Monday 02/19/07

Morning -

Woke up to read the Cardrunners post response on my hand. Good to see it was a "cooler" and not a donk play. I really want to improve and move up in limits, however I know to do that I need to make good plays. A villian flopping a full house against my top set with A kicker is going to be costly. I should have posted another hand from the same table where my QQ raise was called by an out of position player with his A6 offsuit. The villian called my C-Bet with blanks and caught his A on the turn. Sometimes you can't get anyone of a hand. POKER!


Evening -

While I was sitting in my office, it occurred to me the skills required in poker are similar to the skills I need in my day to day dealings with convicts. You see I am an administrative judge. I conduct hearings to determine guilt or innocence on hundreds of individuals a year. I conduct hearing ranging from murder to rape, stealing butter to illegal sexual acts. I also conduct hundreds of interviews with “professional” liars. Many of these individuals have lied for an entire lifetime, and couple that with the manipulation attempts of a female to a male; I have seen the best “stone cold bluffers” in the world. My “reads” on inmates seem easier than my reads at the poker table. I don’t know why, but when you think about it, they require the same skills. When an inmate is brought into my office, let’s say as a suspect in a battery, I “size” her up. I look her over to get a feel for her behavior. Is she covered in tattoos, boyish, tough, articulate, loud, soft, weak, are her arms folded or is she standing or sitting comfortable, does she look me in the eye or is she continually looking down. Does this inmate possess the necessary skill to attack someone, is she predator or prey, and many more factor are considered when I first say a word. I have never thought of taking this approach at the tables. When you think about it, the game of poker is really about perception. A perception generated by an opponent, to influence the decision making of another. Like the convict attempting to convince me that the slash on her face was not caused by the inmate accusing her of rape with a hot curling iron (true story), however the result of a careless act as she exited her metal bunk bed. I have to determine if she is bluffing, or if she has the goods and telling the truth. So I guess the next live event I am at, I will look at the “convicts” at my table, size them up and stay away from the one with the really curly hair. PRISON!