Good things come in threes

Tonight I only won two hands, but that was okay, since I only played about eight or nine in total :-) Each hand, I had a slightly different flavor of three of a kind. The first hand, I had a set of fives; the second one, trip eights. Here's the thing -- I knew the hands were winners; I didn't have the hint of a scintilla of a trace of a doubt about that. So I bet them big -- over half the pot for each for my final bet. I've mentioned before about how betting the whole pot is a really bad strategy, and nothing has occurred since to change my mind.

Since there's such a heavy component of math in poker, it shouldn't surprise you to learn that I keep a fair number of stats on my poker life. The most important stat to me right now (and for the foreseeable future) is my percentage of winning sessions. I feel certain, though I can't explain precisely why, that if my number of winning sessions is at least twice my number of losing sessions, I'm in the clear, the clover, the money, whatever you want to call it. That's the gold standard I aspire to. Since I started keeping records of my sessions last March, I've stayed remarkably close to that gold standard. Right now, my overall counts stand at 54 losing sessions, 106 winning sessions. As it happens, my counts since starting this blog aren't quite so stellar -- 20 losing sessions, 34 winning sessions. But I'm within shouting distance of the ballpark!

There was a really nutty hand tonight that I wasn't involved in. Almost everyone else bet like there was no tomorrow, with almost all of them going all in. When I saw the hands, it made me wonder what they all could possibly have been thinking. Maybe they all got impatient at the same time? For the record, the winning hand was two pair, tens and fours. If I ever go all in with such a hand, with most of the table still live, revoke my poker-playing license immediately.

Here's another stat I keep -- average per-session delta. Since I started record-keeping, this stat is what I immodestly consider to be an eye-popping $1,223; however, that number is inflated due to the fact that I went through a period where I had the balls and/or stupidity to be playing $100/$200 tables, instead of the $5/$10 tables which are my true bread and butter. Since I started this blog, which was after I'd come to my senses and was back to the $5/$10 tables, my average per-session delta is a more earth-bound but still quite respectable $725.

If I keep up this same per-session delta pace, I should reach $300,000 in 22 more sessions, give or take. Onward and upward!

delta: $3,565
balance: $284,468