Shabbir's Diary

Back from Pakistan! Poker results for 2006!

So I'm back from Pakistan.  Can you believe that I traveled for two weeks through a region at risk for tuberculosis, hepatitis, and food poisoning, but that I was done in by a cold I caught in California upon my return?

The trip was amazing, and I have both video and photos to share with you, but it will take time.  I shot all my photos in RAW mode, and so I need to do a decent amount of post-processing on them.  I also need to edit some of the video footage, which I will do and upload to YouTube.  But none of that is going to happen fast.  Work is very very busy right now.

In fact I'm dodging my duties at the moment to clean up my desk and speak with all of the senior managers of my company while simultaneously taking care of my wife, who's puking, my son, who has it coming out of the other end, and my dog, who had a seizure of some sort this weekend.  Compared to them, this cold I've got is pretty wussy stuff.

I did want to weigh in on my poker cash game results for 2006.   I've stopped really playing tournaments in any volume or focus, so I've not bothered to include those.  But I've played hours and hours of cash games this year, and really worked hard on my no limit skills.  While I'm still a novice, and will be learning this game my whole life, I'm much better than I was in 2005 when I lost over $2,000, I think.

My net total for 2006 is -$56.  Here's how it breaks down: I win money playing cards live, and I lose it online.

• $1,508 won in live poker (all variants) (217 hours played)
• $1,564 lost online poker (all variants)  (214 hours played)

Now that I look at it, it's like I ran some kind of freakish comparison experiment, playing equal amounts live and online.  I didn't plan it that way, it just worked out that way.

More specific breakdowns by game:

Limit Hold'em: -$2,127 over 136 hours (-$15.64 per hour)

• Lost $1,571 online (56 hours)
• Lost $556 live (80 hours)

No Limit Hold'em: +$2,424 over 159 hours (+$15.25 per hour)

• Won $180 online (52 hours)
• Won $2,244 live (107 hours)

Omaha, O/8: -$356 over 55 hours (-$6.47 per hour) 

• Lost $93 live (6 hours)
• Lost $263 online (49 hours)

Stud, Stud H/L: +$67 over 71 hours (+$0.94 per hour)

• Won $91 online (58 hours)
• Lost $24 live (13 hours)

I don't really think I have enough playtime to make lots of conclusions about my O8 and Stud talents, but I think the message is clear with regards to Hold'em: I'm a much better player live than online, and my limit game really needs some work, both live and online.  Online, in particular, I can account for almost $1,200 of my limit hold'em loss due to playing the $5/$10 game, which I'm obvious not good enough to play. 

But that implies that I'm actually making money at the lower limits of Limit Hold'em, which I'm not.  Online I think I'm going to stick to $1/$2 through $3/$6 and live I'll stay at $6/$12 through $10/$20.

In No Limit Hold'em, I'm comfortable playing $1/$2 live and will start taking some shots at the $2/$5 games when I feel good about it.  Online I think I'll still play $0.10/$0.25 through $0.50/$1.

If you're curious, I tracked all my live results this year using PokerCharts and all my online play using PokerTracker Hold'Em, Omaha, and Stud.  I highly recommend you pick up these programs if you're going to play poker this year at all, or something similar.  Nothing will get you through a run of bad cards or bad play like a historical tool that lets you examine where you're playing your best game.  While the odds are good that there are at least a few people in this world that can use their own memory to give them both history and perspective on their play for the last year, the odds are even better that you're not one of them.

I'm going to enthusiastically play lots of cards this year, give the notable improvement in my game over the last 12 months.  I hope to see you at the tables.

No access to e-mail or web.

see you in two weeks.

The gear manifest.

"Moishe's going to miss you.  He's going to ask for you constantly", said Sarah in the car on the way to the airport.

"Tell him daddy's on safari to get him pictures of buses and trucks", was my response.

As you probably know my last trip to Pakistan two years ago was a photo bonanza.  I took almost a thousand photos and really learned a lot about my camera.  I learned a couple of great lessons, including:

1. At my skill level you don't always know when there's an amazing photo in front of you, just shoot a lot and sort it out later.  One of the very best photos I've ever taken was taken on a whim when I happened to wander into the back hallways of the Great Mosque in Lahore.
2. Always shoot, even when the subject isn't really right, especially when shooting people candidly.  I took this photo at a protest at Jinnah's tomb.  Though my subject wasn't entirely in the frame, I really liked how it turned out and have come to love it for the combination of flags and protester.

My gear for this trip is as follows:

Canon Digital Rebel
My Canon Digital Rebel, which is a 6.3 megapixel digital Single Lens Reflex.  I use the stock lens because it's pretty good, but occasionally drop in the telephoto.  A big difference this year is that I'm going to shoot exclusively in RAW mode instead of JPGs.  I've picked up the BreezeBrowser tool for downloading and manipulating my images before cutting them to JPGs.  I'm very excited about the potential for really improving my photos.  It uses Compact Flash cards, and I've got two 2GB cards on me, and a laptop to back them up to.  For lighting situations I have a Speedlite 550.  I'm still learning how to use it.

(As an aside, isn't that awesome?  I love learning how to use my gear.  I'll probably be on my deathbed at the age of 80 admiring the functions on my new cellphone...)

There's actually a newer version of this camera out, but honestly, I haven't hit the edges of performance for this camera yet, so it would be stupid to upgrade.

 

Sanyo Digital Camcorder C40

This is a new addition to my arsenel.  I really wanted a small camcorder because I feel that I'm missing opportunities for some things that can only be captured via video.  In addition because of YouTube, hosting video won't cost me a dime.  I picked this up at RadioShack for $200, which is the way low end for a camcorder.  The device is tiny, about the size of a deck of cards and uses SD cards for storage.  I have three 1GB SD cards, and I am able to store 40 minutes of video on each.

iGO Juice

I'm also carrying an iGO Juice.  This is one of those Universal Power supplies that has interchangeable parts for charging everything I carry including cellphones, camcorders, laptops, iPods and a bunch of things I'm not carrying.  It's really well designed.  On one end of the device you have an appropriate power cord.  I'm carrying the cords for American outlets, European outlets, cigarette lighters, and inflight Empower plugs.  On the other end I've got these little interchangable tips that you buy for every new device you get.  When I bought the Sanyo camcorder abvoe, I immediately tossed the power brick that came with it into a drawer, found the right iGo tip to charge it up, and saved myself a pound of weight in my pack.  It's awesome.

Brookstone Noise Cancelling Headphones with iPod Shuffle Dock
I've got the headphones I purchased on the last trip with a Shuffle stuck in it with Tom Waits' new three disc set loaded up.  I love the fact that these are cordless.  It really makes it easier to deal with.  Sadly they don't appear to make them anymore.

The one great flaw in my packing has been my decision to not include my camera case.  I felt it was bulky, and that my gear would be just fine wrapped in clothes in my backpack.  That has since proven false as my telephoto lens and flash are bouncing around my backpack.  Nothing will get broken because I'll be extra gentle, but it's still a pretty idiotic oversight.

Ah, this is the life.

26 hours.  From start to finish, I'll be traveling 26 hours.  It was this thinking, among others, that led me to buy a first tier ticket from PIA (Pakistan International Airlines). 

Traveling business class (there is no first class on PIA) is like hanging around a lot of people with disposable income who aren't rich enough to allow anyone to forget the price of the ticket.  If you're super rich, you never see an airport lounge.  Instead your limo rolls up on the tarmac to your jet and you get in.  If you're merely rich instead of super-rich, to your NetJet, which is sort of like a FlexCar for private planes.

Sarah agreed though to allow me to spend a little extra money and not fly coach, and when I roll into JFK and am given the business class lounge entry card, I see where that money went.  Flat screen tvs everywhere, a conference room, and special Internet kiosks are everywhere.  There's an extremely fast wifi network (SSID: "SwissLounge", password "a1a1a1a1a1") and newspapers from every conceivable place on the planet. 

Oh, did I mention a full bar, an espresso machine, and a buffet meal being served?  How could I forget... Sarah calls me and I tell her I'm spending the next weeks here, this place is stocked better than our house. 

I'm almost gone.

I love you, but I think I need to see other people.

Brown people, specifically.  In just about 6 hours I'll be sitting on a plane beginning my 26 hour journey to Karachi, Pakistan.  Don't feel too sorry for me though, I'm not flying coach.  And I'm flying alone for the trip there.  Upon arrival I'll be with my sisters, her three kids under 10, an armed guard, my dad, his wife, and a coach driver for 14 days.  I will most certainly not be getting any alone time, and I'm not in the habit of wandering alone on the streets of a country where Daniel Pearl got kidnapped.  So I'm looking forward to some time by myself.

I've been packing all week, and making lists in my head of what I want to bring back for a month.  I'm not going to be back in Pakistan for a long time, so I'm pretty conscious of my last opportunity to see people and places on this trip.  Prime on the list is the Khyber Pass, which has long been the only way to get between Pakistan and Afghanistan unless you happen to have a friendly Pashto guide.  When I come home, I'll be one of the few people you've ever met who's ever been to Afghanistan, even if it's only for an hour.

I'm going to a Muslim country, so in my last 12 hours I hung out with friends, watched some lascivious television, drank a bottle of wine, ate some bacon.  I wanted to smoke a cigar but never really got the chance.   I could smoke one in Pakistan, but my father's an oncologist, and I don't really need to push his buttons.

If I get wifi anytime soon, I'll post my diaries here and my photos to flickr.  Otherwise you'll have to wait for my return.