Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Fear factor

Last night, I didn't have any monster hands, but still made a nice profit. Looking over the session stats, I'm inspired to come up with yet another poker statistic; I'll call this one the fear factor. Here's the formula:

fear_factor = pots_won_without_showdown / hands_taken_to_showdown

hands_taken_to_showdown includes both hands which won and hands which lost. A value of at least 2 for fear_factor means that the rest of the table was in fear of you. Last night, my fear factor came out to 2.67.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 41 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out of 6 times while in big blind (66%)
- 3 out of 6 times while in small blind (50%)
- 21 out of 29 times in other positions (72%)
- a total of 28 out of 41 (68%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 3 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 8

delta: $25,626
balance: $2,765,056

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Setting the hook

When you have a great hand, it isn't hard to win the pot; what's hard is extracting the most value from it. Quite often, you can only land the biggest fish by setting the hook properly. Last night, I had a great opportunity to practice this maneuver. I hit a straight on the turn, and was the first to act; an opponent acting after me had bet the flop pretty aggressively. I checked instead of betting, knowing that my opponent would put down a big continuation bet. When he did, I doubled the bet instead of being more aggressive; we then got into a brief betting war until I was all in. My straight beat his two pair to win a pot worth $77,100. I got out of Dodge, and had a stellar agoal of 40.6 on the night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 15 hands and saw flop:
- 0 out of 1 times while in big blind (0%)
- 1 out of 2 times while in small blind (50%)
- 5 out of 12 times in other positions (41%)
- a total of 6 out of 15 (40%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 2 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $37,100
balance: $2,739,430

Monday, November 28, 2011

yaps: bbwph

On Saturday night, my stack took some wild swings, due to the fact that I was playing a little too friskily. Luckily for me, I ended the night with a small gain, but I need to cut back on the friskiness. The see-saw nature of the night inspired me to come up with yet another poker statistic; I'm calling this one bbwph. It stands for big blinds wagered per hand, and uses the following formula:

bbwph = total_amount_wagered / num_hands / big_blind_amount

total_amount_wagered includes uncalled bet amounts, since those amounts are generally money that's being put at risk. This isn't always the case; on rare occasions it's possible to bet more money than any player remaining in the hand could call. Technically, in those cases, the uncalled bet amounts are never at risk; but let's not worry about that!

My bbwph from Saturday night was a whopping 27.12. In contrast, my bbwph from last Tuesday's session was a much saner 10.41.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 76 hands and saw flop:
- 8 out of 12 times while in big blind (66%)
- 8 out of 14 times while in small blind (57%)
- 37 out of 50 times in other positions (74%)
- a total of 53 out of 76 (69%)
Pots won at showdown - 7 of 19 (36%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $4,445
balance: $2,702,330

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Second best one session rebound ever

Faithful readers of this blog will remember that I'm intrigued by the concept of poker rebounds, and keep tweaking my definitions of them to suit my current mood. On Thursday night, I had by any definition a great rebound from the session before. It inspired me to come up with my latest poker rebound definition - namely, the one session rebound. A one session rebound is a winning session following a losing session; it doesn't matter what happened before the losing session or what happens after the winning session. The amount of the rebound uses a similar formula to that of my previous rebound definition - it's the lesser of the absolute value of the amount lost in the losing session and the amount won in the winning session.

On Wednesday night, I lost $80,000. On Thursday night, I won $70,500. By my new definition, that's a one session rebound of $70,500. I just wrote a utility to calculate all the one session rebounds of my poker career, and rank them in descending order. My latest rebound came in at #2 on the list - not too shabby. Here are my top 10 one session rebounds:

Fri Oct 01 01:00:00 2010 $81,200
Thu Nov 24 00:00:00 2011 $70,500
Fri Apr 22 01:00:00 2011 $66,980
Sat Jul 10 01:00:00 2010 $64,050
Mon May 11 01:00:00 2009 $51,400
Wed Jun 22 01:00:00 2011 $50,600
Mon Aug 02 01:00:00 2010 $49,521
Wed Apr 27 01:00:00 2011 $45,080
Wed Jun 16 01:00:00 2010 $44,300
Fri Nov 11 00:00:00 2011 $42,100

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 104 hands and saw flop:
- 12 out of 15 times while in big blind (80%)
- 7 out of 14 times while in small blind (50%)
- 43 out of 75 times in other positions (57%)
- a total of 62 out of 104 (59%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 11 (54%)
Pots won without showdown - 13

delta: $70,500
balance: $2,697,885

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Two heartbreak hands

Last night, I played the best I've ever played to lose $80,000. Two heartbreak hands did me in. If the first had gone my way, I would only have lost $9,700 on the night. If the second had gone my way, I would have won $7,800 on the night. If both had gone my way, I would have won $78,100 on the night. Here's what actually went down:

heartbreak hand #1 (hand 19): I was dealt 3c Ac, and hit the nut flush on the flop. I went all in on the river, and lost to a full house which had been made on the turn. I had been almost a 2-1 favorite after the flop. I spent $34,000 on the hand, and lost a pot worth $70,300. The only thing that prevented me from hitting the felt was the fact that I had more chips than the winner at the start of the hand. I hit the felt the very next hand, and reupped for the max.

heartbeak hand #2 (hand 38): I was dealt 5c 7c, and hit a straight on the turn. I went all in, and got one caller. The caller was on a flush draw, and made his flush on the river. I had been almost a 4-1 favorite after the turn. I spent $37,000 on the hand, and lost a pot worth $87,800. There's no way the player who ended up winning the pot should have called my all in bet. He had to put in $30,400 to do it, so he was getting less than 3-1 pot odds, and only had a 1 in 4 chance of hitting his flush.

That's poker, though. The improbable happens! I played those two hands exactly the way I wanted to, and have no regrets.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 100 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out of 14 times while in big blind (64%)
- 7 out of 14 times while in small blind (50%)
- 41 out of 72 times in other positions (56%)
- a total of 57 out of 100 (57%)
Pots won at showdown - 8 of 20 (40%)
Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $-80,000
balance: $2,627,385

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

yaps: agoal

In the world of computing (specifically, the world of unix computing), there's a utility called yacc. yacc stands for "yet another compiler compiler". The self-deprecatory nature of this acronym has inspired me to come up with a like-minded neo neo (neostreet neologism) - yaps. yaps stands for "yet another poker statistic". I was inspired to come up with a new statistic when I looked at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of last night's session. What immediately jumped out was that the losses were all small, while some of the gains were quite big. I recently likened this desirable disparity to "taking the stairs to the elevator". The new stat, which I'm dubbing agoal, provides the ability to quantify just how "stairs to the elevator"-y a session is. Here's the formula, stunning in both simplicity and beauty:

agoal (average gain over average loss) = average_gain / average_loss

My agoal last night was a robust 5.8. Not having computed agoal on any other sessions yet, I can only give you my poker player's hunch as to what constitutes a good agoal value; my hunch is that it's at least 5.

Since it's always good to have goals, I hereby declare that my next goal is to hit the 3 million play money mark by President's Day.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 64 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out of 8 times while in big blind (75%)
- 7 out of 9 times while in small blind (77%)
- 25 out of 47 times in other positions (53%)
- a total of 38 out of 64 (59%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 7 (57%)
Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $20,550
balance: $2,707,385

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Golden

Friends and neighbors, I did it. After more than a year in the wilderness, I've finally returned to the golden ratio. Of the 558 sessions I've now played, I've won 372 and lost 186. I'm prouder of this poker achievement than of any other.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 140 hands and saw flop:
- 17 out of 19 times while in big blind (89%)
- 16 out of 20 times while in small blind (80%)
- 73 out of 101 times in other positions (72%)
- a total of 106 out of 140 (75%)
Pots won at showdown - 10 of 21 (47%)
Pots won without showdown - 14

delta: $15,853
balance: $2,686,835

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Wait for the boost

I've been playing online poker for over three years now. You could say I'm a seasoned pro, even though I only play for play money. You must admit, however grudgingly, that I know a thing or two about this wonderful game. If I could sum up, in four words, the optimal poker playing strategy, it would be "wait for the boost". What do I mean by that? It's simple, really. Fortunes can change in the blink of an eye in poker; what good players have to do is bide their time, slogging through scores of mediocre hands, keeping enough chips on hand to be able to grab the brass ring if and when it comes along. Good players must be willing and able to fold, over and over again. A good player is almost a folding machine. You never know when your stack is going to rocket skywards, defying gravity; just wait sufficiently long, and it will happen!

Last night was a textbook example. After 47 hands, I was basically back to my starting stack amount. However, I won the next four hands in a row, more than doubled my starting stack amount, and gladly stepped off the elevator.

One more winning session and I hit the golden ratio again!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 52 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out of 6 times while in big blind (83%)
- 7 out of 7 times while in small blind (100%)
- 29 out of 39 times in other positions (74%)
- a total of 41 out of 52 (78%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 11 (54%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $41,400
balance: $2,670,982

Friday, November 18, 2011

Bookends

Last night, I hit the felt on the 7th hand when my pair of aces lost to a king high flush. The thing is, I don't think I misplayed the hand; I was dealt a big slick, and called a big preflop raise. Before the flop, my hand was a 71% favorite; after the flop, it was a coin flip. Given another chance, I'd still play the hand the same way.

I reupped at the same table for the max. Six hands later, I won back all the chips I'd lost, most of them coming from the player I'd lost them to. Looking at the bar chart of my stack size over time, the starting balance of hand 7 and the ending balance of hand 13 are bookends.

On the peevish front, an old deficiency in the PokerStars software came back to bite me. Once again, I clicked the "Clear" button on the stats tab by mistake, and so lost my session stats. Of course, I could recalculate them from the hand histories, but right now that's too much work. I've said it before and I'll say it again - that "Clear" button is utterly misguided. I don't know why anyone would ever want to click it. At the very least, the software should throw up an "Are you sure?" dialog box before just blowing away all the session stats. Harrumph!

hands played: 61

delta: $14,700
balance: $2,629,582

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Another poker stat

Last night, I had a perfect showdown percentage for the third consecutive session. That inspired me to come up with a new poker stat - consecutive showdowns won (CSW). Right now, my CSW is 10. I don't know if that's a personal best, but have a feeling it may be.

What can I say? I'm in the zone.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 17 hands and saw flop:
- 1 out of 3 times while in big blind (33%)
- 2 out of 3 times while in small blind (66%)
- 6 out of 11 times in other positions (54%)
- a total of 9 out of 17 (52%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 2 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $36,500
balance: $2,614,882

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Mini-Me session

Last night's session was a Mini-Me of the one before it. Once again, I took the stairs to the elevator. Once again, I quit with a nice profit after stepping off the elevator. And once again, I had a showdown percentage of 100%. There were only two features of last night's session which differed appreciably from Monday's:

1. my underwater percentage was much higher (94% vs. 40%)
2. it was shorter

I'm now a mere four winning sessions from regaining the golden ratio; it's so close I can taste it!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 35 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out of 5 times while in big blind (100%)
- 4 out of 5 times while in small blind (80%)
- 19 out of 25 times in other positions (76%)
- a total of 28 out of 35 (80%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 3 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $15,900
balance: $2,578,382

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Taking the stairs to the elevator

Last night, I took the stairs to the elevator. That is, after an initial early lift, I descended flight after flight of stairs until I finally found a floor with an elevator. I took the elevator straight up, ending one floor higher than where I started. I stepped off, and quit for the night.

It's that time again. Yes, friends and neighbors, I'm about to tell you the secret of poker. Of course, it will have morphed from the last time I told you, but you should be used to that by now. Drumroll, please...

The secret of poker is to take the stairs when you're going down and the elevator when you're going up.

"What the frack does neo mean by that?", I hear you asking, somewhat peevishly. It's quite simple. Limit your losses, and maximize your gains. Another way to phrase it: fold when you're going to lose, and raise when you're going to win. The rub, of course, is in knowing whether you're going to win or lose; the best teacher for that is experience. I know I'm very lucky that play money poker sites like PokerStars exist; they make it possible to get as much experience as you want with no financial outlay.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 58 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out of 10 times while in big blind (60%)
- 3 out of 7 times while in small blind (42%)
- 27 out of 41 times in other positions (65%)
- a total of 36 out of 58 (62%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 5 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $20,540
balance: $2,562,482

Monday, November 14, 2011

One blemish

On Saturday night, I had a great session. It had only one blemish, which was easy to spot when I looked at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the night. On hand 28, I lost $19,000. I'd been dealt an 8 9 offsuit, and my hand improved only to a two pair, eights and threes. Both the turn and the river were threes, and the highest board card was an eight. An opponent bet $13,600 on the river, and inexplicably, I called. I guess somehow I convinced myself he was bluffing. He wasn't, and turned over an eight and a three for a full house. Of course, he didn't need the eight to beat my hand; his trip 3s were sufficient. I didn't let the misplay get me down, though, and played well for the remainder of the session.

Looking over the hand histories, it turns out I only went all in once, when I won a pot worth $90,700 with two pair, jacks and tens. That's conclusive proof that you don't have to be super aggressive to do well at no limit.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 124 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out of 14 times while in big blind (64%)
- 13 out of 21 times while in small blind (61%)
- 52 out of 89 times in other positions (58%)
- a total of 74 out of 124 (59%)
Pots won at showdown - 10 of 16 (62%)
Pots won without showdown - 10

delta: $73,000
balance: $2,541,942

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Gauging the apogee

Some hands catapult your stack skywards; the tricky thing to do when this happens is to gauge the apogee correctly. Are you still going up, or will you soon be embarking on a long downward trend? Sometimes the apogee is easy to gauge, though; that was the case last night. When I won my biggest pot of the night on hand 88, I knew right away it was time to quit.

I seem to be getting selectively super aggressive lately. Last night, I went all in three times, and won all three of those hands. Moreover, I wasn't calling a big bet to go all in; I was initiating my own big bet.

Tonight I'll try to keep the aggression rolling.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 89 hands and saw flop:
- 12 out of 13 times while in big blind (92%)
- 13 out of 14 times while in small blind (92%)
- 40 out of 62 times in other positions (64%)
- a total of 65 out of 89 (73%)
Pots won at showdown - 7 of 17 (41%)
Pots won without showdown - 8

delta: $42,100
balance: $2,468,942

Friday, November 11, 2011

7 noticeable descents

On Tuesday night, I hit the felt twice. I don't think I played that badly, but that could be selective (and protective) memory at work. The only hand I can remember really misplaying was one where I slow-played a flush I made on the flop or the turn, and lost to a higher flush when four of the five board cards turned up spades; like a fool, I bet the river big, instead of simply checking. A classic example of acting too late, trying to make up for not acting earlier in the hand.

Looking at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the session, there are 7 noticeable descents. I'll now go back over those particular hands, and grade myself on them.

descent 1: I had a gutshot straight draw, and folded on the river when it didn't materialize. Chips lost: 4,600. Grade: B-. That was a reasonable amount to spend on a gutshot.

descent 2: I was dealt a pair of kings, and fell in love with them, even though the flop was all diamonds. I went all in and got one caller, who thankfully had less chips than me at the start of the hand. Chips lost: 17,500. Grade: F. I had no business whatsoever going all in.

descent 3: I flopped a straight, went all in on the turn, but wound up losing to a full house. Felting #1. Chips lost: 9,900. Grade: A. I'd play that hand the same way again, every time.

descent 4: I hit a full house on the river, but lost to a better full house. Chips lost: 16,000. Grade: A. I had sixes full of queens, where all the sixes were on the board, and the queens were the top pair; I lost to sixes full of kings, since my opponent had been dealt a pair of kings.

descent 5: I was dealt ace jack offsuit, then got caught in a raising war preflop between two other players. I eventually folded, but not before spending a bunch of chips. Chips lost: 7,000. Grade: C-. I should have recognized I was caught in a sandwich and folded earlier.

descent 6: I flopped a flush, bet 1,300 on the turn, and then 6,500 on the river (which was a fourth board spade). My 9 high flush lost to a 10 high. Chips lost: 8,200. Grade: F. No way I should have bet a single solitary dollar on the river.

descent 7: I was dealt a pair of eights, which turned into two pair, queens and eights; I lost to an opponent who'd been dealt a pair of nines. I'd had to go all in to call; this was felting #2. Chips lost: 5,700. Grade: B. I was short-stacked, and didn't have much choice in the matter.

My 2 As and 2 Fs average out to four gentleman Cs. It turns out I played pretty badly after all.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 87 hands and saw flop:
- 8 out of 10 times while in big blind (80%)
- 5 out of 10 times while in small blind (50%)
- 39 out of 67 times in other positions (58%)
- a total of 52 out of 87 (59%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 10 (20%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $-80,000
balance: $2,426,842

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Bingo donk

Last night, on my last hand of the session, I went all in preflop with an ace queen offsuit. It turned into two pair, aces and queens, but lost to three of a kind, fours. To add insult to injury, the player who won the hand had called another player a "bingo donk" on the previous hand, and had then included the rest of us under this sobriquet as he went all in on this hand, essentially taunting us and daring us to take him down. I rose to the bait. The thing is, he was being a bingo donk himself. A bingo donk is a player who bets way more chips than his hand warrants, hoping to get lucky and rake in a huge pot. It's essentially a random event who wins a hand contested in this manner, so it's like playing bingo. Very little poker skill comes into play.

The ironic thing is that I had successfully avoided engaging with bingo donks all the way through the session up to that point. Something about the verbal challenge was too much for me. Interestingly, my ace and a face was actually a slight underdog to his pair of fours preflop, so statistically, I got what I deserved. Given that four of us went to showdown, I didn't have a very realistic chance of coming out on top.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 60 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out of 9 times while in big blind (44%)
- 6 out of 9 times while in small blind (66%)
- 22 out of 42 times in other positions (52%)
- a total of 32 out of 60 (53%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 7 (28%)
Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $-40,000
balance: $2,506,842

Monday, November 7, 2011

Leviathan

On Saturday night, I won the biggest pot of my 3 year poker career. It weighed in at $193,950. That's a big pot. It's a whale of a pot. In fact, it's a leviathan. Needless to say, I'd gone all in, investing $73,700. That's probably a personal best as well. For the record, my hand was a full house, threes full of tens, but I didn't even need the tens. I'd flopped a set of threes, and knew on the turn that they'd hold up. How did I know? Sometimes you just do.

I surprised myself a little by not ending my night immediately; I like to think that was out of respect for the opponents who'd just lost a lot of chips to me. When my stack was about to slip below $150k, however, I pulled the plug.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 86 hands and saw flop:
- 11 out of 12 times while in big blind (91%)
- 8 out of 14 times while in small blind (57%)
- 40 out of 60 times in other positions (66%)
- a total of 59 out of 86 (68%)
Pots won at showdown - 8 of 10 (80%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $111,100
balance: $2,546,842

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Medicine

If you want to be successful at poker, you have to learn how to take your medicine. Sometimes, even though you've made all the right decisions, you still end up losing. Of course, this is frustrating, but you can't let it become debilitating. Possibly the most valuable lesson of poker, and certainly one which it teaches over and over again, is that the improbable happens. Last night, I hit the felt when I got sevened - that is, I lost to a 7% underdog. I had a 79% chance of winning the hand, and a 14% chance of tying, yet still lost.

Did I swear out loud when this happened? No. Did I swear in my head? Again, no. I've played enough poker to know that this kind of thing happens. It's old hat. I'm on the right side of such improbability often enough to realize I have no cause for complaining when I'm on the wrong side of it.

I reupped for the max at the same table, and played roughly even poker for the rest of the night. Tonight, I'm loaded for bear!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 176 hands and saw flop:
- 19 out of 25 times while in big blind (76%)
- 23 out of 27 times while in small blind (85%)
- 96 out of 124 times in other positions (77%)
- a total of 138 out of 176 (78%)
Pots won at showdown - 14 of 30 (46%)
Pots won without showdown - 18

delta: $-38,950
balance: $2,435,742

Friday, November 4, 2011

Anticipatory betting

When you don't have a hand yet, but think you might end up with one, it's a good idea to make a bet. If you make a hand, you'll have that much more money in the pot to win. If you don't make one, you can still win if your opponents interpret your bets as representative of a strong hand. It's important, having led the betting in an earlier betting round, to make continuation bets if no one else decides to bet. Unless someone is sandbagging you, you'll increase your chances of winning the pot by doing so. People are more likely to believe you have something if you're willing to keep betting.

On the penultimate hand of last night's session, I ended up stealing the pot without really trying to; I was dealt a suited ace eight, and picked up a flush draw on the flop. I led the betting on the flop and the turn, and the only person who went to the river with me folded before I could even put down a bet. I didn't make my flush, but it didn't matter. I actually felt sort of guilty about winning that hand! I think that's the first time I've ever won a pot like that. It was worth $14,200; 73% of it was o.p.m. (other people's money).

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 66 hands and saw flop:
- 8 out of 12 times while in big blind (66%)
- 9 out of 13 times while in small blind (69%)
- 25 out of 41 times in other positions (60%)
- a total of 42 out of 66 (63%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 8 (62%)
Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $12,600
balance: $2,474,692

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Easy money

Last night, I made some easy money. There was a very aggressive player at the table, and I knew all I had to do was wait for a good hand and then turn the dial to 11 on him. On hand 17, I got dealt the best hole cards you can get (rockets), raised to $17,400 preflop, then went all in after the flop. My pair of aces won a hand worth $118,000, and my night was over early.

The thing you notice about aggressive players is that their stacks take really wild swings; the trick is to engage with them at just the right time. Sure, there's luck involved with picking the right time, but not as much luck as if you tried to equal their aggression. All you're trying to do is give yourself a high percentage chance of winning a single pot from them; you don't want to go toe to toe with them more than once.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 18 hands and saw flop:
- 2 out of 2 times while in big blind (100%)
- 0 out of 3 times while in small blind (0%)
- 5 out of 13 times in other positions (38%)
- a total of 7 out of 18 (38%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 2 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $77,900
balance: $2,462,092

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Aiming for five

Last night, I stopped playing after 35 hands, sticking to my self-imposed poker diet. 35 is a nice target, since it's divisible by 7. Why is being divisible by 7 nice? Since that's the number of players at a table after I join, including me. Since I expect to win 1 out of every 7 hands at such a table, I expect to win 5 hands in a 35 hand session. That's the goal I'll be aiming for. Anything over that is gravy.

By the way, I reserve the right to play longer sessions when it's not a "school night", or simply on my whim :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 35 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out of 6 times while in big blind (66%)
- 4 out of 5 times while in small blind (80%)
- 11 out of 24 times in other positions (45%)
- a total of 19 out of 35 (54%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $4,500
balance: $2,384,192

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Too long at the fair

Last night, I stayed too long at the fair. In other words, I played too long. The longer you play, the more likely you are to lose; that's a simple fact of poker life. No player is immune to this. In a touch of irony, my stack took a massive hit on the penultimate hand when I failed to recognize on the turn that although I'd made a straight, I had the low end of it and an opponent could very well have the high end. An opponent did, and I lost a whopping $34,200 on the hand; that left me with just $575. I went all in on the following hand with a ten queen offsuit, and hit the felt.

I need to put myself back on a poker diet for a while. My goal is to play no more than 35 hands a night for the immediate future. We'll see how I do.

I was so disgusted with my asinine play at the end of the session that I forgot to save the hand stats; the only stat I know for sure is that I played 94 hands.

delta: $-40,000
balance: $2,379,692