Chinese Poker Update

I got to play a few hours of Chinese Poker with a friend who was in from out of town.  He was down for the goal of getting a Royal Flush.

Alas, it was not to be this session.  He estimated we played 30 or so hands.  I'd peg it at closer to 40, but still, this session showed me that I absolutely will count a Royal Flush, if I get one in Chinese Poker.  Let's say that in weekend fun I can get in 50 hours a week.  That will still be 10 weeks before the expectation of getting in a sample of hands hitting 500.  

And, of course, that doesn't even mean I have to get a Royal Flush in that time period.  It's not Chinese poker is some kind of game with 10 wilds that leads to insane hands.  I have played a card game with so many wilds, that I have had a five of a kind.  Even getting my first Royal Flush in Chinese Poker is a game patience.

On Having a Mission

My wife thinks I have become obsessed with poker, but I to some extend disagree. Instead, I have a mission.  A mission to get a Royal Flush.  I am allowing that mission to be a sponge to soak up my extra time, but it is to achieve a specific goal.  So, after hitting a royal flush, I doubt I will ever again play heads up hold em (too much variance, and there are other games to prefer to play during the times I can invest fixed attention.)  I am pursuing a strategy to achieve a goal, but I know there are other things that can crop up that are more important.

So, for example, when my wife needed help moving things into her classroom, I was there two afternoons in a row.  There are certainly things more important than poker, but those have a variability in terms of when they need my attention.  I have my finances on auto-pilot, for example, and I am working my way toward health, but that is a simple matter of correct decisions two times a day (my two meals) and exercising when it is scheduled.

This is a goal.  It's on the bucket list.  When I get this goal one day, I plan to take a break from all poker for a month.

In the future, I'll have some other goal on the list that takes up the lion-share of my ambient time, such as promoting gardening techniques, programming, or working on physical skills. Those will be the center of my otherwise unused days (and perhaps blog posts).

This brings up again the point of "energized time" versus "zombie time." Certain kinds of slow-moving tables at low enough states are perfect pass-time for when I feel too drained for anything else, but its not late enough to wind down for sleep.  After a month-long poker fast post-Royal-Flush, I think poker will be a part of life. But no more so than doodle jump, sudoku, or candy crush for the average person.

I have other impressive things to do when this mission is over.

Royal Flush Chronicles: Update

Sunday is family day for me.  I visiting my grandparents in the afternoon and eat dinner with my parents.

(It is also my "cheat day" on a diet, the day I take a long "luxury shower," (as opposed to a modified navy shower) and the day do weight training --it's a very busy day considering I do nothing productive for my job on it).

Anyway, I found a way to keep my poker-playing going: Chinese poker (original closed style). I played it one-on-one with my grandmother, and then four-handed with my parents and wife after dinner.

The game is great to get reluctant family members to play because there is no betting rounds/bluffing involved.  Also, with 13 cards to draw from the best hand you can make moves up.

My grandmother got a straight flush the very first hand of Chinese poker we played.  (Unfortunately, because of this she got confused about how to make normal straights, thinking they always needed to be suited and in order).

Also, my dad got a straight flush to the king in our evening game.  Ah, I was so jealous.

The Royal Flush Odyssey Moves to Limit 5-Card draw.

Another game I have found that moves really quickly on Poker Stars play money is limit 5 card draw.  With only two rounds of betting, the hands just fly by. I'm tight and then usually bring in for a raise when I end up playing my hand, which unfortunately infuriates the people I play with.  I seem to have a fairly large edge in the game at 10/20 play money, which is not the case in heads up hold em.  It's nice to build up my stack and still get in a large number of hands.

The problem with 5 card draw is that a Royal Flush is much less likely, because I am using 5 cards to make a hand instead of the 7 cards you have to choose from in a Texas Hold em hand taken to the river.

So, I plan for my poker diet to consist mostly of 5-draw to build the bankroll and limit heads up to make a run at a Royal Flush.  However, if I get a Royal Flush in 5-draw, I'll certainly take that as well.

Also, both of these games play so fast that I can't really multi-task and play.  So I'll still probably open up a few micro-limit hold em tables and play them while listening to interesting audio content, like audio books and open university lectures.

It's a matter of finding the right things for right mood.

Frisky and want to play = 5-draw or heads-up.
Zombie = 3 micro-limit Hold 'em tables or 1 Omaha tables and 1-2 micro-limit Hold 'em.  Stack my time with interesting audio content so I don't feel like a total degenerate.  (When I'm frisky and want to play, I don't care if I am a degenerate).  

When the school year starts, almost any time I carve out to play will be in the zombie zone.  I can play heads up in zombie zone, but I found out last night that is not optimal, from a stand-point of fun.

Strategizing for the Royal Flush

Hey, if I'm going to put something on my bucket list I am going to try to make it happen.

My first thought in pursuing this goal was to play a whole bunch of Omaha.  It takes better hands to win, and so I figured that would be my surest route.

But I have looked into the odds, and they are not as bad in hold 'em as I thought.  Apparently, with hands taken down to the river, it is only something like a 1 in 30,000 chance of getting a Royal Flush.

So the name of the game is to get tens of thousands of hands in as quick as possible.  Two options on poker stars: Zoom Poker and heads up.

Zoom poker, though insanely fun, has a few draw-backs for my project: 1.) the swings are huge -- so I don't know if my bankroll can be guaranteed to withstand it (it's all play money, but still).  2.) though I play a lot of hands an hour, nearly all of them are just folding quickly, so the odds of the Royal Flush are much less than 1 in 30,000 3.) Because nearly all the hands end up all-in, the computer just blasts through the hand, giving me a very short window to take a gratifying screen shot proving I got a Royal Flush.

So it looks like I'll just play a bunch of heads-up limit hold 'em.  This is great because it allows me to play at the lowest limits: 2/4 play money.  I am (play chip) profitable with fairly low "money" swings at short-handed 50/100 (play chip) hold 'em, so I can just win a bit there, and be bank rolled for a bunch of heads up.

Heads up limit hold em allows me to see a bunch of hands an hour, seeing the vast majority of flops.  I can expect to have a straight flush every 3,000 to 4,000 hands, and at some point I imagine I will get that Royal Flush.

Now, it occurred to me last night to try to "play for the Royal Flush," by folding any hands that didn't have an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, or 10 in them and playing to the river any hands that did.  That, however, was dreadfully boring and demoralizing because it lead to a dumping of chips.  So, my rule is that I have to get a Royal Flush in a game where I am actually playing to win.

Bucket List as Brag List

I think most people's bucket list, mine included, is a list of things you can impress people with.  I tried to off-set this with some huge goals in terms of helping others. But, still, I'm trying to living an impressive life, even if it is just impressive to myself.

In all honesty, being able to say you've had a royal flush probably serves in this bragging purpose just as well learning a lesser-used language (especially in a country where everyone learns English) like Dutch, Danish, or Norwegian.

If I tell someone I've had a royal flush, they'll say, "oh, cool."  And if I say, "I spent 2-5 years learning Dutch" they'll say "oh, cool."  And they might then say "okay, say something in Dutch."  After I do so, they would say, "oh, cool."  And that'd be the end of it.

Strategy for Goals

I recently added "get a royal flush" to my bucket list because that's all I've been working on the last two weeks, or so it would seem . . . Okay, really, that's mostly true.

But playing poker for free allows me to continue my cheapskate ways, thus helping me with goal #2, paying off the house.  When I run the numbers, we can pay off the house in 3 years without some unplanned trouble, 4-5 years even with a mild run of bad luck. 

Also playing cards is something to do when I am recovering from an intense weight workout, which is my current strategy for tackling my body-fat and working toward 100 push-ups.  So even though I've been a lazy bum, I've been working on that. 

What's next?  Well, the school year is starting, so I'll be able to put in work toward my coaching goals, and it will be embedded in my day-to-day.  

Besides that, I several large areas to work on to get my bigger goals:

1.) a large following for good content (gardening and time management)

2.) programming skills

3.) mechanical/building skills

These 3 things seems doable, and it's just a question of what I am focusing on at any given time.  I'll probably work in roughly that order.  Also, I have nine years before I'm 40, so I could spend (approximately) 3 years on each of these goals.  Building an audience has a kind of "compound" effect, as word of mouth spreads.  So I should emphasize working on that sooner than the mechanical skills.  For example, I could wait 6 years and still be able to build a windmill, and an aquaponics system.  However, if I waited 6 years to start helping 100,000 people, I'd have to have something like super-quick viral growth.  As it is, I can imagine quite slower ways to end up helping 100,000 people or 200,000 people (in case there is no overlap between the people I help with gardening and time management).  

There are some "dangling" goals for me address.  The extra streams of income can be achieved through intelligent use of my extra income after we pay off the house.  My "corporation" will probably either be a sustainability related charity or folding some real estate up into a corporation for better management. 

And, lastly, going to New York is the kind of problem you can just throw money at and it will happen  . . . one day.

Progress Report: Push Ups

Today I did 50 push-ups total for the day, half way to one of my master goals.  These were in fact weighted push ups (though only with 5 extra pounds of weight).  I am halfway toward another bucket-list level goal.

It's all amazing to me because my first session I could barely do a set of 3 push-ups, and I had to switch to inclined push ups, the wussy kind.

10-year bucket list

Hmm . . .

My bucket-list (last post) can probably all be achieved by the time I am 40 . . . or in time for my next high school reunion.

Well, that's fine because I should live now, do amazing things and I'll reevaluate if I get the whole list done.

It's a really nerdy, productive bucket list, too, but still.