Milestone

Tonight marks a milestone of sorts -- my 50th post. When I started this blog, I certainly didn't have "number of posts" as a goal; my goal was (and remains) to win a million play dollars, through a combination of guile, ingenuity, guts, and luck. Yet there's something about the sheer number of posts that will be a by-product of this quest that makes the act of posting significant in itself, whether or not I ever achieve my goal.

I don't have an account on Twitter, yet I follow with interest the varied opinions of the blogosphere on this intriguing company. Some fascinating statistics have come to light, which I'm sure also have relevance to "regular" blogs, in addition to the "micro" blogs Twitter has pioneered and popularized. What really captured my attention were what could be termed the "one-tweet wonders" -- micro-blogs consisting of a single, solitary tweet. I'm sure there are "one-post wonders" in the realm of traditional blogs as well.

I guess you could say that right now I'm indulging in a not-very-transparent act of self-congratulation. Though I have no statistics to support this claim, I'm nevertheless somehow absurdly certain that this blog is more successful than half the blogs ever started, where the definition of success is "at least 50 posts". How can I make this claim with no statistics to back it up? Intuition, baby; it's what we poker players live (and die) by :-)

My intuition was working well tonight. I even came up with a couple additional rules of thumb!

additional rule of thumb #1: it's worth it to flush the bluffers from the scene by betting a decent amount in late position even when your hand is nothing much to speak of. What you get when you do this is information; all information costs something, so consider it money well spent.

additional rule of thumb #2: you need to make it clear to the rest of the table that you bluff sometimes, just to "keep them honest" in their distrust of you. If you never bluff, you're a marked man. In that case, it makes it a simple decision for them to fold when you bet a significant amount.

The hardest thing I had to do tonight was to stop playing when I felt like I was on a roll. The thing is, I've had enough experience to know how dangerously seductive that "just a couple more hands" attitude can be. You need to try to do the right thing, as well as you're able, always! Sometimes, the right thing makes you feel like a wimp, but so be it.

I honestly believe this to be true: if you have a good memory, the more you play, the better you'll get. By good memory, I mean a memory for situations, not exact circumstances. You have to listen to the innermost voice of your experience, which can't be bullshitted. The problem is, that voice speaks very quietly. There are a whole bunch of intermediate voices in between you and it, all of them louder than it, and all trying to drown out that innermost voice. Ignore them! Just listen to the quiet one. It knows!

delta: $1,430
balance: $276,048