The Poker Project (playing and writing about poker in the U.S.)
10-03-2021
, 12:47 PM
September Recap
Bob's Books [35/52]
I think the only book I read this month was Bassey Ipki's I'm Telling the Truth, But I'm Lying, an illness narrative about living with bipolar disorder (among many other things). It has more of an experimental structure, and I enjoyed it.
After spending a few weeks in Pensacola dodging Hurricane Ida, I successfully hitched a ride back to Nola with this fluffball
and spent a great weekend up in Boston/New Hampshire on a lake
It's been a rough few months, but hopefully the fall will be better. GL to all the pilgrims traveling to Vegas for the WSOP!
Bob's Books [35/52]
I think the only book I read this month was Bassey Ipki's I'm Telling the Truth, But I'm Lying, an illness narrative about living with bipolar disorder (among many other things). It has more of an experimental structure, and I enjoyed it.
After spending a few weeks in Pensacola dodging Hurricane Ida, I successfully hitched a ride back to Nola with this fluffball
Spoiler:
and spent a great weekend up in Boston/New Hampshire on a lake
Spoiler:
It's been a rough few months, but hopefully the fall will be better. GL to all the pilgrims traveling to Vegas for the WSOP!
Last edited by bob_124; 10-03-2021 at 12:55 PM.
11-07-2021
, 03:05 PM
Well that does sound like the most boring video game of all time for sure 
And it is a brutal drive even in a car much less a bus.
I had to forgo the WSOP again this year - Carl M called me and asked if I was going and I said "hopefully next year" and he said "that assumes we make it to next year"
And it is a brutal drive even in a car much less a bus.I had to forgo the WSOP again this year - Carl M called me and asked if I was going and I said "hopefully next year" and he said "that assumes we make it to next year"
11-19-2021
, 03:47 PM
Quote:
Well that does sound like the most boring video game of all time for sure And it is a brutal drive even in a car much less a bus.
I had to forgo the WSOP again this year - Carl M called me and asked if I was going and I said "hopefully next year" and he said "that assumes we make it to next year"
And it is a brutal drive even in a car much less a bus.I had to forgo the WSOP again this year - Carl M called me and asked if I was going and I said "hopefully next year" and he said "that assumes we make it to next year"
Have a great Thanksgiving. Looking forward to playing with you over the dec holidays
11-29-2021
, 12:24 PM
October/November Recap
sheeit, I missed an Oct update. Overall things are better than they were in Aug/September. Hurricane Ida arrived just as two of my closest friends were hit with Covid; one of them has long Covid and the other one, my housemate, passed away. September was mostly about deciding what to do with his stuff, especially his two dogs, and recovering from stress and grief. We found a home for one of the fluffballs (the extroverted pit mix) and I kept the other one (the introverted husky mix). The last two months have mostly involved trying to salvage the fall, and I've more or less been able to do so. Wrapping up two classes. Sent out a meaty book draft at the end of October. Been reading more. Continuing to make questionable decisions in both fantasy basketball and life.
Bob's Books [42/52]
Nnedi Okorafor, Shuri: The Search For Black Panther. Read this for my Health and Technology class. I don't know much about graphic novels or the Marvel universe, but it was a fun read and I'm inspired to teach a class on science fiction (I also watched and enjoyed Dune...gonna read that book over the holidays)
Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun. narrated by a robot. Basically a Black Mirror episode recast as highbrow speculative fiction. Starts strong and weakens midway through imo...has inspired me to read more Ishiguro (probably Never Let Me Go).
Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys. Whitehead is so damn grim and good. For anyone who cares about US history and can successfully stave off depression, this is a must-read novel about the abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. Here's the newspaper article that spurred Whitehead to delay writing Harlem Shuffle in order to write this one. The book is told from the perspective of one of the boys (now a grown man living in NYC) who reflects on the school's dark history.
Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle. This one, set in 1960s Harlem, lacks the urgency of The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad. It's essentially a heist novel involving an almost-thief named Carney, a furniture store owner who has one foot in the crooked world and one in the straight world. Lots of good parallels with the underground gambling world, which is unsurprising given Whitehead's interest in poker.
Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends
Normal People
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Rooney, a celebrated "millennial novelist" from Ireland, has become something of a literary sensation, and so I picked up one of her novels out of curiosity and ended up really enjoying them all. The first two read to me like highbrow soap operas where not much happens apart from lots of talking and sex and arguing; they're addictively readable. Her third book, Beautiful World, is intellectually heftier without losing the drama of the first two, and it's probably my favorite. One reason for the book's heft is its inclusion of emails between two young women—a famous thirtysomething writer (like Rooney herself) and an underpaid editor at a lit mag—in which they struggle to explain why their lives suck (even if, materially speaking, they're living well). “I know we agree that civilisation is presently in its decadent declining phase," one of them writes, "and that lurid ugliness is the predominant visual feature of modern life. Cars are ugly, buildings are ugly, mass-produced disposable consumer goods are unspeakably ugly. The air we breathe is toxic, the water we drink is full of microplastics, and our food is contaminated by cancerous Teflon chemicals. Our quality of life is in decline, and along with it, the quality of aesthetic experience available to us. The contemporary novel is (with very few exceptions) irrelevant; mainstream cinema is family-friendly nightmare porn funded by car companies and the US Department of Defense; and visual art is primarily a commodity market for oligarchs. It is hard in these circumstances not to feel that modern living compares poorly with the old ways of life, which have come to represent something more substantial, more connected to the essence of the human condition.”
Not much happening pokerwise. I've logged just over 100 hours for the year
and am looking forward to playing more consistently in 2022. Was fun to watch coverage of the Main...the HU battle between Aldemir and Holmes was great.
Nantucket wedding
high art
u talkin to me?
sheeit, I missed an Oct update. Overall things are better than they were in Aug/September. Hurricane Ida arrived just as two of my closest friends were hit with Covid; one of them has long Covid and the other one, my housemate, passed away. September was mostly about deciding what to do with his stuff, especially his two dogs, and recovering from stress and grief. We found a home for one of the fluffballs (the extroverted pit mix) and I kept the other one (the introverted husky mix). The last two months have mostly involved trying to salvage the fall, and I've more or less been able to do so. Wrapping up two classes. Sent out a meaty book draft at the end of October. Been reading more. Continuing to make questionable decisions in both fantasy basketball and life.
Bob's Books [42/52]
Nnedi Okorafor, Shuri: The Search For Black Panther. Read this for my Health and Technology class. I don't know much about graphic novels or the Marvel universe, but it was a fun read and I'm inspired to teach a class on science fiction (I also watched and enjoyed Dune...gonna read that book over the holidays)
Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun. narrated by a robot. Basically a Black Mirror episode recast as highbrow speculative fiction. Starts strong and weakens midway through imo...has inspired me to read more Ishiguro (probably Never Let Me Go).
Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys. Whitehead is so damn grim and good. For anyone who cares about US history and can successfully stave off depression, this is a must-read novel about the abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. Here's the newspaper article that spurred Whitehead to delay writing Harlem Shuffle in order to write this one. The book is told from the perspective of one of the boys (now a grown man living in NYC) who reflects on the school's dark history.
Quote:
He’d thought them pathetic, moaning about what happened forty, fifty years ago, but recognized now it was his own pitiable state that revolted him, how scared he got seeing the name of the place and the pictures. No matter the front he put up, nowadays and back then, his bravado in front of Elwood and other boys. He’d been scared all the time. He was scared still.
Quote:
Striver versus crook. Strivers grasped for something better—maybe it existed, maybe it didn’t—and crooks schemed about how to manipulate the present system. The world as it might be versus the world as it was. But perhaps Carney was being too stark. Plenty of crooks were strivers, and plenty of strivers bent the law.
Normal People
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Rooney, a celebrated "millennial novelist" from Ireland, has become something of a literary sensation, and so I picked up one of her novels out of curiosity and ended up really enjoying them all. The first two read to me like highbrow soap operas where not much happens apart from lots of talking and sex and arguing; they're addictively readable. Her third book, Beautiful World, is intellectually heftier without losing the drama of the first two, and it's probably my favorite. One reason for the book's heft is its inclusion of emails between two young women—a famous thirtysomething writer (like Rooney herself) and an underpaid editor at a lit mag—in which they struggle to explain why their lives suck (even if, materially speaking, they're living well). “I know we agree that civilisation is presently in its decadent declining phase," one of them writes, "and that lurid ugliness is the predominant visual feature of modern life. Cars are ugly, buildings are ugly, mass-produced disposable consumer goods are unspeakably ugly. The air we breathe is toxic, the water we drink is full of microplastics, and our food is contaminated by cancerous Teflon chemicals. Our quality of life is in decline, and along with it, the quality of aesthetic experience available to us. The contemporary novel is (with very few exceptions) irrelevant; mainstream cinema is family-friendly nightmare porn funded by car companies and the US Department of Defense; and visual art is primarily a commodity market for oligarchs. It is hard in these circumstances not to feel that modern living compares poorly with the old ways of life, which have come to represent something more substantial, more connected to the essence of the human condition.”
Not much happening pokerwise. I've logged just over 100 hours for the year
Spoiler:
Nantucket wedding
Spoiler:
high art
Spoiler:
u talkin to me?
Spoiler:
12-12-2021
, 12:11 PM
You've made your return to the LOLive felt, yes? Hope that's been going well. I'm popping into Vegas for a few days, will definitely be getting some hands in
12-27-2021
, 02:09 PM
Happy Holidays!
very reasonable to avoid travel if possible. NOLA definitely isn't back to "normal." Hopefully it will be someday soon but it's looking like the next few months will be rough, unfortunately.
On the plus side, I managed to sneak to Vegas for a few days for some gamboling, and it was a great time. Faded Covid too!
Quote:
Lol, $1/hr is likely where I'm eventually headed. Actually booked a grand total loss of $1 (ONE DOLLAR) in 2020 (lol 12 sessions / 105 sample size) for my first losing year ever.
Wasn't really sure what the mandates were for domestic flights down there (typically I need a connection or two) or the tradeshow or anything else. Plus would have had the hassle of doing the tradeshow all by myself (boss isn't vaxxed for various reasons and isn't allowed down). Just wasn't feeling it overall so I passed, even though I love New Orleans as a destination getaway (probably would have taken the wife and enjoyed the sights as we do and not pokered at all).
Our games, which require double vaccination status and masks, look about the same as they were before as far as I can tell.
GcluelessNewOrleansnoobG
Wasn't really sure what the mandates were for domestic flights down there (typically I need a connection or two) or the tradeshow or anything else. Plus would have had the hassle of doing the tradeshow all by myself (boss isn't vaxxed for various reasons and isn't allowed down). Just wasn't feeling it overall so I passed, even though I love New Orleans as a destination getaway (probably would have taken the wife and enjoyed the sights as we do and not pokered at all).
Our games, which require double vaccination status and masks, look about the same as they were before as far as I can tell.
GcluelessNewOrleansnoobG
On the plus side, I managed to sneak to Vegas for a few days for some gamboling, and it was a great time. Faded Covid too!
12-31-2021
, 01:10 PM
December Recap
Made it safely to AZ for the holidays and will be here for a week or so more before heading back to NOLA. Mainly been chilling and wrapping up the semester. I watched the new Matrix and it was bad verging on terrible, although tbf I might not be clever enough to appreciate Gen Z hipness + the metacommentary on the previous films. Also rewatched The Wire—because why wouldn't I?—and it's even better than I remember. Season 5 feels like the weakest season because of the melodrama/serial killer storyline (though I enjoyed it nevertheless along with the Baltimore Sun crew). Season 1 feels really strong despite starting off somewhat slowly. What I appreciated the most this time is the ridiculous attention to detail and characters arcs (like Dee Dee and Johnny50). I'm gonna have to stop watching TV for a while now since everything will be a disappointment.
Bob's Books [45/52]
I read Katie Kitamura's Intimacies for my book club and enjoyed it. It's literary fiction and made its way onto a bunch of top 10 lists. About a translator in The Hague who develops an attachment to a war criminal (and has her own relationship drama). One of those books where the sentences matter more than what happens.
I also read Patricia Lockwood's Priestdaddy (memoir) and No One is Talking about This (novel). Lockwood, Twitter's unofficial poet laureate, hit it big after her 2017 poem "Rape Joke" went viral. Priestdaddy is about her life as the daughter of a conservative Catholic priest, and it's very witty-irreverent—a must read for anyone interested in American Christianity. Unfortunately No One is Talking About This didn't do it for me. Its premise of writing about social media ("the portal") is cool, but the book was too fragmented to pull me in.
Donking around in Vegas for a few days was fun. I played at the Nugget and the Wynn—probably my two favorite spots—and visited Resorts World for the first time. Solid room. One of my buddies has somehow transformed into a short-stacked grinder. Here he is shipping his nub over an EP open and an LP flat
bet on art
RIP Casino del LOL's cardroom
Made it safely to AZ for the holidays and will be here for a week or so more before heading back to NOLA. Mainly been chilling and wrapping up the semester. I watched the new Matrix and it was bad verging on terrible, although tbf I might not be clever enough to appreciate Gen Z hipness + the metacommentary on the previous films. Also rewatched The Wire—because why wouldn't I?—and it's even better than I remember. Season 5 feels like the weakest season because of the melodrama/serial killer storyline (though I enjoyed it nevertheless along with the Baltimore Sun crew). Season 1 feels really strong despite starting off somewhat slowly. What I appreciated the most this time is the ridiculous attention to detail and characters arcs (like Dee Dee and Johnny50). I'm gonna have to stop watching TV for a while now since everything will be a disappointment.
Bob's Books [45/52]
I read Katie Kitamura's Intimacies for my book club and enjoyed it. It's literary fiction and made its way onto a bunch of top 10 lists. About a translator in The Hague who develops an attachment to a war criminal (and has her own relationship drama). One of those books where the sentences matter more than what happens.
Quote:
Over the course of those long hours in the booth, I sometimes had the unpleasant sensation that of all the people in the room below, of all the people in the city itself, the former president was the person I knew best. In those moments, out of what I can only describe as an excess of imagination, he became the person whose perspective I occupied. I flinched when the proceedings seemed to go against him, I felt quiet relief when they moved in his direction. It was disquieting in the extreme, like being placed inside a body I had no desire to occupy. I was repulsed, to find myself so permeable. With increasing frequency, I avoided looking down into the courtroom, I concentrated on the notes on the page before me, on the words being spoken into my earpiece.
Donking around in Vegas for a few days was fun. I played at the Nugget and the Wynn—probably my two favorite spots—and visited Resorts World for the first time. Solid room. One of my buddies has somehow transformed into a short-stacked grinder. Here he is shipping his nub over an EP open and an LP flat
Spoiler:
Results: AK > 77 #dubbleup!bet on art
Spoiler:
RIP Casino del LOL's cardroom
Spoiler:
01-01-2022
, 12:39 PM
2021 Recap, Looking Ahead
If the image above looks familiar, that's because it is.
Which year sucked more? I'd have to give the slight edge to 2021 because of the insurrection + Hurricane Ida + losing one of my best friends to Covid. Despite that, the year had lots of positives. I inherited a #fluffypup, snuck in some great trips to Boston and AZ, and had a reasonably productive year. I'm not sure what "productive" even means anymore—it certainly doesn't involve printing money—but I managed to consistently carve out meaningful hours, days, and weeks, and so I consider that a win, esp these days. I taught five classes and somehow they all went well. Cranked out another draft of my poker book and am getting closer to bringing that project (and this thread?
) to a close. And then there's
Bob's Books [46/52]
Looking back, this was a fantastic collection of stuff to read and I'm gonna reboot this challenge for 2021. As for last year's faves, Kevin Wilson's Nothing to See Here and Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where are You jump out.
What does the future hold? We'll see. It turns out that early 2020 Bob was correct in his predictions about the direction of the pandemic:
It's tough to plan too far ahead given the volatile state of things, but I'm hoping that our current wave flames out quickly, as it did in S Africa, and I can do a bit more outdoor gamboling. Either way, I'm happy to continue with my usual bizness, so prepare for more puppies and books.
Thanks, as always, to the readers/lurkers/poasters itt and GL in 2022!
If the image above looks familiar, that's because it is.
Which year sucked more? I'd have to give the slight edge to 2021 because of the insurrection + Hurricane Ida + losing one of my best friends to Covid. Despite that, the year had lots of positives. I inherited a #fluffypup, snuck in some great trips to Boston and AZ, and had a reasonably productive year. I'm not sure what "productive" even means anymore—it certainly doesn't involve printing money—but I managed to consistently carve out meaningful hours, days, and weeks, and so I consider that a win, esp these days. I taught five classes and somehow they all went well. Cranked out another draft of my poker book and am getting closer to bringing that project (and this thread?
) to a close. And then there'sBob's Books [46/52]
Spoiler:
Looking back, this was a fantastic collection of stuff to read and I'm gonna reboot this challenge for 2021. As for last year's faves, Kevin Wilson's Nothing to See Here and Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where are You jump out.
What does the future hold? We'll see. It turns out that early 2020 Bob was correct in his predictions about the direction of the pandemic:
Quote:
somehow I fear that the pandemic is an unlimited rebuy donkament and Covid is a deep-pocketed spazz intent on firing multiple bullets
Thanks, as always, to the readers/lurkers/poasters itt and GL in 2022!
02-01-2022
, 08:39 PM
January Recap
After a nice trip to AZ for the holidays, the fluffball and I road-tripped back to Nola. The pic above was taken in Natchez, Missippi—or the Little Easy, as it's called—and I'm tentatively planning a trip back to explore more, as I could only briefly pop in. Now that I'm back, my plan is to survive a half marathon and Mardi Gras. No ez task!
Bob's Books [2/52]
Sapiens: A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind (Vol. 1)
Kink: Stories
I enjoyed both books and have already ordered Sapiens Vol. 2 from the library. I also came across a few interesting longform articles this month. Lots of Stephanie Burt's essay "Against Winning" resonates with me—not only as a perennial pokerer but also as an over-the-hill jock and as an educator.
And Ross Gay, always Ross Gay, who writes beautiful sentences about stuff that I don't understand in a way that makes not care about not understanding. Be Camera, Black-Eyed Aperture is a piece of lit-crit, I guess, that starts with a close reading of a poem by Nikki Finney:
Exploring the country, one dog park at a time
Not a Trail
West Texas. Obviously.
In which novel does this malicious feline appear?
Someone is THRIVING!
After a nice trip to AZ for the holidays, the fluffball and I road-tripped back to Nola. The pic above was taken in Natchez, Missippi—or the Little Easy, as it's called—and I'm tentatively planning a trip back to explore more, as I could only briefly pop in. Now that I'm back, my plan is to survive a half marathon and Mardi Gras. No ez task!
Bob's Books [2/52]
Sapiens: A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind (Vol. 1)
Kink: Stories
I enjoyed both books and have already ordered Sapiens Vol. 2 from the library. I also came across a few interesting longform articles this month. Lots of Stephanie Burt's essay "Against Winning" resonates with me—not only as a perennial pokerer but also as an over-the-hill jock and as an educator.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SB
What I am qualified to say—what I am saying: what links the evils of the modern Olympics to literary criticism, to literary prizes and to A-to-F classroom grades—is that I’m tired of losing and tired of winning, and that we all lose when we focus so often on prizes, grades, and final scores.
Quote:
Be camera, black-eyed aperture. Be diamondback terrapin,
the only animal that can outrun a hurricane. Be 250 million
years old. Be isosceles. Sirius. Rhapsody. Hogon. Dogon.
Hubble. Stay hot. . . . Become the lunations. Look up the
word southing before you use it in a sentence. Know southing
is not a verb. Imitate them remarkable days. Locate all your
ascending nodes. Chew eight times before you swallow the
lyrics and lamentations of James Brown, Abbey Lincoln,
Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, and Aretha. Hey! Watch your
language! Two and a Quarter is not the same as Deuce and
a Quarter. Two-fisted is not two-faced. Remember: One
monkey don’t stop no show. Let your fat belly be quilts of
quietus. Pass on what the great winemakers know: The juice
is not made in the vats but in the vineyard. Keep yourself
rooted in the sun, rain, and darkly camphored air. Grow
until you die, but before you do, leave your final kiss: Lay
mint or orange eucalyptus garland, double tuck these lips.
Careful to the very end what you deny, dismiss, & cut away.
I have spoken the best I know how
the only animal that can outrun a hurricane. Be 250 million
years old. Be isosceles. Sirius. Rhapsody. Hogon. Dogon.
Hubble. Stay hot. . . . Become the lunations. Look up the
word southing before you use it in a sentence. Know southing
is not a verb. Imitate them remarkable days. Locate all your
ascending nodes. Chew eight times before you swallow the
lyrics and lamentations of James Brown, Abbey Lincoln,
Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, and Aretha. Hey! Watch your
language! Two and a Quarter is not the same as Deuce and
a Quarter. Two-fisted is not two-faced. Remember: One
monkey don’t stop no show. Let your fat belly be quilts of
quietus. Pass on what the great winemakers know: The juice
is not made in the vats but in the vineyard. Keep yourself
rooted in the sun, rain, and darkly camphored air. Grow
until you die, but before you do, leave your final kiss: Lay
mint or orange eucalyptus garland, double tuck these lips.
Careful to the very end what you deny, dismiss, & cut away.
I have spoken the best I know how
Quote:
Originally Posted by RG
This looking, described above by Finney and Quintos, this black-eyed opening—this not looking away—is a poetics, yes, but as any poetics is, it is also an ethics. What we look at, what we see, and how, and if we say what we see, is an ethics. Tender black looking with the light coming through is an ethics. Kin to testimony. Kin to witness, I think I’m saying. I will not not see you, Finney’s work repeatedly insists. I will look and say what I see. This witness is my occasion. With my pencil behind my ear.
Spoiler:
Not a Trail
Spoiler:
West Texas. Obviously.
Spoiler:
In which novel does this malicious feline appear?
Spoiler:
Someone is THRIVING!
Spoiler:
