Monday, January 31, 2011

Nut flush

Another thing I've read on the internet about Omaha is that it's a game of the nuts, meaning that it often takes the very best representative of a hand type to win. For instance, it's not a good idea to bet too heavily on a flush which isn't ace high, since there's a decent possibility of an ace high flush (the nut flush) being out there. This possibility is much less in Hold'em, due to fewer hole cards.

In last Friday night's session, I doubled up when I hit an ace high flush, and an opponent with a queen high flush just couldn't lay down his cards. That was at a $5/$10 table; I'm going to scout around tonight for a $10/$20 table. I'm also considering lobbying Pokerstars to add $100/$200 play money Omaha tables. That's the only way I'll get to $2 million dollars in play money within a reasonable timeframe!

During current Omaha session you were dealt 38 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out of 7 times while in big blind (71%)
- 3 out of 7 times while in small blind (42%)
- 17 out of 24 times in other positions (70%)
- a total of 25 out of 38 (65%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 9 (44%)
Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $2,040
balance: $1,019,647

Friday, January 28, 2011

A new language

Last night, I discovered there are no big stakes play money Omaha tables on PokerStars. I guess I should have remembered that from before. The biggest play money tables I could find were 5/10 tables. To make matters worse, I forgot that PokerStars jumbles all the Omaha betting flavors into one big list of tables, and I happened to pick a limit table instead of a pot limit table by mistake. Maybe that wasn't so bad, though; since I'm really rusty at Omaha, it's just as well I picked a betting flavor which basically guaranteed I wouldn't be winning or losing very much.

I remember reading online somewhere a great definition of Omaha -- that it's a game devised by a sadist and played by masochists :-) The cruel nature of the game came back to me in the course of the session. At one point I had two good hands in a row which got beaten -- a full house got beaten by a better full house, and a straight got beaten by a flush. If the game had been Hold'em, I'm sure those hands would have won. I have to set aside my Hold'em knowledge, and learn Omaha as if I knew nothing whatsoever about poker. It'll be a lot like learning a new language.

During current Omaha session you were dealt 87 hands and saw flop:
- 26 out of 27 times while in big blind (96%)
- 23 out of 26 times while in small blind (88%)
- 20 out of 34 times in other positions (58%)
- a total of 69 out of 87 (79%)
Pots won at showdown - 17 of 30 (56%)
Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $-370
balance: $1,017,607

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Oops!... I did it again

As you may know, I like taking song titles and repurposing them as blog post titles. The title of this post, from an early Britney Spears song, is purposely ironic. Of course there's no "oops" at all about the fact that I've reachieved my goal of winning a million play dollars playing online poker. I've been laboring away at it for months!

It took a healthy dose of Lady Luck to vault me into the long-sought region once again. Here's how it happened:

Table 'T #833339193' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: (41700 in chips)
Seat 2: (25700 in chips)
Seat 3: (40000 in chips)
Seat 4: neostreet (34827 in chips)
Seat 5: (37600 in chips)
Seat 6: (80119 in chips)
Seat 7: (58700 in chips)
Seat 8: (48400 in chips)
Seat 9: (33700 in chips)
Seat 9: posts small blind 100
Seat 1: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Tc Ac]
Seat 2: calls 200
Seat 3: calls 200
neostreet: calls 200
Seat 5: folds
Seat 6: calls 200
Seat 7: calls 200
Seat 8: calls 200
Seat 9: raises 200 to 400
Seat 1: calls 200
Seat 2: calls 200
Seat 3: raises 1800 to 2200
neostreet: calls 2000
Seat 6: folds
Seat 7: folds
Seat 8: folds
Seat 9: calls 1800
Seat 1: calls 1800
Seat 2: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jc As 2h]
Seat 9: checks
Seat 1: checks
Seat 3: bets 9800
neostreet: calls 9800
Seat 9: folds
Seat 1: folds
*** TURN *** [Jc As 2h] [8c]
Seat 3: bets 28000 and is all-in
neostreet: calls 22827 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (5173) returned to Seat 3
*** RIVER *** [Jc As 2h 8c] [Kc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 3: shows [Ah Qd] (a pair of Aces)
neostreet: shows [Tc Ac] (a flush, Ace high)
neostreet collected 75054 from pot

Tonight, I begin my second attempt at learning Omaha. This time around, I'm going to play only at the high stakes tables. Don't be alarmed if you see my balance take some wild swings; that's the nature of Omaha, or at least its nature as played by a beginner. Here's the way I look at it: I've earned the right to spend as much play money as I want to learn a new poker variant.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 59 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out of 8 times while in big blind (75%)
- 9 out of 9 times while in small blind (100%)
- 30 out of 42 times in other positions (71%)
- a total of 45 out of 59 (76%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 8 (75%)
Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $34,354
balance: $1,017,977

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Tilt detection

I've been meaning to devote a post to the topic of tilt detection for a while now. What I mean by this is when you pick up a signal that an opponent has started betting irrationally, for whatever reason. Very often it will be due to the loss of a big hand when the odds were heavily against the winner (the prototypical bad beat), but there are many scenarios.

Tilt detection can be dangerous for the detector; it's very tempting to call every bet of a tilting player, but that isn't safe when there are others still in the hand. Many times when I've detected a tilter, I've been right about that but wrong about staying in the hand. Going to showdown in this type of situation, my hand almost invariably beats the tilter's hand, but often comes up short to the hand of another player who called the tilter's crazy bets right along with me.

The safest scenario is when the tilter is severely short-stacked, makes a huge bet, and nobody calls except you. That came up recently, and I took the tilter to the felt.

Last night, I bided my time until I was able to get a really decent gain on a single hand, then cashed out.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 37 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 7 times while in big blind (100%)
- 7 out of 7 times while in small blind (100%)
- 14 out of 23 times in other positions (60%)
- a total of 28 out of 37 (75%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $22,000
balance: $983,623

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Pay me on the river

The title of this post sums up my new poker philosophy. Despite recent evidence to the contrary, I really think my strength in poker is having a good idea where I stand when all the streets have been dealt. If that's true, it behooves me to get to the river as cheaply as possible, and then bet as big as I think the market will bear when my instincts tell me I have the best hand.

This worked very well for me last night:

Table 'T #831661093' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: (28000 in chips)
Seat 2: (7600 in chips)
Seat 3: (42600 in chips)
Seat 4: (5500 in chips)
Seat 5: (46600 in chips)
Seat 6: (62100 in chips)
Seat 7: (150467 in chips)
Seat 8: neostreet (44000 in chips)
Seat 9: (38200 in chips)
Seat 7: posts small blind 100
neostreet: posts big blind 200
Seat 1: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [8s Js]
Seat 9: raises 700 to 900
Seat 1: calls 700
Seat 2: calls 900
Seat 3: folds
Seat 4: folds
Seat 5: calls 900
Seat 6: folds
Seat 7: calls 800
neostreet: calls 700
*** FLOP *** [Qs Qd 9s]
Seat 7: checks
neostreet: checks
Seat 9: bets 1400
Seat 1: calls 1400
Seat 2: calls 1400
Seat 5: folds
Seat 7: folds
neostreet: calls 1400
*** TURN *** [Qs Qd 9s] [5s]
neostreet: checks
Seat 9: bets 2400
Seat 1: calls 2400
Seat 2: calls 2400
neostreet: raises 2400 to 4800
Seat 9: calls 2400
Seat 1: calls 2400
Seat 2: calls 2400
*** RIVER *** [Qs Qd 9s 5s] [Ad]
neostreet: bets 10000
Seat 9: calls 10000
Seat 1: folds
Seat 2: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
neostreet: shows [8s Js] (a flush, Queen high)
Seat 9: mucks hand
Seat 2 leaves the table
neostreet collected 50200 from pot

A corollary of this philosophy is not to bother going to the river if you can't get there cheaply enough, which should in turn keep down your percentage of seeing the flop.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 21 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out of 3 times while in big blind (100%)
- 1 out of 3 times while in small blind (33%)
- 7 out of 15 times in other positions (46%)
- a total of 11 out of 21 (52%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 3 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $36,900
balance: $961,623

Monday, January 24, 2011

Threefold failure

Last Friday night, I had a major mental lapse on the last hand of the session. I failed to do all three of the important things a poker player must try to do each and every hand. I failed to look, I failed to think, and I failed to listen. If I'd been able to do just one of those three, I would have folded before I hit the felt. I can extenuate, but not excuse, the failure.

Here are the reasons why I didn't look, think, or listen:

1. I'd just brought my stack back up over its initial amount of $40K after an extended period of being below that, and the feeling of euphoria this engendered impaired my judgment

2. I flopped a straight, and thought I was golden

3. subconsciously I knew that if I went all in and won the hand, my balance would pop back over the play million threshold again

Here's how the hand played out:

Table 'T #828132723' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: (50537 in chips)
Seat 5: (41028 in chips)
Seat 6: (7800 in chips)
Seat 8: neostreet (42757 in chips)
neostreet: posts small blind 100
Seat 1: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Jd Td]
Seat 5: calls 200
Seat 6: calls 200
neostreet: calls 100
Seat 1: raises 200 to 400
Seat 5: calls 200
Seat 6: calls 200
neostreet: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [9d 7s 8s]
neostreet: bets 200
Seat 1: raises 1000 to 1200
Seat 5: folds
Seat 6: calls 1200
neostreet: raises 1000 to 2200
Seat 1: raises 1000 to 3200
Seat 6: folds
neostreet: raises 1000 to 4200
Seat 1: raises 1000 to 5200
neostreet: raises 1000 to 6200
Seat 1: calls 1000
*** TURN *** [9d 7s 8s] [9h]
neostreet: bets 15200
Seat 1: raises 15200 to 30400
neostreet: calls 15200
*** RIVER *** [9d 7s 8s 9h] [5s]
neostreet: checks
Seat 1: bets 5800
neostreet: calls 5757 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (43) returned to Seat 1
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 1: shows [7h 7d] (a full house, Sevens full of Nines)
neostreet: shows [Jd Td] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
Seat 1 collected 87514 from pot

It's poker 101 that if you have a straight and the board pairs, you have to think long and hard about the possibility an opponent has a full house. Since I didn't think at all, I thought neither long nor hard :-)

Here are the session stats:

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 70 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out of 10 times while in big blind (90%)
- 8 out of 10 times while in small blind (80%)
- 33 out of 50 times in other positions (66%)
- a total of 50 out of 70 (71%)
Pots won at showdown - 9 of 16 (56%)
Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $-40,000
balance: $924,723

Friday, January 21, 2011

Three whales

One of the wonderful things about poker is that no matter how long you play, you can still experience all-time records, either for you personally or for the table as a whole (with you as a participant). Last night, something so unusual occurred that I wrote a utility to figure out whether or not it was a record; I had the feeling it was and the utility corroborated that. The record was for the largest amount of total chips held by live players at a pot limit Hold'em table at which I had a seat. Note that this doesn't mean all the chips were in play in a specific hand, but all the chips had the potential to be put into play.

Since pot limit tables have a maximum initial stake, the only way for the total chips at the table to grow is for some players to hit the felt and be replaced by other players who bring in new money. For the total chips in play at the table to grow really large, it requires that the big winners keep playing instead of cashing out, and also that they keep winning. Last night, the table I joined had one really big stack at the beginning, but two players also grew their stacks to huge amounts and all three kept playing. I was porpoising up and down a bit, but eventually realized a nice gain and cashed out. I was hoping to catch a tidal wave, but it never came.

A really good amount of total money at a 9 player $40,000 max initial stake table would be 9 * $40,000, or $360,000. You very rarely see that; a lot of players like to join for the minimum stake (which I think is $12,000), and a lot of players (including me) like to cash out when they've doubled up. So to have a player grow his stack to over $100,000 is no ordinary achievement; I've only done it 2 or 3 times in close to 2 1/2 years of play. For 3 players to do that at the same time at the same table is truly extraordinary.

So (drumroll, please), here's the record: at one point last night, the total chips at the table hit $851,125. That's the highest total of the 6,353 pot limit Hold'em hands I've played for which I've saved the history. That's a sick amount of money at one table, even if it is play money!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 84 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out of 12 times while in big blind (75%)
- 8 out of 11 times while in small blind (72%)
- 32 out of 61 times in other positions (52%)
- a total of 49 out of 84 (58%)
Pots won at showdown - 7 of 15 (46%)
Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $22,260
balance: $964,723

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Staying power

Last night, I had another long session. I came out in the red, but didn't hit the felt. It's good practice to have long sessions now and then. Anytime you can play over a hundred hands and not hit the felt, you must be doing something halfway right :-)

As you know, as a rule I never quit a session if I'm on a roll. This precept can backfire sometimes, though; in last night's case, it did. I'd just won a pot worth $19,200 with a 9 high heart flush, then got dealt the 9 and 10 of spades the next hand. The jack of spades on the river gave me a jack high flush, but I lost the pot (worth $36,200) to an ace high uberflush. That dropped my stack below $40,000, and it stayed there.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 106 hands and saw flop:
- 20 out of 21 times while in big blind (95%)
- 19 out of 22 times while in small blind (86%)
- 56 out of 63 times in other positions (88%)
- a total of 95 out of 106 (89%)
Pots won at showdown - 12 of 24 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 10

delta: $-20,210
balance: $942,463

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

A catbird hand

Last Saturday night, I had another good session; I doubled up. Taking the view from the aerie just now, I saw that two hands accounted for all my winnings. I remember the second hand, but not the first; let me check the archives ...

Ah, yes; on the first one, I won a big pot ($45000) with an ace high straight. The second one would have been hard to forget; it was the first time I've ever flopped a quad. I was dealt ten jack offsuit, and the flop came three tens. Talk about a catbird hand! I extracted as many chips out of it as I could; the total came to $39,800.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 67 hands and saw flop:
- 12 out of 14 times while in big blind (85%)
- 14 out of 15 times while in small blind (93%)
- 30 out of 38 times in other positions (78%)
- a total of 56 out of 67 (83%)
Pots won at showdown - 11 of 15 (73%)
Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $42,500
balance: $962,673

Saturday, January 15, 2011

In the groove

I'm in the groove again, feeling invincible. I know how quickly that feeling can disappear, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can. Last night, I went all in on my first hand and also on my penultimate hand; I won both, but had to split the pot on the first one. The second time I went all in, I'd been dealt a big slick; I hit a pair of kings on the river and won a pot worth $76,150. This enabled me to cross the $900K barrier in the right direction once more.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 18 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out of 4 times while in big blind (75%)
- 3 out of 4 times while in small blind (75%)
- 7 out of 10 times in other positions (70%)
- a total of 13 out of 18 (72%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $35,750
balance: $920,173

Friday, January 14, 2011

Delayed betting

I'm really starting to see the value of delayed betting when I have a strong hand. If anyone bets before it's my turn to act when I have a strong hand, I've found it can be a better play to call than to raise. If I've only called all the way through a hand, it makes it more likely that a big bet on the river by me might be perceived as a bluff. Of course, that's also playing with fire; the more cards you let your opponents see, the better the chances they'll make a hand that can beat you. I like playing with fire. Here's how the last hand I won last night went down:

Table 'Alva IV' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: (20000 in chips)
Seat 2: (59800 in chips)
Seat 3: (47700 in chips)
Seat 4: (9600 in chips)
Seat 5: (8400 in chips)
Seat 6: (39800 in chips)
Seat 7: (19336 in chips)
Seat 8: neostreet (53365 in chips)
Seat 4: posts small blind 100
Seat 5: posts big blind 200
Seat 1: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [7d 9c]
Seat 6: calls 200
Seat 7: calls 200
neostreet: calls 200
Seat 1: raises 200 to 400
Seat 2: raises 200 to 600
Seat 3: calls 600
Seat 4: folds
Seat 5: calls 400
Seat 6: calls 400
Seat 7: folds
neostreet: calls 400
Seat 1: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [7c 7s Qd]
Seat 5: checks
Seat 6: checks
neostreet: bets 200
Seat 1: calls 200
Seat 2: raises 1600 to 1800
Seat 3: folds
arq_arcco joins the table at seat #9
Seat 5: folds
Seat 6: folds
neostreet: calls 1600
Seat 1: folds
*** TURN *** [7c 7s Qd] [8h]
neostreet: checks
Seat 2: checks
*** RIVER *** [7c 7s Qd 8h] [2h]
neostreet: bets 7700
Seat 2: calls 7700
*** SHOW DOWN ***
neostreet: shows [7d 9c] (three of a kind, Sevens)
Seat 2: mucks hand
neostreet collected 23100 from pot

I saw the flop more than I should have, but it worked out okay anyway:

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 57 hands and saw flop:
- 12 out of 13 times while in big blind (92%)
- 9 out of 13 times while in small blind (69%)
- 25 out of 31 times in other positions (80%)
- a total of 46 out of 57 (80%)
Pots won at showdown - 7 of 9 (77%)
Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $25,965
balance: $884,423

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Lazarus ending

Last night's session had a Lazarus ending; when I was down to $9,900 in chips, I won four of the next seven hands. I knew it was time to quit. I got some good practice playing against some super deep stacks; for most of the session, one of my opponents had about $150K in chips and another had about $200K.

On the last of my winning hands, I won a pot worth $25,800 with a king high flush. Even though I had a net loss on the night, it sure felt good!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 70 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 9 times while in big blind (77%)
- 6 out of 10 times while in small blind (60%)
- 36 out of 51 times in other positions (70%)
- a total of 49 out of 70 (70%)
Pots won at showdown - 8 of 19 (42%)
Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $-1,000
balance: $858,458

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The greed paradox

Last night, I was able to double up because I was greedy enough not to get too greedy. This is the greed paradox. If you're too greedy, you'll bet too heavily, and shed potential callers too fast. You actually have to be extra specially greedy in order to stop yourself from being greedy!

The final hand of the night went down like so:

Table 'Tugela IV' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: (35300 in chips)
Seat 2: (16600 in chips)
Seat 3: (77000 in chips)
Seat 4: (20000 in chips)
Seat 5: neostreet (32700 in chips)
Seat 6: (9500 in chips)
Seat 8: (11000 in chips)
Seat 9: (37679 in chips)
Seat 9: posts small blind 100
Seat 1: posts big blind 200
Seat 4: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [3h 7s]
Seat 2: calls 200
Seat 3: raises 200 to 400
Seat 4: calls 200
neostreet: calls 400
Seat 6: calls 400
Seat 8: folds
Seat 9: calls 300
Seat 1: folds
Seat 2: raises 200 to 600
Seat 3: calls 200
Seat 4: calls 200
neostreet: calls 200
Seat 6: calls 200
Seat 9: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [3c 3d Td]
Seat 9: bets 200
Seat 2: calls 200
Seat 3: raises 4400 to 4600
Seat 4: folds
neostreet: calls 4600
Seat 6: folds
Seat 9: calls 4400
Seat 2: calls 4400
*** TURN *** [3c 3d Td] [7d]
Seat 9: bets 3200
Seat 2: raises 3200 to 6400
Seat 3: calls 6400
neostreet: raises 3200 to 9600
el angel 461 joins the table at seat #7
Seat 9: calls 6400
Seat 2: calls 3200
Seat 3: calls 3200
*** RIVER *** [3c 3d Td 7d] [4s]
Seat 9: checks
Seat 2: checks
Seat 3: checks
neostreet: bets 10000
Seat 9: folds
Seat 2: calls 1800 and is all-in
Seat 3: folds
Uncalled bet (8200) returned to neostreet
*** SHOW DOWN ***
neostreet: shows [3h 7s] (a full house, Threes full of Sevens)
Seat 2: shows [Ah Jh] (a pair of Threes)
neostreet collected 64200 from pot

Here are the session stats:

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 10 hands and saw flop:
- 1 out of 1 times while in big blind (100%)
- 0 out of 1 times while in small blind (0%)
- 4 out of 8 times in other positions (50%)
- a total of 5 out of 10 (50%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 3 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $40,300
balance: $859,458

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Fifty fifty

Last Friday night, I had a fifty fifty night -- I won 50% of the hands I played, and I won 50% of the amount of chips in my starting stack. As you might surmise from the first stat, it was a very short session. I'll take it!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 4 hands and saw flop:
- 1 out of 1 times while in big blind (100%)
- 1 out of 1 times while in small blind (100%)
- 2 out of 2 times in other positions (100%)
- a total of 4 out of 4 (100%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 1 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $20,455
balance: $819,158

Friday, January 7, 2011

That's Armageddon

Last night, on the last hand, I was involved in the biggest pot ($261,140) I've ever been involved in. Not only that, I lost the biggest amount of play money chips ($47,700) I've ever lost on a single hand. Thus the title of this post! If you're of the proper vintage, you'll recognize it as the name of one of the spoofs in the 1977 movie "The Kentucky Fried Movie".

The pot was so massive it was roughly double the size of the previous largest pot I'd ever seen. If this had been a real money table, it would definitely have made the poker news! Four players went to showdown; three of them were all-in (including myself). I haven't crunched the numbers yet, but I think my hand was a heavy favorite to win with just the river to go. If I'd won, I would have soared back over the play million mark with ease.

I have no regrets; I'd play this hand the same way if I had it to do over. Here's how it all went down:

Table 'Caecilia VI' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: (92300 in chips)
Seat 2: (9370 in chips)
Seat 3: (39800 in chips)
Seat 5: (83695 in chips)
Seat 7: (62900 in chips)
Seat 8: neostreet (47700 in chips)
Seat 9: (45950 in chips)
Seat 3: posts small blind 100
Seat 5: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Qs 4s]
Seat 7: folds
neostreet: calls 200
Seat 9: calls 200
Seat 1: calls 200
Seat 2: folds
Seat 3: folds
Seat 5: raises 800 to 1000
neostreet: calls 800
Seat 9: calls 800
Seat 1: calls 800
*** FLOP *** [4h Qh 7d]
Seat 5: bets 800
neostreet: raises 800 to 1600
Seat 9: calls 1600
Seat 1: raises 9700 to 11300
Seat 5: calls 10500
neostreet: raises 9700 to 21000
Seat 9: calls 19400
Seat 1: calls 9700
Seat 5: calls 9700
*** TURN *** [4h Qh 7d] [9d]
Seat 5: checks
neostreet: bets 25700 and is all-in
Seat 9: calls 23950 and is all-in
Seat 1: calls 25700
Seat 5: calls 25700
*** RIVER *** [4h Qh 7d 9d] [7c]
Seat 5: checks
Seat 1: bets 44600 and is all-in
Seat 5: calls 35995 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (8605) returned to Seat 1
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 1: shows [Jh Qc] (two pair, Queens and Sevens)
Seat 5: shows [8d 8h] (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
Seat 1 collected 71990 from side pot-2
neostreet: shows [Qs 4s] (two pair, Queens and Sevens - lower kicker)
Seat 1 collected 5250 from side pot-1
Seat 9: shows [6c 5h] (a pair of Sevens)
Seat 1 collected 183900 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 261140 Main pot 183900. Side pot-1 5250. Side pot-2 71990. | Rake 0
Board [4h Qh 7d 9d 7c]
Seat 1: Seat 1 showed [Jh Qc] and won (261140) with two pair, Queens and Sevens
Seat 2: Seat 2 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Seat 3 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Seat 5 (big blind) showed [8d 8h] and lost with two pair, Eights and Sevens
Seat 7: Seat 7 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: neostreet showed [Qs 4s] and lost with two pair, Queens and Sevens
Seat 9: Seat 9 showed [6c 5h] and lost with a pair of Sevens

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 46 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out of 6 times while in big blind (50%)
- 4 out of 6 times while in small blind (66%)
- 26 out of 34 times in other positions (76%)
- a total of 33 out of 46 (71%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 9 (55%)
Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $-40,000
balance: $798,703

Thursday, January 6, 2011

The view from the aerie

Last night, I played quite well; unfortunately, I played too long. I could have had a nice $20K increase to my stack if I'd just been willing to call it a night at hand 22; hand 65 did me in. I was dealt a big slick, really thought it would pay off, and paid out $19K in chips before finally throwing in the towel. That one badly played hand stuck out like a sore thumb when I looked at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the night. I call that "the view from the aerie"; you can see your whole session in miniature.

I have some pretty amazing stats now to back up my "long is wrong" philosophy on session length:

In the 21 sessions of 50 hands or more since I started keeping the session length statistic, I've lost 15, or 72%.

In the 21 sessions of 30 hands or less since I started keeping the session length statistic, I've won 15, or 72%.

Last night's stats:

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 92 hands and saw flop:
- 13 out of 16 times while in big blind (81%)
- 11 out of 14 times while in small blind (78%)
- 39 out of 62 times in other positions (62%)
- a total of 63 out of 92 (68%)
Pots won at showdown - 8 of 17 (47%)
Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $-16,528
balance: $838,703

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Second doppelsession

Last Thursday night's session was like deja vu all over again (to steal a saying from Yogi Berra). Just like the previous night, I had another 30 hand session where I only won 2 hands but still had a nice gain; here are the stats:

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 30 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out of 4 times while in big blind (100%)
- 1 out of 4 times while in small blind (25%)
- 13 out of 22 times in other positions (59%)
- a total of 18 out of 30 (60%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 2 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

Though I didn't specify this explicitly when I first defined doppelsession, I'll now refine the definition to include the requirement that the sessions be back to back. I've now had at least two doppelsessions.

delta: $16,700
balance: $855,231