The Poker Project (playing and writing about poker in the U.S.)
02-08-2015
, 11:33 AM
Update
drove from tucson to austin to houston, watched the seahawks lose the super bowl, hopped back in the car to Baton Rouge, drove to nola, found a place to live for the month, seeing as many parades as I can. Slow and steady progress.
Plan for the near future: here for four months, Vegas for June/some of July, travel some of July/August, back to nola by the fall. Feb-May is a crucial time for me to get on the grind and get settled in this awesome town. As a result, I'll be posting weekly reading/writing/pokering goals to stay on track.
Nothing, of course, is as important as this! http://barkus.org/about/
02-18-2015
, 12:17 PM
For Richer, for Poorer: My Love Affair with Poker, by Victoria Coren
"It is about a magical world. Down the rabbit hole, through the looking glass, under the sea, over the rainbow, behind the wardrobe door, there is a place where time stops" (335).
Amazon blurb: "In September 2006, Victoria Coren won a million dollars on the European Poker Tour. In her long-awaited memoir, she tells the story of that victory, but also of a 20-year obsession with the game. It is a journey which has taken Coren from a secret culture of illegal cash games to the high-stakes glamour of Las Vegas and Monte Carlo, and brought with it friendship, laughter, and money, but also loneliness, heartbreak, and defeat."
This book was off my radar for a while. I knew it was around but assumed (wrongly) that it was "just another poker memoir" that I could safely wait to read. Thankfully, RussellinToronto mentioned that he enjoyed For Richer, For Poorer, so I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did.
A Poker-Playing Alice
The book bleeds Britishness: there's life at the Vic, the slang, the Devilfish, and lots of references to Alice in Wonderland (one of my favorite books
).Vicky Coren comes from the British school of poker writers-- Al Alvarez, Anthony Holden, David Spaniel--famous for their incisive prose, wit, and the infamous Tuesday Game.Like these guys, Coren struggles with the question of identity, of whether she's a poker-playing writer or a poker player who writes. She distinguishes herself from her distinguished company by winning a major tournament.
Another difference, of course, is that Coren is a woman. Among other poker-playing woman writers, only Katy Lederer comes to mind (my thoughts on that book here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=211). But Coren's book is better: whereas Lederer writes gracefully about her brother, she's a curious outsider to the poker world and the Vegas lifestyle. Coren, on the other hand, lives and breathes poker: she needs it, thrives on it, romances it just as others would wine and dine a lover.
Why is the book so good? Basically this: "because behind the light, it's-only-me style, Coren is a serious and scrupulous writer. She has taken real care with the macro stuff – the structure of the book, the changes of pace, the link passages, the just-right narrative tug, the changes of emotional register, the careful parsing out of the technical information to ensure that it never overwhelms the exhilaration of the action." http://www.theguardian.com/books/200...r-poorer-coren
(The structure, to elaborate a bit, is simple but effective: the book moves chronologically through Coren's life, beginning with her childhood and moving through the various stages of her poker career. At the end of each chapter, in a short italicized section, we "play a hand" with Vicky during the final table of her EPT win. Eventually these two parts dovetail, with Coren narrating the victory that transformed her into a bona-fide poker celebrity.)
And this: "she has also taken real care with all the micro stuff – the sentence-by-sentence work, the phrasing, the rhythms and cadences of the poker-language, the descriptions of people and place, the lack of cliche, apposite metaphors, well-deployed dialogue, smells, tastes and the neat opening and closing of sections."
I'd add a third reason: honesty. Coren is unflinching open, sometimes painfully so, about her need for poker, human connection, and the contradictions that we all face at and away from the table. "I get it now," she writes. "Feeling alienated, isolated, thinking dark thoughts even as you laugh at jokes, saying 'Nice hand' even as you feel crushed, being among them but not of them, that is being one of them. Sitting around a table with a bunch of people who feel as cut off as you are, at least some of the time; that is community. We are all imperfect in the Vic, and if we weren't we wouldn't be here" (208).
Ever Drifting Down the Stream
Since For Richer, For Poorer was published in 2008, Coren's story has been largely a happy one: after winning the EPT she's remained a public figure, writer, and poker commentator (and I think a game show host too?). She married in 2012. In April 2014 she won EPT San Remo for just under 500K, making her the only player with two EPT titles.
Parts of her life, like her book, have been bittersweet. As some readers will know, Coren left Pokerstars because the site plans to offer table games. “Poker is the game I love, poker is what I signed up to promote," she wrote last January. "The question I’m probably asked most often in interviews is about the danger of addiction, going skint and so on. I’m always careful to explain the difference between the essentially fair nature of poker, where we all take each other on with the same basic chance, and those casino games at unfavourable odds which can be (especially online) so dangerous for the vulnerable or desperate. "(http://www.victoriacoren.com/main/bl...odbye_team_pro). To me, this departures proves a claim from Coren's memoir: that, for her, poker has never been about money.
Notes and Questions
"We tell these gloomy tales to exorcise them, not because we need them listened to. The rhythm of the words...up and down...with the flush draw...bet the pot...the turn comes over...is like a gentle piece of familiar background music" (3)
one example: "Pairs are so pretty, so enticingly symmetrical. Two curvy jacks, like Christmas stockings hanging in a fireplace. Or two round, juicy queens, like quail on a rotisserie. Two spiky kings, determined and macho, like marching soldiers in profile. Two clean, sharp, pure aces. God, I love looking down at my hole cards and finding a pair of matching picture cards. Painted twins" (15).
topics of conversation at the table (58)
the river (95)
time (155)
gambling as classless (174)
Vegas (231)
"They are creatures of contradiction - they are fiercely greedy, lavishly generous, wary in many things, reckless of life, ready to take any advantage, yet possessed by a diseased sense of honor." James Runciman (1895)
God and luck (295)
Cliffs
For Richer, For Poorer is probably the best poker memoir I've read. Two challenges of the genre is making the poker discussion accessible and making yourself a compelling character. Coren achieves both tasks remarkably well.
"It is about a magical world. Down the rabbit hole, through the looking glass, under the sea, over the rainbow, behind the wardrobe door, there is a place where time stops" (335).
Amazon blurb: "In September 2006, Victoria Coren won a million dollars on the European Poker Tour. In her long-awaited memoir, she tells the story of that victory, but also of a 20-year obsession with the game. It is a journey which has taken Coren from a secret culture of illegal cash games to the high-stakes glamour of Las Vegas and Monte Carlo, and brought with it friendship, laughter, and money, but also loneliness, heartbreak, and defeat."
This book was off my radar for a while. I knew it was around but assumed (wrongly) that it was "just another poker memoir" that I could safely wait to read. Thankfully, RussellinToronto mentioned that he enjoyed For Richer, For Poorer, so I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did.
A Poker-Playing Alice
The book bleeds Britishness: there's life at the Vic, the slang, the Devilfish, and lots of references to Alice in Wonderland (one of my favorite books
).Vicky Coren comes from the British school of poker writers-- Al Alvarez, Anthony Holden, David Spaniel--famous for their incisive prose, wit, and the infamous Tuesday Game.Like these guys, Coren struggles with the question of identity, of whether she's a poker-playing writer or a poker player who writes. She distinguishes herself from her distinguished company by winning a major tournament. Another difference, of course, is that Coren is a woman. Among other poker-playing woman writers, only Katy Lederer comes to mind (my thoughts on that book here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=211). But Coren's book is better: whereas Lederer writes gracefully about her brother, she's a curious outsider to the poker world and the Vegas lifestyle. Coren, on the other hand, lives and breathes poker: she needs it, thrives on it, romances it just as others would wine and dine a lover.
Why is the book so good? Basically this: "because behind the light, it's-only-me style, Coren is a serious and scrupulous writer. She has taken real care with the macro stuff – the structure of the book, the changes of pace, the link passages, the just-right narrative tug, the changes of emotional register, the careful parsing out of the technical information to ensure that it never overwhelms the exhilaration of the action." http://www.theguardian.com/books/200...r-poorer-coren
(The structure, to elaborate a bit, is simple but effective: the book moves chronologically through Coren's life, beginning with her childhood and moving through the various stages of her poker career. At the end of each chapter, in a short italicized section, we "play a hand" with Vicky during the final table of her EPT win. Eventually these two parts dovetail, with Coren narrating the victory that transformed her into a bona-fide poker celebrity.)
And this: "she has also taken real care with all the micro stuff – the sentence-by-sentence work, the phrasing, the rhythms and cadences of the poker-language, the descriptions of people and place, the lack of cliche, apposite metaphors, well-deployed dialogue, smells, tastes and the neat opening and closing of sections."
I'd add a third reason: honesty. Coren is unflinching open, sometimes painfully so, about her need for poker, human connection, and the contradictions that we all face at and away from the table. "I get it now," she writes. "Feeling alienated, isolated, thinking dark thoughts even as you laugh at jokes, saying 'Nice hand' even as you feel crushed, being among them but not of them, that is being one of them. Sitting around a table with a bunch of people who feel as cut off as you are, at least some of the time; that is community. We are all imperfect in the Vic, and if we weren't we wouldn't be here" (208).
Ever Drifting Down the Stream
Since For Richer, For Poorer was published in 2008, Coren's story has been largely a happy one: after winning the EPT she's remained a public figure, writer, and poker commentator (and I think a game show host too?). She married in 2012. In April 2014 she won EPT San Remo for just under 500K, making her the only player with two EPT titles.
Parts of her life, like her book, have been bittersweet. As some readers will know, Coren left Pokerstars because the site plans to offer table games. “Poker is the game I love, poker is what I signed up to promote," she wrote last January. "The question I’m probably asked most often in interviews is about the danger of addiction, going skint and so on. I’m always careful to explain the difference between the essentially fair nature of poker, where we all take each other on with the same basic chance, and those casino games at unfavourable odds which can be (especially online) so dangerous for the vulnerable or desperate. "(http://www.victoriacoren.com/main/bl...odbye_team_pro). To me, this departures proves a claim from Coren's memoir: that, for her, poker has never been about money.
Notes and Questions
"We tell these gloomy tales to exorcise them, not because we need them listened to. The rhythm of the words...up and down...with the flush draw...bet the pot...the turn comes over...is like a gentle piece of familiar background music" (3)
one example: "Pairs are so pretty, so enticingly symmetrical. Two curvy jacks, like Christmas stockings hanging in a fireplace. Or two round, juicy queens, like quail on a rotisserie. Two spiky kings, determined and macho, like marching soldiers in profile. Two clean, sharp, pure aces. God, I love looking down at my hole cards and finding a pair of matching picture cards. Painted twins" (15).
topics of conversation at the table (58)
the river (95)
time (155)
gambling as classless (174)
Vegas (231)
"They are creatures of contradiction - they are fiercely greedy, lavishly generous, wary in many things, reckless of life, ready to take any advantage, yet possessed by a diseased sense of honor." James Runciman (1895)
God and luck (295)
Cliffs
For Richer, For Poorer is probably the best poker memoir I've read. Two challenges of the genre is making the poker discussion accessible and making yourself a compelling character. Coren achieves both tasks remarkably well.
02-21-2015
, 12:07 PM
02-21-2015
, 12:43 PM
The Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler
I haven't spent much time on my mental game. One reason why is because one of the biggest mental game pitfalls, tilt, doesn't seem to affect me. Things that infuriate some people—losing with AK to AJ all-in pre, getting oversetted or overflushed—don't bother me much at all (neither does getting cut off in traffic). Part of the reason is my temperament; I'm even-keeled by nature. And part of the reason is because, after thousands of hands online, I'm inured to suckout. Want to learn how to take bad beats? Grind the 180man turbos for like five years.
But tilt is only one of many potential pitfalls. Of the four categories in Tendler's book--Tilt, Fear, Motivation, and Confidence--I think my biggest mental game leak is
Fear
Reading through the list of symptoms for fear, four jumped out:
1. You avoid high-variance plays that you know are the right decision.
*ironically, after typing up these notes a few days ago, I played last night, took a high-variance, clearly +EV spot, and took a bad beat. I didn't tilt
2. You constantly second-guess decisions
3. You feel overwhelmed about learning the game
4. You're reluctant to move up in stakes
The consequences of fear—avoiding high-variance situations and a reluctance to move up in stakes—may explain why I merely think I'm less prone to tilt. If I'm avoiding the emotional stress that comes from making a high-variance (but correct) play, then it's less likely I'll tilt. But I sacrifice EV, which is unacceptable.
Battling Fear with Certainty
“As simple as it sounds, certainty is the antidote to fear,” Tendler writes. “When you have certainty, there's nothing to fear. This is why people who have certainty display confidence, even when they're wrong.”
Tempted to digress here about the relationship between certainty (dogmatism) and ideology, but no. Maybe some other time.
"The skill in poker," he continues, "comes from creating certainty where there were previously unknowns"
Examples:
pot odds and pot size (instantly knowing that 5*15 is 75 vs needing to calculate it)
villain's hand ranges
bluffing spots
Developing certainty, and eventually unconscious competence, takes time. It's painful. It's frustrating. I urge anyone interested in improving his game to check out this extremely good post on deliberate practice, which describes systematic training drills for NL holdem. : http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...-nlhe-1107105/
The Process Model
provides order to the naturally recurring parts of your poker game (or any activity). It has five parts that work together:
1. Prepare: what you do before playing
*target focus-point during the next session
2. Perform: [“you play your best by focusing intensely on the game itself and far less on how you're playing”]
3. RESULT
4. Evaluate: a review of results right after playing
*look closely at tough decisions
*how much did variance affect the outcome?
*write down game flow/notes
5. Analyze: Actively working on your game away from the table
and the cycle starts over with Prepare.
**
I plan to keep tracking my mental game progress as part of a larger plan for improvement. If anyone has resources along these lines, books articles etc, please pass them along!
I haven't spent much time on my mental game. One reason why is because one of the biggest mental game pitfalls, tilt, doesn't seem to affect me. Things that infuriate some people—losing with AK to AJ all-in pre, getting oversetted or overflushed—don't bother me much at all (neither does getting cut off in traffic). Part of the reason is my temperament; I'm even-keeled by nature. And part of the reason is because, after thousands of hands online, I'm inured to suckout. Want to learn how to take bad beats? Grind the 180man turbos for like five years.
But tilt is only one of many potential pitfalls. Of the four categories in Tendler's book--Tilt, Fear, Motivation, and Confidence--I think my biggest mental game leak is
Fear
Reading through the list of symptoms for fear, four jumped out:
1. You avoid high-variance plays that you know are the right decision.
*ironically, after typing up these notes a few days ago, I played last night, took a high-variance, clearly +EV spot, and took a bad beat. I didn't tilt
2. You constantly second-guess decisions
3. You feel overwhelmed about learning the game
4. You're reluctant to move up in stakes
The consequences of fear—avoiding high-variance situations and a reluctance to move up in stakes—may explain why I merely think I'm less prone to tilt. If I'm avoiding the emotional stress that comes from making a high-variance (but correct) play, then it's less likely I'll tilt. But I sacrifice EV, which is unacceptable.
Battling Fear with Certainty
“As simple as it sounds, certainty is the antidote to fear,” Tendler writes. “When you have certainty, there's nothing to fear. This is why people who have certainty display confidence, even when they're wrong.”
Tempted to digress here about the relationship between certainty (dogmatism) and ideology, but no. Maybe some other time.
"The skill in poker," he continues, "comes from creating certainty where there were previously unknowns"
Examples:
pot odds and pot size (instantly knowing that 5*15 is 75 vs needing to calculate it)
villain's hand ranges
bluffing spots
Developing certainty, and eventually unconscious competence, takes time. It's painful. It's frustrating. I urge anyone interested in improving his game to check out this extremely good post on deliberate practice, which describes systematic training drills for NL holdem. : http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...-nlhe-1107105/
The Process Model
provides order to the naturally recurring parts of your poker game (or any activity). It has five parts that work together:
1. Prepare: what you do before playing
*target focus-point during the next session
2. Perform: [“you play your best by focusing intensely on the game itself and far less on how you're playing”]
3. RESULT
4. Evaluate: a review of results right after playing
*look closely at tough decisions
*how much did variance affect the outcome?
*write down game flow/notes
5. Analyze: Actively working on your game away from the table
and the cycle starts over with Prepare.
**
I plan to keep tracking my mental game progress as part of a larger plan for improvement. If anyone has resources along these lines, books articles etc, please pass them along!
02-22-2015
, 12:37 PM
Quote:
Glad to see you've finally read Tendler! His second book is definitely worth reading, as well. There are a few PGC threads that are what I would call applied Tendler. See Clydetheglide, Benjamin Barker and Skraper, for instance.
Why do you think "fear" is your major leak?
(Very much enjoyed your blog on FullTilt, by the way.)
Why do you think "fear" is your major leak?
(Very much enjoyed your blog on FullTilt, by the way.)
When I read through the four categories, I found myself nodding in agreement to many of the questions under the Fear section. If I had to rank the four in order of importance, my list would probably go:
1. fear 2. motivation 3. confidence 4. tilt
This last week at the tables, I've tried to be more self-aware about spots where I'm uncertain/fearful. Examples would be I call on the button with a medium pair, say 99, the flop comes 236, the original raiser bets pot. Or an aggressive player makes it 20 over some limps on the button and I have AKss in the sb.
In the first spot uncertainty is more of an issue (I don't know what to do); in the second, fear (I know what to do, but don't want to do it because I may lose a big pot).
More broadly, if I track my poker "career," my progress has plateaued for long stretches. When I played online, from like 2005-2011, I passed up chances to move up in stakes, even though my online roll was healthy, in favor of "stability" to focus on more important things (like finishing grad school). Seems like this could be Fear masked as Responsibility. While I don't really regret passing up the chance to play Isildur HU4ROLZ, my goals have changed, and moving up in stakes is necessary in order to get a holistic sense of a poker room.