Saturday, December 31, 2016

Preemptive immediate service

The most memorable hand of last night's session, as is generally the case for memorable hands, was one that I lost :-) I was dealt pocket rockets (a pair of aces). An opponent acting before me bet big enough to put me all in if I called, and I did. When he turned over AJo (ace jack offsuit), I was very happy; I knew he was a big underdog. Running the numbers, he had only a 6.75% chance of winning. However, unfortunately for me, he received preemptive immediate service from the poker gods. What do I mean by that? First, here's the definition of immediate service (from my blog post of September 20, 2015):

One of my favorite poker commentators is Nick Wealthall. He provides commentary for online tournaments on PokerStars. One  phrase I really like which he uses quite often is "immediate service"; it refers to hitting a straight or flush draw as soon as possible, in other words on the turn.

With that in mind, preemptive immediate service is immediate service which comes on an even earlier street, i.e. on the flop. The flop in this case came Qh Kh Tc, giving my opponent a straight, and reducing my winning chances to a meager 5.35%. After the turn of 7d, I was officially drawing dead. Not a fun way to hit the rail, to be sure. I played one more tournament after that, to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

By the way, my prediction that last night's session would be my final one of 2016 was wrong; I'm about to play some poker right now, at 1:52pm on the last day of the year :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    44     139   36    36    75000
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6     8     486  114     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    18     136   36    46        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    27     535  132   177        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    75     436  114    56    48000
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    27     109   30    36        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    50     365   96    93    26100


delta: $-80,900
MTT NLHE balance: $2,166,548
2016 balance: $966,866
balance: $11,667,230

Friday, December 30, 2016

Table selection fail

There are many ways to fail at poker, but one of the most shameful is to select the wrong table in the first place. Just two posts ago, I claimed that I never wanted to play another 9 max tournament in my life. What did I do last night, but play two 9 maxes out of 6 tournaments. Why? I attribute these bad decisions to two things:

1. impatience
2. greed

The 9 max tournaments always skew the pay tables to the top positions, so the up top money is gigantic. It's hard not to say to myself, "I can win some of those big bucks, while I wait for a 6 max" :-)

In the good news department, thanks to last night's overall good result, I've now topped one million play dollars in profit for the year. Tonight will likely be my last session in 2016, so I'll do my best to make it a memorable one.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    46     748  153    59    33300
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    38     129   36    30    81000
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9     4     578  117     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    25     136   36    49        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   135     447  114     7   195500
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    44     108   30    37        0


delta: $99,800
MTT NLHE balance: $2,247,448
2016 balance: $1,047,766
balance: $11,748,130

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Futile perfection

I've talked about futile perfection before, in the context of cash games. It can be achieved in MTTs, too. I know, because I did so last night :-) In 22 hands, I failed to win a single pot. A little over halfway through the session, I had the gut feeling I wasn't going to win one. There was an undercurrent of inevitability. The good thing about undercurrents of inevitability is that they work in both directions; most of the time I get the feeling I'm going to make it under the lights, I do.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    22      76   21     0        0


delta: $-50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,147,648
2016 balance: $947,966
balance: $11,648,330

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Golden

I've now achieved the golden ratio in the only poker style and flavor I currently care about - MTT NLHE 6 max. I've now played 162 of these tournaments, and have made the money in 84 of them, for a winning ratio of 51.85%, just over the golden ratio percentage of 50. The list of styles and flavors I never want to play again is growing; here it is:

- cash game, any flavor
- Omaha, any style
- sit and go, any flavor
- KO
- spin and go
- 9 max, any style or flavor

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    67     521  132    81    41900
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    15     436  114   230        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    76     124   30    15   133000


delta: $84,900
MTT NLHE balance: $2,197,648
2016 balance: $997,966
balance: $11,698,330

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

apb: apb

This post's title is my latest neologism. It stands for "All-points bulletin: another personal best". As I've mentioned before, the longer your career, the harder it gets to achieve personal bests (with the exception of overall balance :-)) On Sunday night, on the strength of two strong money finishes, I had the best yearly style flavor subtotal of my career; here are the top ten:

year      amount   hands count  style      flavor

2016  $2,108,696  12,523   257  MTT        No Limit Hold'em
2011  $2,011,642   9,978   130  Cash game  No Limit Hold'em
2012  $1,918,252  14,612   197  Cash game  No Limit Hold'em
2014  $1,800,019  12,925   166  Cash game  No Limit Hold'em
2015  $1,467,900  20,343   421  Sit & Go   No Limit Hold'em
2012  $1,2201,50  17,458   365  Sit & Go   No Limit Hold'em
2013    $868,418  23,506   308  Cash game  No Limit Hold'em
2010    $606,842   2,041   188  Cash game  Pot Limit Hold'em
2014    $416,700   3,869    33  Sit & Go   8-Game
2011    $389,725   4,242    62  Cash game  Pot Limit Hold'em


Of course, the year isn't done yet, so this is a provisional personal best as yet :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    13     131   36     -        0
MTT   NLHE    44000  6000       9    47     195   45    26   164100
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    93     119   30     8   187000


delta: $201,100
MTT NLHE balance: $2,112,748
2016 balance: $913,066
balance: $11,613,430

Sunday, December 25, 2016

You were never shovelier

This is the fourth time I've used this blog post title. In one of the earlier posts, I asserted that calling all in doesn't count as shoving, but I want to relax that orthodoxy now in order to be able to reuse a title that tickles my fancy :-) In the second MTT I played last night, I was dealt a big slick (ace king) on the third hand. A player acting before me bet enough to put me all in if I called, and I did. My opponent turned over a pair of jacks, and we were off to the races. The board ran out without pairing my ace or my king, and I hit the rail. Running the numbers, I was a 43% dog to win the hand, which wasn't great, but wasn't that bad either, all things considered. Over time, you can't go wrong by backing your big slicks heavily; they're my second best MTT NLHE hand delta-wise, second only to pocket rockets.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000  6000       9    18     167   36    48        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9     3     445   90     -        0


delta: $-70,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,911,648
2016 balance: $711,966
balance: $11,412,330

Saturday, December 24, 2016

The 10 minute rule

For the longest time, I was undecided on the optimal moment to join an MTT. MTTs almost always have late registration periods, so there's a wide range of times to join. I'm undecided no longer; I think the best time to join an MTT is when there are 10 minutes or less remaining in the late registration period. This gives ample opportunity for others to hit the rail before you put your first chip at risk; their buy ins are now community property :-) It's good to play with a sense of urgency, and that's certainly the case when you join an MTT late; your stack, by definition, will be one of the shorter ones. I'm doing so well lately playing MTTs I wish I'd played only MTTs all year long. That's what I'll try to do next year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    45     111   30    38        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    77      90   21    13   113000


delta: $13,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,981,648
2016 balance: $781,966
balance: $11,482,330

Friday, December 23, 2016

Tenliness is next to quadliness

This is probably the fourth or fifth time I've used this blog post title; I never miss a chance :-) I had two memorable hands last night, which anyone would have been able to play in their sleep. On the first one, I was dealt a pair of tens, and flopped quads (hence, the title of the post). On the second one, I was dealt two diamonds, and flopped a flush. Thanks to those lucky hands, and to some skill as well, I got under the lights again. That never gets old!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   128     114   30     6   261000


delta: $211,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,968,648
2016 balance: $768,966
balance: $11,469,330

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Under the wire

Last night, I didn't start playing poker until quite late, since I was busy playing chess :-) When I switched pastimes, there were no available $50,000 BI+EF MTT NLHEs currently running, but there was a $20,000 BI+EF MTT NLHE which had a minute left in its late registration period. I got in just under the wire, and ended up making the money.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    58     352   84    66    36900


delta: $16,900
MTT NLHE balance: $1,757,648
2016 balance: $557,966
balance: $11,258,330

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Under the lights

Last night, I got under the lights (i.e., made the final table) again. I've now made the final table in 7 MTT NLHEs, and all of them happened this year. It was my third second place finish. I've never had a first place, but came awfully close this time; the heads up battle lasted a marathon 90 hands. When heads up started, I had just 28% of the chips in play. At one point, I took the chip lead, but it was short-lived. On the strength of this great result, my overall balance topped 11 play million again.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   295     116   30     2   511000


delta: $461,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,740,748
2016 balance: $541,066
balance: $11,241,430

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

40 hands in the wilderness

You know you've joined a tournament much too early when you can play 40 hands, hit the rail, and not achieve an official place (since the late registration period still hasn't ended). That's what happened to me in the second MTT I entered on Friday night. The next time I'm in the position of needing to wait a while before I join, I'll just play some chess in the interim :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    36     127   36    44        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    40      69   18     -        0


delta: $-100,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,279,748
2016 balance: $80,066
balance: $10,780,430

Friday, December 16, 2016

The fingerfehler that wasn't

I've had my share of poker fingerfehlers over the years. Last night, I had my first faux fingerfehler :-) Let me explain. Every tournament on PokerStars has an associated tournament lobby; each lobby lists the current stacks of all the remaining players in the tournament, in descending order, followed by the names of all the players who are out of the tournament, along with their places and any prize money they were awarded at the time of their exit. Each lobby also includes a lot of other important information, such as the total prize pool, the total number of players who have entered the tournament, the buy in, the entry fee, the payouts, the average stack size, etc. I like to keep a pretty close eye on the lobby as I play; it's important to know when the money bubble is about to burst, in order to be able to adjust one's play appropriately.

For some reason, when I entered the first tournament of the session last night, I inadvertently brought up the lobby of a different tournament entirely - without realizing, of course. I was shocked and chagrined when I saw that the total amount of play money each player had put on the line was a full million. I thought I'd put a million on the line by mistake. When I brought up my current balance, it didn't reflect such a hit, and I was quite relieved. I soon realized that the mistake I'd made was that I hadn't brought up the correct lobby, and rectified that right away.

The thing is, a small part of me was disappointed that I hadn't made the mistake of putting a million on the line! A small part of me wants to gamble really big; I've got to keep an eye on that :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    59     109   30    26    73000
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   103      90   21    11   129000


delta: $102,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,379,748
2016 balance: $180,066
balance: $10,880,430

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Bubble boy

Perhaps nothing dramatizes the contrast between sit and gos and MTTs as much as the difference between how easy (or difficult) it is to bubble them. As a refresher, bubbling a tournament is when you come in one place out of the money. So far in my career, I've played 1,710 sit and gos, and have bubbled 352 of them. That's over 20%. Of the 550 MTTs I've played, I've only bubbled 3 of them; that's a little over one half of one percent. Of course, I wouldn't be talking about bubbling if it wasn't topical :-) I bubbled the second MTT I entered last night.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   103     108   30    30    72000
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    76      84   21    22        0


delta: $-28,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,277,748
2016 balance: $78,066
balance: $10,778,430

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Lord High Everything Else

I haven't played poker since last Friday, and am really missing it. There were good reasons for this - weekend activities, the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football, and an annual get-together with ex-colleagues last night. Tonight, nothing's going to stop me from playing :-) I had my 10th best session ever on Friday, bringing my 2016 balance back into the black. I was Lord High Everything Else in the third and final tournament I entered, ending up in 2nd place. It was the sixth MTT NLHE final table of my career, and third MTT NLHE 6 max final table.

Following the lead of Ted Williams in his 1941 season, when he batted .406, I'm not going to sit out the rest of the year to protect my profit. I'm going to play out the string! Not only that, I'm going to do it at the $50,000 BI+EF stakes. I'm dancing with the one who brung me :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    34     123   30     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    96     110   30    29    74000
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   187     111   30     2   489000


delta: $413,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,305,748
2016 balance: $106,066
balance: $10,806,430

Friday, December 9, 2016

9 max considered harmful

I took a brief hiatus from playing poker in the middle of the week, in order to indulge my chess jones :-) I'm currently playing online chess on the lichess site, and the experience is far superior to the experience on the chess.com site. To sum it up: better graphics, better interface, better responsiveness, and no ads.

Although I've compared 6 max to 9 max before, I didn't take to heart just how glaring the profit differential is for me. Here's the side by side comparison for MTT NLHE, with the huge outlier removed from the 9 max result set:

           count     average 

 $450,212    143   $3,148.34     6 max
$-413,064    162  $-2,549.78     9 max


I need to "just say no" to 9 max. Here's my revised list of table selection criteria:

1. only MTT NLHE
2. only tournaments without inflated money up top
3. only 6 max
4. only tournaments with a BI+EF >= $50,000

I threw the fourth criterion in there to increase my chances of getting my 2016 balance back into the black.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    38     406   96   143        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    26     239   63    84        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   124     354   84    18    83600


delta: $23,600
MTT NLHE balance: $892,748
2016 balance: $-306,934
balance: $10,393,430

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

10,000 hands

Recently, I hit another milestone -  10,000 MTT NLHE hands played this calendar year. I'll try to double or triple that total next year. That shouldn't be too hard to do, considering that MTT NLHE is my flavor poker style and flavor to play :-) Almost half of the 10,000 hands were played in massives, but massives seem to have gone the way of the dodo bird. That's just as well, since they didn't have enough money up top. I wouldn't mind seeing some $10,000 BI+EF MTT NLHEs, but those seem to have gone the way of the dodo bird as well.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    50     283   72    94        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   107     408   96    41    59900


delta: $19,900
MTT NLHE balance: $869,148
2016 balance: $-330,534
balance: $10,369,830

Monday, December 5, 2016

The gift flush

Of the many bad beats that are out there, one of the most infuriating is what I call the gift flush.  That's when the board runs out to a four flush, and one of your opponent's hole cards happens to match that suit. It certainly feels like the poker gods are out to get you when that happens. It happened to me in the final hand I played last night. To add insult to injury, one of the cards to the four flush was a queen, giving me trips. I know not to complain too strenuously, however; I've been on the good side of gift flushes plenty of times myself :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    57     272   72    63    36000
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    29     236   63    98        0


delta: $-4,000
MTT NLHE balance: $849,248
2016 balance: $-350,434
balance: $10,349,930

Sunday, December 4, 2016

40 million wagered

The session before last, I surpassed the 40 million mark in play dollars wagered playing tournaments this calendar year. The most I'd ever wagered in a previous year was 24,447,000 last year. Here's how the numbers break down by style and flavor:

             count  style       flavor

$32,105,000    576  Sit & Go    No Limit Hold'em
 $2,614,000    231  MTT         No Limit Hold'em
 $2,204,200    101  KO poker    No Limit Hold'em
 $1,625,000    118  MTT         8-Game
 $1,293,000     38  Sit & Go    8-Game
   $230,000     23  Spin & Go   No Limit Hold'em
    $15,000      3  MTT         Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball
     $5,000      1  MTT         HORSE

$40,091,200


I wish I'd skipped sit and gos, KOs, and spin and gos completely. That's what I'll try to do next year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    53     239   63    29    45000


delta: $25,000
MTT NLHE balance: $853,248
2016 balance: $-346,434
balance: $10,353,930

Saturday, December 3, 2016

The money up top

When I was playing massives (my nickname for MTT NLHEs with a buy in plus entry fee of a mere 1,000 play dollars, nicknamed such because of the massive fields they attract), the money "up top" (i.e., the payout for coming in first) wasn't massive at all. For instance, the largest field of any massive I ever played in was 1,464 players, but the money up top was a paltry $79,238. Puppy food! When I started playing higher BI+EF (buy in plus entry fee) MTT NLHEs, my eyes grew "as big as saucers" (as the saying goes) when I saw how big the money up top could grow to be. For example, the largest field of any $20,000 BI+EF MTT NLHE I've ever played in was 893 players, and the money up top was a whopping $2,470,600. I wanted some of that action! The trouble is, the bigger the percentage of the total prize pool the money up top represents, the worse the scenario is for a steady and skillful player like me. Why? For the simple reason that, to inflate the money up top, money must be stolen from the lower places in the payout structure. That's how you can get situations where players can actually lose money by "making the money". I decided to take a good hard look at my results in the $20,000 BI+EF MTT NLHEs, and the upshot couldn't be clearer - I must stay away from the big up top money tournaments at all costs. Since I make the money at better than a 40% clip, I want every money finish to actually earn me some money. For whatever reason, the tournaments on PokerStars with a buy in of $16,500 and an entry fee of $3,500 have huge money up top, and the lowest "paying" places actually lose players money. The tournaments on PokerStars with a buy in of $18,000 and an entry fee of $2,000 have much more modest money up top, and every money place actually earns players money. Those are the tournaments I'll focus on from here on in.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    58     651  135    52    31100
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    95     315   81    10    85000
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    30     556  117     -        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    56     274   72    65    32000


delta: $68,100
MTT NLHE balance: $828,248
2016 balance: $-371,434
balance: $10,328,930

Friday, December 2, 2016

Waiting for my rocket to come

The song "Curbside Prophet", by Jason Mraz, begins with these words:

I’m just a curbside prophet
with my hand in my pocket
and I’m waiting for my rocket to come


I know just how that feels; when I play MTT NLHEs, I'm waiting for my rocket to come, too. By rocket, I mean a really big cash. The biggest cash I ever had in an MTT NLHE was for $865,600, on September 29th. All I need is one more rocket like that in order to ensure myself of a profit in 2016. I'm waiting :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    11     382   81     0        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6     7     198   48     0        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    31     232   63   116        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    51     508  108    99    18400
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    65     426   90    51    24600


delta: $-57,000
MTT NLHE balance: $760,148
2016 balance: $-439,534
balance: $10,260,830

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Deadline

Today is December 1st. Counting today, I have a maximum of 31 sessions left in the year. Within that time, I'm going to do everything in my power to get my 2016 balance back into the black. To that end, I'm going to include my 2016 balance in the coda of every post, to keep it in the forefront of my mind. I've never had a calendar year where I didn't make a profit, and I don't intend to start now :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    40     631  135    50    30100
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    92     270   72    14    68000
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    85     340   84    67    35700


delta: $73,800
MTT NLHE balance: $817,148
2016 balance: $-382,534
balance: $10,317,830

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Funny money on the runway

Last night, in the final MTT I played, I had a personal first. I landed on the first inch of the runway in an MTT where over 100 players were paid. In other words, I came in dead last of the paying places. Even though I made the money, I ended up losing money on the tournament, since the payout was less than the buy in plus the entry fee. Ergo, funny money on the runway :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    16     852  171   302        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    64     368   99    34    59000
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    28     718  144   294        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    37     448  114   193        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    23     647  135     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    51     376   96   154        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    36     498  108   108    17200


delta: $-63,800
MTT NLHE balance: $743,348
balance: $10,244,030

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

16k the harder way

As I wrote in my post "16k the hard way":

When I start the session with a failure to make the money, I know that each subsequent failure will make it that much harder for me to turn a profit.

In the session I was writing about, I failed to make the money in the first three tournaments I played, but was able to recoup my losses and make a small profit by cashing in the fourth one. In last night's session, I didn't achieve profitability until my seventh tournament. Strangely enough, I ended up with almost the identical small profit.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    16     487   99     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    52     447  114   165        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    65     318   81    66    34000
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    34     604  126   120    17900
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    44     249   63    88        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    38     487   99   147        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   143     331   84    10   104200

delta: $16,100
MTT NLHE balance: $807,148
balance: $10,307,830

Monday, November 28, 2016

The first foot of runway

In an earlier post, I compared making the money in an MTT to landing an airplane. I actually had a particular airport (and runway) in mind when I made the analogy - Logan Airport in Boston. To land on the runway I'm thinking of, planes have to approach over water. This can be disconcerting to the passengers, to say the least :-) It's hard not to get the impression that the plane is coming in too low, and will hit the water first. Last night, in the final MTT NLHE I played, I thought my plane was coming in too low. I held out as long as I could; when I eventually hit the rail, I had to wait a bit to find out what my place was. This was due to the fact that multiple players from multiple tables can hit the rail in rapid succession. As it turned out, I landed essentially on the first foot of runway :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    13     835  171   378        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    19     590  126     -        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    20     316   81     -        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    46      73   18    29        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    42     651  135   195        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    47     265   72    71    31000


delta: $-119,000
MTT NLHE balance: $791,048
balance: $10,291,730

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Movexit

On Friday night, I had the fifth worst session of my career, delta-wise; I lost over half a million play dollars. This was enough to convince me to stop playing sit and goes immediately, before November ends. I call this decision Movexit, since it puts an abrupt end to my Movember :-)

Looking at the numbers, I take some solace from the fact that I actually came out in the black in my latest foray into the high variance world of sit and gos - albeit for the paltry sum of $55,625. I renew the pledge I made not so long ago to play MTT NLHEs exclusively for the rest of the year (and hope I can hold myself to it this time :-))

Truth be told, I'm breathing a sigh of relief, and really looking forward to MTTs again.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    41     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    31     5        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    91     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    23     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    21     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    83     1   331500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    63     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    27     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    30     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    17     5        0


delta: $-508,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,198,340
balance: $10,410,730

Friday, November 25, 2016

Futile half century

The most memorable feature of last night's session was the number of hands I had to play in the SNG 8-game I entered, only to come in last. The 51 hands were the second most I'd ever played in such a situation; I call them a futile half century. You know you've joined a talented table when it takes that long for anyone to hit the rail.

In other news, an opponent accused me of making a foolish call and then lucking out by hitting a flush on the river to beat his straight. What he failed to realize is that I'd made a better straight than his on the turn. I pointed out the error in his thinking :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    23     3        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    51     6        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    64     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    86     2   178500


delta: $-141,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,666,840
balance: $10,919,230

Thursday, November 24, 2016

The river giveth, and the river taketh away

Poker fortunes are largely made or lost on the river. The river giveth, and the river taketh away. Sometimes, the river giveth and taketh at the same time :-) That's what happened to me last night, twice. The first time, the river card gave my opponent a flush, and me a full house. I won a pot worth 3,060 chips. I ended up winning that sit and go. The second time (in a different sit and go), the river card gave me two pair, and my opponent a straight. I lost 1,450 chips on that hand. I really had no business calling my opponent's all in bet, but there you are.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    47     1   331500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6   133     2    35700
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    34     3        0


delta: $147,200
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,788,340
balance: $11,060,730

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Another personal borscht

Last night, I had another personal borscht. To refresh your memory, here's my definition (from the April 30, 2013 post):

There's a third kind of personal poker record that I also enjoy, but it's hard to come up with a name for it. It's neither a personal best nor a personal worst, yet shares features of both. At first I thought I'd call it a bestworst, then a worstbest, but neither of those really fit the bill. I eventually came up with personal borscht. Of course, that's a nonsensical name, but it has the merit that phonetically it reminds one of both best and worst. Also, borscht is a kind of soup, and this new kind of record is like soup in that it combines disparate elements.

This time, the record was for the most hands I've played in a SNG 8-game where I came in third; I beat out the old record by a single hand :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6   159     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    42     3        0


delta: $-120,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,656,840
balance: $10,913,530

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

A hulk and a hubcap

If you park your car at night in a poorly lit, high crime area of a major city, the longer you leave it there, the less of it there'll be when you get back. Last night, figuratively speaking, I left my vehicle so long that all that was left on my return was a hulk and a hubcap. Let me explain. Whenever a six player sit and go reaches three handed play, and one of the three players happens to be sitting out, the other two players can guarantee that they both make the money simply by taking turns winning the blinds. The player to the right of the player who is sitting out gets the best of it; he'll take the blinds two times every orbit, whereas the player to the left of the player who is sitting out will only take them once every orbit. However, neither of these players will lose any chips, while the player who is sitting out will eventually be blinded off. The two active players, figuratively speaking, are stripping the abandoned vehicle of the player who is sitting out.

How did I come to abandon my vehicle? It was unintentional, of course. While waiting for my table to fill up, I decided to use the Kindle reader app to continue reading Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White", which I'd started reading over the weekend. In their infinite wisdom, the programmers of the Kindle app evidently decided that reading was the most important thing anyone could ever do on a computer, so they disabled the ability of any other app to take the input focus away from the Kindle reader. This meant that when the table filled up, I had no way of knowing that it had. The PokerStars software did the right thing in this case, which was to automatically sit me out. The combination of being sat out, along with being thoroughly engrossed in "The Woman in White", conspired to make me forget to check on my poker table until it was much too late. Of the 40 hands I "played", I only actually got to play the last one. I find it rather humorous to think that I came in third :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6   155     2    35700
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    40     3        0


delta: $-84,300
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,756,840
balance: $11,033,530

Monday, November 21, 2016

The quarter million club

When I was playing strictly cash games, which I did for the first four years of my career, it was a big deal to have session deltas of 100,000 play dollars or more. When I started playing sit and gos, this was no longer a big deal. The new big deal was to have session deltas of 250,000 or more. Just call it the quarter million club :-) On Thursday night, I had the 28th quarter million club session of my career.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    63     1   331500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6   138     1    66300


delta: $277,800
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,856,840
balance: $11,117,830

Thursday, November 17, 2016

30 million wagered

At the beginning of the year, I set myself a goal to wager 60 million play dollars playing SNG NLHEs. A massive downswing, in combination with PokerStars increasing its entry fees, pushed me off that goal. It's interesting to note that I recently passed the halfway point of the abandoned goal; I've wagered 30,505,000 playing SNG NLHEs this year. For comparison purposes, that's over eight million more than I wagered last year, and I'm not done yet :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    69     3        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    62     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    58     2   178500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    79     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    45     3        0


delta: $-161,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,625,340
balance: $10,840,030

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Eleven is heaven

Last night, on the strength of a first place SNG NLHE finish, my overall balance topped the 11 million play dollar mark for the second time in my career. The first occurred on January 4th of this year. This year's Movember isn't as outrageously good as last year's, but it's still very good :-) I'm now about a third of the way to my goal of making a million play dollar profit on the year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    29     5        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    58     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6   114     1   331500
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    51     1    40375


delta: $141,875
MTT NLHE balance: $860,048
balance: $11,001,530

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Double tabling

Last night, I double tabled most of the session. I was playing $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHE on one table, and $20,000 BI+EF SNG 8-game on another. I've noticed this before, but it bears repeating - I seem to play better when I double table. In an earlier post I attributed this to being forced to make decisions faster, and that's certainly a part of it, but I think I've found another important reason - I'm not focusing nearly as much on the size of my stack. When you're just playing at a single table, it's all too easy to get overly caught up with how you're doing, and how many chips you have left. That can't help but influence some of the decisions you make, which is more often than not a bad thing. When you're double tabling, you're focusing most of your attention on the hand you were dealt, the community cards, and the actions your opponents have taken. It's of secondary importance how many chips you have left, which is just as it should be :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    12     2   178500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    91     1   331500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    89     2    35700
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    30     5        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    79     2    35700


delta: $241,400
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,615,340
balance: $10,859,655

Monday, November 14, 2016

Min three bullet win

As you know, I like to quote myself as often as I can :-) Here's what I had to say on February 9th:

Poker commentators often refer to buy ins as bullets. This is in the context of tournaments which have rebuys; "He's on his second bullet" refers to someone who hit the felt on his first buy in, and bought in again. The sit and gos I play on PokerStars don't have rebuys, but I like the bullet metaphor so much I'll appropriate it anyway. I tend to fire anywhere from three to six bullets a night. Last night, I fired five, and came out with the min win for five $45,000 bullets, or $20,000. One good sit and go rule of thumb is to quit whenever your profit hits the min win for the number of bullets you've fired. I don't always follow it, but wish I did :-)

On Saturday night, I fired three $85,000 bullets, and came out with the min win for that scenario, which is $31,500. However, I also fired two $8,500 KO bullets, and missed the money in both of those.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    58     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     5     8        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    79     3        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     1     8        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    38     1   331500 


delta: $11,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,405,340
balance: $10,618,255

Saturday, November 12, 2016

50,000 hands

Very recently, I surpassed the 50,000 hands milestone for this poker year. The most I'd ever played in a prior year was 42,911 (last year). Every year since I started playing, I've played more hands per year, and I fully intend to keep that streak going :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    32     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    16     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    23     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    21     3    11900
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    43     3        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     9     3     7650


delta: $-310,450
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,373,840
balance: $10,606,755

Friday, November 11, 2016

Near ever less session

I've talked before about ever more sessions, where each succeeding tournament lasts longer than its predecessor. Last night, I nearly head an ever less session, where each succeeding tournament is shorter than its predecessor. Despite this, I made a very healthy profit. In the last three sessions, I've made over half a million play dollars. At the moment, my 2016 balance is in the black to the tune of $216,841. All is right with my poker world :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    52     1   331500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    43     2   178500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    34     6        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    15     2    15725
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    19     2    15725
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     9     6        0


delta: $211,450
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,673,840
balance: $10,917,205

Thursday, November 10, 2016

A chip and a chair

This is the fourth time I've used this title; the first was on October 27, 2011. I included a reference in all the previous posts, and I'll do the same here:

An old poker adage says that all you need to win is a chip and a chair, especially since Jack “Treetop” Straus pulled off this feat in the '82 championship.

James McManus, "Positively Fifth Street"


Last night was the closest I've ever come to winning a sit and go when I was down to my last chip. For definition purposes, I consider having a stack of one small blind or less to be the time when you're down to your last chip. In the second SNG NLHE I played, I started three-handed play with just 115 of the 6,000 chips at the table. At this point, the small blind was 75 and the big blind was 150. I was sitting in the big blind, so I "fell in" for my last 115. I won this pot without a showdown, as both my opponents folded. 67 hands later, I finished in first. I won in style, with quad kings :-) This wonderful result enabled me to get back into the black on the year. My goal is to keep playing $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHEs until my 2016 balance tops a million play dollars; if I can achieve that, I'll play MTTs for the rest of the year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    33     2   178500
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    11     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6   116     1   331500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    66     4        0


delta: $200,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,463,840
balance: $10,705,755

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Double first

On Monday night, as promised, I went back to my discomfort zone - playing $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHEs. For variety, I sprinkled a couple of $10,000 BI+EF KOs in there. I got in the hole to the tune of $312,350 before finishing super strong - two first places in a row. There's nothing quite like the feeling of winning $463,000 in an hour, even if it is play money :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    71       6    2     3        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    29       9    3     3     7650
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       9    47      18    4     7        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     2       9    3     7        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    21       6    2     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    46       6    2     1   331500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    89       6    2     1   331500


delta: $150,650
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,253,840
balance: $10,505,755

Monday, November 7, 2016

Movember it is

I've decided to throw caution to the winds, and try to end my 2016 poker year in the black by returning to $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHEs. Movember it is! I wonder when was the last time I've played one of these; let me check the archives ... August 27th. Here's what I had to say about it:

If I'm still in the red for the year when November rolls around, I'll raise the stakes up to my discomfort zone again :-)

I'm pretty sure I promised myself sometime after that that I'd never play sit and gos again, since the entry fees are prohibitively expensive. Oh well, sometimes you need to break promises like that. My goal here is not to prove that SNGs are viable, it's quite simply to get lucky and end my year in the black :-)

By the way, last night I had a KO fest, as you can see.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    45       9    3     2    19975
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    16       9    3     3     7650
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    37       9    3     1    40375
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    74      73   18    23        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    10       9    3     5        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    11       9    3     3     7650
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    15       9    3     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    13       9    3     6        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    30       9    3     2    24225


delta: $-30,125
KO no limit hold'em balance: $-112,089
balance: $10,355,105

Sunday, November 6, 2016

I hear Movember calling

As I've chronicled before, my poker exploits of last November turned my 2015 poker fortunes around, leading me to dub it "Movember" afterwards. Once again, I find myself in the red for the year as November commences. I hear Movember calling me once again. It's a siren call :-) If I heeded it, I'd start playing $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHE again. I'm not going to do that, at least for now. Instead, I'm going to double down on MTTs. On Friday night, I threw in some KOs at the end of the session, just to keep my hand in :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    37     866  180   179    18500
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    55      73   18    26        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    28      81   18    61        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    98     806  162    21    53100
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    19      22    4     -        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    27       9    3     4     4250
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    25       9    3     1    36125
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    22       9    3     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    59       9    3     2    19975


delta: $-98,050
MTT NLHE balance: $860,048
balance: $10,385,230

Friday, November 4, 2016

18th century

The title of this post is deliberately misleading, just for fun :-) No, I'm not talking about the 1700's, the century in which America was born. I'm talking about the number of MTT NLHEs I've played where I've lasted at least 100 hands. I had my 18th such last night. I've had 45 centuries in MTT 8-games, but they're much easier to come by.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    23     628  126     -        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    98      65   12    15        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   113     333   84    21    69900


delta: $-20,100
MTT NLHE balance: $828,448
balance: $10,483,280

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Final table bubble

In all my recent enthusiasm for $20,000 BI+EF MTT NLHEs, I lost sight of MTT 8-games temporarily. Last night I decided to play an 8-game (in addition to some NLHEs) for two reasons:

1. I hadn't been doing well at MTT NLHEs
2. I was bored of playing the same game all the time

I failed to make the money in the MTT NLHEs, but did very well in the MTT 8-game. I ended up bubbling the final table, coming in 7th. That got me to wondering if that had ever happened to me before; turns out it had, three previous times. From now until the end of the year, I'm going to try to play at least one MTT 8-game per session.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    36     799  162   277        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6     6     520  132     -        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9     3     297   63     -        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6   180      64   12     7   108000


delta: $-2,000
MTT 8-game balance: $233,170
balance: $10,503,380

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

The best laydown I ever saw live *

I didn't play poker last night for a very good reason - I was watching the final night of the WSOP November Nine final table, on television (for the third night in a row, the ESPN live streaming site didn't work for me). I didn't stay to see the new champion crowned, but what I did see was highly entertaining. The most memorable hand for me was the one where Gordon Vayo took over 5 minutes to fold, after Qui Nguyen had bet over $100,000 on the river. Vayo had aces up, but the river card supported both trip kings and a club flush (the latter of which Nguyen had). It was mesmerizing to watch Vayo's immediate, distraught reaction as soon as he saw the river card, as well as the progression of emotions he went through during his agonizing thought process, which played out plainly on his face. I was rooting for him to fold, and believed he would. Eventually he did, but not before torturing himself. This laydown showed the quality and purity of his poker instincts; it was the best laydown I ever saw live *. I've added an asterisk for two reasons:

1. I wasn't physically present
2. the broadcast was on a half hour delay

The most amazing thing about the laydown, to me, was that it was very clear from his initial reaction that he instinctively knew he couldn't call the bet, yet he agonized over the decision. In poker, the longer someone takes to make a decision, the more likely it is to be wrong. Vayo had the discipline to heed his instincts, even after such a lengthy decision process. That's the longest tussle I've ever seen anyone take with the imp of the perverse, and he vanguished it. I cheered!

On Monday night, I played two MTT NLHEs, and missed the money in both.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    31     557  117     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    55     336   84    97        0


delta: $-60,000
MTT NLHE balance: $898,548
balance: $10,505,380

Monday, October 31, 2016

A cardinal MTT sin

I didn't get to play poker while watching the November Nine last night, which was a bummer. The reason? The live stream didn't work for me. It's not working tonight, either :-( I did watch some of the November Nine last night on cable, after I'd played. I committed a cardinal MTT sin in the first tournament I entered - I got frisky near the bubble. All I had to do to make the money was fold my way in, but I didn't have the discipline to do it. Starting tonight, I'll try to fix that hole in my MTT game.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    34     893  180   183        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    24     699  144     -        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    27     290   72    92        0


By the way, whenever you see a hyphen in the place column, it means I didn't even outlast the late registration period, which is pretty disgraceful :-)

delta: $-60,000
MTT NLHE balance: $898,548
balance: $10,545,380

Sunday, October 30, 2016

16k the hard way

I generally play multiple MTT NLHEs per session, and always know where I am profit-wise. When I start the session with a failure to make the money, I know that each subsequent failure will make it that much harder for me to turn a profit. On Friday night, I started out with three failures, but was able to recoup my losses in the final tournament I played, with a little profit to spare. I call that making 16k the hard way :-)

In 15 minutes, I'll be watching the November Nine get under way, via live streaming. I'm excited about it! I'll be playing some online poker at the same time.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    20     634  135   213        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    39     413   96   158        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    12     565  117   286        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   102     380   96    15    96400


delta: $16,400
MTT NLHE balance: $958,548
balance: $10,605,380

Friday, October 28, 2016

6 max versus 9 max

When I select an MTT NLHE to play, the only thing I'm looking for is a BI+EF (buy in plus entry fee) of $20,000; I don't look at the maximum number of players at the table. As it turns out, roughly half of the MTT NLHEs I've played have been 6 max and the other half have been 9 max. Here's the breakdown:

    delta players count

 $280,512       6   129
 $661,636       9   122


At first glance, it appears that 9 max is the way to go. However, when I remove the outlier from the 9 max results, we see a different picture:

    delta players count

 $280,512       6   129
$-193,964       9   121


There are advantages and disadvantages to both 6 max and 9 max. Not surprisingly, what's an advantage to one is a disadvantage to the other. Here's my take:

main 6 max advantage:  "coolers" are less likely to happen
main 6 max disadvantage: blinds come around more frequently

main 9 max advantage: blinds come around less frequently
main 9 max disadvantage: "coolers" are more likely to happen

From a player's perspective, the ideal tournament would start out at 6 max and morph to 9 max in the final stages. That would allow players to be protected from coolers in the beginning, and would mitigate the damage the escalated blinds inflict at the end. Of course, no poker room would ever run a tournament that way :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9     4     511  108     -        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    15     249   63   125        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    61     369   96    86    26400


delta: $-33,600
MTT NLHE balance: $942,148
balance: $10,588,980

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Ever better session

Last night, I played four MTT NLHEs. I had an ever better session - in each succeeding MTT, I placed higher than I had in the previous one. Unfortunately, I didn't make the money until the final tournament. I nearly had an evermore and ever better session, but missed it due to the fact that I played the same number of hands in tournaments two and three. The most memorable thing about the session was that at one point I had two chop pots in a row; I'm pretty sure that's never happened to me before.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    16     454  114   257        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    38     634  135   153        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    38     381   96   107        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    66     531  108    39    32400 


delta: $-47,600
MTT NLHE balance: $975,748
balance: $10,622,580

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

My first MTT NLHE play million

Last night, I achieved my latest poker milestone - my MTT NLHE balance topped the one million play dollar mark for the first time. There were three other memorable things about last night's session:

1. in 267 hands, I was dealt pocket rockets four times, which is 3.31 times the expected frequency
2. I had a straight flush on one of the hands
3. in the final tournament I played, I fell in four times, and miraculously survived the first three

I'm now just $30,184 in the hole on the year. Things are looking up :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    80     420   96    59    48500
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    56     403   96   112        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9     8     601  126   277        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   123     320   84     7   151200


delta: $119,700
MTT NLHE balance: $1,023,348
balance: $10,670,180

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Doppeltourneys

I've talked before about doppelsessions; tonight I want to talk about doppeltourneys. Last night, I played two MTT NLHEs, and they were so similar to each other that they inspired me to come up with the new term. In each, I had a chance to ladder up into the really big money, but it wasn't meant to be. That's okay though; as long as I keep making the money in these MTTs at my current pace (which is better than 50% of the time), I'm going to be just fine :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    51     751  153    55    33400
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    57     646  135    73    24500


delta: $17,900
MTT NLHE balance: $903,648
balance: $10,550,480

Monday, October 24, 2016

Massives no more

It appears massives have gone extinct from PokerStars. As a reminder, that's my nickname for $1,000 BI+EF MTT NLHEs, named so due to the massive fields they attract. The smallest stake MTT NLHEs I can currently find on PokerStars have a BI+EF of $20,000. Even though I never made much money playing massives, they gave me a lot of MTT experience for a cheap price, and I'm grateful for that.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    17     732  153   291        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    78     592  126    59    27300


delta: $-12,700
MTT NLHE balance: $885,748
balance: $10,532,580

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Dancing with the one who brung me

Every so often, I like to take stock of my poker life. This can't be too often, since I want to be able to identify trends. The most basic thing to look at is where you're making money and where you're losing money. Here's a summary of my 2016 poker year to date:

    delta  num_hands  count  style       flavor

 $894,396      7,751    168  MTT         No Limit Hold'em
  $29,400      2,403     26  Sit & Go    8-Game
  $-5,000         30      1  MTT         HORSE
 $-10,000        474     23  Spin & Go   No Limit Hold'em
 $-15,000         27      3  MTT         Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball
 $-28,670      6,631    111  MTT         8-Game
$-152,314      1,775     77  KO poker    No Limit Hold'em
$-214,436      3,632     37  Cash game   No Limit Hold'em
$-653,460     24,509    535  Sit & Go    No Limit Hold'em

$-155,084     47,232    981


For the remainder of the year, I'm going to dance with the one who brung me - namely, MTT NLHE. I need to swear off MTT 8-games for the time being, no matter how fun they are to play. I'm deadly serious about ending my 2016 poker year in the black.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    12     743  153   267        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    41      85   18    27        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    11     669  135   313        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    87      52   12    10    58000
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    59      63   12    24        0


delta: $-132,000
MTT NLHE balance: $898,448
balance: $10,545,280

Friday, October 21, 2016

Money jumps

The title of this post is deliberately ambiguous. Is "jumps" a plural noun, or a verb? Actually it's both :-) The way all MTT payouts are structured, the gaps between the payout levels dramatically increase as you head from the bottom to the top; moreover, the number of paid places at each payout level decreases, until you reach the final table, where just one place is paid per level. Therefore, the higher up the ladder you go, the bigger the money jumps (a plural noun here) get. Also, the more the money jumps (a verb here) around from stack to stack.

It's certainly a thrill when you make it through the lower levels of a tournament and reach the really significant money jumps. It almost feels like cheating! Not only are you getting paid ridiculously more money for getting to the next level, it's easier to get there as well, since not as many players have to be eliminated in order to achieve that.

Last night, in the second MTT NLHE I entered, I got under the lights again. When the final table started, I had the fourth largest chip stack of the six players. Things went according to form, and I finished in fourth. I've now won $934,396 playing MTT NLHE this year. I'm going to try to push it over a million tonight :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    34     636  135   286        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   185     447  114     4   289400


delta: $249,400
MTT NLHE balance: $938,448
balance: $10,677,280