Hands and Wisdom

Cheers for the comments guys, will try that towel thing with the Xbox, although doing it weekly sounds like a bit of a chore. Then again, it's not like I have anything better to do. Here's a thought, reckon I could put it in the oven? Hmm, maybe not so bright. Still, I'll give the towel a try first.

I've just finished a session that took me over the 5000 hand mark for the last 4 days, the month of February and the year 2009. Like I keep saying, it's about time I put in some volume, except now I'm not just saying, I'm doing! I know, I'm scared too...

But guess what? I made a profit! In 3850 hands at $1/$2NL I made $1555.88, then when I dipped back into $2/$4 for 1247 hands I won another $298.95. Even though it's a tiny sample and I just had a minor heater, I learnt a lot of stuff I'd forgotten in my months of rest. As I found the first time around, the difficulty increase between the two levels is astronomical, but I still think it's worth keeping at it and pushing through $2/$4NL to the levels above, or at least staying there for a while and winning some rent money.

My desk arrived in the post today (in a seriously big envelope) and I injured myself several times in the process of assembling it. Now it's set up I have the final piece of furniture I need and the flat is completely sorted. From now until Vegas I'm going to try and live the professional life, putting the work into my game and hopefully reaping some rewards for that work. Like any walk of life, poker doesn't always reward hard work in the short run, but in the long run it's impossible to succeed without it. Variance is just something we have to deal with, and a lot of people I know are dealing with it right now. I thought of some words of wisdom last night that I thought were quite, errr, wise. I'm not sure if it's entirely original or if I read it somewhere and forgot about it but here goes:

Variance is like garbage, people will pay you to take it off their hands. Learn to embrace variance. Become a variance collector.

I think my point is that people who "wait for better spots" in cash or won't risk their "tournament life" are giving up little parcels of equity, wrapped up in yucky variance. Those who are prepared to take the risk and pick up their unwanted variance can collect a lot of equity as a fee. Think Hellmuth and Dwan playing heads up, who's buying risk there and who's selling it? Hellmuth clearly thinks using reads and tells he can make back the equity he gives away by playing too tight. We'll probably never know one way or the other, but I know who my money would be on.

Anyway here are some hands to finish on. The first is a brag. In the 2nd I failed to fold the river, but it's really just a bad beat moan. In the 3rd I outdraw someone who has played their hand perfectly.

1. http://www.pokerhand.org/?3901506
2. http://www.pokerhand.org/?3901479
3. http://www.pokerhand.org/?3903044

Tomorrow I think I'll play the £330 in Walsall.

Inabit faithful followers.