That was what my girlfriend said when I told her I was going to do a blog. I guess I am a late adopter when it comes to blogs as most of my friends already have them. I am certain that you will find some of my views on different topics strange and entertaining, but I also hope insightful. I’ll kick this off with a tribute to some of my favorite topics. I think you can probably tell I don’t feel like studying.
My first reason for having this blog is to improve my poker. I will post my thoughts on how I played and more often misplayed certain hands. Hopefully the reader will be able to distinguish between my earlier posts and my later posts in regards to the level of thinking and calculation involved in my decision making. I routinely use a “feel” and gauge for hands, something TJ Cloutier says he does 75% of the time. But, I think I need to backtrack, and start with the basics. I’ve always been able to get a feel for what the mathematics of a certain game theory situation should be, but I can not easily put these down on paper. I remember in an economics class in university, the prof had the students in the class try and determine the optimal solution to a game he had thought up. After we played about 10 hands most of the class hit upon the solution. I think I hit it on the 3rd hand.
In university I also played this game called Magic the Gathering, kind of a cross between chess and poker. Playing Magic was alot of fun and there was alot of camaraderie, but most importantly, it was a place to showcase your thinking abilities and make some money. I was able to pay for a large part of my university education playing Magic, and managed to place 42nd at Pro Tour Chicago. I will probably have a separate Magic post at some point, as Magic taught me alot about games and life in general. Here is what I learned from Magic:
- Life is not always fair.
- Really bad players will make it further than you will.
- Not only will they make it further, they will also still make really bad plays – I’m talking jab yourself in the eye kind of bad plays – who doesn’t Armageddon the tapped out blue guy?
- It is easier and sometime more profitable to refine an idea than to create a new one.
- It is fun to come up with original ideas, especially against those who are handicapped by their own mental laziness.
- Misery loves company, especially really bright people with really bright ideas who get crushed by the most simplistic strategies.
I will be curious to see what I learn about life from Poker. So far these are the rules I have learned.
- The quality of any hand you showdown must be inversely related to the quality of the player you are showing down with.
- See Rule #1.
- You really can’t stop the bleeding in Limit Hold’ Em, only staunch it.
Advanced Squad Leader, one of my favorite games of all time. It’s like Axis and Allies except on a squad/individual tank scale. And the rulebook is the size of a university textbook and the complexity to match. Games take hours to play, but it actually does a great job of realistically simulating WWII combat. I have tried to convince some of my friends to play, to no avail.
I have a ridiculous DVD collection. I am somewhat compulsive when it comes to collecting and I think I have almost 1,000 DVD’s. I have a pretty kick-ass home theatre system, and I love chilling at home and watching a cool flick. This has as much to do with the inflated movie ticket prices as it does with the hassle and annoyance of watching movies in public. In short, I think it gives me greater flexibility and control to, be able to watch what I want, when I want. Unfortunately, I have an anal no loan policy, due to several unfortunate events that have transpired. It will remain to be seen if I am able to relax this policy.
I am currently doing my full time MBA at Queen’s university. It’s a one year program which I started in January. You spend 4 weeks in Kingston, (2 in January, 1 in May, and 1 in October) and every other weekend, Sunday and Monday in a classroom equipped with video teleconferencing. You have 8 members on your MBA team, and for each course you have individual assignments, and group assignments. This year has been a great learning experience about time management and learning to work with other people. It’s an ”interesting” dynamic as no one can get fired as they could in real life. So far I have done well, and I have learned alot both in terms of experiences as well as theory.
I started a new job on June 6th. I am actually working in Technical Analysisat a major Canadian bank. The hours are from 7-7, and even later if we have special projects. There is no real “training”, you are just thrown into the fray. So far it’s been a great experience and I have learned a tonne. I’m working with Adobe Indesign, and learning all kinds of neat things. It’s been really great in so far as the people I work with and have met so far are all bright people and pretty friendly. I know I will learn an enormous amount here, and although sometimes I will be frustrated, in the grand scheme of things, things are going really well.
The markets are confusing right now. I don’t have too much to say as I really don’t have a position, as I am mostly in cash. Well, then maybe I just did state my position… 
Due to my frenetic schedule, bodybuilding has taken a backseat. I still ride the bike as I can read at the same time. I haven’t had the time to lift weights, haven’t been eating the greatest (especially in Kingston), and my workouts have been pretty lame. I look forward to next year when I am able to train and get back into shape.
That’s pretty much it for my first post. Hope this entertains you enough that you will interested enough to follow along for the ride. Some of the ride may be a bit boring, and not all of it may be interesting to you, but that is life in a nutshell isn’t it…
