And, we back ...

#JANUARY REVIEW

It's a reset, so I guess we have to set new goals. I'm going to blather for a bit here, bear with me.

#LIFE

All of these goals are secondary to a couple things worth mentioning once. First, I remain desperately in love with my partner, and time we get together each week is very high on my priority list. I'd rather run errands together than play on Bovada for a couple hours, and sometimes that is what happens.

Second, I'm in a great position professionally that, for the next 18 months, demands a fair bit from me. So I have lost some of my discretionary time to the activity that funds the rest, and while that's unfortunate, it's a worthwhile tradeoff imo.

So falling short of goals occurs in a context of whether the goals were at all realistic to begin with, given actual priorities.

#The Novel

I finally figured out a path forward. It will either work, or I'll move on to another writing project, but I think it will likely work.

The challenge now is time. Writing always seem to be the thing that gets sacrificed during the weekend. I've tried getting up super early (for me, a notorious late riser) to write, and while it got writing done, it also just resulted in me being exhausted all the time. Evenings are sporadic, leaving weekends. Usually play poker Friday night, so Sun AM is the natural window. If I could write for 2-3 hours a week, I would be happy.

Not Bob_124 prop bet level, but still.

So, we'll see.

#Other Writing

I have a project with my daughter that is centered around tarot cards, kabalah, and various forms of neo-pagan practice (I have a PhD in Comparative Religion, this is all stuff somewhat central to parts of my research). It's taking about 25 hours a month to produce content, so that is significant writing time for sure.

Nicely, this is writing that I can do while distracted and while other things are happening. So I think this progresses without getting in the way of #TheNovel. But worth noting.

#At The Felt

Man, it's amazing how fast you can get rusty. I hadn't played in 6 weeks, and felt like a n00b.

Dunno' if you've heard, but games in Houston are pretty ****ing unbelievable. Still. 4-7 players to most flops, regardless of preflop action. Players that are pretty predictable. Yadda. 330 BB max buy in. Yadda yadda.

You should come. Seriously.

My biggest leak is that I own severaly condos in ValueTown, and I let people take me there regularly. Exploitative folding is something that continues to elude me, and it costs me in spots where villains are never, ever, ever bluffing. Ever. Never ever. So we'll try to work on that.

In as important news, booked AirBnB for the annual OverEducatedBunchOfGuysDoVegasForMarchMadness trip and am looking for one for the Senior Event, now that I am officially an old man.

If I'm doing that, I better start playing more tournaments, tho, right?

#READING WELL

God, it's depressing.

I didn't publish anything to my site for about 100 days and ... nobody noticed. Welcome to the contemporary internet, right?

I have a history with depression. The metaphor I often use is that depression is a wolf with which I share property. There have been times in my life the wolf has been in the house, curled up in bed with me, and I've felt the hot breath and smelled the dank spit as they hover over me. Nicely, it's been a while.

But the wolf often makes itself heard, and reminds me they are there. And sometimes they circle the house, marking territory and snarling.

One of the signs is that I stop writing. So the wolf was around for the fall.

Nicely, I have caught up, and posts are scheduled through March, and I'm writing here again. So, yay.

Here's what came out in the interim:

https://mankinlevine.com/2019/12/rea...raphic-novels/. Five Graphic Novels. YMMV.

https://mankinlevine.com/2019/12/rea...y-j-m-coetzee/. Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee. Coetzee is a bit of a modern master, so the writing is all quite good. But I think I sum it up decently: It is an interesting book, but a minor one, more slow and thought-provoking than gripping or deeply engaging.

https://mankinlevine.com/2020/01/rea...tillie-walden/. Two graphic novels by Tillie Walden. She's not a secret anymore, but Walden may be the most important newish voice in the medium in years. I find her stuff emotionally provacative and visually delightful. Good stuff.

https://mankinlevine.com/2020/01/rea...-eileen-myles/. The Importance of Being Iceland/ by Eileen Myles. If you are a fan of the 90s NYC art scene, this will be of interest. If not, best to move on rather quickly.

#TEACHING

History of Hip Hop class went fantastically well. I start teaching another of the same structure (3 half day sessions) on the figure of the Trickster in late Feb, so prep/review is about to kick into high gear.

#FEBRUARY GOALS

[ ] 1k hands on Bovada
[ ] 8+ hours of hand study
[ ] 2 sessions of live play
[ ] Prep well for Trickster class and enjoy the 1st two sessions of it
[ ] Overfold in 1 spot live

Yeah, the 5th is the least likely ...

GL with the goals!

Nobody offers a better negative freeroll than me #GTnOpropbettor

#FEBRUARY REVIEW

Still the shortest month, but a day longer.

[673] 1k hands on Bovada
[20] 8+ hours of hand study
[3] 2 sessions of live play
[1st Session only, but see below] Prep well for Trickster class and enjoy the 1st two sessions of it
[0] Overfold in 1 spot live

Told you I can't overfold.

#LIFE

Highlights of the month? Taught the first session of my class on Tricksters and it went well. Second class was delayed due to a massive burst water main that closed schools. That was weird, as people's ability to separate different apocalyptic events is, evidently, lacking and boiling water became tied to COVID-19 response in people's minds ... odd.

Speaking of ... this ****'s hard to figure out. My daughter is in NYC. Skipping ahead of February and into real time, her school is on quarantine. Classes are canceled for a few days (which the campus satire described as Snow Day! But it's the apocalypse! which is pretty good). But, that's concerning, as the most common response is to day drink, putting thousands of hormones in conflict with medical advice to not swap spit. So.

But the challenge is really how to navigate: how concerned to be, what plance to maintain, what plans to cancel, how to support immediate family, etc. It's as important not to get sucked into bravado (**** it, we all gotta' die someday) as not to get sucked into theEndDays (toilet paper! we all need toilet paper!).

What else ... so, I've played sports simulations since 4th grade (Strat-O-Matic ftw). Played may not be the right verb. Basically, I don't dabble, so these were monstrous, play every game yourself, track stats by hand, obsessions. About 15 or 17 years ago the main focus moved from baseball to futbol and in the past few years an American football project has joined in. It's the thing I do while doing other things, mostly.

Anyhow, the football one wrapped up a season which is always a fun thing. If that seems of interest to you, it's all at https://wfl.dmlco.com/ .

It was a good month.

#Writing

Hush, you.

#AT THE FELT

3 sessions! I dunno. The games are nutty, man. In services of something I'll talk more about next time, for one session I tracked # of players to the flop and pot size. Ready for some numbers?

171 hands.
0 folded unraised to the SB.
No flop hands (meaning, everyone folded to a raise pre): 16 (9%).
Avg. players to flop: 3.7
Avg. pot size to flop: 30BB.

It's a useful exercise. And it highlights how far away from the Button-raises-BB-calls-heads-up-to-the-flop world it is.

February Bankroll net: +20%. So, that's fun.

#READING WELL

https://mankinlevine.com/2020/02/rea...-marlon-james/. Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James. Yes, please. Afro-futuristic fantasy horror. Deep, engaging, and pretty massively page turning.

https://mankinlevine.com/2020/02/rea...-peter-heller/. The River by Peter Heller. A wilderness adventure where the wilderness is a main character. Heller's a highly skilled writer, if you've liked anything else by him, you'll like this.

https://mankinlevine.com/2020/02/rea...lo-villaverde/. Cecilia Valdés by Cirilo Villaverde. In preparation for a trip to Cuba, I read this, which is acclaimed as the first (and, best?) early Cuban novel. YMMV.

#MARCH GOALS

[ ] 1k hands on Bovada
[ ] 20+ hours of hand study
[ ] Survive MarchMadness in LV, which has a different dimension to it right now
[ ] Deliver final two Trickster classes
[ ] Overfold in 1 spot live. #nevergiveup

I've done similar tracking exercises in the past, typically over like 1 hour sample sizes over 10 different sessions. But the variance in tracking over lol sample sizes can be huge.

Last session out, there was one guy who would always straddle his Button. He was the perfect fish for the game, just way too loose, very face-up ABC and not aggro / tricky in the least, and a payoff station. So even with his straddle and his Button advantage he was no threat to anyone.

Anyways, the table began keeping track, and his Button straddle ended up getting a walk *seven* times. It was kinda mind boggling.

Gstillplaysinaverygoodgame...Ithink?G

GSendHisAssToHoustonG!!!

:>

#MARCH REVIEW

Holy ****. I mean ... yeah.

[524] 1k hands on Bovada
[22] 20+ hours of hand study
[-inc-] Survive MarchMadness in LV, which has a different dimension to it right now
[-inc-] Deliver final two Trickster classes
[ LOL ] Overfold in 1 spot live. #nevergiveup

#LIFE

Hard. Daughter came back home from NYC, and we're past the magical 14 day point without her killing any of her family, so that's cool. I mean that in a contagion sense, although I also think she's suffering a bit. I feel for her: on the brink of independence, yanked back under our roof without being allowed to do, well, anything.

It's a good thing our family likes each other.

But I'm exhausted. Work is very complicated, as we're navigating being part of the long term help for the current situation (we're a largeish non-profit that helps people in financial crisis), taking care of our own employees, and dealing with all the nutty details of how to move about half our workforce out of their offices (about half already were WFH).

I dunno. I keep trying to get the family to really dive into small rituals with enthusiasm--Friday Movie Night! Game Night! Fancy Take Out Food! But none of that drowns out the emotional and mental toll of the moment. There are times I'm very sad, times I'm frightened, many times I'm exceedingly grateful for the privilege of being in a position where neither my nor my partner's livelihood is threatened and where our financial situation is solid, etc.

Working full time and being a mucketymuck in this moment is a challenge. Finding the balance between messages of hope and messages of realism, finding ways to support people across their spectrum of need (some need a way to decompress, some need to compartmentalize work, etc.), all of that. And our work hasn't slowed down at all.

It's all good. It's just much of a muchness.

#Writing

Hush, you.

#AT THE FELT

Played one session in March. I have no memory of it, but I ended up. So there's that.

March Bankroll net: +39%. So, that's fun.

Just when everything broke, I had engaged in some coaching aimed at the deep&wild local games. Given I don't know when live play will come back for me, decided instead I needed to focus on fundamentals, so off to Bovada for me.

#READING WELL

https://mankinlevine.com/2020/03/rea...kofte-tamirat/. The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkofte Tamirat. Engaging exploration of immigration with a bit of coming-of-age sprinkled in.

https://mankinlevine.com/2020/03/rea...y-esi-edugyan/. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. I really love Edugyan by now. This one is sort of a 19th Century adventure that ricochets from the Caribbean to the frozen Canadian tundra to the construction in England of the world's first aquarium. No, really.

#APRIL GOALS
[ ] 1.5k hands on Bovada
[ ] Coaching part next (I haz homework)
[ ] Stay safe
[ ] Stay sane

Life is a little overly full right now. I cannot imagine a return to live poker for at least a few months, and I cannot seem to find a rhythm where online play is a regular thing.

As such, I'm going to pause this PGC until playing is a more regular thing. In the meantime, I'm trying to work through Play Optimaler, which is exciting.

Book reviews, or whatever it is I write about books, continue roughly every other week at https://mankinlevine.com if anyone follows those.

I'll be back on the regular once there is enough poker activity to support it.

Until then, stay safe and stay sane.