Day - 582

Friday, June 3, 2022

Had a very up and down session at the Oaks tonight, losing big pots, winning big pots, then losing big pots again. My approach to the game is evolving. Rather than considering whether my hand is best or not, I'm spending more time considering my equity in a hand relative to the pot, the players I'm up against, my opponents' range, and what my opps think I might have. I'm more aggressive with draws and recognizing the power of betting and raising with nothing. Poker has its own language and mode of communication. There are many regs at the Oaks who play in a predictable manner. It's counter-intuitive at first, but the counter-intuitiveness doesn't change all that much. As I'm learning the tendencies of each player, I'm figuring out how to interact with each opp when isolating them. I'll need another few months of data collection before I really know what's going on with each player. Since I'm playing and the lower 1-2-3 tables, these players are more predictable and less-skilled than players at the 2-3-5 tables.  What I find so fascinating about poker is its amazing strategic complexity. It is mental war with a positive hourly rate. My hourly rate thus far has varied from $7-11/hr. That translates to 2.3-3.9 big blinds per hour. That's a so-so rate, but in positive territory, which is a plus. Focusing on positive expected value (ev) situations and hammering these hands will pay off over time. So will the discovery of more exploits.

Game Theory Optimal strategy in poker is basically a strategy that allows a player to become unexploitable against any other player. No matter what the other player does or how the opp plays, maintaining a balanced GTO strategy neutralizes any exploits. It's a powerful set of tools that has significance in real-world situations. I'm thinking about these real-world situations in relation to GTO strategies and finding these tools applicable in everyday life. Merging my poker ideas together with my observations about race and white privilege has intrigued me lately.  This word "privilege" is somewhat limited and doesn't quite capture what comes with being white in America, unlike, say, the word "unexploitable." That's really what being white and especially a white male means. It means I'm essentially unexploitable. It doesn't mean I'm going to win every hand I play, but what it does mean is that over the long haul, with awareness and understanding of the playing field of life, I'm essentially protected by an unexploitable shield of protection that will simply allow me to live the kind of life I choose to live. If someone want to undermine this life of mine, they would have to work very hard to undermine it, with no guarantee for success.  It would be interesting to see if the word "unexploitable" can replace the accurate but limited word "privilege."  Privilege suggests added bonus or extra something versus simply normal baseline daily existence. When white people hear that they're privileged, they have so many counters to this argument and the argument becomes a mud fest. But because the system is set up for whites and baseline normal revolves around a white-centric playing field, understanding the edge that comes with this and the built-in protections that go hand-in-hand with 400 years of messaging that upholds white hierarchy is not different from incorporating GTO strategies in poker.  Poker needs a second renaissance. This game is unreal. And a fun side-gig!