Two Plus Two Newer Archives - disappointment

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- High Stakes (http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21)

- - disappointment - and goodbye (http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=36528)

disappointment - and goodbye

All,

I see that my first post - or perhaps the consequent thread created quite an uproar. I had finally created an account with the intent of posting regularly and hopefully being a solid contributor to this forum. However, after a day of reflection, I think that I will not do so, for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is a generic one. At high levels, it is very difficult - and not very useful - to have blanket discussions of hands. That is because no one can give constructive advice without knowing the opponent's tendencies, the "hero's" table image, the ebb and flow of the game, etc. At lower limits, play falls into certain patterns. But at the limits that we discuss, the amount of background information needed to dissect a hand is more than most of the posters have the time or inclination to provide.

Despite this, I thought it would be entertaining and educational to join the discussion about general issues (such as the LAG style that I discussed in such detail in my first post).

However, the backlash that I received from my first post, coupled with my own character flaw (an inability to laugh it off - and a need to respond/expain everything) creates a situation where I believe posting here will provide less satisfaction than irritation.

To that end, although I reserve the right to return at some point, for the time being, I will not be posting here any more. I may or may not pop in and say a few words in a thread here and there, but it certainly won't be with the frequency and enthusiasm that I had initially expected.

I had thought for a long time and generated what I thought was a well thought out, constructive post - one that could have generated lots of interesting discussion. That was my goal, and I had thought of myself as "diving" into the forum with the intent of more threads like this. However, while I was pleased to see that the thread generated quite a bit of interest, it was disheartening to me to see that the majority of the posts were pointless - made only to discredit or doubt me.

Let me give notice to the fact that in my initial thread, I did not mention my winnings, win-rate, or anything like that. I merely gave a background on myself, talked at length about my style and about the merits of an extreme LAG style in general, and asked for advice about turning professional. Early in the thread, Kane Kung Fu wrote an absurd patronizing response telling me that I am not a winning player and giving me "tips" on how I can improve my game. At that point, I should have just done nothing - and allowed the respected posters that are familiar with my game speak on my behalf. However, unfortunately, I did not have the patience of maturity to do so. Being irritated by KKF's post, I detailed my winnings over the past 2-3 years.

Even as I did so, I knew that this would be met with disbelief - except from those posters - aggie, James, fxduck, EZbillions, and others that are familiar with my win-rate. However, I was not prepared for the entire thread to be hijacked the way it was. There was so much in my original post that was carefully thought out - and yet, the majority of posters found it useful or necessary to send post after post saying that they don't believe me (in some sarcastic fashion).

Even at this point, I should have ignored them, and filtered through to the (many) useful, relevant, and interesting posts. However - and I have to accept this as my own character flaw - I found myself feeling the "need" to respond to every doubter and every nasty post. Stupid of me - but in the process of having these banal conversations, and more importantly - of having the real issues more or less ignored, I found that my irritation with being involved in this forum will be greater than my satisfaction.

Before I sign off however, I would like to address a few of the doubters and thank some posters who have provided me with a lot of useful information. To the former, I realize that no matter what I say, most of you will not believe my winnings. However, since I did open my big mouth and let it out, I now feel the need to defend myself. Over the past 2 years and eight months, I have played on Gaming Club, UB, and Party. Since Party has had the 2K game, I have been primarily on Party. I do not use poker tracker or really feel the need to. However, I do track my hours played and results on a daily basis. My average win rate over the 2.8 years has been 2200/hour. My overall winnings have been about 5.75 million dollars. I think those of you familiar with my game will realize that 2200 per hour - while four-tabling 10-20 amidst a sea of PP fish (remember how bad the players used to be a few months ago) is not that unreasonable. Although I have had a job during that time, I have managed to play about 25 hours per week. Also, about 660K of those winnings have come from tournaments - so my actual cash game winnings are about 5.1m.

Some other issues. I have a relative afflicted with a serious medical condition that I do not care to reveal. He is living with me and my wife. The way that it has affected his life has touched me deeply. To that end, I have made a significant charitable donation to a research foundation from my poker winnings. Among other things, it makes me feel good to use my poker winnings for altruistic purposes. I live in a city that has the second highest cost of living index in the United States. I am married, expecting one child, and planning on having (probably) two more. Adding in wanting to live in an excellent school district, I do not think it is a stretch or extraordinarily lavish to live in a two million dollar house. For what it is worth, I still drive a Geo Prism. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

A few final things. Although this post probably sounds a bit bitter, I am truly grateful to many of you for your useful and/or supportive posts and private messages. Clint (aggie), your words of support about my playing ability mean a lot to me - especially considering that I hold you in extremely high esteem as a player. I also thank and respect you for respecting my privacy and not revealing my identity any further. Same for some of my on-line buddies, ggbman and EZ billions among other. Finally, I really want to thank Res for his outstanding and tremendously important post. I have read and reread it, and I want to emphasize how useful it has been for me. Thanks again. To El Diablo, I consistently enjoy your posts and it is clear that you are someone who could offer me a lot of insight. If you would take the time to PM me (or respond to this post), anything you have to say would be greatly appreciated.

To the rest of the forum, I have enjoyed reading the posts in here on and off for a long time. I intend to continue lurking. Now that I have an account, I might even throw in a comment in a thread here and there. However, as I said, the general tendencies of the majority of the posters in this forum (or at least my interpretation thereof) along with my intrinsic inability to "brush it off" has made it clear to me that posting regularly here - as I had intended - will not be in my best interests.

Thanks again everyone for reading and for the opportunity to be a part of this forum.

Cheers,

punketty/samoleus/treblah