Folding pocks

Every now and then, you have to expect that I'm going to tell you the secret of poker. And whenever I do, don't be surprised if the secret has changed slightly since the last time I told you :-)

Poker has a protean nature, and is therefore endlessly new, no matter how long you've played. At the same time, the longer you play, the less poker can surprise you. That makes for cognitive dissonance; how can something which loses its power to surprise be endlessly new?

In case it wasn't clear, that was a rhetorical question; I have some theories on how to answer it, but that's a subject for another time.

So here's the secret of poker, according to neostreet, circa December 2010: folding.

Last night, the best hand I was dealt was pocket kings. Unfortunately, the last four community cards were all hearts, so I had to fold my pocks (poker slang for a pocket pair).

Since I was already over the magic 35-40 hand range at that point, I called it a night soon afterwards.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 50 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 9 times while in big blind (77%)
- 8 out of 9 times while in small blind (88%)
- 27 out of 32 times in other positions (84%)
- a total of 42 out of 50 (84%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 5 (40%)
Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $-10,500
balance: $858,538