Marooned
I'm back to playing short handed limit hold 'em. It racks up points fast for a bonus I am working off, generates decent rakeback and has been going quite well.
Tonight though, has been monumentally frustrating. Had the archetypal doomed-to-lose maniac at one of my tables for two hours, and he proceeded to just take the piss out of me.
He hit four ridiculous rivers on me for a total of 50 big bets in pots. The dooziest was when he had capped it with me preflop with Q2. I had AA. He capped it on the turn with me with a board of 37A4. The river was a 5 and there went 25 big bets.
Obviously I managed to get plenty of pots and bets off him during the course of the session, by virtue of having the better hand. But that one ludicrous beat alone handed me my first losing session after a lovely stretch.
I read Matt 'the poker chronicles' Maroon's book this week. It was only $10 Canadian, incredible for a hardback. It's okay. Not bad. Readable. Far less eye-opening than I had hoped.
It was certainly fascinating to read it having been a long-time reader of Matt's blog though. Who would have thought he would thank God in the acknowledgements? Or come across as so pleasant and 'authorly'?? Actually, that was the most disappointing element of the book; it was hard to read the polite prose without missing the real Matt Maroon's voice. The words 'idiots' or 'monkey' didn't appear even once. There was no discussion of the sleazy benefits of trash-talking.
I'm always a little discomfited by people who are clearly acting. I know we all adjust our behaviour and tone to some extent in different circumstances, but I have never quite trusted or understood people who are completely different inside and outside work (for instance). So Matt mutating from scabrous, arrogant and irritatingly funny into mild-mannered, pressed-slacks, softly-spoken author made me feel slightly mistrustful that I was getting his real advice.
It also amused me that each chapter was headed with a quote, something he dismissed as 'the ultimate hack gimmick' just the other day.
Would I recommend the book? Well, I don't think I would stick it on eBay as I have done with a number of poker books. It's not bad, and $10 is a snip. It's definitely worth the asking price - just like this blog.
