Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Backslide

Starting Balance: 335.65

This is getting ridiculous. Now it is not so much an issue of getting cold decked or sucked out on. I am just getting NOTHING to work with. Except there was a hand of stud in which I had trip Qs on 4th street, 3 bet it, got called by trip 2s and he filled up on me. Such is life.

I have realized that playing 1/2 Stud Hi/Lo around midnight is generally profitable for me. The afternoon I don't run as well, but late at night, it seems to be a good move. My Sit and Gos aren't going particularly well, so I feel like I have to play for cash in order to make any money. Mitch and I were talking and I almost feel like I should put more money on Stars in order to induce them to turn the doom switch off. I don't even need them to turn the boom switch on. I just need to not lose EVERY big hand I am involved in.

Pokerroad Radio has a show up with an interview with JJ Prodigy AKA Josh Field. I don't know the full story, but Field was a 16 year old (He just turned 18) who was not only illegally playing online under the age of 18, but also playing multiple accounts. There are other players ::cough cough wink wink Justin Bonomo:: who are documented cheaters, but this guy is especially hated. It is my understanding that is because he is completely unapologetic about cheating and acknowledges that he continues to multi-account. For the laypeople (aka my friends), multi-accounting is playing under multiple screennames in the same tournament/cash table/etc. A similar mode of cheating would be to play with friends and IM each other what your hole cards are. I deplore the cheating, but I also have to wonder where you draw the line. If Mitch is watching my table and I tell him I have aces, is that cheating? Is it not if he doesn't give me advice, but it strays into cheating when he suggests how to play the hand? In the interview, Gavin makes the valid point that most online players have participated in some form of "cheating", albeit not necessarily to the extreme Field took it to, yet they are still outraged by his actions.

On an unrelated note, I have to say that this guy Field, who clearly is a skilled poker player, is really lacking in the communication department. This is a kid who clearly spends too much time on the computer and not enough time developing interpersonal communication skills. I am not kidding that this kid rarely uses a word with more than three syllables in it. The biggest word I have heard from him is "marginal". My personal favorite part of this interview is when they bring up that WSOP champion Greg Raymer had posted on the internet forums that if Josh Field was at his table he would out him to the table as a cheater. Field is aghast at the comment and complains that Raymer is judging him without even knowing him. Um, dude, you cheated. You are the one who posted that you don't care that you have cheated. If I were Greg Raymer, I would do the exact same thing. You know why? Cause you're a cheater! It isn't judging you. He is merely stating fact. He is not making slanderous comments about you at the table. He is simply making people aware of public knowledge. If he waltzed in and said, "Josh Field drowns kittens for fun and profit", I would understand the validity of your complaint. But you cheated, you copped to cheating, so why are you getting upset that someone said you cheated?

I have always been surprised at the acceptance of Justin Bonomo. After hearing him in interviews, I will concede he is apologetic and seemingly sincere, but I still have trouble being completely okay with him playing live. They make a good point that cheating and poker have a long and torrid history, so I realize I am being a bit naive, I just, in all honesty, would remain skeptical if Field or Bonomo were ever at the same table as me.

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