Wed Feb 04, 2009 (Chess) Comments

I haven't played much poker lately. This is because I rediscovered chess over the Christmas holiday. When I was in high school I bought myself a Kasparov Olympiad chess board and learned how to play the game. I played occasionally in college. My physics professor ran the chess club and I'd join him and a few others in the student cafe.

I haven't played much since. A while ago (after years of voluntary non-participation) I bought a video game system. I guess I got burned out on all the Halo games and was looking for a more cerebral game. I found poker a year ago. Now I've rediscovered chess. I enjoy both games greatly. They are very intellectually satisfying when played well.

To get to the point, I bought a copy of Fritz 11, an excellent chess program. Too excellent in fact. After one merciless beating after another I looked online for weaker chess engines. Fritz supports the Universal Chess Interface (UCI) so it's easy to swap out the very strong Fritz engine for a much weaker one and continue to play in the familiar Fritz environment.

Even against a weaker computer opponent I still struggle to win games. Case in point.

T.rex versus Erik

After 27. Qd4

My computer opponent, T.rex as White, offered to exchange queens. I declined, feeling that while the position looked drawish, I felt with good play I could beat an inferior opponent- and having my queen would help. But how exactly does Black win?

Replay Game

Sun Dec 07, 2008 (Poker) Comments

I've finally gotten around to developing a simple Excel spreadsheet to track my progress at the tables. I enter my results from each session and it displays a graph of my bankroll. In addition, it calculates the maximum stakes I can play for cash tables, single table tournaments, and multi-table tournaments according to the bankroll strategy I've already outlined. And it calculates Finish%, In The Money%, Profit, Return on Investment, and Hourly Wage.

I cashed out the profit from my big win last month, leaving $100 in my Full Tilt account. I figure it's best to leave my big win off the spreadsheet, as it will only distort the numbers and give an inflated sense of profitability.

I look forward to posting my results at the end of the month.