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jesse8888 - The Well jesse8888 - The Well

03-05-2011 , 11:55 AM
What would you say to a high school senior who is thinking about going to MIT?

Does any of your family play poker (even recreationally)? Does it come up in conversation over the holidays?

Most brilliant outburst you've ever made at the tables? Most asinine/embarassing?

Describe your political philosophy in one sentence.

Ever play any of the Asian games at any California (non-Indian) casino?

Did you have a childhood hero growing up? (You don't have to answer this if this is a security question on your financial accounts.)

You win the WSOP ME or otherwise suddenly acquire a large amount of money; do you (a) retire and never play poker again, (b) play poker recreationally at a low level, or (c) continue to play poker seriously?
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 01:41 PM
What do you think about how math/science was taught to you growing up? Were you relatively well prepared when you got to MIT and what were the high and low points of your prep? What would you change about HS curriculum, mostly math/science but if you had thoughts on other topics, please share.

What other games do you play besides poker, if any? How big a part do games play in your life now? While growing up?
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 01:42 PM
If you had to listen to only one CD for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 02:45 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by jesse8888
Can I save images to my machine or do I have to write everything down by hand? If I can save images I'd just save the 1 year chart on as many stocks as I possible could, then perhaps spend 10-15 minutes getting sports scores. If I have to write it all down I think I'd focus more on sports scores.
For shame Jesse. You used to be a software engineer for god's sake. Write a program to suck as much data off the web in a highly automated fashion. Just ask your girlfriend how to do it if you're not sure. After all she does work at google. :-)
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:15 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain R
Most enjoyable poker session ever? Could be a home game, whatever.

How come you don't like Stud forms of poker?

What countries have you been to? Do you enjoy traveling?

What hobby, sport or activity have you always wanted to get try or get good at, but never had the time/money/ability to do so?

Since you've spent hundreds of hours in various cardrooms and at one point or another could call various casinos your "home casino", do you get a strange sense of nostalgia or deja vu when you walk into one that you haven't been in in a while? Or do you just look around and say to yourself, "same old degens and douchebags" and want to leave?
Most enjoyable home game was at Prof Bens house before he moved to Vegas with Yodaman, Bakku, BisonBison and some other people. We played 2/4 mix and yoda kept getting chopped in Baduecy. In a casino it was either the first time I played 15 at AJs and won SEVEN HUNDRED dollars or the prop shift where I shipped 7 racks overnight in the 20.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:17 PM
I don't like stud for a variety of reasons, some good some bad. You always beat me. The betting lead changing constantly tilts me. It's painfully slow. The old men at commerce who play it are very grumpy. And I never know what I'm doing and am usually painfully aware of it.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:19 PM
I like traveling but as of yet have done "not enough". I've been to China, Barbados, and Sicily. Danielle wants to go to the Amazon and on an African safari but I'm hesitant for a variety of reasons, again some good (it's very costly) and some not (I'm scared of snakes and afraid Ice Cube will be our tour guide).
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:21 PM
I'd love to be a good golfer but currently don't have the time or money and likely will never have the talent. I was presentable on high school but stopped playing when I went to college.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:22 PM
Half the time I feel great...the other half it's "these degens again?". I bet I'd love going back to AJs, while GC still tilts me quite a bit.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:23 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by bravos1
Excellent choice!!! I read IT when I was like 13 or so when it first came out. I absolutely love it as well and I had to sneak it into my room because my mom didn't want me reading it..lol

Ever read any Michael Palmer stuff?
Nope. I probably read 2-3 books a year strictly for pleasure.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:30 PM
If you were forced to quit LHE and play 1 or 2 different games for a living what would they be?
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:42 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain R
Rate the accuracy of the following statement:

When you walk into a cardroom, you are going to be in the top 1% of the smartest people in the room. Since poker is almost completely a game of intelligence (whatever that means), a primary component of your general frustration is that, by definition, you should be able to produce results vs. a bunch of 40/80 players who are not as smart as you.

Kind of a corollary: do you believe there exists something called "poker talent"? I've heard you use the term before, what do you mean by this? Is it definable?

What would you consider your natural strengths and weaknesses as a poker player?
I'd say your statement is accurate, but a little bit extreme. I don't know where I rank on the IQ scale in the average 40/80 lineup, but top 1% seems arrogant. Although if someone proposed I wasn't in the top 10% I'd be outraged, so you aren't far off. I'm only the second smartest person in my household according to IQ tests though.

I recognize though that raw IQ is only loosely correlated with success in many endeavors in life. People skills, emotional intelligence, work ethic....all those are at least as important. I think a bigger source of frustration for me is that until 2006 I'd basically never failed at anything in my entire life. Now I'm struggling and yeah I'm looking at these guys who in some cases are 3 IQ standard devs behind me taking my money and I'll admit it's frustrating.

Poker talent....my best effort at a definition would be a combination of intelligence, fearlessness, work ethic, emotional stability, and a desire to crush people. Some aspects can be taught/practiced, but others simply can't. We have all met people who are just inexplicably talented (like Pau Gasol). In some cases maybe they just happen to naturally play the right way to beat their current game. But in others they just always seem to figure it out. You have it.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:46 PM
My biggest natural strength is that proabilty is second nature to me. My biggest natural weakness is reading peoples actions (I am inherently a trusting person who gives the benefit of the doubt. This served me well in software...not so much in poker).
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 04:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by bdaddy
Who's your favorite rapper?

Best meal you've ever had?
Eminem AINEC

Steak and potato at the bottom of the grand canyon, after spending the entire day on the back of a mule to get there.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 05:00 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashley12
if you were a street fighter or mortal kombat warrior, which one would you be?
I am unfamiliar with all the mortal kombat characters...but I'd be someone like scorpion or street fighter's M Bison; someone with one very effective move that wins against soft opposition, but who struggles if his opponent adapts.

The Steelers are like this also.

In street fighter I was a blanka button masher when I played the game
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 05:05 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Life Tilt
Why do umpires **** you over when you pitch?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Life Tilt
Let me rephrase:

WHY DOES MY TEAM ****ING SUCK?
Because you had a guy off the street pitch.

In fairness zero walks in 5 innings against guys who were often taking the first pitch was a very commendable effort on my part. IMO.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 05:06 PM
Real answer is you guys can't field a lick and the third baseman taking cuts and playing on the grass is...nonstandard.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 05:10 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by WackyPoker
For shame Jesse. You used to be a software engineer for god's sake. Write a program to suck as much data off the web in a highly automated fashion. Just ask your girlfriend how to do it if you're not sure. After all she does work at google. :-)
The question said I got the session TODAY. No time for that sorta stuff.

My question was aimed to answer the following; will electronic data of any kind, even copied, disappear at the end of the session Back to the Future style? For that matter, will anything I write down disappear also?
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 05:19 PM
K Tyler and Calli's questions are gonna have to wait for a bit I'm trying not to lose my ass at commerce.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 06:05 PM
Nice work on the well so far. How has it been compared to what you expected?
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 09:06 PM
When you were playing online for a while, how did you deal with burnout?

I never quite got why you "quit" being an online grinder (not that I disagree with the decision), but it seems you suddenly just went back to playing live in 2011, can you expand a bit on your decision (other than you ran bad for a few days :P )?
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 10:50 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by jesse8888
I like traveling but as of yet have done "not enough". I've been to China, Barbados, and Sicily. Danielle wants to go to the Amazon and on an African safari but I'm hesitant for a variety of reasons, again some good (it's very costly) and some not (I'm scared of snakes and afraid Ice Cube will be our tour guide).
I went on an African safari and I'm pretty sure I saw 0 snakes.

The more disturbing part of safari was the hyenas that circled our tent all night, grunting and growling. Our guide insisted that despite them being able to rip a hole in the tent fabric they wouldn't because they weren't smart enough to tell the difference between hollow and solid objects. His explanation was not comforting.

What custom license plate would you get?

Edit: If it's not poker-related, what poker-related custom license plate would you get?

Last edited by callipygian; 03-05-2011 at 10:58 PM.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 11:29 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TylerMes
Easiest (in terms of skill required, time cost, and life-hate endured) way for a player (you) to:
earn 50k/yr from poker?
100k/yr?
200k/yr?
*assume you have an adequate bankroll

Which area(s) do you most want to be more skilled at if you could? You can pick either a game (lhe) or a level of handedness (6max/hu/full ring) or tourneys or online vs live...

among the following list of games rank them in order from 'ideally this would be the game im best at' to 'skill at this game is least important to me'.

Lhe
nl (~100bb+ stack depth)
plo
Limit O8
stud
triple draw
Other stud variants (note: 2 games for the price of 1!)
Other draw variants (even more!)
nl donkaments/cap nl/short stack nl
I'm a little confused by the first question so I'll likely just ramble. I think that the easiest (skill wise) way to make $50K a year playing poker is to play live 20/40. To be perfectly blunt, this is just about where I am right now. I think it would also be doable to make that much playing online in literally 2/4 and 3/6 games, but I think you need to be a fair bit better and need a lot more discipline. To make $100K/year in expectation the easiest way is probably to find yourself a good prop job and play hours on the side in soft games an online. After that I'd suggest free lancing 40/80; if you're very good you should be able to do it. This plan would likely result in you having almost no life whatsoever. To make $200K a year I think you need to be playing very high, like at least 100/200, and I'm not really well versed to speak on that. I do still believe that live limit hold 'em games are soft enough compared to their online counterparts that only extremely talented people can make more money online than they can playing live. I assume there are guys who clear $200K a year online, but I bet they are the rock stars.

If I could just auto-upgrade myself like 30% or whatever in a specific area of poker I would choose 4 handed online 3/6 and 5/T games. I think I'd get a lot of bang for my buck with that 30%, and it's the area I'm working hardest on right now to improve myself. Just making me 30% better at NL would still leave me...bad.

I'm not sure I understand the point of this question, but here's the order of preferred skill I would want if I could have it.

1. nl (~100bb+ stack depth)
2. Lhe
3. plo
3.5 nl donkaments/cap nl/short stack nl
4. Limit O8
5. triple draw
6. Other draw variants (even more!)
7. stud
8. Other stud variants (note: 2 games for the price of 1!)
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 11:46 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by callipygian
What would you say to a high school senior who is thinking about going to MIT?
I would whole heartedly endorse virtually every aspect of the school for people with the financial resources to attend it (and even for those who don't the school does a pretty good job with financial aid). I can't imagine having a better college experience for myself personally anywhere else, both academically and socially. A little known fact is that the primary reason I went to MIT was that I had the most fun at their campus preview event by a long shot of the 3 schools I was considering, and wanted very badly to be part of the fraternity system (about 50% of MIT's undergraduate males are a part of the system). Obviously the school isn't for everyone, but it was certainly for me.

Quote:
Does any of your family play poker (even recreationally)? Does it come up in conversation over the holidays?
At this point my entire family is basically my mom and my dad. I have no living grandparents and only four first cousins none of whom I have seen since about 2006. So no, not really. I'm completely open about everything I do with my parents, even though it took me about 6 months to tell either of them that I was playing full time and had in fact quit my job.

Quote:
Most brilliant outburst you've ever made at the tables? Most asinine/embarassing?
You had to be there, but this whiny Asian man named Mr. Lee (lol so that narrows it down a bunch) basically always would say "Whhheeeyyy? Whyyyeehe?" all the time and at one point he check/raised me on the turn for like the 5th time in one day and I just burst out "Whhyeyeyyy!?" and the entire table was in stitches. I must have nailed the accent.

Most asinine/embarrassing is probably some form of fish berating, but I can't really think of one off the top of my head.

Quote:
Describe your political philosophy in one sentence.
In general I side with republicans on financial issues and democrats (or whoever is to the left of them) on everything else.

Quote:
Ever play any of the Asian games at any California (non-Indian) casino?
Until last week I could have said no, but I played 13 card (chinese) poker at Garden City for about half an hour while I was in San Jose. I have played black jack and craps at Cache Creeke also.

Quote:
Did you have a childhood hero growing up? (You don't have to answer this if this is a security question on your financial accounts.)
The closest I had was my YMCA swim coach I guess. He is an artist; you should buy a painting.

Quote:
You win the WSOP ME or otherwise suddenly acquire a large amount of money; do you (a) retire and never play poker again, (b) play poker recreationally at a low level, or (c) continue to play poker seriously?
(c) What the hell else would I do? Get a job? LOL right. Assuming I suddenly had like $5M clean and clear of taxes I would buy some property (to live in and to rent), keep the rest invested in the market, and probably immediately start playing 40/80. Though I guess with $3M in the bank 40/80 would be perhaps considered recreational, I'd likely take it very seriously.
jesse8888 - The Well Quote
03-05-2011 , 11:56 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Munga30
What do you think about how math/science was taught to you growing up? Were you relatively well prepared when you got to MIT and what were the high and low points of your prep? What would you change about HS curriculum, mostly math/science but if you had thoughts on other topics, please share.

What other games do you play besides poker, if any? How big a part do games play in your life now? While growing up?
I went to a decidedly second rate high school, and turned out just fine because of the steadfast dedication of a core group of (surprise surprise) science and math teachers who were hell bent on making sure those of us who wanted a solid education and a chance to do interesting extracurriculars to help us get into good (perhaps better than we deserved) schools. The science and math curriculum at my high school was pretty much a mess (I took three years of biology, for crying out loud), but the aforementioned group took it upon themselves to make sure that things like Science Olympiad, Quiz Bowl, and a College in High School program (that got you credits at UPitt, which unsurprisingly MIT did not accept but every other school anyone got into did) all flourished. And most of them taught their classes extremely well; I did reasonably well on all the AP tests I took.

I'd say I was below averagely prepared compared to my peers at MIT, but I went into it assuming I was like in the bottom 5%, worked my ass off freshman year while taking the easiest courses possible and pretty much got straight As right out of the shoot. I don't think I'm really qualified to speak to the current state of education in America right now, but will say that ONE teacher can make a huge difference in the entire life of a student.

Humorously I spent a TON of time in high school (and college) playing cards. I played more games of Euchre, 500 Bid, and Hearts than any of my teachers would dare admit. We played on the bus...before swim meets...on the bus to swim meets...in the science olympiad room...on Friday nights...pretty much all the freaking time. Sadly I don't play many games any more, something that makes Danielle quite sad, as she loves games. We do probably play Rummy Cubes, Triple Yahtzee, or Trivial Pursuit 2-3 times a month, though, which for some people probably would classify as "game crazy!"
jesse8888 - The Well Quote

      
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