I took a break from playing poker for several months. It was the right thing to do. My judgement had become clouded. I made decisions motivated by ego, a sense of justice, some wierdly wired sense of terrified desparation, manically blurting out a tourettic bet or fold. My game was fundamentally tilted. A kind of poisonously psychotic rage would infect my game. A sense of wounded injustice. Raw fear. And I knew my game was better than that.
So I quit cold turkey. I stopped playing poker. Stopped reading poker. Stopped thinking, talking and writing poker.
I've stepped back in with a clearer mind. I still lose it from time to time. I'll catch myself making the loose and vengeful call preflop. Or betting into an opponent for the wrong reasons (most often boredom, which utterly undermines my game, sometimes arrogance). A variant on this is a form of, I guess, contextual dyslexia. Making context based plays based on the wrong reading, again, as a function of boredom. Bluffs at the wrong time. Middle pair reraises that are going to get called. Reading passivity for weaknesses. Misjudging my image. Encountering situations that I don't adequately understand, and having to react with optimistic ignorance, or pessimism. A necessary condition of the novice.
I take my bad beats with relative equanimity now. Occasionally I blow up, and exhale a diatribe of vicious incredulity. The standard type gibberish most of us rant from time to time. But I sit back down and play my cards, and try to work out how best to use what I've just learned to my advantage. To allow poker to effect my sense of myself is a profound error.
My standard learning structure for most things runs something like this. Learn the basic principles, the guiding rules and laws. Having grasped the fundamentals, I can now construct models of the various contexts, phenomena and situations I am likely to encounter, and see how they work. Failed simulations, models and predictions indicate gaps in my understanding, and I can use these to hone my understanding. It doesn't quite work in poker. Failed models, simulations and predictions come with the territory. Exception is part of the rule. Certainty is not the goal.
To put it another way, playing poker by adage, by rote, is not the way to play poker. Auto-donking, if you will. The lazy supposition of automatic supremacy. Poker seems to be, above all else, a game of context. Sometimes it is a context one in part creates - in terms of table image, preflop raising, targeting specific types of players with specific types of play. Flat calling with a monster against a lag. Sometimes not. The context may be thrust upon you. But it is context that determines what the correct action is. And an adage, or rule is too inflexible a thing to cater to all contexts.
Lets call it the tyranny of the certain over the truth of the probable.
A set of independently simple variables interacting to produce a complex set of contingent systems and contexts. As such, the Holy Grail of poker playing is rarely certainty. Its generally likelihood. At least for someone playing at my level. Its an easy, and obvious thing to say. Its more difficult to understand. Its, for a newbie, even more difficult to see experience re-inforce that understanding.
What I look to do now is to make what is probably the right play in the context. It means I'm paying a lot more attention to whats happening at the table. I'm remembering things, hands and actions of other players, and incorporating them into my actions. With enough knowledge and understanding, I get to consciously influence the context other players experience. I get to apply pressure at the times most advantageous to me. I get to steal, I get to bluff successfully, I get my hands paid off. Enough of the time for me to feel a sense of progress. Enough of the time for me to sense that I am playing a different game to the one I had been.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Saturday, December 17, 2005
A question of ethics?
Site Lag.
Seems like an obvious, run of the mill, everyday bit of awkwardness any poker site will have to deal with on an occasional basis. Whether its due to sudden, unexpected spikes in site traffic, denial of service attacks, hardware failure. Servers fall over. Players drop off. Games freeze, and life goes on.
It also seems like such a standard hazard in any online environment that any reputable site should have a standard, accessible, and sensible policy for dealing with the inconveniences it causes to their customers. Its how business works. Its why we have warranties on stereos. Its how things are.
Absolute, last week, seemed to be having some sort of bandwidth/instability/ISP/connectivity issues. Players dropped off tables. Tabletalk generated a consistent and low level rumble corroborating the general experience of lag. timing out. Every other hand someone seemed to get booted. Sometimes, c'est la vie. In about 4 days, I dropped off tables about 18 times. Twice on winning hands - a flopped set of 8's against qq and kk, and a flopped set of Jacks against two pair. Once on a hand I was certain I had won - TPTK against the table LAG, and once on a probable winning hand - headsup against the big blind with pocket 10's waiting to reraise on the flop. My all in didn't trigger.
Theres nothing to get upset about here. And I didn't. Its the internet. Lag happens. I'll just ask for a refund. I sent off the hand number, my hole cards, the board cards, number of opponents on the river, time and date, and the betting until the disconnection, and a descriprion of the problem - I had reraised on the river, expecting to be capped and was disconnected, and then autofolded when my bet was not posted. I requested that customer service review the hand, and, if I had won, refund the amount I stood to win, if I lost, then we had nothing to settle. I also mentioned that the all in hadn't triggered, and that my connection was functioning properly at the time.
My first mail was rebuffed. In cases of disconnection, Absolute are unable to offer a refund, it said.The refusal was politely put. But it was a refusal. My second mail further fleshed out my claim, and included (admittedly anecdotal) evidence that connection had not failed at my end - I tested my connection to Absolute, and their servers registered me. I surfed the net while disconnected. My firewall registered incoming and outgoing packets during the disconnection. I checked my mail.
Again, a polite refusal, stating that they had reviewed the hand, and that disconnection had occured at my end, either due to inactivity on my part, or a connectivity problem with my ISP, or because my desktop had crashed. Which struck me as a somewhat bizarre response.
My next mail included further evidence, aimed to put beyond a shadow of a doubt that disconnection had not occured at my end (by this stage I was logging my connectivity, and monitoring my traffic with updates every three seconds, using two separate monitors, and readouts), and that Absolute were having a general problem with lag and connectivity with a wide variety of players, that the disconnection was most certainly not my fault, or the fault of my ISP.
I received a 2 dollar refund, the value of the money I had supposedly spent on the hand. Circa a 10 dollar pot was waiting, and I received a 2 dollar refund. Just this once we will refund you the money you have invested in the hand, was their reply.
I could provide independent evidence that disconnection - and hence a monetary loss - had not occured through any fault of mine or my ISP. Absolute, without admitting responsibility, agreed, after three emails, and a considerable amount of effort on my part - setting up and running two monitors to keep an eye on my connection traffic - agreed to refund, partially, my loss.
I decided to see what it would take to get Absolute to admit full liability. Hell. I pay rake. I've been accomodating, and I can prove that I am correct, and acting in good faith. Lets see what it takes to get them to step into the breach.
I wrote back, with four complaint hands. Two of which I had won, and collected no money from, two of which I probably won, and was willing to accept either a zero refund on, if I lost, or a full refund of potential winnings (sensibly calculated) if I won. At no stage had an all in been triggered on my behalf.
I recapped my case - I have offered to provide the monitor logs proving my ISP stability and connectivity at all the times we are discussing, I have tested my connection and seen the live graphical display of incoming and outgoing traffic on both internet monitors I use while disconnected from Absolute. I have had these monitors, and my connectivity witnessed by a third party. Who is a customer services rep. At a rival poker website. I have noticed that my pc has not crashed or frozen. By still being able to use it. To do all the things I've already mentioned. I have also taken the time to note that within my jusrisdiction, all correspondence I receive in electronic or paper form is my property, with which I can do what I like. Which includes publishing it. Which I will. While doing what I can to publicise this particular issue. By the way. I wonder what your Six Nations gaming Licence has to say on the matter. I'll find out when they finish their database maintainance, and put the site back up. I'll mention it in the review I'm writing.
12 hours later I received an apologetic reply. Absolute are investigating ongoing connectivity problems for our clients. We suspect we may be having some ISP problems. In order to refund you, we will need the relevent hand histories.
Its quite some length to have to go to to get a refund. Independent witnesses. Running system monitors to guage incoming and outgoing traffic. 5 emails. Sure, Absolute had to be sure that my claim wasn't fraudulent or fictional. But their refusals seem to have gone beyond that. It took quite some polite bullying to get them to do the right thing.
One wonders how many others have been done out of a refund they had every right to but for Absolutes intransigence.
And heres the ethics of the situation, in a tight, wraparound, service-provider type contractual nut. I pay Absolute for a service. If I suffer through their incapacity, inability, malfeasance, error or accident, I am entitled to compensation commensurate with any monies I have lost and inconvenience I have incurred. And so are you. Anything else is not worth the rake you or I pay for it.
Absolute have not yet agreed to refund potential winnings - I'm combing my hand histories for the relevant hands to submit. But I'm pretty hopeful.
So, I'm curious. What other sites fail to pick up the tab for their fuck ups?
Seems like an obvious, run of the mill, everyday bit of awkwardness any poker site will have to deal with on an occasional basis. Whether its due to sudden, unexpected spikes in site traffic, denial of service attacks, hardware failure. Servers fall over. Players drop off. Games freeze, and life goes on.
It also seems like such a standard hazard in any online environment that any reputable site should have a standard, accessible, and sensible policy for dealing with the inconveniences it causes to their customers. Its how business works. Its why we have warranties on stereos. Its how things are.
Absolute, last week, seemed to be having some sort of bandwidth/instability/ISP/connectivity issues. Players dropped off tables. Tabletalk generated a consistent and low level rumble corroborating the general experience of lag. timing out. Every other hand someone seemed to get booted. Sometimes, c'est la vie. In about 4 days, I dropped off tables about 18 times. Twice on winning hands - a flopped set of 8's against qq and kk, and a flopped set of Jacks against two pair. Once on a hand I was certain I had won - TPTK against the table LAG, and once on a probable winning hand - headsup against the big blind with pocket 10's waiting to reraise on the flop. My all in didn't trigger.
Theres nothing to get upset about here. And I didn't. Its the internet. Lag happens. I'll just ask for a refund. I sent off the hand number, my hole cards, the board cards, number of opponents on the river, time and date, and the betting until the disconnection, and a descriprion of the problem - I had reraised on the river, expecting to be capped and was disconnected, and then autofolded when my bet was not posted. I requested that customer service review the hand, and, if I had won, refund the amount I stood to win, if I lost, then we had nothing to settle. I also mentioned that the all in hadn't triggered, and that my connection was functioning properly at the time.
My first mail was rebuffed. In cases of disconnection, Absolute are unable to offer a refund, it said.The refusal was politely put. But it was a refusal. My second mail further fleshed out my claim, and included (admittedly anecdotal) evidence that connection had not failed at my end - I tested my connection to Absolute, and their servers registered me. I surfed the net while disconnected. My firewall registered incoming and outgoing packets during the disconnection. I checked my mail.
Again, a polite refusal, stating that they had reviewed the hand, and that disconnection had occured at my end, either due to inactivity on my part, or a connectivity problem with my ISP, or because my desktop had crashed. Which struck me as a somewhat bizarre response.
My next mail included further evidence, aimed to put beyond a shadow of a doubt that disconnection had not occured at my end (by this stage I was logging my connectivity, and monitoring my traffic with updates every three seconds, using two separate monitors, and readouts), and that Absolute were having a general problem with lag and connectivity with a wide variety of players, that the disconnection was most certainly not my fault, or the fault of my ISP.
I received a 2 dollar refund, the value of the money I had supposedly spent on the hand. Circa a 10 dollar pot was waiting, and I received a 2 dollar refund. Just this once we will refund you the money you have invested in the hand, was their reply.
I could provide independent evidence that disconnection - and hence a monetary loss - had not occured through any fault of mine or my ISP. Absolute, without admitting responsibility, agreed, after three emails, and a considerable amount of effort on my part - setting up and running two monitors to keep an eye on my connection traffic - agreed to refund, partially, my loss.
I decided to see what it would take to get Absolute to admit full liability. Hell. I pay rake. I've been accomodating, and I can prove that I am correct, and acting in good faith. Lets see what it takes to get them to step into the breach.
I wrote back, with four complaint hands. Two of which I had won, and collected no money from, two of which I probably won, and was willing to accept either a zero refund on, if I lost, or a full refund of potential winnings (sensibly calculated) if I won. At no stage had an all in been triggered on my behalf.
I recapped my case - I have offered to provide the monitor logs proving my ISP stability and connectivity at all the times we are discussing, I have tested my connection and seen the live graphical display of incoming and outgoing traffic on both internet monitors I use while disconnected from Absolute. I have had these monitors, and my connectivity witnessed by a third party. Who is a customer services rep. At a rival poker website. I have noticed that my pc has not crashed or frozen. By still being able to use it. To do all the things I've already mentioned. I have also taken the time to note that within my jusrisdiction, all correspondence I receive in electronic or paper form is my property, with which I can do what I like. Which includes publishing it. Which I will. While doing what I can to publicise this particular issue. By the way. I wonder what your Six Nations gaming Licence has to say on the matter. I'll find out when they finish their database maintainance, and put the site back up. I'll mention it in the review I'm writing.
12 hours later I received an apologetic reply. Absolute are investigating ongoing connectivity problems for our clients. We suspect we may be having some ISP problems. In order to refund you, we will need the relevent hand histories.
Its quite some length to have to go to to get a refund. Independent witnesses. Running system monitors to guage incoming and outgoing traffic. 5 emails. Sure, Absolute had to be sure that my claim wasn't fraudulent or fictional. But their refusals seem to have gone beyond that. It took quite some polite bullying to get them to do the right thing.
One wonders how many others have been done out of a refund they had every right to but for Absolutes intransigence.
And heres the ethics of the situation, in a tight, wraparound, service-provider type contractual nut. I pay Absolute for a service. If I suffer through their incapacity, inability, malfeasance, error or accident, I am entitled to compensation commensurate with any monies I have lost and inconvenience I have incurred. And so are you. Anything else is not worth the rake you or I pay for it.
Absolute have not yet agreed to refund potential winnings - I'm combing my hand histories for the relevant hands to submit. But I'm pretty hopeful.
So, I'm curious. What other sites fail to pick up the tab for their fuck ups?
Monday, December 05, 2005
Swing Low Sweet chariot
After a long hiatus, a return to the tables. Currently signed up with Absolute Poker for their 100% bonus.
Absolute have reasonable software. Its functional, the lobby updates frequently enough - about every minute or so - tables deal, muck and showdown quite quickly, and hand histories are easy to recall (and available to pokertracker, if thats your thing). Note taking vcan be glitchy. Specifically if you have the hotkeys en abled. Specifically, while typing in the note taking dialog box, if the action comes around to you, the dialog closes. And if you're still typing...well. Did Ireally want to reraise with k9 suited from middle? Multiple table selection is somewhat fraught - having taken a seat at a table, my name is generally removed from any other tables I'm on the list for. Site notices, and (admittedly rare) ads popup over the table action, and have to be manuallly dismissed, resulting in my having to play the turn blind on one occasion. Overall though, its functional.
The low limit HE ring and 6 max games are quite juicy, and they have a reasonably large player base - last Friday night, GMT, ran to about 9000 players online. Tournament play at the lowest levels is predictably loose and maniacal. Which is excellent. And low level Limit ring games exhibit little sophistication. Which is even better. Quite a lot of calling, passive play, and a good number of LAGs. A brief inspection of the low buy-in No limit tables gives a similar impression, which I've yet to confirm by playing. Omaha and Seven Card stud are supported, (and both can be played for in the FUN section, useful for someone who has never played em, like me) but the player base for them seems quite small.
The bonus grinds out quite slowly - 100% of initial deposit to a max of 200, an extra 10 dollars credited free gratis - at low limits, requiring a 10 dollar pot for each bonus points are awarded. They also have a points scheme for restricted tournament entries or bonus products, which is also rake dependent, but is accrued and spent separately to the deposit/retention bonus scheme. Prize funds for the dailes are between 50 and 250 dollars, and play is loose.
All in all a decent site.
No Mercy at the Lord Admiral
For any Isabelle Mercier fan out there a trip to the Lord Admiral archives is a must. A damned fine interview with the fearful Belle Dame herself, running to fifteen minutes of the show. I've enjoyed listing to Stacks and Cincinatti Sean for the past few months, and they've wrung the best interview I've yet heard out of Ms Mercier. I'll take an amateur enthusiast over a tired professional anyday.
These guys seem to love what they do, and their guest seemed to key right into that vibe and and really settle in. Lord Admiral. No frills, no shills, a shakedown free zone. No botox tanned smiles of leatherskinned professionals. No slime, no talking heads yammering in the grip of an ersatz professional pep. Nope. Its the real thing, its genuine, and it shines through as comfortably as if they were sitting in your living room chugging down beers across cards and a table.
- No Mercy Mercier sings sweetly at The Lord Admiral
Absolute have reasonable software. Its functional, the lobby updates frequently enough - about every minute or so - tables deal, muck and showdown quite quickly, and hand histories are easy to recall (and available to pokertracker, if thats your thing). Note taking vcan be glitchy. Specifically if you have the hotkeys en abled. Specifically, while typing in the note taking dialog box, if the action comes around to you, the dialog closes. And if you're still typing...well. Did Ireally want to reraise with k9 suited from middle? Multiple table selection is somewhat fraught - having taken a seat at a table, my name is generally removed from any other tables I'm on the list for. Site notices, and (admittedly rare) ads popup over the table action, and have to be manuallly dismissed, resulting in my having to play the turn blind on one occasion. Overall though, its functional.
The low limit HE ring and 6 max games are quite juicy, and they have a reasonably large player base - last Friday night, GMT, ran to about 9000 players online. Tournament play at the lowest levels is predictably loose and maniacal. Which is excellent. And low level Limit ring games exhibit little sophistication. Which is even better. Quite a lot of calling, passive play, and a good number of LAGs. A brief inspection of the low buy-in No limit tables gives a similar impression, which I've yet to confirm by playing. Omaha and Seven Card stud are supported, (and both can be played for in the FUN section, useful for someone who has never played em, like me) but the player base for them seems quite small.
The bonus grinds out quite slowly - 100% of initial deposit to a max of 200, an extra 10 dollars credited free gratis - at low limits, requiring a 10 dollar pot for each bonus points are awarded. They also have a points scheme for restricted tournament entries or bonus products, which is also rake dependent, but is accrued and spent separately to the deposit/retention bonus scheme. Prize funds for the dailes are between 50 and 250 dollars, and play is loose.
All in all a decent site.
No Mercy at the Lord Admiral
For any Isabelle Mercier fan out there a trip to the Lord Admiral archives is a must. A damned fine interview with the fearful Belle Dame herself, running to fifteen minutes of the show. I've enjoyed listing to Stacks and Cincinatti Sean for the past few months, and they've wrung the best interview I've yet heard out of Ms Mercier. I'll take an amateur enthusiast over a tired professional anyday.
These guys seem to love what they do, and their guest seemed to key right into that vibe and and really settle in. Lord Admiral. No frills, no shills, a shakedown free zone. No botox tanned smiles of leatherskinned professionals. No slime, no talking heads yammering in the grip of an ersatz professional pep. Nope. Its the real thing, its genuine, and it shines through as comfortably as if they were sitting in your living room chugging down beers across cards and a table.