The Poker Project (playing and writing about poker in the U.S.)
I've learned a bunch from the strategy/life posts on 2+2 over the years and want to involve others in my own poker-relat
I blew off the evening sesh in favor of the gym + swimming + getting high + canoodling. It appears that I'm improving at failing. Progress?
Bob's November Mini-Challenge [24/30]
Seems like a win to me
^ I'm wondering how this moment of poker-pro rebellion relates to your basketball dream of getting lost in the stadium. I can't seem to arrive at a conclusion but, hey, I'm not a Tarot reader.
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^ I'm wondering how this moment of poker-pro rebellion relates to your basketball dream of getting lost in the stadium. I can't seem to arrive at a conclusion but, hey, I'm not a Tarot reader.
no pro here, just a burned-out grinder.
Good question, Dr. I can only speculate. It seems to me that the two moments are in tension: on the one hand, a stubborn refusal to give up and accept that I'll never make it (to the locker room, to the finish line, to "success"); on the other, a willingness to embrace failure as part of self-care and a good-enough life. As Ross Gay puts it in Delight #4: Blowing it Off,
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Over the years I can say that I've moved, at least aspirationally, from the "never quit" camp to the "blowing it off" camp. But not entirely. It's not so easy to shed my skin as a striving baller, in dreams or in real life. Take this note from the epilogue of my dear-god-when-will-it-be-finished poker book:
[quote=bob_124]A paradox: finishing the book is a special kind of failure, because it represents my inability to quit, to put my striving behind me. But it's not something that I'm willing to give up.[/quote]
now, back to the draft and the cat-o'-nine-tails!
I'm going to make an effort to dramatise "the minutest chatter in the Siberia of my mind" as my daily task from this point on (a deliberate miscreading of Ross Gay, I think) largely because the imagery is worth savouring.
Whereas back in the day we used to talk about the Sisyphean task of rolling the boulder up the hill, back when we actually had to read Camus to find out what this metaphor meant (rather than merely prompting a chat with AI), or, for those who were sincerely devoted to misery, read Kierkegaard about being doubly-invested in resignation and faith, in a non-Hegelian way, NOW we can routinely call ourselves "free" simply by delighting in "blowing if off".
Next task: to prompt AI into a conversation about the paradox of "not giving-up the act of not giving-up".
PS. Just did so and AI effectively said you had embraced Taoism, or Acceptance and Commitment Theory, which isn't a bad thing, since you're "living authentically".
PPS. It would've been cool if AI name-checked your poker novel, although, to be fair AI doesn't seem to like citing sources ...
I'm going to make an effort to dramatise "the minutest chatter in the Siberia of my mind" as my daily task from this point on (a deliberate miscreading of Ross Gay, I think) largely because the imagery is worth savouring.
There is indeed much worth savo(u)ring in his writing!
Whereas back in the day we used to talk about the Sisyphean task of rolling the boulder up the hill, back when we actually had to read Camus to find out what this metaphor meant (rather than merely prompting a chat with AI), or, for those who were sincerely devoted to misery, read Kierkegaard about being doubly-invested in resignation and faith, in a non-Hegelian way, NOW we ca
I've been called worse things than a Taoist, surely.
Have you been taking deep dives into the AI rabbit hole, Dr.? Interesting times, for sure. You might enjoy this recent NYT piece, Why Does AI Write Like...That?
Have you been taking deep dives into the AI rabbit hole, Dr.? Interesting times, for sure. You might enjoy this recent NYT piece, Why Does AI Write Like...That?
"I'm standing to speak in order to delve into the tapestry of my ghosty mind, where I may find the appropriate metaphor to mix."
I feel like an old guy trying to speak in hip-hop. Generally speaking I'm an AI dystopian and therefore equate the LLM with the nuclear bomb. Being a Henry James nerd, I've noted a degree of correspondence between his writing method and LLMs, particularly as back in the late 60s, that is, before the internet and microchips became a thing, linguists were counting how often HJ used certain words, which led them to conclude that his writing was definitely abnormal.
I mean I could see myself going down the rabbit hole of AI's take on Samuel Beckett, for instance, or AI comparing a Gordon Lish version of Raymond Carver to a non-GL version. Question remains, though, whether I'd be better-off sitting in a high-raked game of NL holdem and listening to the other players talk about whatever passes through their minds.
Or perhaps I might be better-off just reading Joseph Conrad (another writer with an LLM vibe, given how he learnt English, in his early adult years, from talking with sailors and reading copious amounts of Shakespeare).
"I'm standing to speak in order to delve into the tapestry of my ghosty mind, where I may find the appropriate metaphor to mix."I feel like an old guy trying to speak in hip-hop. Generally speaking I'm an AI dystopian and therefore equate the LLM with the nuclear bomb. Being a Henry James nerd, I've noted a degree of correspondence between his writing method and LLMs, particula
whatta time to be alive! this you?
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That's just my alter ego.
This is the real me:
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Year-End Favorites
It's that time of year, yall. Been wanting to share a few favorites across different mediums, starting with some recent goodreeds.
George Saunders,
A side of Saunders I'd never seen before, shedding light on one of the uglier parts of gambling (cliffs: don't blow your christmas bonus on dice, especially when you have fourteen kids)
[quote=]There comes that phase in life when, tired of losing, you decide to stop losing, then continue losing. Then you decide to really stop losing, and continue losing. The losing goes on and on so long you begin to watch with curiosity, wondering how low you can go.[/quote]
The battle to stop clever people betting, written anonymously by a data journalist for The Economist, has a nice overview of all the ways sports betting sites aggressively profile its users. Probably nothing new for folks in this world, but for a betting dilettante like me, it was an insightful read.
[quote=]An alternative is to get someone else, known as a “beard” or “mule”, to bet on your behalf. Such “proxy betting” is a violation of every sportsbook’s terms, and if they catch you doing it, they will void any winnings. Moreover, according to Elihu Feustel, a gambling lawyer, if the punter executes bets in a mule account himself, it is arguably fraud. Nonetheless, it is widespread.
The safest beards are close friends and relatives, who can be trusted to pay out winnings. With appropriate operational security—never logging into different accounts from the same device or wireless network; never having multiple users place the same bet; and maintaining a distinct set of physical locations for each user—such artisanal bearding is almost impossible to detect. One BetBash attendee says he owns around 20 iPads, each with its own data plan, and routinely drives around his state so that each wager comes from an appropriate address.
The safest beards are close friends and relatives, who can be trusted to pay out winnings. With appropriate operational security—never logging into different accounts from the same device or wireless network; never having multiple users place the same bet; and maintaining a distinct set of physical locations for each user—such artisanal bearding is almost impossible to detect. One BetBash attendee says he owns around 20 iPads, each with its own data plan, and routinely drives around his state so that each wager comes from an appropriate address.[/quote]
In addition to being my new favorite word, "bearding" is a term that also popped up in one of my favorite podcast episodes of the year, a conversation with GOAT NBA bettor Bob Voulgaris, who some of you will no doubt recognize from his appearances on High Steaks Poker and Hustler Casino Live etc etc. The whole convo is gold, but I especially liked his story about the massive edge that he discovered that literally no one else knew about: one of those hiding-in-plain-sight edges that's obvious only after the fact. (17 min)
Favorite book of the year was Open Throat, an LA-based novel narrated by a mountain lion. The narrator's weird interiority is the book's hook, some people will hate it but a lot of people loved it--was one of those times when after I got a third unsolicited you-should-read-this from a friend, I knew I had to check it out.
More polarizing was my favorite musical find of the year: Geese/Cameron Winter, a band and a lead singer whose enjoyment probably hinges mostly on Winter's voice.
And I'm sure I've sung my praises about season two of Andor, but once more: Yay for Andor! Best show I've since since Bedda Call Saul. Doesn't hurt that I love me some Ben Mendelsohn
December Recap
Happy New Year! I expect I'll have more to say about wrapping up last year and starting this one, but for now a few December pics.
tis the season of delight 😀
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mallards on the levee
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mallards burning on the levee
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my new water bottle
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thriving fluffball
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thriving fluffballs
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Year-End Favorites
It's that time of year, yall. Been wanting to share a few favorites across different mediums, starting with some recent goodreeds.
George Saunders,
A side of Saunders I'd never seen before, shedding light on one of the uglier parts of gambling (cliffs: don't blow your christmas bonus on dice, especially when you have fourteen kids)he's a very controversial person in the sportsbetting area
i personally have no clue whether or not he's legit or not but his origin story stuff doesn't make sense - so whether it's because he is leaving out some personal details for privacy/brevity or it's because he made the entire thing up is debatable
some people have reverse engineered the thing he says was a huge edge and found it didn't exist
he's shown up in sportsbetting threads here (posts under the name coltrane dog or something like that) issuing million dollar challenges and then quietly disappearing from the thread when other pro sports bettors agreed to the challenge
there's a lot of speculation that he was laundering money from some greek organized crime via sports betting
or just parlaying his family money into a much more interesting way of explaining how you have your money through gambling rather than inheritance (his dad is big in restaurants and real estate in winnipeg) - which is something quite commonly done in the gambling world with notable examples of alan chainsaw kessler, dan bilzerian, & mikki mase
what we do know is he's a very smart man who somehow snuck his way into a front office nba position for 3 years and has an incredibly large networth due to crypto that allowed him to buy a spanish soccer team - that's the only thing that's confirmed
fake news abounds! If you make it to Nola or Biloxi, please do lemme know, would be great to meet in person.
as usual, mark speaks the trooth
he's a very controversial person in the sportsbetting areai personally have no clue whether or not he's legit or not but his origin story stuff doesn't make sense - so whether it's because he is leaving out some personal details for privacy/brevity or it's because he made the entire thing up is debatablesome people have reverse engineered the thing he says was a huge edge and f
my favorite part of your poast was reading it under the impression that George Saunders, not haralobob, is the controversial person in question.
I'm not surprised to hear any of this, and even if I'd bet on Bilz or Mikkee way before Bob, who can ever really know how someone gets their money?
You should check out this podcast with Joel--he references Bob's early activity on 2p2 and generally speaking there's a ton of sports betting/AP talk. I think his discussion of Bob is in this episode, but if not it's in the next one.
January Recap
I've been in writing jail for much of the last few months, and haven't given much thought to "goals" for the New Year. For now, I can say that I definitely want to bring back Bob's Books—let's go with 50 for the year, which is a number I don't think I've ever been close to hitting.
This month I read David Szalay's
, the Booker Prize winning novel about a passive, emotionally withdrawn Hungarian dude who finds himself ascending to London's high society. For me it started extremely strong, flagged in the middle, and ended pretty well. I'm glad I read it.
My book club read
, a novel I hadn't heard of despite it being something of a sensation. I didn't give this one my full attention so don't want to be too harsh, but it felt self-indulgent and repetitive; the best thing about the book is probably its title. That said, it offers a glimpse into the mind of a traumatized sadist, which isn't something you see every day.
Bob's Books [2/50]
A wild shorter-form read: Andy Greenberg's He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asi... (video version in the spoiler)
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do you even read, bro?
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It's also clear at the moment that, without something of a nudge, I won't play poker. Which means another lolvolume challenge is in order, albeit one that should be easy to complete: let's say 150 hours by the end of May.
Bob's Spring Mini-Challenge
[7/150]
lolpels
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old haunts
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flopville
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Enjoy the month yall!
I've been in writing jail for much of the last few months, and haven't given much thought to "goals" for the New Year. For now, I can say that I definitely want to bring back Bob's Books—let's go with 50 for the year, which is a number I don't think I've ever been close to hitting.
Kind of like trying to make a throw from half-court perhaps? I read 30 books last year and considered that more than decent (and now feel bragging-like guilt simmering). I mean, if you read more than 30 I'll buy you a coffee one day. No skimming allowed. No pamphlets, either. Poetry collections count as double.
Are you from the Gulf Coast?
How is the 1/3 at Harrah's?
Kind of like trying to make a throw from half-court perhaps? I read 30 books last year and considered that more than decent (and now feel bragging-like guilt simmering). I mean, if you read more than 30 I'll buy you a coffee one day. No skimming allowed. No pamphlets, either. Poetry collections count as double.
Sounds like we have a bet, Dr.! If I read 30 books or more, ship the coffee (which will require your venerable presence in Nola). If not, I'll look into flights to kangarooland.
I am indeed. You?
Id rank the games down here as second-tier: not as good as the best markets (lolTX etc) but better than most everywhere else.
Sounds like we have a bet, Dr.! If I read 30 books or more, ship the coffee (which will require your venerable presence in Nola). If not, I'll look into flights to kangarooland.
I am indeed. You?
Id rank the games down here as second-tier: not as good as the best markets (lolTX etc) but better than most everywhere else.
Im from America.
The best markets are liberal areas. Taking blue money is always the sweetest but their money is dirty anyways, its nice to hit them where it hurts (washington dc/boston ma/commiefornia)
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👍
The best markets are liberal areas. Taking blue money is always the sweetest but their money is dirty anyways, its nice to hit them where it hurts (washington dc/boston ma/commiefornia)
gl and holla at your boy: https://sevencard2003.blogspot.com/
Ode to Max
Got some sad news yesterday that one of the GOAT dogs in my life, a 14ish year old border collie lab mix named Max, passed away. He was a Houston dog. Back in the day I spent time every week volunteering at the Humane Society, and I can still remember little Max (whose name at the time was Bacon) serenely trotting down a narrow gauntlet surrounded on all sides by frantic yelping dogs. From the start he was cute and compassionate and composed. I convinced a buddy of mine to adopt him, and over the years we spent lots of time together. I was Max's dogsitter almost every Friday, and I usually took him to St. Joseph House, a psychosocial rehab facility where he quickly became the resident therapy dog (Max makes a cameo in this essay I wrote about the Clubhouse—my first crack at narrative nonfiction).
I could go on. But the important thing is that Max had a wonderful life—the best parents, a decent uncle Bob, many bones and pets and adventures—and he'll be missed.
on my old balcony
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at the Clubhouse with Michaelangela
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tug of war
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spreading the love
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the best boy
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I grew up with border collies and couldn't think of a better therapy dog. Max looks like he enjoyed life.
He's a similar size to this pair who kept watch at my brother's place for many years:
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I grew up with border collies and couldn't think of a better therapy dog. Max looks like he enjoyed life.
He certainly did. A happy dog from wire to wire.
He's a similar size to this pair who kept watch at my brother's place for many years:
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Here's an in-real-time pic of me attempting to observe your border collies
Not sure who enjoys our walks more, me or our dog... although she definitely poops more on them.
GR.I.P.Max,imoG
