Hand analysis

Hey, since I've nothing to talk about, I thought it'd be somewhat interesting to analyse one of the hand I play on Pokerstars in medium Limit $10-$20.
In that game players are pretty tight aggressive, so that it needed to make some adjustments in my game in response to the predictable actions post flop players have developped during this game.
Therefore, I've decided to play a little more aggressive than I used to, planning to raise more and using deception.
I've noticed CO is eager to limp with a large rank of hands. I had the position on him and tried to isolate by raising preflop with the idea of putting pressure on him as the hand is developing.

Poker Stars, 10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
Hand History Converter

HellMeT1: (BTN): $2250
SB: $930
BB: $5000
UTG: $3360
MP: $590
CO: $750

Pre-Flop: J T dealt to Hero (BTN)
2 folds, CO calls $20, Hero raises to $80, 2 folds, CO calls $60

Flop: 7 9 J(2 Players) (Pot size : $190)
CO checks, Hero bets $130, CO calls $130

Turn: 3 (2 Players) (Pot size : $450)
CO checks, Hero checks

River: ($450) 4 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $120, CO calls $120

Results: $690 Pot
Hero showed J T (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-$330 NET)
CO showed Q J (a pair of Jacks) and WON $690 (+$360 NET)

Analysis : What went wrong in this hand?
Well, I raised on the button with J-T suited which is a good but not extraordinary hand to play with. In such situation regarding the relative strength of my hand, I might just be willing to call here but since I elected to play aggressive, I went for a raise and make it $80 to go(4 times the big blind).
CO calls the $60 and we go head's up.
The flop comes along with my hand giving me top pair,so I bet the flop and CO calls my bet. At this point, I put him on a draw something like Queen-ten, Ace-nine but he may have hit the flop as well with K-J, Q-J, A-J.
He checked on the turn so did I in order to keep the pot small.
Now the 4 comes on the river and he checked again, it seems like he's giving up and I decided to bet for value there, he calls me with Q-J and won the pot.
The mistake here is probably the bet on the river, there is no much value in betting the pair of jack since the only hand my opponent have that I can be paid off is a smaller pair (4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 8-8, 10-10); a missed draw (queen-ten) and second pair with top kicker. Plus, If I get raise in this spot I probably have to fold.

Is poker luck of the draw or skill ?

Is it not a tricky question is it?
The question whether poker's performance is due to skill or just to luck has been a subject of intense and controversy debate.
Michael DeDonno, a doctoral student from Case Western Reserve University, has decided to run studies that challenge the theory of luck over skill in poker.

• In the first study, DeDonno had 41 college students play eight games, totaling 200 hands of Texas Hold'em one of the most wildely played form of poker.

Half of the students in the first group were given charts that ranked the two-card combinations from best to the worst and also learned that professional poker players typically play about 15 percent of the hands dealt them. The other group was given background on the history of poker with no strategies.

It appears that student given some strategies to make decision did better than those whithout any strategie background.

"If it had been pure luck in winning, then the strategies would not have made a difference for the two groups," said DeDonno.

• In the second study to statistically verify the results from the first study, he conducted a second study, but had students play 720 hands.

Again the group was divided into those provided with strategies and those with just a history of playing poker. While all students improved their playing with practice over the large number of hands, the group given strategies continued to do better than those without the added information.

“This article provides empirical evidence that it is skill and not luck,” concluded DeDonno from his two studies.

Such a study about skill-luck issue is surpringly one of the first I've been heard.
The good thing is such report might play a great role in the poker community to be proved the real nature of the game isn't about luck but skill. However, for DeDonno's findings to be effective and to show there is no overlap between poker and gambling though, it must not be overlooked by severe and very restricted U.S. jurisdiction (along some european court) once again.

pICture oF The Day :

Movies my top 5

Hey, Since I'm too lazy for publishing somehing bright, I advise myself against writting something stupid, so instead I'll just share some of my favourite movies with you, some are unfortunately unknown from the audience but remain to be great masterpiece of cinema :

#1 is Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick


I would probably consider this movie as one of the most astonish piece of cinema ever. I definitely consider it to be a tremendous "Chef d'oeuvre".
Stanley Kubrick's brilliant A CLOCKWORK ORANGE announces itself as a completely new kind of viewing experience.
Ambitious and stylized in a very british style, Kubrick's poignantly prophetic satire of crime and punishment, redemption and free will, is still much misunderstood by critics emphasizing its ultra-violence but for me it seems it is just vintage Kubrick and classic cinema.


#2 is The good, The bad and The ugly directed by Sergio Leone


You don't really need me to review this movie for you, do you? It is just the definitive western spaghetty ever made, the point is not what happens in the movie but how it happens, a curious blend of partly humorous, partly dramatic, partly elegiac legend. Cultissimo


#3 is Dial M for murder (1954) directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Alfred Hitchcock had already begun work on REAR WINDOW when he took on the project to direct DIAL M FOR MURDER, based on the successful play by Frederick Knott. For the film, Hitchcock chose to cast his favorite leading lady of the time, Grace Kelly.

#4 is Rumble Fish directed by Francis Ford Coppola :
One of the most unknown Francis Ford coppola's movie, this is a movie you are likely to hate, unless you can love it for its crazy, feverish charm.
Great performance of Mikey Rourke as "Motorcycle boy".


# 5 is "12 angry men" is a 1957 film directed by Sysney Lumet which tells the story of one lone juror who holds out against the other eleven members of the jury; he is not convinced that the defendant, a young Hispanic man, is guilty of murder.

Dialogues are tremendous, and the only thing you want to is sharing a piece of arguments with those 12 angry men ! Here is a sample :
uror #8(well interpreted by Henry Fonda): I just want to talk.
Juror #7: Well, what's there to talk about? Eleven men in here think he's guilty. No one had to think about it twice except you.
Juror #10: I want to to ask you something: do you believe his story?
Juror #8: I don't know whether I believe it or not - maybe I don't.
Juror #7: So how come you vote not guilty?
Juror #8: Well, there were eleven votes for guilty. It's not easy to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first.
Juror #7: Well now, who says it's easy?
Juror #8: No one.
Juror #7: What, just because I voted fast? I honestly think the guy's guilty. Couldn't change my mind if you talked for a hundred years.
Juror #8: I'm not trying to change your mind. It's just that... we're talking about somebody's life here. We can't decide it in five minutes. Supposing we're wrong?
Juror #7: Supposing we're wrong! Supposing this whole building should fall down on my head. You can suppose anything!
Juror #8: That's right

SNooze effEct

Today is day off, An other cloudy and grey
Monday...
Light hangover feeling from eastern day; I closed my eyes again quietly lying on my bed and giving my self an extra 10 minutes of what I like to call the "snooze effect",
When you have "snooze effect" you're not totally awake and you're never really asleep but between a lucid and intense serie of vivid flashy-multicolor dreams.
Your breathing is an earthquake.
One extremely interesting fact about the snooze effect is that most of the details of the dreams are completely accurate to some part of reality or fantaisy, but then there is always a strange anomaly thrown into the mix which causes the almost spiritual experience or insight.
Anyway, as I was looking for information about vivid dreams here is what I found :

ENJOY UNLIMITED SEXUAL ADVENTURES$40/bottle

Explore totally real and totally safe fantasies with Lucid Dreaming! Release inhibitions, discover amazing new levels of passion and turn your wildest thoughts into reality. Your lucid dreams will be as pleasurable and intense as you want them to be! And the intensely pleasurable experiences will be much more vivid and clear!

Can't believe it, can you ?


Picture of the day :Ivey is a remarkable poker player and one of the best young guns of his generation.
He's not only an accomplished player but also a millionaire with more money than god thanks to several bracelets winning at the WSOP, and mountains of cash playing on high stakes poker!

Here is the discussion between two poker players on twoplustwo.com community speaking about ridiculously and stupidly small screen and tiny furniture:

One says : "That's all done on purpose l think"

Before FT (Full Tilt : one of the biggest poker room officially sponsoring Phil Ivey) guys were comming Ivey was overheard saying:

"Yo, you over there! FT is commin' to take some pictures. You know what them peoples will do when they see a black guy havin' some monies? ...yeah right!"

"So, take all that stuff from my game room and put it somewhere they won't find it. What? YEAH! Even the 50-incher!"

"Now get me 2 of the smallest screens you can find. Aight? Oh and get some kind of smallish TV so that the TV arm don't look so suspicious!"


Redmanplus reponded : If you look closely...
Phil's head is 10% smaller than "normal"...
So to him...
All the tiny stuff looks normal size.

Book of the day :

Quote of the day : "The correct way to learn poker is to understand it theoretically, and make sure you made the correct play regardless of the results" D.Sklansky in Small stakes Poker

Thoughtfull eastern day

This morning I feel like reading Time Magazine (how clever !). The title on the headline says : 10 Ideas that are changing the world.

Although, it does sound appealing and certainly has to bring us a piece of deep thoughtful introspection on human conditions written by some genuine intelligent scientist, but instead as a result of reading those lines, the reader will gradually lapse into distressed estate following by a silent brain agony.

The first remarkable idea of the magazine is :

#1 Common Wealth " Our survival requires global solutions".

Basically, it says that the idea that has the greatest potential to change the world is this : "by overcoming cynicism, ending our misguided view of the world as an enduring struggle of "us" Vs "them" and instead seeking global solutions".

Even though, every single words of that sentence are gently and nicely combined together, it seems to me that'll take a little bit more to overcome the most important challenge of the 21st century. The trouble with reading that has the opposite effect on me, actually it makes my level of cynicism raising up.

An other quote from Time Magazine to describe of how human beings living in a common society should be acting to maximize the value of their interactions in order to solve problems on a global scale : " Whether we end up fighting one another or whether we work together to confront common threats, our fate, our common wealth is in our hands".

Again it sounds to me like a catchphrase from Matrix or Star Wars movie, isn't it?

Fighting one another Vs Working together

Us Vs Them

The idea of a bipolarized "black and white" society where right acts are acts undertaken for the benefits of other and wrong acts are those for one's own benefits is a typically American approach.

To translate this in a micro-society approach, I would say that whenever you go you'll find men and women talking about humanity sharing a common fate on a crowded planet. This might include :

The end of extreme poverty and hunger,

zero CO2 emissions,

overcoming climate change,

care of species extinction and destruction of ecosystems

But you'll find same men and women acting in their regular life for their own welfare without any regard of the well being of others.

Here is my statement :

The first global goal isn't possible as long as the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and I would go even further it will soon contribute to the growing conflict between haves and haves not.

For the second one, I'll just give you an example of the most extraordinary stupidity or/and hilariousness : I saw a stick behind man's huge smoking truck saying :

Don't mess with nature, be responsible Save the planet earth.

Since, the third and last one are highly correlated I'd just say: People can't help messing with nature even if it results in global warming and/or massive deforestation, species eradication.

IMO, As long as U.S. government and the rest of industrialized countries keep taking decisions and actions that promote ones own interest lifestyle based on self improvement against the detriments of others, there will be no way to attain those global goals.

The main character traits that leads to emphasize the further elements of selfishness would be to identify real concerns for one's own interest.

But it seems to me that the only real interest people have is material possession :

" What kind of dinning room set defines me as a person?"

I was too serious now I gotta get drunk! Wait a minute is it eastern day?

I am sure god will understand and won't send any plagues on me.

How did I make 50 $ in 30 seconds

My huge hand here : hand

A new start...

Hey, here is my first publication.
Well, I've read that anything makes a good subject as long as you take your time and crystallize the details !
The bad news is neither don't I have much time for writing down something that might never be considered worth reading it nor having any idea how to crystallize details. That being said I'll try to satisfy myself as much as possible while hoping for you (my only reader) to enjoy yourself as well!

Anyway, I want you to have all the background before I start bothering you with a multitude of details relating with my so exciting life in a somewhat none proper english.

From Geneva to New York :
After having been carrying aloft by a very sophisticated Swiss international air lines plane for more than 9 hours across the Atlantic and a part of New York state I eventually happened to land at the Airport of Rochester, NY on February 4th at 11.00 p.m.

I've had single-serving sugar, single-serving sweetner sugar substitute in my single tiny cup of coffee, single pat of butter and single cake for snack; a single standardized microwave meal "ready to eat" for lunch comfortably compressed on my single rigid seat.

However, my first experience dealing with American people took place eleven hours earlier at the Airport of NY, I could accurately remember the sudden roar all around me, the Gate number 9 was full of what looked like loud American people all carrying suitcases, huge bags, children.
I felt a bit lightheaded and dizzy while I watched myself stumbling out from the crowd. I needed a drink so I sat down in a Bar and ordered a beer, after staring at me for a few seconds, the good looking but plumpy waitress eventually asked me for my I.D with the most pathetic tones ever,
"Well, I have no Idea of what you say" I answered , and made my first pitful English joke ever without even knowing it.
Luigi along side Debbie (You'll learn who those people are) were both waiting for me at the Airport of Rochester. I checked my baggage out and there was I, fresh from east french board ready to embrace a brand new life in Rochester.

The American dream in action

Rochester is a city in New York State south of Lake Ontario in the United States, it was also once known as The Flour City. Don't ask me why cause I have no idea. Maybe because Rochester was the largest flour-producing city.
The mean February temperature is 23.6 °F (−4.7 °C).
Although I didn't expect high temperatures and sun climate what I found here froze me to death ! It is often cold and snowy, grey and dark...

Why?

The official purpose of my trip was to be working as an intern in the field of exercise physiology at the well known Cardiac Rehab Center called "Strong Heart program". I needed to pursue a mandatory internship in order to get my Master Degree in the Field of "Sport, Performance and Quality of Life".

The non-official purpose of my trip was to become one of the most famous none-Professional Poker player... I was raised on T.V to believe that it would exist a slight chance for me to be a pokerstar, I eventually realize that the odds against I being a poker pro converge on to a near zero expectation. So, I'm starting to figure it out...

Unknown feeling

I hated to admit it but I was a little bit nervous. Not I was reluctant to work with a new staff in U.S but I had a strange feeling of what would be happening there. That didn't make my decision easy, though the idea of living abroad for a few months was certainly appealing. It felt just like a part of me didn't want to take off. But anyway, I knew I'd go there because I had to...

Interrogations...

I didn't ask to myself the usual questions that most of people ask to themselves before moving in an other country :
"How would I fit?" "Would I be manageable ?" "Would the staff accept me? "

My interrogations was more like : "Would I be arrested at the airport because the word " Bomb" slipped accidentally out of my mouth ?"; "Would I miss my plane?"; Would Luigi be possibly connected with Sicilian mafia?; "Would my french attitude poison people around?"

What's next...

Ho You, my reader will be the only one to know what will happen to me in the next episodes.
What's coming next below :

How loud my roommate is, how fucking cold the city is, how did I nearly become an alcoholic, how good in english I got, how bad I have run with playing online poker, how awful the american food is, how nice are people I work with, how easy american girls are, how did I play in a South Park episode as a guest star, how will I end up killed by russian mafia in the next Cronenberg trailer, how fool you are to read this blog till the end ...

Picture of the day :

Quote of the day : "You met me at a very strange time in my life"

Hand of the day :