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...

Tim64

Joined: 03.11.2008

Posts: 8,122

17.04.2012, 15:59 0

Shame you didn't predict them going busto first time round... I was counting on you, sayer of sooths.

Coaching with Tim64
Blog: Liar Dice
SNG Coaching
Twitter: @Timonthestoop

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_Anonymous_

17.04.2012, 16:01 0

We haven't got anything confirmed yet which is why you don't see any unnecessary news about it and I'm sure we'll do a great job when it comes to reporting things as we've done in the past in this topic. In the past, we've reported every single tiny details which was also flamed by many users cause it didn't really make any difference. Sometimes you just don't know what we're getting lol'd at next.

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EmanuelC16

Joined: 02.01.2010

Posts: 12,242

17.04.2012, 16:14 0

Originally posted by IngridN
We haven't got anything confirmed yet which is why you don't see any unnecessary news about it and I'm sure we'll do a great job when it comes to reporting things as we've done in the past in this topic. In the past, we've reported every single tiny details which was also flamed by many users cause it didn't really make any difference. Sometimes you just don't know what we're getting lol'd at next.

Meh, you won't ever please all readers.

Just report when you feel it's important or make a summary of rumours from time to time imo.. I think you actually did that a couple of weeks ago when the deadline passed and then it was reported Laurent Tapie moved to Dublin...

It was good to have an update of what the poker world knows.

AMaA: The Good Life
:diamond:Follow me on Twitter @emanuelc16

:diamond: The Education of a Modern Poker Player by TwiceT, jbpatzer & EmanuelC16

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_Anonymous_

17.04.2012, 16:15 0

Originally posted by EmanuelC16

Originally posted by IngridN
We haven't got anything confirmed yet which is why you don't see any unnecessary news about it and I'm sure we'll do a great job when it comes to reporting things as we've done in the past in this topic. In the past, we've reported every single tiny details which was also flamed by many users cause it didn't really make any difference. Sometimes you just don't know what we're getting lol'd at next.

Meh, you won't ever please all readers.

Just report when you feel it's important or make a summary of rumours from time to time imo.. I think you actually did that a couple of weeks ago when the deadline passed and then it was reported Laurent Tapie moved to Dublin...

It was good to have an update of what the poker world knows.

Thanks Manu

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_Anonymous_

17.04.2012, 22:34 0

Originally posted by jbpatzer

Originally posted by HollyMichelle

Originally posted by jbpatzer
Looks like there's a good chance that Full Tilt will be back next month.

http://www.pokernewsreport.com/breaking-news-full-tilt-poker-goes-green-8328

And btw, lol@PokerStrategy for not reporting this yet. I mean come on chaps, Boris told me about this last night. Finger out please!

I think I should keep my stars roll for playing 5CD and pick up where I left off on FT. NLHE on stars has been a painful experience for me tbh.

EDIT: And at this.

No credibility to these yet JB so I doubt PS would wanna give false hope.

Bah! FT will be back next month, you mark my words o feeble doubters!

Haven they been saying next month since last year?

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jbpatzer Topic starter

Joined: 23.11.2009

Posts: 6,972

17.04.2012, 23:27 0

Originally posted by summermonkey

Originally posted by jbpatzer

Originally posted by HollyMichelle

Originally posted by jbpatzer
Looks like there's a good chance that Full Tilt will be back next month.

http://www.pokernewsreport.com/breaking-news-full-tilt-poker-goes-green-8328

And btw, lol@PokerStrategy for not reporting this yet. I mean come on chaps, Boris told me about this last night. Finger out please!

I think I should keep my stars roll for playing 5CD and pick up where I left off on FT. NLHE on stars has been a painful experience for me tbh.

EDIT: And at this.

No credibility to these yet JB so I doubt PS would wanna give false hope.

Bah! FT will be back next month, you mark my words o feeble doubters!

Haven they been saying next month since last year?

Full Tilt will always be back next month, the oil will always run out in 10 years time, and hydrogen fuel cells will be economically viable in 15 years time, whatever year you're in.

Strange evening tonight. I decided to spend some time with mrsjb, but made the mistake of beating her twice at Scrabble. She was not amused and went off to watch Corrie. I cracked open a beer and play some Zoom 5CD, some HUSNGs and an 18 man SNG (I just felt the urge). I made lots of BBs at 5CD (Btw, Zoom 5CD is stupid. Four tables = 1K hands/hour, but six table of ordinary 5CD = 1k hands/hour too. There's just no point in Zooming 5CD.), won my HUSNGs, but didn't last long in the 18 man SNG (got bored tbh). Then I thought, bollocks, lets play some Zoom, and won back the $$$ I lost last night in just 600 hands. I said I'd run HOT next time ♦ .

Tomorrow, I have to go to a day long conference on e-assessment, which is just a made up word imo. Frankly, I'd rather spend the day banging my head against a wall, but that might get me the sack, so e-assessment it is. Whoever thinks e-assessment of mathematics is a good idea needs a check up from the neck up, but I have to humour those nice maths educationalists (sorry Verneer).