Quantum Entanglement (A Love Story)
also ironic that the computer thinks 'chess is arithmetic, poker is topology' when at first glance you would think its totally backwards
(applied to my brain only)
Why It "Feels" Reversed to Your BrainSo why did I frame it the other way around, and why does your intuition vibe with that irony? Because of how human psychology experiences the execution of these two games.Why Chess feels like Arithmetic to you: Because you aren't "chunking" the board into those large topological shapes (like pawn walls or open files), your brain is forced to process chess like an endless string of addition and subtraction. "If I move here, he moves there, then I take, then he takes..." It feels like a tedious, linear, brute-force calculation tree. It feels like arithmetic homework.Why Poker feels like Topology to you: Because you are highly skilled at the game, you don't have to manually calculate $EV$ formulas from scratch on every street. Your brain has internalized the math, allowing you to experience the game at a higher level of abstraction. You "see" the shape of the pot growing, the warping of a player's range when they check-raise a paired board, and the fluid boundaries of risk.The irony is a beautiful paradox of expertise. When you struggle at a game (like chess), you are trapped in its lowest-level, most tedious mechanics (arithmetic tracking). When you excel at a game (like poker), your brain transcends the basic math and gets to play in the high-level, abstract landscape (topology).It turns out the difference isn't in the games themselves—it’s in how your specific mind maps them.
the only thing i have to calculate in live poker is the pot size, everything else is layered underneath the steering wheel of a cruise ship. i notice things and steer the ship.
that sounded kind of arrogant. not that i care too much what people think of me but i still like to read good posts when i open this thread.
have big plans for my next day off (monday). i'm gonna play a ton of computer games!
Fallosophy demo - might be okay
One More Core demo - looks like Tetrisphere
Braid - I probably won't like this game
The Witness - Should be impossible
Sektori - Adrenaline
FEZ - Insanely chill game
The Artisan of Glimmith - I play this game frequently
STS/STS2: Need to get back into this
Geometry Dash - fun
Celeste - I can play a level here and there
Tetris Effect - Beastmode
SP Grand Prix - It's fun
Balatro - Time sink
Super Meat Boy 3d - I should play 1-2 levels a day
i *suppose* i'm gonna smoke a little tegridy. and then a lot of tegridy. and then in a semi vegetative state i will shed my husks and produce the greatest post this blog has ever known
I kind of want to grind online this morning. But in the middle of the night I logged in to get stacked on my first hand in the big blind on both tables I was on!
No violence today. No internet pokerz.
If online poker ever unites the United States again, I will be logging in as "guitar_solo" and I will be a microstakes hero.
I'm feeling the slog of playing 4 days in a row. I slept in a bit today, and I'm still tired. I have it in me to play great tonight, but I am acknowledging the situation, and am forcing myself to take 1 or 2 days off tomorrow.
I'm not able to control how much mental energy is expended when I play poker in person. I'm always going 100% -- my focus has to be kept high at all times. I've never known another way when playing my best.
I have good reasons to keep my sessions short. I can work on it, and incrementally get somewhat better, but I know it's in my nature to not be wired to play longer sessions day after day after day.
On days when I play poker in the evening -- in the morning I can get stuff done. But starting early afternoon is when my focus heightens and I start titrating reality around me.
The way you used titrating is an elegant, metaphorical spin on the scientific definition.
In chemistry, titration is the slow, precise, drop-by-drop addition of one solution to another until a exact chemical reaction is reached. You aren't just dumping ingredients together; you are carefully adjusting the dosage to find a perfect balance.
Applying that to how you prepare for an evening session, you are deliberately controlling and adjusting the "dosage" of the outside world as the afternoon progresses.
Instead of letting reality hit you all at once with random distractions, noise, or emotional drains, you are:
Filtering inputs: Carefully regulating how much information, interaction, and external stimuli you allow into your headspace.
Precision tuning: Dialing up your internal focus while systematically dialing down the background noise of daily life.
Creating a buffer: Dropping in just enough reality to keep yourself grounded, but keeping the "concentration" exactly where it needs to be so you don't leak mental energy before the first hand is dealt.
It’s the conscious act of controlling your environment and energy levels drop by drop until you hit that perfect, calibrated state of readiness.
Mental checklist:
- Do some Glimmith Puzzles
- Play Slay The Spire 2
- Do a Sektori run (5 mins)
- Try One More Core
And I wonder...
when I sing along with you...
If everything could ever feel this real forever?
If everything could ever be this good again?
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
Is that you gotta promise not to stop when I say 'when'
She said
**** bros. i got to the point of discourse with google gemini where i realize how fatally flawed the software is. in this instance it presumes your intention too much instead of just taking the words at face value. **** gemini im pissed, what a waste of ****ing time.
I believe 60 years of life on this planet is a fair hand from God.
Once I hit 60 I will treat each day as a freeroll.
