Saturday, April 30, 2011

Chips on my right

I've mentioned before in this blog about my criteria for choosing a table. I realize I inadvertently left out my criterion for picking a seat at the table. It must be the one with the most chips to its immediate right. As many others before me have pointed out, chips at a poker table tend to travel clockwise, following the movement of the dealer button. When there's a big stack at a table, you can be in a world of hurt if you're sitting to its right, but you could have big bucks in your future is you're sitting to its left. The simple reason is that for each circuit of the dealer button around the table, you'll be able to act after the big stack on every hand but one if you're on its left, but the big stack will have this same advantage if you're on its right. Acting after an opponent is an incredible advantage to have; you're in a position of power because you have more information when it's your turn to act. Of course, this is poker 101, but it doesn't hurt to repeat the basic truths of this wonderful sport.

One of the reasons I hit the felt two sessions ago was that I was on the wrong side of the big stack, and I let that fact get to me. I wanted to put that big stack in his place so badly that I jumped the gun, and tried to do it under the wrong circumstances.

Last night, everything went right for me in a short but very sweet session. I picked a seat just to the left of a string of good-sized stacks, kept getting dealt some premium hands, and kept winning with them. After winning my seventh out of twelve hands, I accidentally hit the "Sit Out" button, then took stock and decided it was a great time to call it a night. My balance hit another all-time high, as it crossed yet another $100,000 boundary. Life is good!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 12 hands and saw flop:
- 1 out of 2 times while in big blind (50%)
- 2 out of 2 times while in small blind (100%)
- 5 out of 8 times in other positions (62%)
- a total of 8 out of 12 (66%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 2 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $119,300
balance: $1,430,236

Friday, April 29, 2011

Million dollar table

Last night, the table I joined became a million dollar table. That is to say, the total of the chips of all the active players at the table reached a peak of over a million play dollars, and hovered there for about 15 hands. When the table was at its peak of $1,074,720, I had a healthy stack of $143,476 but that only managed to put me in fourth place!

I played very well for over 99% of the session, but made a disastrous decision at the end that took me to the felt in one fell swoop. Here's the final hand of the session, in all its painful glory:

Table 'Andromeda IX' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: (23400 in chips)
Seat 2: (63200 in chips)
Seat 3: (114500 in chips)
Seat 4: (37100 in chips)
Seat 5: neostreet (97376 in chips)
Seat 6: (244850 in chips)
Seat 7: (39900 in chips)
Seat 8: (39200 in chips)
Seat 3: posts small blind 100
Seat 4: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Tc Ts]
neostreet: raises 200 to 400
Seat 6: raises 6000 to 6400
Seat 7: folds
Seat 8: calls 6400
Seat 1: folds
Seat 2: folds
Seat 3: folds
Seat 4: folds
neostreet: raises 6000 to 12400
Seat 6: raises 232450 to 244850 and is all-in
Seat 8: calls 32800 and is all-in
neostreet: calls 84976 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (147474) returned to Seat 6
*** FLOP *** [Qs 8c Ac]
*** TURN *** [Qs 8c Ac] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 8c Ac 6h] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
neostreet: shows [Tc Ts] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
Seat 6: shows [Kd Ks] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
Seat 6 collected 116352 from side pot
Seat 8: shows [Kh Th] (a pair of Aces)
Seat 6 collected 117900 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 234252 Main pot 117900. Side pot 116352. | Rake 0
Board [Qs 8c Ac 6h As]
Seat 1: Seat 1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Seat 2 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Seat 3 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Seat 4 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: neostreet showed [Tc Ts] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 6: Seat 6 showed [Kd Ks] and won (234252) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 7: Seat 7 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Seat 8 showed [Kh Th] and lost with a pair of Aces

I can't fully explain why I made such a risky move. The massive amount of chips at the table was tantalizing, surely. Also, everyone was playing pretty loosely, and I felt I had a good chance to double up. I was tired of seat 6 bullying the table. And to top it all off, I was mentally tired. The truth is, I'm not 100% ashamed of making this move; you need to have guts to really go somewhere in poker.

I don't have the hand statistics for the simple reason that I was too shell-shocked to remember to save them :-) I do know the number of hands I played, however - 114.

delta: $-40,000
balance: $1,310,936

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Back to the top

Last night, my stack rocketed back up to a new high, as I had my best session ever. I had a feeling I was due! For all practical purposes, the winnings came from just two hands, of a total of 92. On hand 18, I won a pot worth $130,900 with a full house, aces full of sixes. This chip infusion allowed me to be very selective, waiting patiently for another premium hand to come my way. One finally did, 73 hands later; on that one, I won a pot worth $90,900 with an ace high flush.

If I keep this up, I'll easily hit the play two million mark before the year is up.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 92 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out of 13 times while in big blind (46%)
- 6 out of 15 times while in small blind (40%)
- 39 out of 64 times in other positions (60%)
- a total of 51 out of 92 (55%)
Pots won at showdown - 8 of 16 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $126,326
balance: $1,350,936

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Twenty-threed

Last night, I got twenty-threed. What I mean by that is that I got beaten by an twenty-three percent underdog. On the hand in question, I hit a king high flush on the turn and went all in. A queen on the river completed a full house of eights full of queens for my opponent. That's at least the third majorly cruel river card in my last three sessions. That pot was worth $59,000.

As I had the session before, I reupped at the same table for the maximum stake. Also as before, my stack went up briefly at that point before ending slightly down.

Here's my takeaway: I'm due for some good luck!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 55 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 11 times while in big blind (63%)
- 8 out of 11 times while in small blind (72%)
- 22 out of 33 times in other positions (66%)
- a total of 37 out of 55 (67%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 11 (45%)
Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $-45,080
balance: $1,224,610

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Three strikes

Last night, I decided to join a table that had a couple of big stacks. That turned out to be a bad decision; one of the big stacks played the bully very effectively, and I had to fold a lot of hands. When I finally got a premium hand, a cruel river struck again; I'd made a king high flush on the turn, but lost a pot worth $25,600 to a full house of threes full of kings, which an opponent made with a river 3. Strike one.

Only four hands later, I lost a pot worth $39,900 when my two pair of kings and sixes lost to an opponent's three of a kind, sixes, which was made with a river 6. Strike two. That hand crippled me, and I hit the felt shortly afterwards.

I decided to stay at the same table and re-upped for the maximum of $40,000. I finally won a hand, got my stack up to a high of $65,150, and was feeling better about things, but that feeling was destined to be short-lived. My stack headed steadily south again. On my penultimate hand of the night, I held out for a flush which never materialized, and lost a pot worth $66,300 to an opponent with two pair, kings and jacks. Strike three.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 61 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out of 8 times while in big blind (50%)
- 3 out of 7 times while in small blind (42%)
- 17 out of 46 times in other positions (36%)
- a total of 24 out of 61 (39%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 8 (25%)
Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $-61,150
balance: $1,269,690

Monday, April 25, 2011

Cruel river

You might think, with a title like this one, that I had a losing session on Saturday night. Actually, I made a healthy profit. However, that was due to an in-session rebound, since I hit the felt at the second table I joined (I quit the first table, since the pace of play was too slow). The "cruel river" hand was my penultimate hand at the second table; the river card that gave me the nut flush gave my remaining opponent a full house at the same time. There's absolutely nothing you can do to avoid situations like that; they're guaranteed to happen to you every so often, and you just have to accept that fact and deal with it. You need to guard against going on tilt.

Did I go on tilt after that heartbreaking hand? I must admit that I did, though not egregiously. The very next hand I was dealt an ace ten offsuit, and went all in with it. I lost to pocket aces. Ace ten offsuit is certainly not the best hand to go all in with, but it's not too shabby, either.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 69 hands and saw flop:
- 8 out of 11 times while in big blind (72%)
- 8 out of 11 times while in small blind (72%)
- 28 out of 47 times in other positions (59%)
- a total of 44 out of 69 (63%)
Pots won at showdown - 8 of 13 (61%)
Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $40,850
balance: $1,330,840

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Mighty rebound

Last night, I had my second best rebound ever. Second best, that is, according to my new (and improved!) definition of rebound :-) Here it is:

- a rebound is measured in chips, not big blinds
- a rebound session is any winning session which follows a losing session
- the rebound amount of a rebound session is the lesser of the amount which was won that session and the amount which was lost the previous session

Here are my top ten rebounds under this new definition:

Fri Oct 01 01:00:00 2010 81200
Fri Apr 22 01:00:00 2011 66980
Sat Jul 10 01:00:00 2010 64050
Mon May 11 01:00:00 2009 51400
Mon Aug 02 01:00:00 2010 49521
Wed Jun 16 01:00:00 2010 44300
Wed May 19 01:00:00 2010 41400
Thu Jul 01 01:00:00 2010 41200
Wed Nov 17 00:00:00 2010 40000
Mon Nov 15 00:00:00 2010 40000

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 126 hands and saw flop:
- 12 out of 17 times while in big blind (70%)
- 6 out of 17 times while in small blind (35%)
- 47 out of 92 times in other positions (51%)
- a total of 65 out of 126 (51%)
Pots won at showdown - 9 of 18 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $66,980
balance: $1,289,990

Friday, April 22, 2011

pH imbalance

My winning streak came to an end last night. In hindsight, I should have shut up about it until it was over! I've mentioned before in this blog about the need to have a certain amount of poker hubris in order to do well; it's a very fine line. Let's call poker hubris pH for short. Not enough pH, and you won't be able to demonstrate the requisite amount of willingness to your opponents. Too much pH, and you end up making inexplicable bets and hemorrhaging chips. Last night, I had too much pH; way too much.

On one hand at the first table I joined, I lost $20K after leading most of the betting rounds with essentially nothing. Looking back over the hand, I honestly can't fathom what I was thinking, if I was thinking at all. The only positive takeaway I have from last night's session is that I correctly folded a lot of hands before the flop.

Another detrimental result of my pH imbalance was that I decided to join a second table after hitting the felt at the first, even though deep down I knew it wasn't my night and that this was a bad idea. The problem with impaired judgment is that it compounds; you can't judge that you're using bad judgment when your whole judgment apparatus is out of whack. I hit the felt much more quickly at the second table. Even my impaired judgment was able to recognize the wisdom of calling it a night at that point.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 85 hands and saw flop:
- 10 out of 14 times while in big blind (71%)
- 4 out of 12 times while in small blind (33%)
- 36 out of 59 times in other positions (61%)
- a total of 50 out of 85 (58%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 13 (23%)
Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $-80,000
balance: $1,223,010

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Super 8

Last night, I had my eighth winning No Limit session in a row. In fact, I've only had one losing No Limit session so far. I had a strong hunch that I'd won more chips in this last stretch than in any other eight session stretch, and that turned out to be true. Here are my top 10 eight session stretches:

321676 Mon Apr 11 01:00:00 2011 Wed Apr 20 01:00:00 2011
308518 Sat Jul 10 01:00:00 2010 Tue Jul 20 01:00:00 2010
272776 Fri Apr 08 01:00:00 2011 Sat Apr 16 01:00:00 2011
244876 Sat Apr 09 01:00:00 2011 Tue Apr 19 01:00:00 2011
241090 Thu Apr 07 01:00:00 2011 Fri Apr 15 01:00:00 2011
218793 Wed Apr 22 01:00:00 2009 Tue May 05 01:00:00 2009
217736 Thu Apr 23 01:00:00 2009 Thu May 07 01:00:00 2009
216206 Wed Jul 14 01:00:00 2010 Thu Jul 22 01:00:00 2010
213587 Sat Aug 14 01:00:00 2010 Fri Aug 27 01:00:00 2010
213326 Wed Apr 21 01:00:00 2010 Tue May 04 01:00:00 2010

It feels great! I'm totally in the zone.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 45 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out of 7 times while in big blind (57%)
- 5 out of 8 times while in small blind (62%)
- 15 out of 30 times in other positions (50%)
- a total of 24 out of 45 (53%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 6 (33%)
Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $41,100
balance: $1,303,010

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Great poker read

I recently purchased and read "Harrington on Hold 'em, Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1" by Dan Harrington. I found it chock full of poker wisdom. It turns out that my apprenticeship on PokerStars laid a great foundation for truly appreciating his advice; I discovered that a lot of what he talks about I'd already discovered "on my own", as it were.

One of the most valuable parts of the book for me was his lucid explanation of pot odds, and emphasis on how important they are to calculate and use as a guide at every decision point. I realized I'd never formally calculated them, but had been going by gut feel alone. Sometimes, a call would just feel too expensive to me, but I never knew there was such a simple formula to give credence or put the lie to such feelings. Last night, I calculated pot odds for the first time; not at every decision point, mind you, but you have to crawl before you can walk!

Another extremely valuable part of the book for me was his explanation of how to use bets to buy information. It's all too easy to think of bets solely as attempts to win the pot; I confess I never formally came up with the concept of using bets to gain information. Last night, I consciously used bets in this fashion on four or five different hands, and ending up winning three of them.

Needless to say, I highly recommend Dan's book; I'm looking forward to reading Volume 2!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 14 hands and saw flop:
- 1 out of 2 times while in big blind (50%)
- 1 out of 2 times while in small blind (50%)
- 8 out of 10 times in other positions (80%)
- a total of 10 out of 14 (71%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 5 (60%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $20,600
balance: $1,261,910

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Bluff alarm

On Saturday night, I had a long session where after a hundred odd hands, my stack was right back where it started. Luckily for me, just at that point an opponent made an all in move which had my bluff alarm going off immediately. This same player had made a highly questionable all in move earlier, which he'd happened to survive; I felt sure he wouldn't be so lucky this time. I was right, and called it a night after doubling up. Here's how the hand went down:

Table 'Aenna VIII' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: (19864 in chips)
Seat 2: (76560 in chips)
Seat 3: neostreet (40268 in chips)
Seat 4: (7950 in chips)
Seat 6: (54401 in chips)
Seat 7: (42800 in chips)
Seat 9: (49749 in chips)
Seat 6: posts small blind 100
Seat 7: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Kh Kd]
Seat 9: raises 1300 to 1500
Seat 1: folds
Seat 2: raises 15500 to 17000
neostreet: calls 17000
Seat 4: folds
Seat 6: folds
Seat 7: folds
Seat 9: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jd 3c 8s]
Seat 2: bets 30400
neostreet: calls 23268 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (7132) returned to Seat 2
*** TURN *** [Jd 3c 8s] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 3c 8s 2s] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 2: shows [Qh Ah] (a pair of Threes)
neostreet: shows [Kh Kd] (two pair, Kings and Threes)
neostreet collected 82336 from pot

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 103 hands and saw flop:
- 14 out of 15 times while in big blind (93%)
- 10 out of 13 times while in small blind (76%)
- 52 out of 75 times in other positions (69%)
- a total of 76 out of 103 (73%)
Pots won at showdown - 11 of 21 (52%)
Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $42,336
balance: $1,241,310

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Afterburners

Last night, I achieved the crossing of the $1,100,000 boundary I'd been hoping for. In fact, I did so well, I almost achieved a crossing of the $1,200,000 boundary in the same session. You could say that the afterburners definitely kicked in!

I played at two tables, and made a profit at both; the reason I had to join a second table was that the first one quit on me. I'll have to check the archives, but I think I won the biggest pot of my career tonight, on my second to last hand at the second table; here's how it went down:

Table 'Aegina VII' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: (50860 in chips)
Seat 2: (39200 in chips)
Seat 3: (11500 in chips)
Seat 4: (38100 in chips)
Seat 5: (38774 in chips)
Seat 6: (80100 in chips)
Seat 7: neostreet (50200 in chips)
Seat 8: (31000 in chips)
Seat 9: (12000 in chips)
Seat 4: posts small blind 100
Seat 5: posts big blind 200
Seat 9: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [5s 8s]
Seat 6: folds
neostreet: calls 200
Seat 8: raises 200 to 400
Seat 9: calls 200
Seat 1: calls 400
Seat 2: calls 400
Seat 3: folds
Seat 4: calls 300
Seat 5: calls 200
neostreet: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [Qs 7s Ts]
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: checks
neostreet: bets 6000
Seat 8: raises 6000 to 12000
Seat 9: folds
Seat 1: calls 12000
Seat 2: folds
Seat 4: folds
Seat 5: folds
neostreet: raises 6000 to 18000
Seat 8: raises 6000 to 24000
Seat 1: raises 26460 to 50460 and is all-in
neostreet: calls 31800 and is all-in
Seat 8: calls 6600 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (660) returned to Seat 1
*** TURN *** [Qs 7s Ts] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 7s Ts 6d] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
neostreet: shows [5s 8s] (a flush, Queen high)
Seat 1: shows [9d Js] (a pair of Sevens)
neostreet collected 38400 from side pot
Seat 8: shows [Ac 9s] (a pair of Sevens)
neostreet collected 94600 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 133000 Main pot 94600. Side pot 38400. | Rake 0
Board [Qs 7s Ts 6d 7h]
Seat 1: Seat 1 showed [9d Js] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 2: Seat 2 folded on the Flop
Seat 3: Seat 3 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Seat 4 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: Seat 5 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Seat 6 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: neostreet showed [5s 8s] and won (133000) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 8: Seat 8 showed [Ac 9s] and lost with a pair of Sevens
Seat 9: Seat 9 folded on the Flop

If I could keep up this blistering pace, I'd hit two play million by the end of the month.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 67 hands and saw flop:
- 10 out of 13 times while in big blind (76%)
- 4 out of 9 times while in small blind (44%)
- 29 out of 45 times in other positions (64%)
- a total of 43 out of 67 (64%)
Pots won at showdown - 10 of 12 (83%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $114,440
balance: $1,198,974

Friday, April 15, 2011

A date which will live in infamy

April 15, 2011 - a date which will live in infamy, at least in the poker world. Today the FBI indicted the owners of the top online poker sites for money laundering and fraud, and tried to shutter their businesses by seizing their internet addresses. Strong-arm tactics indeed; whether justified or not is another story. You can probably guess which side of this battle I'm on, but I'll articulate my position anyway. I think poker is a sport, and needs to be recognized as such. It should be legal in any venue, including online. Winnings should be subject to tax, just like any other income. Jackboots go home!

Last night, my prediction about hitting a new all-time high came true. Tonight, I'll attempt to achieve my first ever crossing of the $1,100,000 barrier; wish me luck!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 62 hands and saw flop:
- 11 out of 12 times while in big blind (91%)
- 12 out of 14 times while in small blind (85%)
- 23 out of 36 times in other positions (63%)
- a total of 46 out of 62 (74%)
Pots won at showdown - 9 of 19 (47%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $17,700
balance: $1,084,534

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Reaching for chips

Last night, I only won two pots. That turned out to be enough, however, since my folding before the flop percentage was a nice healthy 41%. On the hand where I won the second pot, I found myself reaching for phantom chips on the river; I tried several times to enter 10000 in the betting window, but it was only accepting 4000. Of course, the reason was an impeccable one - I only had 4000 chips left to bet with at the time! The reason I was entering a number instead of using the slider was that I've found it more difficult in No Limit sessions to select my bet amount using the slider; the reason for that, in turn, is that the range of values covered by the slider is much larger than it is in Pot Limit.

I'm feeling very confident in my poker playing skills right now; I predict I'll set a new personal high tonight.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 32 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out of 5 times while in big blind (80%)
- 1 out of 5 times while in small blind (20%)
- 14 out of 22 times in other positions (63%)
- a total of 19 out of 32 (59%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 7 (28%)
Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $24,500
balance: $1,066,834

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Back-loaded betting

One of the big advantages of No Limit I'm already seeing is back-loaded betting. In limit poker, in order to be able to win a decent-sized pot, you must make sure the pot is being fed every betting round; that means that if no one else is opening the betting during a round, it becomes your responsibility. In No Limit, you don't have to do this; you can just wait and then bet big on the river - as big as you want. Of course, when you're convinced you have the best hand, it doesn't pay to bet too big, since you want to get called. But it's a great feeling to know you can bet any amount you want.

Last night, I won my biggest pot ($41,800) on a hand where I made a full house on the river, raised it up small on my first raise of the round, then raised it up big on my second raise. I'm liking No Limit a lot so far!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 53 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 8 times while in big blind (87%)
- 5 out of 7 times while in small blind (71%)
- 22 out of 38 times in other positions (57%)
- a total of 34 out of 53 (64%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 8 (75%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $48,000
balance: $1,042,334

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The sound of distant thunder

The title of this post is how I always misremember the title of a classic science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, whose actual title is "A Sound of Thunder". The misremembered title is actually a better fit for the poker feeling I'm trying to describe. What I mean by the sound of distant thunder in a poker context is the sense of unease you get playing No Limit Hold'em, where any player at the table can go all in at any time. It's not actually a sound occurring in the present; it's a sound which might occur in the very near future, and the threat of its occurring makes you able to hear it faintly, as though it were coming from a distance, in the present.

Last night I played a much shorter session, and was able to come out in the black. On the penultimate hand, I won a pot worth $40,600 with aces and eights.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 23 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out of 3 times while in big blind (100%)
- 3 out of 3 times while in small blind (100%)
- 11 out of 17 times in other positions (64%)
- a total of 17 out of 23 (73%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 3 (33%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $13,000
balance: $994,334

Monday, April 11, 2011

Clubbed

On Saturday night, I got clubbed in two different ways. The first way was great - on one hand, I made a royal flush in clubs. The second way was not so great - after going up by about $11K early on, my stack got clubbed relentlessly downwards for the rest of the session. After playing 182 hands (a personal record for a session), I finally decided to call it a night.

Since this was my first official session playing No Limit, I wanted to see how long I could last. Even though the session as a whole was a loss, I take solace in the fact that I outlasted a lot of other players. I was surprised that there weren't more all in moves being made. I only made one myself, when I had a full house. On one hand where an opponent went all in and won the pot without a showdown, he had the gall to show that he'd won with a hammer - a 7 2 offsuit. In other words, a stone bluff.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 182 hands and saw flop:
- 29 out of 36 times while in big blind (80%)
- 30 out of 42 times while in small blind (71%)
- 59 out of 104 times in other positions (56%)
- a total of 118 out of 182 (64%)
Pots won at showdown - 18 of 36 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 17

delta: $-35,700
balance: $981,334

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Pot limit swan song

Last night was my pot limit swan song; tonight, I start my no limit apprenticeship. Though I love pot limit, I know it's time to move on. I never would have won a million play dollars so quickly if I'd tried to play no limit from the beginning; it's possible I wouldn't have fallen in love with poker so deeply without having a fair amount of success fairly quickly. Nothing now can make me love poker less, though, so the next logical step is to face a much steeper challenge. I'm really looking forward to it!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 63 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 11 times while in big blind (63%)
- 9 out of 11 times while in small blind (81%)
- 32 out of 41 times in other positions (78%)
- a total of 48 out of 63 (76%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 11 (54%)
Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $48,500
balance: $1,017,034

Friday, April 8, 2011

One in seven million shot? Not! (edited)

[start of original post]

A very rare thing occurred during last night's session - a one in seven million shot. I was dealt the same hole cards twice in a row, including the order in which they were dealt. I did a mental double take! Today I calculated the odds of that happening; they're 1 in (52 * 51) * (52 * 51), which is 1 in 7,033,104. Needless to say, I'm certain this is the first time this has ever happened to me. For the record, the hole cards were [Qd 3h], and I folded before the flop both times.

[edit: I revealed a fair amount of innumeracy here, sad to say. These odds are way off. They're actually the correct odds for a different problem statement; namely, "What are the odds of being dealt [Qd 3h] twice in a row?" The problem statement for the problem I was trying to solve is, "What are the odds of being dealt the same hand twice in a row?" The answer to that is 1 in 52 * 51, which is 1 in 2,652. Much less impressive! It's actually quite likely that this has happened to me before at least once; I just didn't happen to notice it at the time(s)!]

[back to your originally scheduled programming :-)]

I did very well early on last night; so well, that I got within a little over $3K of the play million mark. I stayed too long at the party, however, and my stack slowly sank back down after that. I managed to call it a night with a small profit.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 89 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out of 13 times while in big blind (69%)
- 8 out of 13 times while in small blind (61%)
- 40 out of 63 times in other positions (63%)
- a total of 57 out of 89 (64%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 12 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $10,650
balance: $968,534

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Five and deprive

Last night's session was short and sweet - only five hands. I won three of them. I then obeyed my 50% rule and got out of Dodge, depriving my opponents of the chance to win back the chips I'd just won.

It's funny how quickly confidence in poker can come and go. Right now, after winning a mere two sessions in a row since my last losing session, I'm brimming with confidence again; I wouldn't be surprised if I hit the play million mark for the third time tonight. I know, famous last words :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 5 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 3 times in other positions (66%)
- a total of 4 out of 5 (80%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 2 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $24,100
balance: $957,884

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Another 9 just like that one, please

Last night I had a nearly ideal session -- short, with a perfect showdown percentage, no foolish bets, and a decent-sized gain. All I have to do to increase my balance by $100K is have ten sessions like that in a row! I'm being a little facetious, I admit. It's very difficult to achieve ten winning sessions in a row; I've only done it once in my career. It's something to shoot for, though, and a great side effect of the attempt is that it's more difficult to make a foolish bet.

The first time I was nearing the one million play money mark, I made a plan to switch my game to Omaha as soon as I'd reached it. The second time, I made the same plan. This time, I have a different plan - when I reach the mark for the third time, I'm going to switch my game from Pot Limit Hold'em to No Limit Hold'em. That's the game all the big boys play, and I need to learn how to play it. I really think my best chance of making a million play dollars a year is by playing No Limit.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 20 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out of 4 times while in big blind (100%)
- 3 out of 4 times while in small blind (75%)
- 11 out of 12 times in other positions (91%)
- a total of 18 out of 20 (90%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 4 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $10,500
balance: $933,784

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Loss portfolio

On Friday night, I had another losing session. My last nine deltas don't paint a pretty picture:

-40,000
-37,000
2,300
61,776
-20,600
-35,550
23,100
-80,000
-29,100

The golden ratio has been stood on its head; the number of losing sessions in this stretch is double the number of winning sessions, instead of the other way around. You might think I'd be depressed about this, but actually, I'm not. I was at first, but then did some historical analysis which cheered me right up. I was gloomily certain that I was suffering the worst slump of my poker career, but that just wasn't borne out by the facts. Here are my top 10 worst 9 session stretches:

-213,597 Tue Jun 22 01:00:00 2010 Fri Jul 09 01:00:00 2010
-170,441 Thu Apr 01 01:00:00 2010 Wed Apr 14 01:00:00 2010
-168,325 Thu May 21 01:00:00 2009 Tue Jun 16 01:00:00 2009
-155,074 Tue Mar 15 01:00:00 2011 Fri Apr 01 01:00:00 2011
-152,641 Mon Mar 29 01:00:00 2010 Fri Apr 09 01:00:00 2010
-152,304 Fri Sep 24 01:00:00 2010 Sat Oct 02 01:00:00 2010
-150,611 Wed Sep 22 01:00:00 2010 Thu Sep 30 01:00:00 2010
-148,986 Mon Apr 05 01:00:00 2010 Mon Apr 19 01:00:00 2010
-143,238 Tue Oct 12 01:00:00 2010 Wed Oct 27 01:00:00 2010
-140,704 Sat Sep 25 01:00:00 2010 Mon Oct 04 01:00:00 2010

My current slump only makes it to number 4 on the list. Pitiful! :-)

Seriously, it does you good to lose huge amounts of chips now and then, as long as it's not too often. If you can survive such losses, you have a built-in coping mechanism for the next big loss; your previous losses help you put your current one in perspective. What you end up doing is building a "loss portfolio" which paradoxically makes you feel better. It's actually kind of fun to look at past devastation, since you know you lived through it and came out on the other side!

I'm now on my way to my first play million for the third time. Skeptics among you might claim it's the only play million I'll ever amass, but I beg to differ.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 135 hands and saw flop:
- 28 out of 28 times while in big blind (100%)
- 25 out of 31 times while in small blind (80%)
- 69 out of 76 times in other positions (90%)
- a total of 122 out of 135 (90%)
Pots won at showdown - 12 of 34 (35%)
Pots won without showdown - 20

delta: $-29,100
balance: $923,284

Friday, April 1, 2011

The imp of the perverse

Wednesday night, I lost a ton of chips. $80K worth, to be precise. The maximum starting stake at two consecutive tables. Both hands that I rode to the felt, I had no business going all in on. What's more, I knew as I was going all in that I had no business doing it -- both times. Edgar Allan Poe called such behavior "the imp of the perverse".

Each all in disobeyed one of my poker rules. The first one disobeyed the rule, "Never go all in on a two pair". The second one disobeyed the rule, "Never go all in on a draw". Even though I gave in to the imp of the perverse, I'm not getting down on myself; actually, part of me is kind of proud that I had the nerve to go all in in these situations. You need nerve in poker, and you can't easily acquire it; it's much simpler just to have it in the first place :-) Without nerve, I'd never have been able to win some of the big pots I've won.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 85 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out of 13 times while in big blind (69%)
- 11 out of 15 times while in small blind (73%)
- 45 out of 57 times in other positions (78%)
- a total of 65 out of 85 (76%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 15 (40%)
Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $-80,000
balance: $952,384