What I'm Learning

In terms of skills, I just finished Mining V (T2 miners for the hulk) and am staring down 12+ days of Mining Forman V which is almost the final barrier to an Orca (minus the several hundred million Isk).

In terms of knowledge, I've been practicing small time trading with an alt. Diametrix has a fair number of trade skills but she's busy in WH space. So, I've hired an alt to assist with hi sec operations.

I'm learning about markets within the market. In the interest of gaining positive cash flow quickly, I will find a product (say, named Meta 2 or 3 hybrid rails) and post a buy order within 3 or 4 jumps that is slightly higher than the top current buy order.

Within a day or two I'll have 30 or so guns I need to part with. I've done my homework and I see these products on the lowest sell orders for at least 7-10X my buy order. That means there is margin to work inside of.

I will list for sale the guns I've garnished. Sometimes after gathering them into one spot but sometimes just selling them wherever they ended up in my assets page. I set the sell price well below the lowest regional sell price but still double or triple my buy price.

This does a couple of things: 1) I discourage the .01 isk game buy drastically underselling. 2) *and this is the important part* I end up selling to a much larger set of customers.

Who is going to buy these underpriced items? People who want the guns for ships and will fly a few more jumps for a great deal. AND: Traders who recognize the value of moving me and my low priced stuff out of their market. I'm selling to buyers and sellers.

This increases the velocity of my inventory and cashflow. It stimulates the market as a whole and it helps me to identify areas of exploitable market activity.

In poker: I'm practicing patience. I'll finally learn this lesson some time after I'm dead, I'm sure. But I have to remind myself that, especially in low limit games, you HAVE to have good cards to tangle in pots. Trying to manipulate the game or even a particular hand is a recipe for disaster. Bluffing is such a razor thin equity move at these levels. I'm trying to wait for cards.

Changes

Been a long time since I blogged here. Too long. I went to fan fest 09 and played in the Hold'm Tourney. I finished 3 out of 60 or so. It was a crazy fast format. Blinds went up at least once or twice an orbit.

Iceland was terrific. We'll be back next year.

I've taken up with a Wormhole corporation. Its good to be with a team and the W-space environment is great for learning new stuff and trying creative schemes.

Poker has been teaching me a thing or two about variance. I've been on a downswing lately. I've read a ton about long downswings and I'm not letting emotional fluctuations impact my game. I've not been playing on EOH much. I'm struggling abit finding my place in a NL ring game.

Sometimes you play in a game that you want to label 'loose, weak, passive, crazy, amatursih...whatever'. I'm deciding that I can't look for games that fit 'my style'. A good game should be any game I sit down in. The key is to figure out what kind of game it is and know that my style is flexible enough to adjust to and profit from that particular game (or player).

So, labels are ok, but I have to constantly reapply them and consistently adjust my play to them. Otherwise, they're just name calling and that's weak defensiveness.