Substance Over Form

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Charles Mingus

Do you remember when you first started playing poker? Maybe you got to sit on your dad's lap around the kitchen table as he penny anted into a family pot. A literal "family" pot because everyone else around the table was actually part of your family.

Or maybe you were in your dorm room playing against your college buddies. Or on lunch break in high school.

Or maybe you didn't pick it up until after the Moneymaker boom and your first foray into the game was online.

Either way, if you're serious about the game - you study, you think about it, you talk hands with friends, you run flips through PokerStove, watch videos, get coaching, and likely track your play through a stat program like PokerTracker or on a yellow legal notepad sitting by your computer or on an iPhone app like PkrCruncher or PokerJournal.

Always looking to improve, right?

Good things, all.

But what about in other parts of your life?

Wouldn't it be great if we also worked as hard on the rest of the pieces of our lives as we do on our game, or our jobs, or our families, as the case may be?

It's easy to overlook the things that are not fun to work on...relationships, our health and basic exercise, the house (and crap like laundry - omg, have you ever noticed it is never ending...it just keeps piling up and no matter how much I like my favorite pair of jeans, I do have to wash them at some point. Not to mention the fleeting freshness that can be wrung from a pair of clean underwear. And don't even get me started on the laundry that piles up when you're responsible for an entire family's worth. Ugh...).

If you want to be good at something - anything - there are certain things that are true. You're going to have to work at it. You're going to have to be committed. You're going to have to make time for it, be dedicated to it, and maintain singular focus. Above all, you're going to have to work. Hard.

And in that process, if you keep to the simple, the basics, the fundamentals, you can, over time, craft something really beautiful. Across the spectrum of individuals working on the same thing, that something beautiful will be as different and as varied as imagination can fathom.

That's what's amazing about dedication to a craft. And it doesn't matter if the "craft" is medicine, art, music, the law, or poker. You spend a lifetime working on it - you're going to make something beautiful.

But, you can't get sidetracked. Disregard the fluff. Avoid the easy and/or the people who only say "yes" or tell you what you want to hear.

Watching the Grammys last night, I couldn't help but wish that someone had told some of that to some of the artists performing (um...Nikki Minaj springs immediately to mind because my brain is forever scarred after seeing that performance. But it could apply equally to Lady Gaga who sat in the audience with some weird fishnet over her face or the gal who showed up as a female cyborg or even Katy Perry and her Russell Brand dissing self).*

In the end, Adele Adkins walked away with a sackful of awards, all (six of six!) of which were bestowed upon her for one really simple, timeless, reason: she's got a true talent in a voice that doesn't need any digital enhancement or weird theatrics to entertain. It's honest, pure, and real.

It doesn't always happen, but sometimes we get lucky and see substance win over form. And that's what happened last night on the Grammys.

Simplicity. Honesty. Realness. These things resonate with us because it's what we want. In our lives, in our relationships, in ourselves.**

When I look at these concepts and then look at today's poker world, I see that the characteristics apply just as equally and simply. The "schtick" that creates a flash of excitement, whether it's branding like being "the brat" or "the kid" or "the magician" or "the mouth" or what have you, only carries you so far. All of those things are good for marketing. But they don't help you win tournaments. (that said, just look at the brat's (Phil Helmuth) results in this last year's series to know that he's definitely committed to working on his game and it showed, didn't it? And with the collapse of UB and lack of patching, there wasn't a lot of grandstanding going on this year...I mean, when I think about it, I didn't see any "brattiness". Instead, his play was textbook substance over form.)

Maybe that's the one true thing we can take from Black Friday. A lack of the ability to profit from anything other than just good solid play is requiring a return to just that...the basics.

And maybe that's a good thing.

Find what resonates with you and stick with it. It will change your life.

***

* I readily admit - I am old.

** Ok, maybe I'm only speaking for myself, but it's my blog so shut it.

Shane Schleger - The Poker (Proust) Q

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I can't pinpoint the exact year I recall seeing Shane "shaniac" Schleger on my TV screen coolly and calmly playing some amazing poker, but I do remember that it made me want to be just like him. First of all, he's incredibly good-looking, with more than a passing resemblance to this year's People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive (Bradley Cooper)*.

Second, he's really smart. He was published at the age of 17 in the NYPress, New York City's edgy and independent alternative to established weeklies, and his skill at writing is well-illustrated by the compelling work he routinely shares on his blog, You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure. If you're short on time, don't miss this insightful piece he wrote for Slate Magazine on what Black Friday meant to him, and many top pros.

Last but not least, he's a prolific, and witty, tweeter (@ShaneSchleger). I know many think @BJNemeth wins the internetz when it comes to debate on the medium, but I say Shane gives BJ some stiff competition.  Either way, you can't go wrong following either of them.

Despite the chilling aftereffects of Black Friday (Shane, like many top online pros, has relocated out of the US in order to continue playing - right now, he's grinding it out from Rosarita Beach, Mexico), Shane has had a great year both live and on-line. If you're into stats - you can see just how well here and here. In addition, he was added to the Team PokerStars roster this year and has already won a seat to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, taking place next month.

Like @kevmath and @MariaHo before him, Shane was a great sport when I asked if he would participate in my PPQ folly. (In case you're new to my blog, the Poker(Proust) Q (aka the "PPQ") is my modified take on the Vanity Fair Celebrity Proust Questionnaire). Even in the face of the chaos Black Friday has wrought within the industry, Shane was kind enough to share some insight into some of the things that make him tick.

What I like best about Shane is his willingness to say what he means and mean what he says. He doesn't just "go along to get along", which is pretty rare in this world, imo. I think he's great and hope you do, too.

With that, here's Shane...in his own words:


What is your idea of perfect happiness?
"Freedom from the need to feel free."

What makes you laugh?
Self-effacement. 

Where do you feel most at home?
Next to an ocean, river or lake

Of what achievement in poker are you most proud? In life?
Not too proud of anything, just happy to be here.

What is your most treasured possession?
My bicycle. 

What is your greatest fear?
Being broke.

What trait do you most deplore in yourself?
Lack of discipline. 

What trait do you most deplore in others?
Lack of gratitude. 

What is your greatest extravagance?
Overpriced casual clothing.

Like lawyers, poker players are often considered excellent liars. Outside of poker, on what occasion do you lie?
When my mother asks how I am doing. 

When and where do you remembering being your happiest?
Probably summer camp

If you died and could come back as a person or thing, what would it be?
A fly on the wall.

What is your favorite journey?
The journey home. 

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Probably honesty since plenty of people seem to get by without it.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"Right on."

What is your greatest regret?
Not going to college.

Which talent would you most like to have?
Musical talent

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
I can't name just one. 

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Immobility. 

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would manage my time better.

If you weren't a poker professional, what would you be?
I hope to have an answer to that one day. 

What is your most striking characteristic?
No idea. 

What do you most value in your friends?
Accessibility. 

Who are your heroes in real life?
Bob Dylan, George Clinton, JD Salinger. 

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Henry Sugar 

How would you like to die?
Drowning or in a natural disaster

What is your motto?
Maybe, "Think right and you can fly." 

What is your favorite NLHE hand?
Aces

Who's a better rapper, Jeff Madsen or Prahlad Friedman?
Prahlad

Who *really* should've won The Apprentice, Annie Duke or Joan Rivers?
Joan Rivers is a complete legend, one of the hardest working people in show business. 

Who is your favorite Micros character?
I like to stay at least 1 year behind pop culture trends and phenomena, so I haven't caught up with the Micros yet.

What is your favorite karaoke song? (if you don't karaoke, what's your favorite song)
Positively 4th Street

What is the best thing about Twitter and who is your favorite tweeter?
The interaction, the call and response. And the bots that @j_e_d created, especially @bot_marley and @ro_bot_dylan. I consider @j_e_d to be my twitter soul-mate for creating those bots.

Who is your favorite Main Event Champ?
Peter Eastgate

***

* hey - what's good for the goose...amirite ladies?

Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain

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So I wrote here just a few weeks ago about NaNoWriMo and how exciting that seemed to me and how I was going to be filling the pages of my blog with all kinds of writing, writing, writing…and then, I didn’t have anything to say.  And then I got so damn depressed pondering the news of this world, the plight of poker, and all the unmitigated crap that happens on a daily basis. A work station with internet access is a very bad thing sometimes.

To top it off, I had three losing sessions at my live cash game and I just woe is me’d myself to death until it got to where the worms in the garden would start laughing every time I came to sit among them and feast. Such a waste of time...there. In the garden. Eating worms.

I went back through my blog one afternoon, trying to see if I could find a spark of inspiration or a way back to where I’d been before. I was trying to find the me who had written about my love affair with poker and the passion that had fueled me year after negative ROI year. In the face of Black Friday, I was wondering if the day had come that my love for the game was just gone…as dead and withered as the worms in the garden after this long, hot Texas summer. 

It took me a long time to admit that what I was feeling, post Black Friday, was a real, deep in the bones depression. Missing the steady habit of grinding a scheduled routine, I was displaced and not really sure what to do with myself. I was surprised, and a little (ok, a lot) embarrassed, about it.  

I know part of it is the death of a dream, and probably an unrealistic dream. Unrealistic because…I mean, come on, look at all these pros out there crushing and killing, taking names and banking cashola. While me…well, I was just starting to get profitable. The road to getting even still stretches before me like an endless painting I can walk forever in and never get to the horizon.

I’ve learned that’s part of the game, though. It is an everlasting walk toward the horizon you’ll never reach because the game is never-ending. You get up from one session only to enter it again the next time you sit down. The button ceaselessly rotating and the cards ever shuffling, your entire life is just one long session. Tommy Angelo describes it better, but this forced hiatus is helping me see it clearer.

Another part of it, though, is the complete and utter tripe that’s come out about the poker community since Black Friday.

Please notice I didn’t say “about poker” or “about the game.”

The NLHE game itself is as it always was and will be: your stack, two hole cards, opponents, the flop, turn, and river.

The poker community, on the other hand, has been nearly laid to waste (EDIT - links to Jesse May's post, which captures everything I, as an outsider, was feeling).

Journalists who used to cover stories about hands and winnings, now hustle from one breaking DOJ story to the next, stopping only to cover the next story of abuse, cheating, or scamming (a la Girah).

Pros who used to crack-wise about balling now bitch and/or take every opportunity to flaunt their flawless judgment and superiority, or use their time to criticize new poker ventures.

New poker ventures get derailed by unclearly adhering to a possibly poorly thought out ethics code of conduct.

Players out money have adorned a lynch mob mentality and use social media to denigrate and threaten the figures they deem to be at fault.

Player organizations sit in their own camps with their thumbs entirely up their asses.

And fans? Well, instead of playing, we sit on the fringe and watch it all play out.

I wonder how many new fans will be up and coming as we wait out this dark season of poker?

The good and bad thing about following a dream is that along the way, two things can happen. You can reach your goal and realize the culmination of all your hard work, and then begin a new path. Or, you can do everything in your power to reach your goal and realize at some point it’s not a goal worth having any more.

If Black Friday had never happened, I wouldn’t be feeling as I do today. I’d still be plugged in, planning my poker work and working my poker plan. But, things are different now.

I hate that Black Friday happened, but with what it’s brought to light, I’m glad it did. But for the DOJ doing its job, we might all still be in the dark about the likes of Nick Rainey and Girah and the what-the-fuckery that has become Full Tilt Poker.

Sometimes, going to the garden to eat worms is a good thing, a healing process. At some point, though, you’ve got to get up. Dust yourself off, make new plans, and open your eyes.

I started the journey with an unabashed love for the game. Along the way, I grew to love from afar some of its heroes. In the face of this dark season, I’ve seen the man behind the curtain and made my peace.

All I have left is my love for the game. 

***

Responsible for Black Friday...who me?!

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On Tuesday, Bill Rini wrote a great piece entitled “Who to Blame for Black Friday?” In it, he illustrates the “**wink, wink, nudge, nudge**” proposition that online poker has allegedly been from its inception and argues that, technically, you and I are to blame for Black Friday and its aftermath “because we didn’t demand better. We didn’t demand more transparency. We didn’t ask the right questions.”

I think that sounds good and is true in the sense that we each have to account for the decisions we make. But, I’m not sure it’s altogether accurate. And here’s why:

I’m a consumer. I’m not a marketing guru or a poker professional. I’m a mother who often makes purchasing decisions for my family on everything from what I buy at the grocery store, to clothes, cleaning products, entertainment decisions, and everything in between.

I’m not an expert and while I have the capability to research every decision I make, I generally trust what my local HEB is selling, as well as what’s marketed to me on the tube or radio, and in the newspapers and magazines I read. Even better, is when I get a recommendation from a friend. If it comes from someone I know, trust, and like, that’s pretty much where my business is going. It might not be the right way to make purchasing decisions, but it’s how I (and a vast majority of the US population) make such decisions. It’s also why marketing – like poker – is a multi-billion dollar industry.

Couple that purchasing behavior with the fact that I didn’t get into online poker in a real (serious) money way until 2009, well after the UIGEA made its big splash in 2006. The way I heard about where to play online poker was from sources like ESPN (marketed as “The Worldwide Leader in Sports”), where I could watch my favorite pros play in the WSOP and then see commercials for sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt. Not only were the ads shown on a respectable news channel, they were endorsed by the faces I’d see in those ads - my favorite pros like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey (among many others).

In the face of the UIGEA, the roster of pro players for those sites only grew, and came to include well respected “regular” people, like Orel Hershiser, Dennis Phillips, and Chris Moneymaker, and well known celebrities, like Jason Alexander and Don Cheadle. As noted by Phil Ivey in his lawsuit against Full Tilt, “the great poker players have become celebrity figures….The celebrity status attributed to these poker players is akin to the celebrity status of professional athletes.” Not surprisingly, such people sell product.

To top it off, the Poker Players Alliance, whose mission it is to “establish favorable laws that provide poker players with a secure, safe and regulated place to play,” touted in a very straightforward fashion that the UIGEA “does not make it illegal for people to play [poker] on the internet.” (emphasis added).

So what’s a gal like me to do?

Rini argues that players like me “didn’t care.” Even in the face of scandal and fraud, “[n]umbers just keep going up.” He continues, “[a]s the money became more and more staggering in nature the online poker sites began to exert more and more power.” And everybody from the online sites, to the pros, to the television, online and print media in between rode that boom. And they rode it on the backs of people like me.

But here’s the thing – as Hunter Bick points out in this post for Drag the Bar – the UIGEA doesn’t even mention poker players. “It only mentions payment processing for financial institutions. It stipulates that financial institutions cannot lawfully process ‘unlawful internet gambling’ transactions. However, the law never defines what ‘unlawful internet gambling’ is, what games it applies to, nor does it provide any guidance whatsoever for what ‘unlawful internet gambling’ even means.”

I guess what I should have done was get a legal opinion before I played real money poker on the internet. Surely, that's what the PPA and the online sites and the pros (at least the ones with agents) did...right?*

As an attorney I’ve practiced municipal law, which in Texas often deals with open government and how governmental bodies deal with laws like the Texas Open Meetings Act. One important facet of the law deals with how such bodies make decisions. As you might expect, it’s often easier for a school board or city council to make decisions behind closed doors - less questions, and all that. But the law says, no, if it’s a matter of public business, then the public has a right to know about it.** To remain in compliance, the board or the city council will first ask their attorney for a written opinion before going into closed session. I would bet really good money that something very similar happened here for organizations like the PPA, the online sites, and likely many pros.

As just your everyday, average joe poker player, I didn’t know I should’ve been asking for one, too.

I agree that Black Friday will ultimately create a more regulated, and hopefully favorable, online landscape for players in the future. But, please don’t blame me and other players for Black Friday and its aftermath. A law was on the books and it was either not enforced by the Department of Justice, or it was not adhered to by the sites it sought to regulate, as it should’ve been.

Given all that, I believe blaming me for Black Friday is like blaming the mother whose child dies after eating an e-coli laced burger from the Jack and Crack dollar menu, or like blaming the owner of the 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid for the car accident on the I-5 when his brakes fail.

I don’t obtain a legal opinion before I buy a burger, much less a car. So please, Mr. Rini, don’t blame me.

If, however, blame must still be apportioned...the lawyers might be a good place to start.***
______________________

[1]* Full disclosure, I looked for news stories, tweets, and/or other resources to support the assertion that sites like Full Tilt and PokerStars (and/or their shills) relied on such opinions from their hired guns. I did not find any. If you think it’s because there aren’t any, please leave your contact info in the comment section below because I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.

[2]** Section 551.144(c) of the Texas Government Code provides that: “[i]t is an affirmative defense to prosecution…that the members of the governmental body acted in reasonable reliance on a…written interpretation of this chapter in an opinion of…the attorney for the governmental body.”

[3]*** To be fair, as I said at the beginning of this piece, we each are accountable for our own actions and the "I didn't think I needed a legal opinion to play" is overly broad/simplistic. The truth is (as most people know), ignorance of the law is no defense. The problem here is that the law does not clearly speak to us as players. It's for that reason that I think Mr. Rini's argument is somewhat misguided. Otherwise, I like and agree with much of what he has to say (particularly his thoughts on player apathy re cheating, collusion, and other player misbehavior).

Early Morning Rant

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I'm writing this post under protest. My own self-imposed protest that no one's participating in but me; but still, under protest.

Protest because I'm so damn angry inside. That's pretty much the protest. That I'm angry. Because there's absolutely nothing else I know to do to address and rectify what's making me angry. I have no power to change things and politicians are stupid. So, I blog.

Five months ago, I had a plan. I had a goal. I was trucking along in my mind at what felt like the speed of light. Each day was mapped out and I was bringing all my forces, limited as they may be, to bear on the plans I'd set before me. I had the freedom to do that because I had the ability to take whatever knowledge and skill I had taken the time to cultivate and shore it up next to thousands of other like-minded individuals in a survival of the fittest competition - each day, every day, as often as I chose. The way I see it, that kind of competition goes on every day on the main streets of America when people make a decision to open a business and ply their trade. May the best man win and to the victor go the spoils.

Hard work goes into opening a business. Planning. Studying. Often, coaching. Financial preparation. And yes, sometimes, luck. A successful entrepreneur is the ultimate gambler, who does his homework better than anyone else. And keeps doing homework, long after his regular competitors have given up and folded shop, because there's always someone new looking to fill the void, to take the spoils. Plus, the best simply want to continue being the best.

I'm an entrepreneur. I started my own business in '08 and I can ply this trade anywhere in the world I'm licensed to do so. I can do it well, and I can continue to do it well so long as I stay on top of the law that is my area of practice and so long as I have clients.

Poker is Entrepreneurial

I can appreciate the argument that there may be some aspects of online gambling that are better left to brick and mortar endeavors. And, in light of the FT fiasco in the face of Black Friday* (for me, Full Tilt Poker will forever stand for 'Fucked The Pokerz'. Yes, I know that's an overly broad and simplistic statement. I don't care. I'm angry.), as well as the things I've learned about online poker since then, such as the apparent prevalence of ghosting (a la Girah, Nick Rainey, etc.), I can see that there is a need to regulate the entrepreneurial endeavor that is online poker. (*Wonderful articles explaining Black Friday can be found here, here, and here.)

But, come on. How hard is it to do? You open a site, the house gets a reasonable cut. Players compete fairly. A winner wins, the site reports cashes for all those who cashed, and those who cashed pay taxes on their winnings as required under the current tax code.  
Somewhat simplistic. Maybe a little over broad. But, for the most part, this is exactly what a business does every single day it opens its doors, rings up the register, or cuts an invoice.

You might say, well yeah, but businesses have a lot of hoops to jump through before they can ply their trade and/or sell their wares. This is true. It's called 'laws on the books'. For example, a business owner can't use underage workers in circumstances that don't comply with child labor laws (governed in the US by the Fair Labor Standards Act and each state). And women are to be paid an equal salary under the Equal Pay Act. And under Title VII, a company can't discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. And every business has to comply with the Internal Revenue Service tax code.

Companies follow the requisite guidelines, they get to keep on plying their trade and selling their wares. Companies get caught not following the requisite guidelines, they get fined, sanctioned, despised in the court of public opinion, and sometimes they go out of business. All, supposedly, for the good of the consumer and in the interest of capitalism.

I have no idea what goes into running an online poker site and I'm not a gaming attorney. Thus, my opinion/grain of salt. But you've got the entrepreneur [which I see as the site itself (the business, its investors and employees) and the poker players utilizing the site to 'do work'], and you've got the consumers [which I see as including both the entrepreneurial poker players and the recreational poker players].

It's not that difficult (ok, it may not be easy, but it is not freaking rocket science). A federal law requires:

• no minors
• report earnings/tax as provided under the law
• no super using
• no ghosting
• no overly burdensome rake
• all the current "game responsibly" measures

I don't know how to effectuate any of this and I know I'm leaving stuff out, but this is my rant.

To protect against minors playing, require birth certificates (yes, everything can be falsified but, again, my rant). If the entity is going to be international, the age requirement in the country in which the individual lives controls.

To protect against super using, impose spot checking like drug testing and require a strict liability penalty for the site's owners and investors, large enough to hurt/put them out of business AND that mandates monetary remedy (payback) to impacted consumers.

To protect against ghosting, I don't know. Rewards for people who report it, maybe. Plus, it seems like there's got to be a way a computer program could monitor that.

Spent

This is just my early morning rantings. And now my anger is spent and I'm left with time on my hands. That's what got this ball rolling in the first place, though...I woke up this morning, checked in online to Facebook and Twitter. Found myself wondering who in the hell all these people were in my Facebook friends list, started deleting, found the exercise maddening, got pissed off that I was even messing with it, realized I'm spending way too much time acting a fool on social media, thought about why that was, remembered how my days prior to Black Friday had been scheduled and orderly, got pissed again, and viola - blog post.

I'm an amateur and this is what the free-fall has created in me. God bless the pros who lost their jobs. And screw the politicians who can't sort this out right.

***

Another Representative Responds

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So my Congressman, "Quico" Canseco, a former banker, had this to say to my plea to legalize online poker (to view it better, just click on the pic and it should pop out for easier reading):

Really, Quico? 

Sigh.  Lots of other, wiser, bloggers have opined at just how futile it is to write letters to representatives.  And while I do tend to agree, I'm also of a mind that if you don't ask, you don't get.  Plus, if you've read my blog since its inception, you know I like to write me some letters. 

All total, I wrote to Kay Bailey Hutchison, John Cornyn, Governer Rick Perry, Quico Canseco, Jeff Wentworth, and Lyle Larson. I've played poker with at least one of these individuals on several occasions in private, local games here in town (I'm curious if they'll be at the game Saturday). So far, only Kay Bailey and Quico have responded.  That's pretty lame, but I guess it's not surprising.

@PokerGrump had a great article (here), in which he says:

The only way to get the freedom to play poker genuinely secure in the long term is to achieve a broad consensus not about poker specifically, but on the general principle that we will be a truly free society, meaning one in which we do not seek to control each other's conduct. With the caveat that there be no use of fraud or force, people should be free to expend their money, time, and energy however the hell they choose to.

But how do we get to that point?  @PokerGrump's solution is to "elect people who agree that individual liberty is the paramount value, to be restricted as little as possible consistent with ordered society."

Would that it were that easy. 

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Practice Makes Perfect, So Practice What You Love

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"Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task — playing a C-minor scale 100 times, for instance, or hitting tennis serves until your shoulder pops out of its socket. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome."

I am fascinated by the idea that with enough desire and hard work, a person can become an expert in almost anything. I've written before about the 10,000 Hour Rule and studies like it (and was on my way to reaching that milestone in my poker adventure before the PoPo shut me down). Today I got a new (but old, it's from 2006) article on the subject (via @Lefsetz) that I wanted to post on the blog for those of you also interested in the subject. 

Bob is first and foremost a music lover. He's also a passionate writer about the music industry and usually has great advice for artists looking to break onto the scene. His advice nearly always boils down to this: desire to be good. Not rich. Not famous. Not on the cover of magazines or on a Disney sitcom. Instead, he espouses doing anything and everything it takes to be good.  And to be a good musician, you have to practice and gig and write and tour and cut your teeth over and over and over. 

So how do you do that with poker? Yes, you have to play. Pre-Black Friday, I think I would've hit 10,000 hours of playing tournament poker in March 2012. But as the quote at the top of this post indicates, there's a difference in simply repeating a task (i.e., lighting up a bunch of tables online and just playing) and deliberately practicing the task.

Now that I can't light up 8-tables and just play and try to pretend I'm deliberately practicing, are there some things I can be doing that would serve as deliberate practice? And more importantly, can I be disciplined enough to deliberately practice even with no money score to be had?

If not, I don't think I was ever really on my way to hitting the 10,000 mark because, again, repetition is not deliberate practice. 

So, I'm going to put some more thought into the above referenced quote and its application to my game.  I'm a big believer in deliberate practice and planning your work and working your plan. Once I get that plan formulated, I'll post it here and we'll see how it goes. 

In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you think constitutes deliberate practice toward the improvement of your poker game.  Are there any specific things you're doing to keep your game on track?

Til next time, keep keeping on, amigos!

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PoPo Shut Me Down

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I am sometimes asked whether the avatar on my blog and Twitter is me. It's not. I blog and tweet behind an avatar because to use my real name would, on a google search of said name, result in a bunch of un-lawyer-ly information illustrating how deep my love for poker runs (not to mention a bunch of dumb Twitter rants).

While I suppose in this day and age there's nothing really wrong with that, I am not currently making my living from poker and so it matters to me what opposing counsels and clients think.  Most non-poker playing clients generally don't like the thought that, during any downtime, their attorneys are not living and breathing their case and business matters.

Poker is an easy game to play, but a tough game to master; and, to get good enough to be a profitable player, you have to play. A lot.  I've been playing poker recreationally since the birth of my daughter (who's 6 now), and I only began taking the game serious in late 2009.  Since I live in Texas, online poker is really the only way I can play with the regularity and volume that's required to get good.  Indeed, when I play, study, and review hands, I'm always mindful of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule...practice makes perfect.

Before last Friday, I was practicing a lot. (To understand what Friday, also known as Black Friday, means to online poker players, read this and this.) I had reached the point where I was actually making money at the game. My cash game is still wildly uneven and always a threat to my bankroll, but my tournament play was really coming along.  Since 2006 (and remember b/w 2006 and late 2009 it was all recreational - I didn't even learn the concept of bankroll management until 2009!), I have maintained a nearly 10% ROI.  I know it's not that great, but as one of my coaches told me, anyone who can make even $1 profit in this game is doing better than the vast majority of people who play. Poker is, after all, a zero sum game...if someone else is winning, you're losing.

Because I was showing improvement and because I could play on-line, I made a decision earlier this year to cut back on my practice in order to grind the volume necessary to improve and to give myself a realistic picture of whether or not I had what it takes to make poker a profession.  Everyone in my family was on board with that idea and supportive of me pursuing my dream. Absent their support, I honestly couldn't even consider doing this.

After last Friday, though, that support has given way to questioning and concern for the very legality of this passion of mine. I'm thankful now that I've blogged and twittered under my Poker Girl With Cards avatar because if the people who know and love me are feeling this way, I can only imagine what my clients and opposing counsels would be thinking.  It wouldn't be good.

Unfortunately, I don't live where I can just drive to a casino and take my shot that way. So for the foreseeable future, my pokering will have to be live, which means I'll really have to coordinate to make the trips cost-effective and workable for my family. I'm still planning on the WSOP this summer and will also likely play the WSOP-c event in Louisiana.  But after that, who knows?  And while I'd hoped to play tons online with measured practice to gear up for the series, I'm now forced to rely on finding a safe local game and on the study and review of HHs from previous tournaments. 

Last but not least, Black Friday has forced me to get back into full-time lawyering. I'm thankful I've got that to fall back on but I have to admit it's just not as much fun. Seriously, give me being one-outed on the river any day.  Please.

Remind me of that when they get the pipeline open again.

Until then, it's back to Vernon's and Lexis for me.  In the meantime, I hope you're able to play.  And if you are, thank your lucky stars and run good, amigos.

Do Something

Tweet

"If you support generating tax revenue without increasing taxes, as well as creating domestic jobs instead of outsourcing them, you will support the licensing and regulation of online poker.  If you do not, you will lose my vote in the 2012 election."

So, What Can You Do? 

 Know What to Say, Know Who to Say it To, Say It

 
The quote above (taken from the WickedChops website, link below) pretty much says it all and it's pretty much the ONLY  message politicians are going to understand. But to get that message, you (me, all of us) have to do something. I blogged this weekend calling Black Friday poker's Stonewall. I was frustrated because I knew I needed to do something, but I had no clue what to do. Since then, there've been many great action plans formulated by a lot of good people in the community.

I went through all the information I could find and summarized it in what I hope will be easy-to-do steps so that you, too, will take action. I agree wholeheartedly that wrongdoing must be governed and punished appropriately under the law, but I firmly believe that - if every US poker player takes at least one of the actions outlined below - Black Friday can ultimately serve as the catalyst to license and regulate online poker so that we can get back to playing.

• Know What to Say

Many people believe that the PPA's message is not strong enough. Wicked Chops Poker did a great job of synthesizing what politicians understand.  All you have to do is cut and paste it into a letter or email, or you use it as talking points in the event you also call your representatives.

What to cut and paste into a letter/email:

As a voter and tax-paying constituent, I am writing to ask for you to support the licensing and regulation of online poker in the United States.

The recent DoJ indictments of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker only underscores the tremendous opportunity that exists right now for the U.S. Government (and its citizens) to benefit from the regulation of online poker.

Online poker is estimated to generate over $42 billion in tax revenue over the next 10 years and create over 37,000 domestic jobs.

Along with tax and job creation, regulating online poker provides consumer protection safeguards that have not existed in the past.

In short, Federal online poker regulation is fairly cut & dry:

1. Online poker regulation will “repatriate” funds and generating tax revenues.
2. Online poker regulation will stimulate business by creating tens of thousands of domestic jobs.
3. Online poker regulation protects children and adults by creating safeguards for participation.
4. Online poker regulation protects the consumer by enforcing safety standards.

If you support generating tax revenue WITHOUT increasing taxes, as well as creating domestic jobs instead of outsourcing them, you will support the licensing and regulation of online poker. If you do not, you will lose my vote in the 2012 election.

• Know Who To Say It To

Click here to find those elected officials you need to contact.

You can also call:

US DOJ, Office of the Attorney General Public Comment Line (202) 353-1555
White House Phone Number for Comments: 202-456-1111  

You can also post your thoughts on the US Department of Justice Facebook page
(you have to like the page, first) 

• Say It

This is all on you. Do you want your pokers back? Then, do something.

Other good resources: US Pokers Action Plan, Interview with the First Lady of Poker, @Mark_Gahagan's blog, Most Excellent BWoP blog.

Your move...

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