Harrier's Blog - Mixed Games & Mixed Drinks

I don't give a rat's ass what you play, nor how well you play it as long as you continue to post graphs... (melts)

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I don't give a rat's ass what you play, nor how well you play it as long as you continue to post graphs... (melts)

I played some poker tonight again, and while the SNGs bricked, I made a final table in Badugi for a 3rd place finish for $23.89 including bounties. Some more of those, and we'll have some cool looking graphs next month.

I may have gotten a bit rusty at backgammon, but that's okay, it's a side challenge.

Fantastic!

- Harrier! How's it going?
- Good - a lot better than the game is going...

I went to see the Golden Dragons again, who are sadly still without a win this season. They were playing the Regensburg Phoenix, who just got promoted to the national leagues, but are already having a good run, which just continued. And it looks like they are really fond of the old "US import quarterback to US import receiver" deep pass play... (I assume they were both import players). Well, it surely worked, as usual.

This time, I was able to see the full game, and caught up with a few old friends from my active playing days, among other things resulting in the dialogue above. I also stopped for a cheeseburger at the stadium, which was pricey, but at least quite good. You would pick the toppings yourself, but the selection was a lot more limited than during my Burgers Around the World series in the Troll Challenges blog, of course. I went for the classic combo of tomatoes, onions, lettuce and mayonnaise.

Bratwurst was only half the price, actually. But after having had both (this was my dinner, after all), I'd say the cheeseburger is worth it.

Keep your chins up, Dragons. The first W may be just around the corner.

Can Harrier Chess?

I still find the backgammon board on the other side of the chess set more inviting, but I recently discovered a similar feature to the feedback in my backgammon software on Chess.com. You can play practice matches against several AI opponents and get an analysis of your play, both live during the game and as a breakdown when the match is over.

I tend to make myself look like a bit of a fool against the higher AI settings, so I played a few games against easier bots for beginners (rated 400... not sure if this is that Elo rating I have heard about or something else. "Intermediate" begins at 1000, for reference).

How did I do? I won both games, here is the first one where I played as White (left):

Not too shabby, though I remember having a move considered an inaccuracy in the live feedback, which is not listed as such here. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all... or I just remembered it wrong.

My rematch as Black (right) wasn't so great anymore:

I got the win, sure, but with two blunders, one mistake and four inaccuracies. I wasn't even doing so much better than the deliberately weak AI.

Not sure why "Brilliant" and "Great Move" are marked with question marks rather than zeros in that list, perhaps it's a feature to be unlocked with the purchase of a premium account (several features are stripped away for basic members). The definitions for each move rating can be found in the spoiler.

Can Harrier Chess? A little - as I expected. My backgammon software's rating of "Casual Player" seems like a good fit here too.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Can Harrier Chess?

Chess is a verb? I like it

What site is this?

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Chess is a verb? I like it

What site is this?

Verbing is fun.

The site is called Chess.com. It may take some looking around to find the feature with the practice games and the analysis, so if you're interested, drop me a message and I'll attempt to walk you through it.

I played another practice game against a slightly better AI, ranked 800 (still beginner level). It went a little better already, and surprisingly, it seems like a full analysis was included, which is usually hidden behind a paywall, as far as I know. I was playing as White (left):

As you can see, the "Brilliant" and "Great Move" categories are now included, and both players get an accuracy rating. 91.9 out of a possible 100, which would be perfect play, seems pretty solid, though it was a short game. You would also get some brief commentary on the game.

Clicking on "Start Review" would then also yield commentary on each move, explaining why it was good or bad, and what it accomplished or failed to accomplish.

I don't know if I got any of those bonus features through some weird glitch or whatever happened, but they were gone when I checked back again later on. But even without those features, it seems like a great training tool.

I intend to be back at the poker tables tonight as well, though.

Pushing AAAxx vs lower trips - around 90% equity, great setup!

PokerStars, $1.76 + $0.24 - 5 Card Draw Pot Limit - 25/50 (5 ante) - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 1,155 (23 bb)
MP: 1,440 (29 bb)
CO: 2,185 (44 bb)
BU: 1,490 (30 bb)
SB: 1,490 (30 bb)
BB (Hero): 1,240 (25 bb)

Deal: (105) Hero is BB with A♠ A♥ J♠ A♦ 3♣
4 players fold, SB raises to 134, Hero 3-bets to 350, SB 4-bets to 918, Hero 5-bets to 1,235 (all-in), SB calls 317

Draw One: (2,500) A♠ A♥ A♦ 3♣ 8♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)
SB draws 2, BB (Hero) draws Js

Total pot: 2,500

Showdown:
BB (Hero) shows A♠ A♥ A♦ 3♣ 8♦ (three of a kind, Aces)
SB shows K♦ K♠ K♣ J♣ J♥ (a full house, Kings full of Jacks)
SB wins 2,500

Not so great runout...

We played backgammon, we played chess... and now I might even play some Hold'em from time to time, after getting a secondary bankroll on PartyPoker. What a world...

Other than that, no SNGs tonight, but I made it heads-up in Badugi. Unfortunately, I had to settle for a 2nd place finish with only $3 in bounties. My bankroll could have used a bigger boost from such a deep run than the combined $32.27 in winnings.

It's a success nonetheless, and it was worth staying up for. Until now, that is...

I heard that KK wasn't among Prim's lucky hands in her SNGs. This applied to my Five Card Draw SNGs tonight too, where I first drew trips with KKxxx and ran into quads, and then in the next game drew a good two pair with them and ran into 44xxx that hit trips. The result was two bubble finishes and a brick in Badugi, where my opponents always seemed to hit when they needed to as well.

Bad session, let's put it behind me. I also withdrew €75 from Pokerstars, both to test whether withdrawals are still working after the account migration, and also to cover the deposit with which I funded my new PartyPoker account.

Made another FT on Wednesday night, but no luck yesterday. Not sure yet if I am going to play tonight.

After a relatively busy week, I'm entering the weekend with a new work contract in hand, effective in July: My work hours will see a 20% increase, while my hourly pay will get a slight boost too. That means a fair bit more money in the bank every month, while still hopefully keeping the poker grind more or less unimpeded.

I intend to work one day full-time each week (my pick is Tuesday, but we'll stay flexible), while otherwise just adding one half hour at the end of my shifts. This should still allow me to do late night MTT sessions on most days, and possibly even some grinding time in the afternoon or early evening sometimes.

While my previous part-time work hours were ideal, you also need to get some cash in, and those new hours should be a great middle ground. There is not a lot about it that is not to like, I even get a fair bit of extra vacation days.

Let's see how it goes next month, but those should be good news for sure. There have been some great successes off the felt this year, I hope I can get some good poker achievements soon too, which have been a bit on the meager side so far.

Weird issues on Pokerstars tonight - I could not reg for any $2 Five Card Draw SNGs. I am not getting any error messages, I simply do not show up in the lobby after trying to reg. Attempting to exit the window then yields a message saying that a registration is in progress, and that closing the lobby will result in said registration being cancelled.

I tried all the usual stuff: doing it again, waiting for several minutes, restarting Pokerstars, waiting for the next SNG to start - still won't work. All other SNGs, however, do work, including the $5 Five Card Draw SNGs.

I will try my usual approach to tech issues of waiting for a day and hoping that the problem will fix itself. If not, I guess I will have to contact support, even though I really don't feel like it.

If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have played anything tonight at all, and would have saved my $4.40 Badugi buy-in. That known aggro player who likes to take the maximum amount of rebuys hit again on the last draw. I wasn't really all that focused anyway, didn't get enough sleep this week.

.

I still find it weird that only one specific SNG was affected, everything else seemed to work fine.

I will try again either tonight or tomorrow. Not a great show from Stars recently.

Honestly, my motivation for poker has been pretty low recently. Maybe it's because I had so many other things to focus my energy on, or maybe it's just the summer heat. What certainly doesn't help, though, are the continuing problems on Stars.

I had a look today again to see if the SNGs are all working, which seemed to be the case. There were several disconnections during the registration period, however, requiring me to reg again. There was one genuine disconnection on my part early on, but for all the other ones, my internet worked fine, it was only Pokerstars.

I eventually found a seat at a Courchevel SNG, and encountered four or five more major disconnections in the middle of the game, all of them with a perfectly functional internet connection. I was able to stay alive thanks to a good hand I had in the short periods where I was able to play, but when I reached the bubble, I was unsurprisingly pretty short stacked.

Would you play this hand? I would, with this stack size. Unfortunately, thinking about it was all I was able to do.

By the time I got reconnected, I was already out of the tournament. Needless to say, poker is no fun this way, and I surely won't get my motivation back any time soon if things go on like this. I'm not sure if I should even try tomorrow.

Can any other poker room please introduce a mixed games schedule? The "Pokerstars or nothing" dilemma is getting increasingly frustrating ever since the DE migration thing.

Right now, I can only look for something else to do in the next few minutes so I won't go to bed in a bad mood, but I sure hope that I will be able to play in a functional poker environment soon, it can't continue like that.

So what's happening these days? Technical issues on Pokerstars, humid heat, a faulty headphone jack, sporting ambitions, and what may be a minor infection that is currently stymieing those ambitions a little. Not exactly ideal grinding conditions, which is why I haven't been playing in the last few days.

Also, Malwarebytes Premium labeled a few essential PartyPoker files (including the exe) as riskware. Having just returned home from work when I saw it and wishing to get some quick cooking done, I simply followed a "better safe than sorry" policy and moved them all to quarantine, which means that PartyPoker is currently non-functional for me and may require a new installation later on. I'll just leave it be, poker is on hold for now anyway, but I guess I should properly discuss this on the forum, or at least have a search online.

So yes, poker is on a bit of a break. How about some chess in the meantime? I mentioned the other day that I was surprised to find a full detailed analysis of one of my latest practice games, which is a feature normally hidden behind a paywall. I had a closer look, it appears like you get one of those analyses free every day. Honestly, that's all I need as a casual player. How did it go? (playing as White)

Some mistakes, but my beginner level AI opponent took it easy on me again.

What really comes in handy is the ability to scan through the game to key moves, with an explanation of what went wrong:

Similarly, it points out why your good moves mattered too:

You also get a short summary at the end of the game.

I think this is quite fun, and a nice exercise in tactical thinking that may benefit me in poker too. Maybe I should stay around for my daily game, and also challenge some more skillful AI opponents. It should be nice blogging material as well, but no need to post every game, of course. I don't even do that with poker.

Once again, for anyone who is interested and who stumbled upon this without seeing my previous posts, the site is called Chess.com.

While there are plenty of other things to do, especially around this time of the year, I don't mean to let poker sit by completely idle. I played a smallish session tonight, and I'm glad to report that I did not encounter any technical difficulties. The small withdrawal I requested earlier this month also went through without any problems. Looks like everything should be up and running now, so there is nothing in the way if I choose to play.

One annoying thing was that I once again got only bubbles in the two 5CD SNGs I played... It is getting quite frustrating by now. A nice thing to report, however, was another final table in Badugi. $17.62 was my prize including bounties for a 6th place finish. Looks like it wasn't meant to be any higher - this was on the FT:

PokerStars, $3.92 + $0.48 - Badugi Pot Limit - 1,000/2,000 - 7 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 26,228 (13 bb)
MP: 46,759 (23 bb)
MP+1: 81,346 (41 bb)
CO: 81,899 (41 bb)
BU: 15,707 (8 bb)
SB: 25,824 (13 bb)
BB (Hero): 52,237 (26 bb)

Deal: (3,000) Hero is BB with 4♠ 8♥ 7♦ 3♣
4 players fold, BTN raises to 7,000, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets to 22,000, BTN calls 8,707 (all-in)

Draw One: (38,707) 4♠ 8♥ 7♦ 3♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)
BB (Hero) stands pat, BU draws 1

Draw Two: (32,414) (2 players, 1 all-in)
BB (Hero) stands pat, BU draws 1

Draw Three: (32,414) (2 players, 1 all-in)
BB (Hero) stands pat, BU draws 1

Total pot: 32,414

Showdown:
BB (Hero) shows 4♠ 8♥ 7♦ 3♣ (a Badugi: 8,7,4,3)
BU shows 4♣ 2♠ A♦ 3♥ (a Badugi: 4,3,2,A)
BU wins 32,414

So much for poker, everything else should follow tomorrow.

Ciekawy blog nie mogę sie doczekać

Originally posted by Sylweza829
Ciekawy blog nie mogę sie doczekać (Interesting blog, can't wait)

I recommend to chat in English next time. I don't think Harrier88 understand Polish without using a translater.

Originally posted by SDK1987

Originally posted by Sylweza829
Ciekawy blog nie mogę sie doczekać (Interesting blog, can't wait)

I recommend to chat in English next time. I don't think Harrier88 understand Polish without using a translater.

That's right, I was trying to think of the only Polish words I know... but I don't think I know any Polish words, to be honest.

I'll gladly just stick to my trusty shot glasses:

Everything Else...

We had a small poker update last night, now it's time for everything else...

The Blog

Time to lose the "Coffee and Cocoa" subtitle... I was trying to get into those hot drinks last fall, but didn't have a lot of time for it thanks to my crazy schedule back then. I would still like to experiment with some of those drinks from time to time, but there is no point announcing it in the title if it is such a small aspect.

Instead, I should get back to cocktails and other icy cold mixed drinks. There will be a larger get-together at my place in August when my younger nephew is getting baptized, and some of the guests have already suggested that I could act as their "bartender". I would like to have compiled a full menu by that time, one that can be printed and handed out. But before that, there are several new drinks that I simply need to make first.

American Football

The Golden Dragons are having an away game at Pforzheim as we speak, and they could really use a win by now. It won't be easy, though. The Wilddogs from Pforzheim have won all of their games this season so far, and you may even remember the play-off game against them that we had at their place two years ago, when I was still playing. This was about the promotion to the national leagues, and we just barely won, it was as close as you can get. Now they are back in the national leagues after all - with a vengeance.

Chess

I will continue to take some lessons and challenge several AI opponents for my free daily analysis. Here are some of my latest games against "Intermediate" opponents:

Playing as Black here, for once:

(The post-game wrap-up was unavailable, for some reason.)

Playing as White again, this time against the weakest "Advanced" opponent:

Move of the week, from the first game seen above:

Backgammon

Updated graphs can be found here:

You may not be able to see it, but I just barely passed into the "Intermediate" area overall, with a current error rate of -17.9 ("Casual Player" starts when you exceed 18.0).