Harrier's Blog - Mixed Games & Mixed Drinks

Last evening, for the first time since the lockdown, I slipped into my firefighting gear to participate in a little practice session with my colleagues from the department.

And what can I say? If I had known that among other things, they would make me run up and down the stairs in my hometown's historic clock tower (no English version, sorry), I wouldn't have made a cocktail break at home right before I went there...

Honestly, it was interesting to see it from the inside for once, and it's a sight worth visiting if people don't make you run - there are even guided tours available. But my legs are still killing me one day later...

My time was still acceptable, and it would have helped if I hadn't taken take the wrong set of stairs once - due to several restorations over the years, there are some old stairs leading right into the ceiling (I noticed just in time before I would have bumped my head). But I heard later that several other people made the same mistake, and some even told me about a second set of wrong stairs. Who would have thought that this tower would contain an entire maze?

But I did realize that since the Corona lockdown, I have had a terrible lack of exercise, and it showed. Obviously, all of my regularly scheduled sports had been cancelled (I had a pretty packed schedule before), and my inconvenient work hours lately made it hard to find the time and motivation for unscheduled exercise too. It will be tough to get back into it, but I clearly see the need for it now.

As weird as my recent dream was, I can definitely see the real life parallels. Like that job which mostly involves wandering through town running pointless errands, which also prevents me from finding the time and energy for activities like football practice - and I remember that I was planning to go there again on the day where I later had that dream, but didn't feel ready yet. And yes, I do own a miniature portrait bust of Caesar Augustus.

Anyway, there will be a lot of work to be done, in order to get back on track. I played a brief session (no Five Card Draw) after returning home last evening, all bricks. Probably shouldn't have done it after all that exhaustion. I plan another full session tonight. This time, I should be better prepared. ♠_thumbsup:

Originally posted by Harrier88
And what can I say? If I had known that among other things, they would make me run up and down the stairs in my hometown's historic clock tower (no English version, sorry), I wouldn't have made a cocktail break at home right before I went there...

When I use Google translate to render the entire page into English it renders Stadtturm as "City Tower"

Originally posted by Harrier88
But I did realize that since the Corona lockdown, I have had a terrible lack of exercise, and it showed. Obviously, all of my regularly scheduled sports had been cancelled (I had a pretty packed schedule before), and my inconvenient work hours lately made it hard to find the time and motivation for unscheduled exercise too. It will be tough to get back into it, but I clearly see the need for it now.

I may have mentioned that I tore a muscle in my left buttock at the beginning of the month (and maybe not -- NARF!)
I have a shopping list of exercises I have to do to rehabilitate it, and barely the strength to do them.

Once I can walk without pain again, I'm going to try to do an entire "get the old body back into shape again" routine.

Run up a 50m tower?
Not me!

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
When I use Google translate to render the entire page into English it renders Stadtturm as "City Tower"

That is correct, and it's the official name (or more like "town tower". The German word can potentially refer to both small towns and large cities). Originally, it was part of the cities fortifications in medieval times, but it got later repurposed as a bell tower for the Protestant church in the 16th century, and still serves that function today. Eventually, people also installed a clock on all four sides in the late 19th century.

The tower itself may be 50 meters high, but luckily, we only had to run up to about the area where the clock would be located, or maybe one story below it - we were timed, so there wasn't much of a chance to look around. It's still a good distance, especially when you're a little out of shape...

Interestingly, I've learned that there used to be a family that lived way up in the tower. According to that Wikipedia article, they lived there until 1912, and had 11 kids.
I can imagine that living in there would be a special experience, but I would hate having to carry furniture up there (or even just groceries)... Not the best choice for a student's dorm, maybe.

This photo shows the remains of that apartment up there. With much of the inside of the tower looking like this, I guess accidentally taking a poorly barricaded stairway that leads right into the ceiling can be excused.

This converter is going to be a cash cow...
PokerStars Pot Limit 5 Card Draw ($6.69+$0.81) t60/t120 ante t30 - 5 players

SB: t4,689
BB: t4,430 (Hero)
UTG: t3,823
CO: t2,569
Button: t4,391

Dealing Hands: (t330) (5 players)
UTG calls t120, CO folds, Button calls t120, SB raises to t480, Hero calls t360, UTG calls t360, Button calls t360

First Draw: (t2,070) (4 players)
SB discards 1, Hero discards 1, UTG discards 3, Button discards 1,
||
SB bets t240, Hero raises to t1560, 2 folds, SB raises to t4179 and is all-in, Hero calls t2360 and is all-in

SB showed , four of a kind, Fives
Hero showed , a full house, Deuces full of Fours
SB won t9910

I was actually suspecting that SB had quads there, but there is certainly no way to fold. And flat-calling would be too weak too, there should be plenty of possible worse hands who would be willing to go all-in, or at least to call a raise.

Rock bottom session today, nothing went right. Still wasn't all that concentrated either, I guess that's another thing that won't be improved in just a day.

Thanks to those successful 2-7 TD runs recently, I still managed to have some winnings to withdraw this month, even if it's just $12.08. Tough times right now, but watch out - Summer will end eventually, and once the leaves start falling again, so will my opponents. ♠_evil:

Well, it wasn't a complete bust tonight. I decided to give that SwC site a try again, late regged a Badeucy freeroll and just shipped it for around 3 cents worth of bitcoins.

What's Badeucy, you may ask? No need to find out, you won't find that game anywhere anyway.

But if you must know, it's lowball variant where you get five cards, draw up to three times, and the pot is then split between the best 2-7 lowball hand and the best Badugi hand. Oh, and aces are always high, even in the Badugi part.

It's actually a very fun game, too bad it's not played anywhere.

Grasping at Straws

I got another bar update. This time, it is mostly about equipment.

There have been some concerns all around the world about single-use plastic straws and their impact on the environment. Many bars have been looking for alternatives already, and as far as I know, the European Union will even be outright banning plastic straws starting next year. But why wait until one of your plastic straws at home becomes literally "the last straw"? I am pleased to announce that Harrier's home bar is making the switch right now.

Some people have simply switched to paper straws, which are still single-use, but at least have a lower environmental impact. Sure, paper versions may have been a good alternative to those pesky plastic Q-tips, which were met with similar concerns, but for drinking straws? Not so much... Aside from making your cocktail taste like a number 2 pencil, they have the annoying tendency to dissolve if you keep them in your drink for a while.

I have a better solution: Reusable glass straws. Those babies are made of a durable special glass (as far as I know, it's borosilicate, the kind of material used for test tubes etc.),which can stand a wide array of temperatures, making them a suitable choice for both hot and cold drinks. Sure, you could break them with some violence, but as long as they are used properly, there is no risk. Also, the material won't affect the taste at all, which is not even a characteristic that plastic straws had (I believe they usually contain BPA, which isn't all that great for you either).

Here's six of them. About 18.5 cm long, bent, and with a little colored tip so you can tell them apart when several people are drinking from the same glass.

In addition, I got four more straight straws of about the same length that are completely colored, which can give a nice optical touch to certain drinks.

For those who prefer to drink from lowball glasses with a straw as well (personally, I usually don't bother, but I have guests, and some of them might), I also have these four shorter straws, measuring about 13 cm.

It was tough to make a decision about which ones to get, since the longer ones where available in all combinations: Bent or straight, transparent, colored or transparent with a colored tip... and if you were going for the colored ones, there was a good amount of colors to choose from too. But I'm quite happy with my picks. The shorter ones were available in black or white too, but I preferred black.

And as another alternative to glass straws altogether, I also got a few reusable steel straws.

The straws came with those little cleaning brushes for the inside, so hygiene won't be an issue either, even after many uses.

Overall, I'm very pleased with them so far. While I still have a few plastic straws from decades ago at home, which I might as well still use from time to time, I just couldn't resist to give them a proper test the other day.

To the left is an Electric Iced Tea, otherwise known as AMF (Adios Motherf***er), a variation of the Long Island Iced Tea. To the right is a Moscow Mule, served in one of those iconic copper mugs.

As I mentioned recently, I was struggling a bit to keep that AMF inside me, when it turned out that I had to run up and down the clock tower not even an hour later, but the glass straws felt great. It's as if they add a little extra touch of quality to your drinks.

Maybe I'll share the recipe for the Electric Iced Tea/AMF later, when I deal with the Long Island Iced Tea as well. But I think the Moscow Mule will be next...

Originally posted by Harrier88
Interestingly, I've learned that there used to be a family that lived way up in the tower. According to that Wikipedia article, they lived there until 1912, and had 11 kids.
I can imagine that living in there would be a special experience, but I would hate having to carry furniture up there (or even just groceries)... Not the best choice for a student's dorm, maybe.

11 kids and very strong legs

Made it through my first football practice since the quarantine yesterday evening. Despite my worries, it went quite well. As expected, my body is a little sore, but nothing big. Practice was shortened to 1.5 hours instead of 2 hours anyway due to the Corona situation, and we started a little later.

The lockdowns were tough on us all, and I'm no exception. But I'm very glad that things went all right, it was an important step towards regaining a bit of my much more active pre-Corona lifestyle.

Even had time for a little session later that night, even though it was a little late for the Badugi. Five Card Draw bricked yet again but I made a $21.16 cash for 5th place in the 2-7 Triple Draw - a very disappointing one, actually. I entered the final table with a big chip lead, and I really should have more out of it. Sure, sometimes I just didn't get the cards that I needed (and/or my opponents did) but I also made mistakes.

5CD seems quite gambley, and I'm still a little skeptical about continuing it, but I see some potential in 2-7 TD. If I can get rid of those costly mistakes, I might be able to achieve something in there.

I also made some major breakthroughs with my poker spreadsheet, hopefully identifying the last bugs in its current version. Soon enough, I should have accurate statistics for all of my games, enabling me to make better decisions about what to play and what to cut.

Originally posted by Harrier88
I also made some major breakthroughs with my poker spreadsheet, hopefully identifying the last bugs in its current version. Soon enough, I should have accurate statistics for all of my games, enabling me to make better decisions about what to play and what to cut.

Done with the bugfixing. I still plan to keep working on it to add a couple more stats and other improvements, but either way, the results for 2020 so far are in:

Badugi
Note: This does not take all rebuys into account.
Games played: 141
Buy-ins: $624.80
Winnings: $1,392.79
Total Profit: $767.99
Average Profit: $5.45
Total ROI: 122.92%

Five Card Draw
Note: This does not include the four $11 non-turbos I played this year.
Games played: 69
Buy-ins: $556.00
Winnings: $847.09
Total Profit: $291.09
Average Profit: $4.22
Total ROI: 52.35%

2-7 Triple Draw

Games played: 76
Buy-ins: $615.50
Winnings: $888.48
Total Profit: $272.98
Average Profit: $3.59
Total ROI: 44.35%

Overall
Note: This also includes other games not listed above.
Buy-ins: $2,087.80
Winnings: $3,323.75
Total Profit: $1,235.95
Total ROI: 59.20%

From those stats, I'd say that at least results-wise, there is no reason for cutting the Five Card Draw yet. An ROI of 52.35% is definitely something to be happy with. The results in there from the last 1-2 months were pretty crappy nonetheless. I may be going through a downswing right now, I may have experienced an upswing at first, and 69 games are hardly a sample anyway. But this is not the time to make any drastic decisions about it yet, I believe.

Really impressive!

Thank you, Vorpal. Still, there is always room for improvement, and profits need to be maximized. "Good" is never good enough.

Long-term, Badugi has been pretty steady over the years, so I'm mostly looking at the other games for improvements. While the stats in the other two draw games are good so far, it's still too early to tell where they are really going, and even if the current stats were a good indicator, they could be going a lot better too.

I'm going to try to expand my spreadsheet to the games which aren't currently part of the regular grind, so I can hopefully identify trends among them more easily, and see how they compare to the other games I'm grinding at the moment. This way, I may figure out which games are really worth the most.

:heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart:
:sifflote::sifflote::sifflote::sifflote::sifflote::sifflote::sifflote::sifflote::sifflote::sifflote::sifflote::sifflote:

:mdr::mdr::mdr::mdr::mdr::mdr::mdr::mdr::mdr::mdr::mdr::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart:

Whoopsie, looks like my talk about maximizing profits got the commie-puppies running.

If human commies live in a people's republic, do canine commies live in a dog's republic? I wonder...

There should be a session tonight, maybe I'll have time for some more this week too.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Thank you, Vorpal. Still, there is always room for improvement, and profits need to be maximized. "Good" is never good enough.

Beware the law of diminishing returns
In the poker context, more and more and more effort will not produce more income.

At some point the extra effort "just ain't worth it"

Enjoy!

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Beware the law of diminishing returns
In the poker context, more and more and more effort will not produce more income.

At some point the extra effort "just ain't worth it"

You are spot-on, and I have noticed this during my Hold'em grinding days. There were times when I have treated poker almost like a job, grinding big volumes, reading stuff, and ultimately breaking even, more or less. Once I got into Badugi years later, I only casually played one tournament per day instead, and made thousands.

That's why my goal is to find games to play along the way which require the least effort for the most profit. Coming anywhere close to making a living from poker is out of the question anyway, so there won't be any all-day grinds, even once I'm done with my current job. My usual grinding hours will most likely stay, so it's all about finding a way to make the most of these hours.

Creating complicated spreadsheets for all that might seem like a lot of extra effort, but honestly, it feels kind of satisfying. And once it's all set up, any modifications to it should be a breeze.

It's funny how I often tend to be more busy when I have a day off than when I'm on duty.

Moreover, I had another mahjong meetup at my house on Thursday and a special guest on Friday, but I managed to play in those evenings as well, even though some sessions were shortened - and the 2-7 Triple Draw didn't always run. Unfortunately, it was all bricks.

It's true that the conditions are not ideal for poker lately, and the current heat wave doesn't help either. But some changes to the grind might be in order too. More on that later.

Got another shift today, then I will hopefully have more of a slow week. Then again, as I mentioned before, sometimes those supposedly "slow" weeks are the most hectic, in a way. Let's see how it goes...

Originally posted by Harrier88
It's funny how I often tend to be more busy when I have a day off than when I'm on duty.

Ha!
Just wait until you retire and have "all the time in the world" only to find out you don't have time for anything...

<sigh>
VS

Done with the spreadsheet, at least as far as data is concerned. I'd prefer to add some ways to visualize the data (graphs and stuff), but I've been running into some difficulties with it.

Most of the other games not listed before have meaningless samples of less than 10 games, except for PL Courchevel Hi/Lo, which I have been playing earlier this year. Here are the stats:

Games played: 59
Buy-ins: $129.80
Winnings: $112.12
Total Profit: -$17.68
Average Profit: -$0.30
Total ROI: -13.62%

Doesn't look too good, though it should be mentioned that I ended January with a nice profit of $34.21 and an ROI of 86.39% after 18 games, of which 11 ended with a cash. This was followed by a bunch of losing months and I eventually gave up some time in April. Besides the poor overall stats, the tournaments took a long time, so I figured they would only be worth the effort if there was some good profit to be had. Clearly, this wasn't the case.

After another work day tomorrow I should finally have some time to hit the tables again, let's see how it goes, fingers crossed...

Originally posted by Harrier88
Done with the spreadsheet, at least as far as data is concerned. I'd prefer to add some ways to visualize the data (graphs and stuff), but I've been running into some difficulties with it.

You're never done!

In a week or so you'll think of another feature you can add, or discover another capability of OO that would be really cool.

Enjoy your success!
(for now )

Cheers,
VS

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
You're never done!

In a week or so you'll think of another feature you can add, or discover another capability of OO that would be really cool.

You know me well.

A few years ago, I digitized my family's collection of home video tapes (around 25h of footage) and was pretty pleased with the results. Now I'm considering doing the whole thing all over again to implement what I have learned about video and sound editing in the meantime...

Luckily, though, I have plenty of other projects piled up.