Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Apologies, Pleas, Random Musings

I have a bad habit of starting things and not finishing them. Part of my personality, I know, and something I've been working on. So from now on I'm not promising any monster posts that I don't think I can pull off. Like the David Sklansky screed I promised. Let me explain a wee bit: Sklansky is the author of many seminal (no pun intended, as you'll see) poker books, and he recently wrote something about women being attracted to men who are good at math...what the hell, let me just post what he wrote:

That thread where I am a little nasty to Lee Jones. More than 10,000 people have now read it. So its hard not to believe that a little nastiness is the best way to get people to sit up and take notice; and is worth doing if the cause is as important as getting people to study math more (by pointing out that Lee's original book was flawed because of his probable lack of math studiousness.) As I said, I will stop at almost nothing to get my point across. And that point is now read by more viewers than any other thread on this forum. Uh, I just double checked that. Not quite true yet. Which brings me to my other point. How many of you were aware that Marilyn Monroe sought out and had sex with Albert Einstein? And that it was not because of the way he dressed or or played the violin. Also how many of you were aware that there is a correlation between math and testosterone levels. Or that social evolutionary theory postualtes that most young women get PHYSICALLY aroused in the presence of intelligent men. I'm not talking money hungry here. It is rather a physical manifestation due to the awareness that the fellow in question will be a good provider for children. Those women who did not have this physical reaction were likely to have died off as their dumb mates couldn't protect their offspring. Thus the majority of those left, inherited an almost insatiable desire to make love to men who demonstrated knowledge in fields like logic or probability.

***

This is something that I felt I couldn't just let stand. I mean, this is some funny, funny stuff. So I started writing, and writing, and writing...and found myself with about a 2000-word post and wasn't even half done yet. And around midnight last night I paused and thought, uh, what the hell am I doing? Why am I writing a huge essay on evolutionary theory and modern female sexuality and the very nature of Eros itself...when this is a goddam poker blog? And especially since I don't exactly consider myself an expert on things like evolution and female sexuality? I mean, I know a little, maybe even a lot. Probably just enough to be dangerous to myself and others.

But is this something I should be spending hours working on? I haven't played poker in 2 nights writing this thing. And the trail is getting colder by the day--for all I know, someone else has already written something both funnier and more incisive than I did.

I think it was Samuel Johnson who said, "No one but a fool wrote for any reason other than money". Or something along those lines. Well, call me a fool, I don't mind. I think the vast majority of we bloggers are happy fools, clattering away at the keyboards because it gives us pleasure. Sure does to me. But at the same time, I feel the need to focus more of my attention on writing things that may actually contribute to the Geno exchequer. And that's why I need to be a little more selective in what I write about. Spending 20 hours researching and writing an essay that'll only be read by a few hundred people before I post something whiny about a bad beat seems to be rather a waste.

Not to say that I won't still be writing here a lot, nor that I won't exercise my fingers and write some scathing 9,000-word treatise on, I don't know, Shana Hiatt's lingerie collection. I just need to pick my spots a little more carefully. Do other sorts of writing that I want to do (like that poker novel I'm almost done outlining). Maybe even play a little poker now and then.

***

A few weeks ago I wrote about playing poker again up at my friend's house on Indian Lake. I did one of the players there a serious disservice. Not only did our friend Neil win the first tournament of the weekend (I got knocked out early and went into the other room to sulk and pout, and missed his triumph), but he also put we other men to shame by bringing his own keg to the party. No, not a half or quarter or anything grandstandy like that. He got one of those little kegs of German beer you see in your better beer distrbutors. Wheras I merely cracked the tabs on an endless column of Miller Lites, Neil tapped and retapped (and retapped) his own supply of kegged suds. I felt somewhat...inadequate after that.

***

A question for all you computer geniuses and IT guys and hackers out there. I need to get a new laptop in the next few months. Well, I need one right now, but I probably won't be looking to make a kill until later in the year. It's been six years since I got my current 233 mHz machine, and I'm a bit behind the times. I want to get a computer that can do everything a computer's supposed to do, but I don't need an uberputer that can run the New York Stock Exchange while it also pilots the Space Shuttle. I just want to play poker, surf the Net, watch DVDs, write on, crunch a few numbers on occasion, and maybe play the occasional game. I'm not making my own movies, I'm not computing pi to the 9 quadrillionth place. How much horsepower do I need, and who do you recommend?

***

I've been on a hot streak the last month, rarely posting 2 bad nights in a row and having a week were I nearly doubled my bankroll. The secrets to my success? Well, good cards helped. But I think playing less has helped focus my attention, so that I'm not just playing ABC poker whilst watching TV. I was playing so much that playing bored me somewhat--by playing less, the game is more fun again.

I've also been placing regularly in Party's multi-table SNGs, which are some plenty tasty games. Not as clinically insane as Party's big tourneys, but still full of giggles and hoots.

I also had the pleasure of winning a nice pot with the Hammer for the first time in a long time. On the button I had the HeartHammer, and with six limpers decided to toss in a few coppers and see the flop. Which came A-J-9 hearts. The betting was checked around to me and I bet the pot, content to win it right there if I could. Three folks called me. Rag on the turn and we all checked, rag on the river and, when the betting was again check around to me, I tossed in three bucks and got 2 callers. They both had 2 pair, and I raked in a very nice pot with my flush.

One guy typed, "2-7?".

I typed, "Hamma time".

OK, that's enough for now. I do promise a longer, more incisive, and more interesting post very soon. And this is a promise I'll deliver on, unlike that Sklansky mess. Ahh, I'll probably post what I've written someday, once I verify that I can't be sued for any of it.

posted by Gene @ 12:34 PM   |