Midlife Crisis? What Midlife Crisis?

jbpatzer · 2010-06-24T10:48:39Z

After reading endless blogs by students and 20-somethings, some of which are very entertaining, I thought it might be nice to write my own, focussing on the what it's like to try to play poker when you have stuff going on in your life that tends to get in the way. Reading blogs by people like TwiceT just makes me feel simultaneously jealous, old and also relieved that I'm not that young any more (this will only make sense to the over 40's). I have a) A wife b) Three kids, ages 3, 8 and 15. Anyone like to guess which one is the most troublesome? c) A full time job d) 44 years of wear and tear, both mental and physical, to cope with. e) An unfortunate tendency to compile lists. About me --------- I'm a maths professor at a British University. I'm not going to say which, as I want to stay anonymous. I'd be horrified if any of my students worked out that this is me. However, it's a very good university, and if you do work out which one it is, you should definitely encourage your teenage children to come here. I specialise in mathematical methods and modelling, mainly continuum mechanics, but I'm trying to learn some game theory in a feeble attempt to improve my poker (more on this later). I used to be a keen and quite good sportsman (cricket and badminton) but dodgy ankles have recently caught up with me, and I'm slowly expanding (think Jabba the Hut!). Poker does not help much in this regard. I've always been interested in games. My grandparents taught me a rummy-like game called Kalooki (just googled this and found there's a web site! Can't believe it!) and we used to play for Licourice Allsorts, so I suppose I have a history of gambling from an early age. Remember, no video games and no internet when I was a kid. I also used to play Bridge (badly) when I was a teenager, mainly because my friend and I could play at the Bridge evening at our local tennis club when we were too young to get into the pub, and get served at the bar (50p a pint!). There was one memorable occasion when we went to the Young Chelsea Bridge Club (so many wanky posh kids there!) to play a duplicate tournament, and my mate wandered off to the bar mid game, and had to be dragged off the fruit machine claiming he was too pissed to carry on. We finished exactly half way and earned Bridge Master Points. Who says it's a game of skill! Anyway, I haven't played Bridge for years, but I've always been a keen chess player and still turn out for my local team (current grade 170 BCF = 2000 ELO for those who know about these things. County standard for those who don't.). Edit: For all you Americans, 'pissed' means drunk. We say 'pissed off' when you say 'pissed'. Me and Poker ------------- I always thought that poker was a game invented in Westerns as an excuse for people to shoot each other, and that it was now mainly played by Texans in silly hats and gangsters. Of course, I was right, but it turned out that normal people can have fun playing it too. I discovered this last August when my brother-in-law showed me that you could play Zynga poker on Facebook. I quickly became hooked, and after about 6 weeks could even reliably remember that a full house beats a flush. I have a shed load of books on chess, so it seemed only natural to get some on poker. Started with the books by Harrington (brilliant!) and Moshman (also brilliant, but what a dreadful writer. His style makes the average scientific paper look like it was written by Nick Hornby.). Then found I could win tons of chips on Zynga using Moshman's SnG tactics. I decided it was time to play for money. I deposited $50 on 888 poker, nearly lost all of it immediately, but fluked my way into 3rd place in a new depositer's freeroll for $50. Managed to build my BR up to $100 playing cash and SnGs, then withdrew my initial $50, and haven't deposited since. This is an essential element, as my wife thought I was going to become addicted to gambling and throw away all our money. I assured her that I am addicted to poker, not gambling. This does however mean that my BR management is very conservative, as I will be in big trouble with her if I ever have to redeposit, and I want to keep my gonads intact for now. Discovered pokerstrategy.com last November, eagerly claimed my $50, and started playing on FT. I've tried lots of different games on there and had some success with super turbos, rush and steps. I also continued playing on 888 and came 2nd for $150 in a $2 MTT. Once my bankroll reached $350, I deposited on Pokerstars and, inspired by chenny's TableNinja video, have been 12 tabling $3.40 SnGs to try to clear my bonus ($110 so far, and as a nice side effect, gold status. I'm going to have a break to read some gold articles and watch some gold videos over the next couple of weeks). After trying lots of different formats, I feel I want to concentrate on SnGs and MTTs...

_Anonymous_

07.04.2014, 20:28 0

Originally posted by jbpatzer

Originally posted by Hamishk

Originally posted by jbpatzer
I've just come back from the School Easter Egg Hunt with my daughter and, for various reasons, feel the urge to blog. I don't know what it is about parents and school events, but I find it almost impossible to be all friendly with the other parents, and struggle with the whole small talk thing in a way that I rarely do in any other social situation. Maybe getting FUCK and OFF! tattooed across my knuckles when I was teenager, Night of The Hunter style, wasn't the fantastic idea that I thought it was. I may have to try turning the O into a smiley face or the ! into a ?
.

Perhaps, instead of the tattoos, you could have gone for these rings?. Just slip them on for that special occasion

Those are OK, but you really need them as a mirror image so that they still say FUCK OFF when they've been embedded in someone's face at high speed.

REVERSE image rings are offered for just that possibility. To quote...

The Statement ring!
Tired of traffic, tired of midgets and New Zealanders? .

Do you need some special finger vocabulary to add impact to your gestural finger motions from your bike or maybe from your car window?

Look no further!!!
A simple statement of fact, to be worn together on one finger, or next to each other, and dependant on the situation you may want to leave a "lasting impression" on someone, or your personal STAMP of dissaproval.. we offer a REVERSE version to cater for this need, so the person being brought to a better understanding will be able to read it properly everytime they look in the mirror.. a meaningfull memory...

...(PS. you do not have to be a biker or nuthouse car driver to wear this, you can also be mentally unstable or even work in the post office.. there are many reasons you could enjoy this piece of statement jewellery...)

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jbpatzer

Joined: 23.11.2009

Posts: 6,972

11.04.2014, 15:54 0

Off to Scotland for a week tomorrow. We're going back to the lighthouse that we went to three years ago. Was it really three years ago? :f_eek: Crikey. Lol @ my musings on Black Friday and my nice $300 bonus from F T. What a sucker! :facepalm: