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Does poker make you a worse person?

I made a post (Changing Paths: Experiences about leaving poker) on an internet forum about this, and wow, I received pretty good responses. Some of the are really interesting and I think I'm gonna post them here because they are good, deep and offer a pretty interesting perspective for us poker players; and I'll offer some of my thoughts in the topic.

This response from "Ice" caught my eye and opens a pretty good discussion: Do we get worse as persons playing poker?

Here is the post, I quote:

"Ive been playing for about 2.5 years and im thinking about quitting or at east taking a long break. its probably for different reasons then other posters here, TBH i just feel like poker has turned me into a worse person then i used to be. i remember when i started playing poker i was a pretty honest and genuinely nice guy(for a poker player lol) and i don't remember intentionally trying to make some other person feel bad for no reason. but recently i've just noticed that ive turned into kind of a dick at the poker table. i despise almost everybody i play against. i show people bluffs only to **** with them and make my opponents feel bad. ive noticed myself become more greedy and selfish over the last 6 months or so. u can just see what poker does too people when u play live, all the douchebags that u see at the casinos at 3AM. i mean it just cant be good for somebody to be around these types of people.

It also just makes no ****ing sense to spend your 20´s in front of a computer grinding 12 dollars an hour when i could get a job and make more then that for half the time and probably feel better about myself while doing it.

i think poker has just turned me into a really miserable person and i would be doing myself and everyone around me a favour if i quit or take a long break or something."

I certainly can feel related to a lot of things Ice mention here, I started my career as a poker player in a B&M casino, and I remember the long hours, the terrible smoke (thanks God now is banned almost anywhere from good), and the scumbags/degenerates anywhere. Despite finding online good friends and pretty nice people, most probably in general the online poker scene is no much different, super greedy people, cheaters, lairs, sociopaths, people with no morals aside from using everybody to make some bucks, I sometimes lol at the "moral codes" some poker players think they have, probably they saw the Godfather or something and pretend they have some untouchable honor and "deep" respect for the game and their peers; most of the time this is just BS, of course it's not general, hell I'm a poker player and a pretty decent human being :), and of course there are plenty more, but I agree with Ice that for those who have the scumbag gene, poker accelerates their path to scumbagland, and some who otherwise would be pretty social and nice people, poker deteriorates them. There should be a minuscule minority who poker helped them to be better human beings. And I'm not naive, I know there are plenty of professions who make people worse (in general), just pointing out mine (sadly) is one of them.
Even for us who try to avoid all these shit and are constantly fighting against it, it takes its toll, definitely. I think if you want to go pro or if you are already one, you need to take a hard look at this and answer yourself if you like such environment, if you are not bother by it or if you can be one of the uncorruptibles.

New Year, Same Job? and you're never too old to live.

2009 is here, and one of the biggest decisions I need to make, it's if I want to continue without a "real job". I'm going to enter my 13th year playing poker, with some breaks from playing here and there, specially when I finished my masters degree at the beginning of the 2000's. There have been really good times, "the golden age of online poker", but as today, at least for us here living in the States the games are tougher every day. I left teaching at UTEP like 3 years ago, but I wonder if it's time to come back to teach at the college level, to look for a new path of make a living, be a movie critic or something, even to go back to school and pursue a PhD. Even if I do something different, I would still be playing some poker part time, hell, I have been playing poker part time (no time? hah) for a long time now; one of the funny things it's that I used to play plenty more when I had my full time lecturer job at UTEP, for some reason, having more free time, made me play less. Then I was very good in my job as a professor and I was very good playing poker, but I have to admit I was usually pretty tired since I used to do also some other projects like the Math Olympiad (still do), the Abel project (dead now), the UACJ (still going). The free time on my last 3 years have allowed me to spend a lot of time with my family, travel a lot, and that's priceless. My kids now are almost 6 and 4 and we have also another decision to make with them, homeschooling them or not?, and obviously since we need time to do that the 2 decisions are connected, Diana has also her own plans about what would she like to do and whatever we decide, our life is most probably going to change. Should we move from El Paso? If so, where? Should we come back to school? Diana for her masters, and me for a PhD or maybe even a masters in a very different area, Am I too old for that? Nah, the last question is easy, you're never too old to live. YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LIVE, don't ever forget that.

End of the year

I hope to play one more time before the year ends, because I would like to end it on a winning note, my last 2 sessions have been disastrous playing 30-60 limit and then 3-6 NL. I played yesterday like 10 or 11 hours non-stop no limit and quit because I just couldn't stand my last bad beat (posted below, BB Warning alert!!!), but I played pretty bad during the night, bluffing way too much on the wrong spots. I really need to study more, the competition is just too hard and you need to keep up with them if you want to survive.

Not really a "real" bad beat, but when you're losing you really want to win hands like this one.

PokerStars Game #23368436023: Hold'em No Limit ($3/$6) - 2008/12/29 12:33:32 ET
Table 'Ute III' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: needfood ($600 in chips)
Seat 2: jóember ($627.45 in chips)
Seat 3: sirio11 ($889.05 in chips)
Seat 4: WCG|Rider ($1345 in chips)
Seat 5: binda ($699 in chips)
russ0618 will be allowed to play after the button
needfood: posts small blind $3
jóember: posts big blind $6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to sirio11 [3s 3c]
sirio11: raises $12 to $18
WCG|Rider: raises $60 to $78
binda: folds
needfood: folds
jóember: calls $72
sirio11: calls $60
*** FLOP *** [Ks 3d Tc]
jóember: checks
sirio11: checks
WCG|Rider: bets $114
jóember: folds
sirio11: raises $150 to $264
WCG|Rider: calls $150
*** TURN *** [Ks 3d Tc] [7d]
sirio11: checks
WCG|Rider: bets $1003 and is all-in
sirio11: calls $547.05 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($455.95) returned to WCG|Rider
*** RIVER *** [Ks 3d Tc 7d] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
sirio11: shows [3s 3c] (three of a kind, Threes)
WCG|Rider: shows [Ad Kd] (a flush, Ace high)
WCG|Rider collected $1857.10 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1859.10 | Rake $2
Board [Ks 3d Tc 7d Jd]
Seat 1: needfood (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: jóember (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: sirio11 showed [3s 3c] and lost with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 4: WCG|Rider showed [Ad Kd] and won ($1857.10) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 5: binda (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

A wild 30-60 limit holdem hand

After playing some 10-20 6 Max NL yesterday (this morning?, how do you call to the 3-5AM hours anyway), I decided to play some 30-60 limit, I like to play limit because of the action, and I like specially to play short handed, more action !!, but here we were playing 9-handed, that's why I consider it a little wild for my tastes, but maybe not, I'm not even sure if I should have bet the turn with all the action, but for sure the river bet was fine. Here is the hand:

***** Hand History for Game 22935123359 *****
$30.00/$60.00 Limit Texas Hold'em - Monday, December 15, 06:24:07 ET 2008
Table Iva (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: sirio11 ( $1313.00 USD )
Seat 2: antibiotik12 ( $3077.00 USD )
Seat 3: hg1689 ( $2570.00 USD )
Seat 4: blazerLee21 ( $3223.00 USD )
Seat 6: jejun ( $675.00 USD )
Seat 7: julianherold ( $3805.00 USD )
Seat 8: krazieass ( $1878.00 USD )
Seat 9: blackground1 ( $468.50 USD )
Seat 10: 67 BAILAYHUM ( $1200.00 USD )
antibiotik12 posts small blind [$15.00 USD].
hg1689 posts big blind [$30.00 USD].
67 BAILAYHUM posts big blind [$30.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to sirio11 [ Ks Jd ]
blazerLee21 calls [$30.00 USD]
jejun folds
julianherold folds
krazieass raises [$60.00 USD]
blackground1 folds
67 BAILAYHUM folds
sirio11 calls [$60.00 USD]
antibiotik12 raises [$75.00 USD]
hg1689 calls [$60.00 USD]
blazerLee21 calls [$60.00 USD]
krazieass raises [$60.00 USD]
sirio11 calls [$60.00 USD]
antibiotik12 calls [$30.00 USD]
hg1689 calls [$30.00 USD]
blazerLee21 calls [$30.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qc, 6c, Kh ]
antibiotik12 checks
hg1689 checks
blazerLee21 bets [$30.00 USD]
krazieass raises [$60.00 USD]
sirio11 raises [$90.00 USD]
antibiotik12 raises [$120.00 USD]
hg1689 folds
blazerLee21 calls [$90.00 USD]
krazieass calls [$60.00 USD]
sirio11 calls [$30.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5s ]
antibiotik12 checks
blazerLee21 checks
krazieass checks
sirio11 checks
** Dealing River ** [ 8s ]
antibiotik12 checks
blazerLee21 checks
krazieass checks
sirio11 bets [$60.00 USD]
antibiotik12 calls [$60.00 USD]
blazerLee21 folds
krazieass folds
sirio11 shows [Ks, Jd ]
sirio11 wins $1227.00 USD from main pot
antibiotik12 doesn't show [Qd, As ]

Do you bet the turn? What are their possible hands?

Best time of the year .... for movies

I'm a huge movie fan, I have always liked movies as far as I can remember. And for people like me December is the best month for movies, usually the best films of the year are released on these dates. Since I'm no movie critic, and live in a very underrated city like El Paso, where nobody cares to show advanced screenings, I have to wait just like everybody else to watch any movie, I'm really waiting anxiously to watch "The curious case of Benjamin Button" and "Slumdog Millionare", I think both will be nominated for oscar best picture, and even now, I still think The Dark Knight which impressed me a lot last summer, will be nominated too. I'll post my nominated predictions for the Oscars, I'm planning to deposit some money online to make some movie awards bets, since I have an excellent record in this area and of course I can use the money, lets see if I can break my betting quarentine, last time I bet (not poker of course), was last Oscar season, so most probably I'll do it again. But even if I don't, for sure I'll post my predictions to make the few people who still read this blog some money if they so want to.

"I have your AA cracked"; I insist sir, take all my stack

Sometimes you just don't lose enough with AA, even when people give you a way out, no, you must lose it all, you know you're beaten, but what the hell, you have aces !!.
Meh, I'm tired of these mistakes, when you can't let go AA. This is a hand from 5-10 NL 6 max which illustrates the point:

***** Hand History for Game 22553133501 *****
$1000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, December 02, 07:12:23 ET 2008
Table Fagnes (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: xCptMorganx ( $1705.00 USD )
Seat 2: alimali63 ( $1246.00 USD )
Seat 3: sirio11 ( $1070.00 USD )
Seat 4: Sekt1 ( $2154.25 USD )
Seat 5: Vision82 ( $1034.00 USD )
Seat 6: HT-Max ( $1452.00 USD )
HT-Max posts small blind [$5.00 USD].
xCptMorganx posts big blind [$10.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to sirio11 [ Ac Ad ]
alimali63 folds
sirio11 raises [$30.00 USD]
Sekt1 folds
Vision82 folds
HT-Max folds
xCptMorganx calls [$20.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2s, 7d, Th ]
xCptMorganx bets [$30.00 USD]
sirio11 raises [$120.00 USD]
xCptMorganx calls [$90.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9s ]
xCptMorganx checks
sirio11 bets [$270.00 USD]
xCptMorganx raises [$1555.00 USD]
sirio11 calls [$650.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 8h ]
xCptMorganx shows [7h, 7c ]
xCptMorganx wins $2142.00 USD from main pot
sirio11 doesn't show [Ac, Ad ]
xCptMorganx wins $635.00 USD from main pot


I don't like his line much, still I should have checked the turn, and since I didn't then it was an easy fold to save my last $650, but man, being dumb is pretty expensive.

National Mathematical Olympiad

This weekend I just got back from the Mexican Mathematical Olympiad held at San Carlos, Sonora. I was there as the leader of the State of Chihuahua team and we had a terrific showing. Our best participation in more than a decade. That had been one of my goals this year and I think I succeeded, for now I'll just write about some of our most important results:

- All our students got medal, 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze

Guillermo López Buenfil ORO
Manuel Dosal Bustillos ORO
Josue Isai Vazquez Garcia ORO
Karina Patricia De la Torre Saenz PLATA
Diego German Orozco Garcia PLATA
Alberto Astiazaran Tobin BRONCE

So, Guillermo ("Memo"), Manuel and Isai are preselected as part of the National team to participate in the 2009 International Math olympiad (IMO) to be held in Germany next July.

- Two of them got selected for the Centroamerican Mathematical Olympiad to be held at Republica Dominicana next June 2009; Manuel and Karina

- Out of 32 states, we got 2nd place !!!

1- MORELOS 147
2- CHIHUAHUA 145 (Arrgghhh! just 2 marks)
3- YUCATAN 115
4- NUEVO LEON 112
5- SONORA 106

- The best student in the country is from our team

Memo got the highest score of all the 200 contestants with 40 marks (out of 42), it was an incredible performance since the 2nd highest got 34

- We won the "Copa Superacion"

1- CHIHUAHUA 46.70
2- BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR 25.05 pts
3- CAMPECHE 23.65 pts

I am pretty happy with the results, the co-leaders of our team were my friends Enrique Treviño and Hector Garcia, who did a wonderful job and we just make a great team.

For sure the Olympiad took a lot of my poker playing time this year, I spent way many hours in the Olympiad rather than playing poker, and that alone cost me a lot of money, but even when there's no money to be won in the Olympiad, it's something I'm very proud of.

Society is weird, I play poker and win money doing something with almost no meaningful contribution to society, while doing the Olympiad I contribute to society and get no money, I guess it balances out.

Some tourneys and some cash

This Sunday I played 3 tourneys, the $215 and $530 at Stars and the FTOSP $322, all NL, I made the money in the $215, and if I don't lose a 3 way all in with QQ vs AK and AQ, I'd made the $ also on the FTOSP. But the thing is, I'm not enjoying much to play tourneys, probably that's a good thing, since definitely I need to play more cash.
I recovered today some of what I lost yesterday, I was really ashamed of my play yesterday and I think I played pretty solid today, but there's still a long way to know if I can beat this level.

This week I'll be coaching my math Olympiad students for the national contest which is almost here, hopefully I find time to play some cash NL.

Argh

I just played terrible today and lost around 4 buy ins playing 5-10, really, all my big hands were played pretty bad, the only good thing I did was to quit. Days like this may me wonder if I'm ready for these levels. I played 6 max cash like if I was playing a tourney, just horrible. Oh well, time to sleep a little.