Goals, LDO

Forgot to mention rough goals for myself: Real Analysis: At least a B+, I'm probably 50/50 for getting that. The grade consists of 30% HW, 30% Midterm, 40% Final. I think I'll crush the hw with help from a tutor/TA's but midterms/final will be interesting... Backgammon: ER < 7.5 over 100 game sample within 3 months. This'll be hard to do but if I make good progress in Robertie's book I think it's definitely achievable. Maybe I'm delusional about how hard BG is or how smart/dumb I am, but I really think I could become world class in under a year if I put my mind to it. Would love to get a prop going on this, but we'll see. Poker: We'll have to see but I'd like to get in at least 1k games/month...this one's probably the hardest. Fitness: Finally set up PT and start working out 3x/week. Gonna get a trainer so I have to go, would be good to drop a few lbs and have more energy during the day. Would also be nice to start waking up earlier...i.e. pre-8am. Sounds ridic but I waste a ton of time just lounging around. Anyway, all for now. Thanks for reading, Yodaddy

Long Overdue

Hey all, Realized I haven't updated this blog in over a year so thought it would be good to get going again. Lots of interesting stuff, going on...no longer working in finance, taking math classes in the city and trying to figure out what I want to do longer-term. It' not that easy since I have such narrow interests (only really like mathy games, some sports stuff, don't rly care about biz, etc). I'm doing a post-bac program so I'll finish the equivalent of a BA in Applied Math or Math, depending on what I end up liking. The division is somewhat arbitrary, but Here's what I've taken so far: Calc II, Calc III, ODE's, Linear Algebra, Decision Theory, Symbolic Logic Summer Term I: Real Analysis Summer Term II: Game Theory If I go the applied route, I'll likely take: Fall Semester: Probability, Cryptography Spring Semester: Probability II, Analysis and Optimization, Quantum Mechanics I think I'll do well in Game Theory, Probability and Optimization. Hard to say about crypto and real analysis has been hard, so we'll have to see. Was bad at physics in HS but QM is a v. dif kind of physics and taught by a great professor. No delusions that it'll be easy though. If I like it enough and apply for grad school, I'm sure the top 10-15 is out, but would be awesome to get in somewhere that's 15-30. Would need 3.7+ in these classes though, so we'll see how things turn out. Have also been playing HU superturbo's on Merge. Have played 2.4k games or so at something silly like 2% roi, but have gotten coaching from cog dis and he's helped a lot. Finally, I've gotten somewhat into backgammon. Definitely a game that seems simple and where it's largely a game of luck but it's similar to poker in a lot of ways. When I play vs. expert (has an ER, error rating, of 0), I lose an average of ~0.5pts per game (doubling cube allows you to raise the game's stakes mid-match). I think I've won ~32% of games vs. expert and I've got an ER of around 9-10. Which is nearing intermediate level. If I played 11 point games vs. expert, I'd probably lose 90% of the time, because the computer is twice as likely, given my skill level, to win a point. So it's hard to run well enough to get to 11 before him. Pretty huge skill game if an intermediate player loses 90%+ to an expert. Thing is, world-class players (top 25 in the world) only have ER ratings of ~3 or 3.5, so I'm playing better than world-class competition. Anyway, interesting stuff and I've been reading up on it. I really want to get a prop bet going to motivate me for school/backgammon/poker. Anyway, talk soon. Best, Yodaddy