gently move her down to my legs, which is where she has usually settled for our snuggle time. Every few minutes, though, she crawls back up to my face, just to be sure that there is no chance I have forgotten to FEED THE CAT.

It would be impossible for me to forget to take care of such a delightful, endearing creature.

PokerNews article #50

On reciprocality in poker, and how it either costs or makes you money:

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/reciprocality-in-poker-the-one-way-to-make-more-money-than-20513.htm

Rust

One of Nina's favorite photographic subjects is rust. (See here if you don't believe me: http://www.somebeaut.com/tag/rust/) Her enthusiasm for it has been a little bit contagious. In appreciation, I hereby present the Ode To Rust, developed from objects that my father, brother, and I passed in our walks this week during a family get-together in my sister's semi-rural town in northern Utah.

Click on the first picture, and then on the right/left arrows to move forward or backward in the series.

Ode To Rust 

PokerNews article #49

This was published Monday, but I was out of town so didn't put up a notice here. It's about handling disputes at the poker table:

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/how-to-handle-disputes-when-playing-poker-in-a-casino-20435.htm

Cepheus and the skill-luck debate

Head on over to the Craakker blog for a very interesting two-part reflection on what the news of heads-up limit poker being "solved" says about skill versus luck in poker:

http://craakker.blogspot.com/2015/01/pokers-deus-ex-machina-part-i-how.html

and

http://craakker.blogspot.com/2015/01/pokers-deus-ex-machina-part-ii-how.html

Deuce-Four wins a WSOP bracelet

I don't think I saw this back in 2010 when it happened, but take a close look at the cards in the winning hand in the photo accompanying this story.

Too bad such a good thing happened to a poker cheat, which is the lowest form of life.

Hat tip: Grange95. 

PokerNews article #48

The winning secret to seat selection:

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/the-winning-secret-to-seat-selection-20356.htm

Cyclocross at Biltmore

Yesterday Nina and I tried what was a completely new experience for both of us: watching a cyclocross race. It was held at the famous Biltmore Estate, which is just a couple of miles from Nina's house. Cyclocross is sort of like a steeplechase for cyclists. It's cross-country, meaning mostly not on pavement, but with nasty obstacles thrown in, like giant mudholes, and hills that are too steep to ride.

Nina has a new camera, and we both thought it would be fun to try our hands at fast action shots. It gave me a new appreciation for professional sports photographers. It is not easy to anticipate what will be worth taking a picture of, when it will happen, how to frame the shot to capture both the action and the competitor's face, and do all that while being aware of light/shadow conditions, obstacles, extraneous elements, and a hundred other things.

We watched a 45-minute race that actually included separate men's and women's races with staggered starts. We paid no attention to who was winning, but just enjoyed watching them negotiate tricky spots on the course. Much of our time was spent at a nasty series of hairpin turns coming steeply down the side of a hill. The men were mostly looking pretty stoic, but the women tended to wear their emotions on their faces, showing pain, determination, alarm, or even elation:

But before getting to coast around those downhill twisties, they first had to get up the hill. There were only two ways to do it--push the bike, or pick it up and carry it.

(Do not adjust your set. The sky really was that blue--no digital enhancement.) 

Well, that's not quite true. A very, very few of the strongest competitors were able to ride straight up--which, when you're standing on the side watching, looks like you're seeing something physically impossible transpire before your very eyes.

But you know who I admired most? It wasn't the elite cyclists whose incredibly muscled legs let them defy gravity. It was this woman:

She is obviously not as highly conditioned as most of the other racers. She may not love having to buy her spandex clothes in larger sizes. She was not in contention for one of the prizes. She clearly doesn't have as many hours in the saddle as others, which you can tell from the way she has already taken her feet off of the pedals in anticipation of having difficulty managing the gnarly turn she's about to hit. (We watched several people take tumbles when they misjudged it.) And I suspect she noticed that some of the bystanders snickered as she rode past. But she was out there giving it her all, while those judging her were just standing around. She could absolutely beat me around that course, and probably many of them, too. Plus, she's working on getting better at it, while I'm sitting on my butt in front of my computer. So my hat is off to her for taking on the challenge instead of just vegetating.

Speaking of the spectators, they were having a grand old time, what with ringing cowbells and cheering on friends and/or giving them a little friendly trash talking, sometimes through megaphones. Two stood out. First was this woman:

She obviously knew a lot of the riders and would taunt them by name as they sped by. Sometimes she would reach out and poke them with her stick, offering to give them a "hand." (Nobody seemed bothered by this. I gather that these are highly  informal competitions.) Her best moment came in that super-tricky turn. She yelled through her megaphone at one rider, "No front brake! NO FRONT BRAKE!" [Wipeout.] "Told ya!"

But nobody was having a better time than this kid:

He'd shout and ring his cowbell as loudly as he could at just about every rider that came his way. His enthusiasm was delightful and contagious.

I enjoyed the few minutes we had to watch the cyclists relaxing near the finish line, while waiting for the last stragglers to come in. Notice that this young woman is in bike shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, but sweating, while the more sedentary among us were freezing despite heavy coats because of a nasty cold wind.

All in all, it was a fun and beautiful afternoon at Biltmore.

Addendum: Nina's pictures are here.

Guess which hand won another tournament?

I don't find any details of how the hand played out, but see the photo here.

Hat tip: @ohcowboy12go

PokerNews article #47

Add just a little bit of aggression to your game:

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/kick-it-up-a-notch-add-a-bit-of-aggression-to-your-game-20288.htm

Andrew Brokos becomes the newest convert

Andrew Brokos, aka Foucault, proprietor of Thinking Poker, has just blogged about winning a $9000 pot in a $5/10 game, holding 2c-4c, and rivering a straight to beat his opponent's top set. Pretty much routine for the most powerful hand in poker, but it's nice to have another convert to the Holy Order of the Mighty Deuce-Four.

Thanks to Memphis Mojo for bringing this development to my attention.

PokerNews article #46

This one is on how poker can mess with the experiential learning mechanism that nature has given us, so that we learn all the wrong things.

http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/responding-to-results-or-the-jack-four-effect-20213.htm

And please note once again the charming custom graphic that my editor created for this piece!

You have to believe

It's been a while, so maybe it's time for a refresher course on the key factor in successfully playing The Mighty Deuce-Four.

Last night I was at Harrah's Cherokee, using the PokerPro tables for some $1-2 NLHE. I had started with $300, and after about two hours was down to about $200, when I caught 2-4 for the first time--offsuit, both black.

I was in the small blind. We had three limpers including the cutoff. Button raised to $16. I called, BB called.

Now it got weird: Cutoff, who had the biggest stack of around $600, reraised to $37.  A limp-reraise from late position? Who does that? I think I've seen only two kinds of hands played that way: A-K and medium pairs. I assume that in both cases, these players are thinking roughly along these lines: "This is a hand that is hard to play after the flop unless it improves in a very specific way, which it usually doesn't. Therefore, I'd either like to play it very cheaply, or put in a prohibitive pre-flop raise and end the hand." I don't recall ever seeing anybody play K-K or A-A like this from late position.

Anyway, the button called. I called, of course, since I had the best hand. Besides, I felt in my bones that I was going to flop big. In my bones, I tell you.

Surprisingly, the BB called, too, making the pot a bloated $145 or so before we even had a flop out.

Flop: A-4-4 rainbow.

Of course.

I pleaded with the poker gods: "Oh, please let him have A-K, not a medium pair."

I checked. BB checked. Cutoff bet $50. Button folded. I called. BB folded.

Turn: 7 of the fourth suit. Excellent.

I checked. Cutoff bet $75. I had $112 left. I figured he was thoroughly pot-committed. With me all-in, the pot would be about $430, and he'd only have to call $37 more to stay in. He should do that with just about anything. And he did. The computer revealed our hands. He had J-J. Two outs.

River: King. My old friend the Deuce-Four had done it for me again.

I heard the murmurings around the table: "Are you kidding me?" "I did not expect to see those two hands." "Wow." I just took it in stride. I couldn't feign surprise, since I had known I would win.

When people tell me that they have lost with 2-4, I usually tell them that they didn't play it right. Most often what they do wrong is fail to believe in it. My stock reply is this: "Does Santa bring presents to little boys and girls who do not believe in him? No, he does not. It's the same with Deuce-Four. You have to believe in it for it to work."

I believe.

Separated at birth?

I saw a picture of Senator Ted Cruz somewhere, and at first glance I thought it was Phil Hellmuth. I looked more carefully, and came to think that they are twins separated at birth. What do you think?

(Photo of Hellmuth found here, credited to Getty Images. Photo of Ted Cruz found here, with no photo credit.)

Lucy's Christmas treat

Lucy's favorite treats are chunks of freeze-dried turkey from a company called "Whole Life." But they're really expensive, so most days I just break off a little piece from one for her. For Christmas, I gave her a whole one. 

At first, she could hardly believe her good fortune. 

"Is that what I think it is?" 

"Ooo, it is! I hope nobody's watching."

"Attack!"

"Ooo, that tastes good!"

"I chomps it." (At this point, it finally occurred to me to turn on the camera's flash, which is why the remaining pictures are so much less noisy.)

Going...

going...

gone.

"That was super-yummy!"

I hope all of you get what you most want for Christmas.