Both need to be emotionless - able to give up a hit and move on like nothing happened. The unwavering focus is paramount to both groups' success. When you tilt, it snowballs into disaster. Really good HUSNG grinders needs to be like the closers of poker (not like Papelbon these days, but maybe like that guy from the Phillies in last year's World Series).
How you liking this analogy? Am I on the right track? I'll bet you could find more in common between the two.
I used to be a starter in my younger days.
A lot of what you say is very true.
I'll go a step further, even when pitchers are hitting their spots with the right pitches, short term variance can go either way for them just as it can for us.
The batter, along with chance, are the main factors after the pitcher has made his choice and hit his spot. For us, it's our opponent as well as chance, or luck (after we've made our decision).
I'm not sure on the closer argument, that would be more geared towards end game. I've seen many a winning poker player admit to screaming or stressing or "freaking out" in the end game, as the swings can be pretty nasty (omg really, did he just win my QJ vs his 86o, then beat my 55 with A4? Wtf), so maybe that part of the game can be like closers.
You could even draw some similarities to the minor leagues --> pros and low stakes --> high stakes. Rookie ball would be the 5s and 10s, A would be 20s-30s, AA would be 55s and 110s, AAA would be 220s and maybe 300 areas and of course 550+ would be the "bigs."
That was more fun than I initially thought, good comparisons.
Love it.
Cool that you were a starter. And let's not forget the prize of throwing a no hitter... I almost did that in my first session today (playing 10 games/session this week) and in the end let it slip 8-2, but man 10-0 would have been sweet. If only there was a generally accepted number of games per session so that 'a no hitter' could actually have some big significance.
Haha I'll just take the 8-2 as a good session and leave it at that!
If you really would like to, use each game as an inning ;)
I've often thought HU poker is comparable to the batter/pitcher dynamic.
As already mentioned, variance plays a lot into both situations. There's a reason why the season is twice as long as any other major sport.
You also have the leveling match between players that is also played out among pitchers/batters. He's pounded me with inside heat for the first two strikes, so he probably will try and put a curve outside. But he knows I know this, so maybe he will come back in again.
I often wonder if MLB pitchers like Maddux are doing EV calculations on the hill in a big spot. :)
A lot of batters (A-rod comes to mind) are known for sitting on pitches in certain counts. It's more of a gamble, and higher variance, but obviously has a higher ceiling.
You should send a chat msg to Orel Herschiser next time you see him playing on Stars, I've asked him a few questions when I've seen and played him. He's a very friendly guy and I'd say he was the similar type to Maddux on the hill (the control, numbers type guys).
I remember reading about the Braves pitching instructor talking about why he tells all his pitchers to throw a moving fastball on the lower outside corner for the first pitch. He had some more specific insight than I'll be able to recall, but it had to do with the % of people who take pitches, particularly those not over the middle of the plate, and the odds that a batter can put the ball into play when he does swing at that first pitch in that location was very favorable to pitchers.
Baseball and math are interesting to read about. I never got too into it, but I scratched the surface.
I don't enjoy baseball nearly as much as I used to. I'm more into basketball (NBA) now from a strategical vantage. I like the NFL as well, but that's more entertaining for me. I don't know nearly enough about the NFL to seriously second guess or decipher a lot of the more subtle strategy, or even a lot of obvious flaws. I feel I can kind of do that with a lot in the NBA (no expert, but I do know what is going on and the effects of various adjustments).
The one thing that always bugged me about the NBA was the lack of the "2 for 1" play being ran at the end of the half/quarter.
With 35 seconds left in the game and a 24 second shot clock, if you wait 11 seconds each team gets one posession. If you assume each team scores about 1 point per posession, the two teams are basically equal.
But if you control the ball and say you rush a shot off within 7 seconds with a .75 point expectation, then your opponent has the ball with 28 seconds and has a .25 point edge. But then you get the ball back with at least 4 seconds left (usually more like 5-10 seconds bc teams don't time shots so well), you can add to your .75 point expectation and increase your expectation over your opponent's. Clear edge there, yet so many teams do not recognize nor go through with the 2 for 1. I saw Chauncey Billups go for a clear 2 for 1 (no doubt George Karl understands this concept, as he is offensive minded) in the playoffs and was happy to see the announcers call it out.
Another aspect is the use of fouls to create a 2 for 1 scenario. If your opponent has the ball with 20 seconds left, they can hold for the last shot. Or can they? If you foul them and they shoot 2 FTs in the bonus, a 75% shooter would have a 1.5 point expectation, compared to the avg of roughly 1.1 (not sure if this is correct I THINK it's around that though) if you let them try to score without fouling. But now you get the ball back, whereas you wouldn't if you let them hold for the last shot. So you have an expectation of around 1.1 points, meaning you expect to lose .4 points in this scenario compared to 1.1 points in the former scenario.
Over the course of the season I would imagine these little bits of points would add up to at least a couple of wins. Considering most teams spend well in excess of 60 million dollars a year, they are paying almost 2 million dollars for each win, sometimes much more.
But maybe my calculations are flawed, maybe somebody with math knowledge and basketball knowledge can set me straight if so, I've always wondered about this stuff.