I like to move it, move it

So I mentioned before that I was trying to get back in shape and drop about 15 pounds before christmas. How did that work out? Not quite. In reality, I've lost about 5 pounds since then which is nothing short of a colossal failure - in all but one important sense.

I've actually been pretty good with what I eat. I've also picked up a new hobby: Squash. I've tried running (boooooring) and I try to play a bit of golf when possible (but can't play at winter, requires an insane investment of time to play just one round during summer) and I try to be good and walk or ride my bicycle to work, but not until now have I found something that fits the bill of being both fun and one hell of a workout. If you're having doubts about just how tough of a workout squash is, think again. The first 30 minutes I played, I was almost blacking out at times. Fortunately for me, getting the heart back in shape doesn't take too long and after only a couple of weeks I was playing an hour at a time and I've been reaping the benefits; I'm in better shape than I have been for the past 13 years, and it's only getting better. My weight hasn't dropped as much as I had originally wanted it to, but a fairly hefty portion of that has to be discounted by the new muscle mass I'm putting on.

Swedish Open took place in Linköping last weekend, and my most regular squash partner and I went to watch. We're both, let's say, "enthusiastic beginners" but even for us the event was well worth watching. They had some of the best players in the world present for the event, and I'm in awe over the shape these guys are in when I see some of the rallies they play. If you're interested in what it looks like when the pros play, I found the free highlights of the games we saw (the semi-finals): http://www.psasquashtv.com/page/WatchHighlights/0,,12933~1961663,00.html.

So I'm trying to play 2-3 hours a week and usually succeeding. I get all sorts of fun bruises and pains from it, and I've yet to win a single match against either of the two guys I usually play, but I'm still enjoying myself. And I'm getting a hell of a workout, which - really - is what it's all about.

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Now I need to get away from the computer; guests arriving in an hour and we have to make dinner and I also need to get the bread that I'm baking into the oven. Yeah, you heard me - I'm baking. I'm an exercising vegetarian who bakes bread. Funny how things change.

Books, Spain and even some Poker

The one thing every parent who's been on parental leave tells me is that "don't make any grand plans for when you'll be home; you won't have time to do anything but take care of the kid."

The one thing every prospective stay-at-home dad thinks is "poppycock; the kid sleeps for at least three hours during the day - plenty of time for pet projects!"

The truth, as is so often the case, is somewhere in between. I don't have time to read three books a week, play 60k hands of poker each month and keep the house sparkling clean, but I have time for something in between that, and "no books, no poker and the house is a mess." In practise, I'm trying to play about 25,000 hands a month - the majority of which takes place when Bennie takes naps, which is certainly not an ideal time of day to be playing from a game selection point of view, but you work with what you have - and I usually end up reading in bed at night. The house gets randomly cleaned here and there, usually while Benjamin is chewing his food; I give him a piece of bread and during the 45 seconds it takes him to chew and swallow, I empty some of the dishwasher, etc. Works out nicely.

Now, about books... It's February, and it's time for that weird annual Swedish "book sale" tradition in a few weeks. It stems from earlier times when every year about this time the book stores would try to clear the shelves in preparation for the new books that I guess were published in March. After awhile it became a tradition; every late February all the book stores have huge sales and great prices on books and by now it's such a big deal that the publishers actually print extra copies to be sold during the book sale - quite defeating the original purpose.

I love book sales. But that's because I love book stores. Give me a Barnes&Noble and I'll come out a few hours and a couple of hundred dollars later. In practise, I very rarely actually buy any books that are on sale, because they tend to be mystery novels and the like, and I don't really read those. Only rarely will I find a book on sale that I actually want, although I usually end up randomly buying some books that I never read anyway. So why am I mentioning the book sale? Because we - for reasons I'm not entirely clear on - decided that we'll place our big book orders at this time of year. I guess "just in case" some of the books we want would happen to be on sale, but they never are. So, in effect, that means that I'm only a few weeks away from my next Big Book Buy, and boy am I excited!

Here is what I'm planning on getting:

Food Rules by Michael Pollan
In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

I was originally going to get The Omnivore's Dilemma after a recommendation by Dan Dennett but remembered that he (Michael Pollan) had been on The Daily Show and decided that maybe the other books would be interesting too. Cooking/eating is something I'm interested in, so why not?

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive by Jared Diamond
The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond

I'm currently reading his Guns, Germs and Steel and am loving it. So I'm picking up some more of Jared Diamond, because that's how I roll.

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett
Eric by Terry Pratchett
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
Pyramids: The Book of Going Forth. by Terry Pratchett

... and I'm also continuing my trek through Discworld. I started reading that series from scratch this summer and am now on book... I guess it's book number five? Something like that.

Prisoner's Dilemma by William Poundstone

Another book recommended by Dennett. If there's one book in the list that I'll skip, it's probably this one, no matter how interesting it may be. I'm a little bit worn out on Prisoner's Dilemma explanations.


The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins

Okay, I'm probably overdoing it now on evolution, and I certainly don't need to be persuaded by evidence anymore, but as I like Dawkins's style of writing and find the topic itself fascinating, I figured I'll pick this up as well.


A Farewell to Alms by Gregory Clark

Look, Belgo! Finally!


What the Dog Saw: and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell

I've liked every other book of Gladwell's, so I'm keeping with my tradition of buying basically everything by authors that I like until I don't like them anymore.

Contact by Carl Sagan

I've actually already read this, but don't own it, and I'd like to read it again. I've obviously seen the movie too but from what I (vaguely) recall of the book, the plots weren't entirely similar. In the book that was some funky business going on with Pi. But we'll see.

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So that's that.

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We're going to Spain for a week starting next Saturday. It'll be nice with a break from all this snow, and my parents are coming down a couple of days after us (we'll be staying in their house down there) so we'll have the dual pleasures of having available - and highly willing - babysitters nearby while also getting spoiled by my dad's cooking and getting to enjoy some sun. Our book order won't go through before we leave, but I'm not entirely out of reading material to bring with me. Yet. I think what both Lori and I are looking forward to the most is this excellent Indian restaurant that is near the house. Mmm, Indian food.

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And poker is... Well, poker is as poker has always been. This year, overall, has gone OK but not great. The entire month of february has been a rollercoaster around the break-even line, largely from running like crap but probably a little bit from tinkering with some fundamental parts of my game as well and breaking some stuff in the process; specifically, my 3-betting frequency plummeted to 3% because I started changing my ranges; removing hands from ranges is easy - adding them is hard, because my reptile brain still autofolds a lot of them. It's on the rise again, though, and I'm not entirely sure where it will end up. Anyway. I do feel like a much stronger player than I've ever been, and I have great hopes for 2010. How great? Well, we're buying a new car. The idea is to make enough this year to be able to easily cover the cost of it, and I'll leave it to you to try and guess what kind of car we're getting and how much we're paying for it.

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Alright, Bennie's awake, so I'll leave it at that.

Package Delivery

So I thought I had it figured out. I had put Bennie down for his afternoon nap, I had poured myself a cup of coffee, 10 tables up and running, feeling good, playing well, everything was the way it should be. I wasn't worried about Ben waking up because even if he did, it's not like he'll be in any trouble if I don't rush in to him immediately; I could easily afford a few minutes of waiting for the blinds to come around on all tables.

What I hadn't figured in was the fact that a delivery guy rang the doorbell while I was playing said 10 tables. What do I do then? Well, fold all the trash hands (including not set-mining 33 OTB) and sit out on all tables where I'm not involved in a hand is the first easy step. But then there was this hand:

$1/$2 No Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
Poker Tools by Stoxpoker - Hand Details

SB: $257.80 (128.9 bb)
BB: $388.85 (194.4 bb)
Hero (CO): $219.23 (109.6 bb)
MP: $484.21 (242.1 bb)
BTN: $345.55 (172.8 bb)
UTG: $204.30 (102.2 bb)
Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with Q A
UTG raises to $6, MP raises to $10, Hero calls $10, 3 folds, UTG calls $4

Flop: ($33) 9 K A (3 players)

Here is where the doorbell rang (reasoning behind not "4-betting" AQ preflop to isolate the bad 3-bettor can be given on request, for now just assume it was the right play)


UTG checks, MP bets $31.35,


Okay, what the hell do I do now? Both UTG and MP have taken their sweet time with their decisions and now the guy at the door rings the bell again. Goddammit! Okay, I'll minraise. That should confuse them enough to give me a couple of extra seconds to run down and take care of the package.

Hero raises to $62.70, UTG folds, MP calls $31.35

Turn: ($158.40) 9 (2 players)
MP checks,


Here I come rushing and panting up the stairs again, and enter the workroom just in time to see that I have three seconds left in the timebank. Bet or check? With no time to ponder what the action was, ranges etc, I just opt to check before my hand gets automucked.

Hero checks

River: ($158.40) 5 (2 players)
MP checks,


Uh, okay. My kicker is no longer in play. Can I valuebet? What calls? Can he have a king? Will he call a small bet with a king? Let's see.

Hero bets $50

Results: Package was received, pot won and Bennie had woken up from the doorbell.

Paternity Leave

Sometimes it's hard not to think that maybe Pangloss (surely you know your Voltaire?) was on to something; it can sure seem like all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Or, to adopt a more modern perspective, from the movie The Ladies Man: Things will randomly work out.

And they have. Again.

The plan, before Benjamin was even born, was for Lori to be on maternity leave until December 31st, and me to be off from then until summer. This plan was somewhat upset by the fact that Lori was laid off as the company she was working for was downsizing. However, if she had to lose her job, the timing for when it happened couldn't possibly have been any better. As she had already - that is, before they announced the cuts - declared her intention to be on maternity leave, she was still entitled to the same reimbursement as had she kept her job. In practise, she actually kept her job until her maternity leave ran out, at which point her 4 weeks notice started ticking (which was December 31st until January 31st). And since she had never intended to keep that job indefinitely anyway - she's a teacher at heart, and teachers want to teach, not program automatic tests for cell phones - looking for new jobs right at the start of the spring semester wasn't all bad.

Searching for a job was a little tough, but to keep a long story short(ish), she - yesterday - scored a job at the school she used to teach. She left because of, uh, irreconcilable differences with her boss. That boss was later "relocated" (as far as I know, to a different company - you get the idea) and Lori was, at least a little bit, beating herself up over not sticking it out since she loved the job but not the principal. But now, alas, they have a new principal. And Lori's back.

Things will randomly work out.

And so here I am, at home with Bennie. He takes two naps in the day, during which my plan is to get some poker played. Since I'm playing at less than an optimal time of day at Party Poker, game selection can be a little bit of a problem at the midstakes, so instead of spending a third of the narrow window of time I have to play waiting for good tables to pop up, I decided to cash out a significant amount of money and simply move back down to 200NL where even in the mornings it's easy to find 8 juicy tables. I think my bottom line works out better for it, even if my e-penis shrinks a little bit because I'm no longer playing 600NL. But when the choice is between 8 tables of juicy and readily available 200NL tables or two-to-three juicy 600NL tables, I opt for the former.

"But FP, couldn't you sit at the 600NL tables and just fill up your open slots with 200NL?"

I've tried that. It doesn't work for me. I really hate mixing stakes. Hate it hate it hate it.

So no.

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I'm trying to come up with a realistic way in which my life could be better right now. I'm not sure I can. So, Dr. Pangloss: I think you may have a point.

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But not everyone is as well off as me. I hope you will join me in donating to the Haiti victims. One of the best inventions I've seen lately is the LiveSaver Bottle. If you're curious, check out the TED talk where the inventor demonstrates it. You can of course donate via PokerStars or FullTilt, but on top of that, getting these bottles onto the island is probably a really good idea. And getting the word out about them and increasing the production of them will ultimately come in handy for other disaster areas in both the present and the future.

Potential Psychology Study

A lot of new players in online poker are unaware of the fact that the poker sites expose all cards at showdown, by ways of writing the data in a hand history file. Therefore, every player at the table can in theory check what you had, if the hand went to showdown. Many of us get this automatically displayed by Hold'emManager or PokerTracker.

For those who are unaware of this fact, it may seem like a reasonable of the game to try some free "advertising" by lying about what they had when they lost a big hand. It's amusing for most players around the table, of course, but they often persist. (On a related note, I find that calling them on it - exposing their lie - is a big mistake; it very often shames them into leaving the table and you probably want to keep inexperienced players around.)

There is a pattern in these lies that I'm fascinated by, and it's that the hand they almost always pretend they had is pocket kings. Not aces, mind you, but KK. Why? Why specifically kings? What does this say about the human psyche? "I'm going to make something up; I'll pretend I had the second biggest hand." Are they too scared to go for the Big Lie?

I feel so unwanted.

Although my application wasn't technically rejected, I guess four months of not getting an answer is as good as a "no." Last I heard they were waiting for their QA team to report back. Although, in fairness, I'm not sure video poker coaching is an activity I would really have been able to find the time for, so perhaps I should see it as a blessing in disguise.

Without further ado, here is the video (published here in three parts as it's ~25 minutes long) I sent as my application. I figured it would be a shame if it just died alone on my harddrive.







In case someone happens to read this post a minute after I posted it, the third video might not be available yet; YouTube is still processing it at the time of writing.

Oh, god.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

The picture has nothing to do with anything I'm about to write. I just think it's funny.

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I really suck at blogging these days, and it's because I'm still trying to piece together my life after going back to working (almost) full time. Slowly but surely I'm getting more and more stuff done during the hours I'm not at work and not asleep, and soon I hope "blogging" will have high enough priority to be put back into the regular circulation. Until then I'm afraid you're just going to have to live with these sparse updates. My apologies.

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My weight loss really isn't going well. I've lost maybe 2 pounds so far which is a far cry from my target line. Still, I'm eating healthily, I'm getting a decent amount of exercise for the first time in a long while - I've picked up playing squash, and try to do it twice a week, plus I walk or ride my bike to and from work - and I'm generally feeling pretty good about my health. It's not like I'm morbidly obese or anything like that, either, so the weight loss isn't an urgent matter, but I'd still like to step it up a notch. The very first thing to do to get back on the ball is to quit eating these late night snacks. I just can't sleep when I'm hungry, and so I end up in deciding between sleep and diet. And when you're already short on hours in the day to do all the things you want to do, you - or I - go with sleep. I'm now trying to arrange for BETTER snacks since it appears impossible for me to do away with them altogether. Wish me luck on that.

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Speaking of diet and health, I feel I should make a few follow-up comments on the whole vegetarian thingy: What I'm first and foremost giving up is mammals, because I believe they have the largest capacity to suffer and so cutting mammals from my diet should therefore be the most bang for the buck in terms of reducing the amount of animal suffering caused on my behalf. That said, since it's suffering I wish to reduce, I probably will give up chicken and fish eventually. But not yet. I have to start somewhere and this seemed like a good place.

Now, to be even more specific, what I'm giving up is factory farmed meat. I see no reason at this point, however, to give up wild game. I mean, I'm attempting to reduce suffering and one might say "yeah, like getting shot is a nice experience for the deer" but, see, I challenge you to come up with a nicer way for the deer to die. Arguably Bambi doesn't get to live a full life because some hunter came in his (her? I was never sure) way and ended it prematurely, but I don't believe eating wild game makes me a hypocrit. Not that I eat a lot of it, but it's one of those things I won't say no to on principle.

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I guess I have to write something poker-related, too. Well, I'm playing more than I have in quite awhile. I've decided that with my life the way it is right now I simply don't have the luxury to play when I'm feeling my best, because I'm never feeling my best at any time in the day when I also have time to play poker. So it stands between "playing when I'm a bit tired" and "not playing at all" and while the former makes my win-rate take a hit, the latter makes it theoretically impossible to win any money at all. So I've taken up playing for about an hour after getting Bennie asleep at night, and it's working out alright. Games are pretty good at Party at that time, and my results are more than pleasing. Since August 1st (which is also when I moved back up to 2/4 and 3/6), I'm averaging almost exactly 50c/hand, which is pretty cool.

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I'm going to try to make the next blog a strategy post. Hopefully out before December.