Monday, April 30, 2012

Staying out of trouble

On Saturday night, I doubled my starting stack amount in a relatively short session. I did this largely by staying out of trouble; I only paid to see the flop a little over half the time. My new goal is to keep my seeing the flop percentage under 60 every session; we'll see how I do. Of course, that percentage only makes sense if the table remains fairly full; the less players at the table, the more flops you should pay to see.

On the penultimate hand of the night, I won a pot worth $41,100 with a ten high straight.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 31 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 4 times while in big blind (75%)
 - 2 out of 4 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 13 out of 23 times in other positions (56%)
 - a total of 18 out of 31 (58%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 3 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $44,869
balance: $4,171,116

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Two and a half coolers

Success and failure in poker are a hair's breadth apart. That's one of the essential beauties of the game. No matter how good you are, or how good you think you are, there will always be times when you find yourself on the wrong side of that hair's breadth. The correct response at such times is not to bemoan your fate, but actually to offer up praise to the harsh beauty of poker. Lady Luck gives no quarter. If you can't accept that, you're in the wrong game.

Last night, I think I played exceptionally well. As it turned out, I hit the felt; not once, but twice. How on God's green earth could I think I played really well, if I lost $80,000 play dollars? The answer is actually quite simple. Absent two and a half coolers, I would have had a superb session.

cooler #1: on hand 15, I was dealt 7s 8s in the big blind, saw a flop of 9s 2s 3s, bet $4,000 and got one caller, saw a turn of 3d, bet $18,000, got raised enough to put me all in, called, saw a river of 3c, and then saw my nine high straight lose to an ace high straight. I lost $36,200 on this hand.

cooler #2: on hand 34, I was dealt 6s Ks in the big blind, called a raise to $1,000, saw a flop of 7s 8s Ac, called a bet of $1,000, saw a turn of 7c and a river of Ts, raised a $3,600 bet to $7,200, got reraised to $35,000, called, and then saw my king high straight lose to a full house, aces full of sevens. I lost $37,000 on this hand.

cooler #2 1/2: on hand 124, I was dealt Kd Qh, called a raise to $4,600, saw a flop of 4d Qs 6c, raised a $9,000 bet to $18,000, called a reraise to $27,000, saw a turn of 7h, called an all in bet which put me all in, saw a river of Ac, and then saw my pair of queens lose to two pair, queens and sevens. I lost $39,279 on this hand.

If just one of these hands had gone my way, I would have lost a negligible amount on the night. If two had gone my way, I would have realized a profit of $66,000. If all three had gone my way, I would have realized a profit of nearly $145,000.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 124 hands and saw flop:
 - 18 out of 24 times while in big blind (75%)
 - 17 out of 25 times while in small blind (68%)
 - 57 out of 75 times in other positions (76%)
 - a total of 92 out of 124 (74%)
 Pots won at showdown - 13 of 28 (46%)
 Pots won without showdown - 10

delta: $-80,000
balance: $4,126,247


Friday, April 27, 2012

Tight is right

Last night, I halted my slide. I played a lot tighter than I had been of late, and it paid off. I was only underwater for 10 of the 67 hands (15% of the time). I didn't make a single frisky move, and never went all in. Sometimes, tight is right! On the penultimate hand of the night, I won a pot worth $30,200 with three of a kind, threes.

I aim to continue the tight play tonight.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 67 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 8 times while in big blind (75%)
 - 6 out of 9 times while in small blind (66%)
 - 24 out of 50 times in other positions (48%)
 - a total of 36 out of 67 (53%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 10 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $19,500
balance: $4,206,247


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Thrubbing

Last night, I took a thrubbing. That is, I took a drubbing for the third straight time. I hit the felt hard, twice. The $160,000 I lost cumulatively in the three sessions ties for my third worst three session loss ever. Let's take a look at the three biggest losses from last night:

hand 49: I was dealt Th Qh, called a pre-flop raise to $1,000, saw a flop of Tc 8h 7s, bet $2,000, and called an all-in raise to $12,150; my pair of tens with a queen kicker got outkicked by a pair of tens with a king kicker. I lost $13,150 on the hand.

hand 65: I was dealt Ad Qs, called a pre-flop raise to $1,000, saw a flop of 8s Ac Kh, bet $5,000 and got two callers, saw a turn of 9c, bet $10,000 and got two callers, saw a river of 4d, went all-in, and got one caller; my pair of aces lost to a two pair of aces and nines. I lost $17,700 on the hand.

hand 88: I was dealt Qs Qh, raised to $400 pre-flop, saw a flop of 5c 8c Js, got in a brief raising war, then called a raise which put me all-in; my pair of queens lost to a two pair of jacks and eights. I lost $20,700 on the hand.

I think I played hand 49 fine. I was way too frisky on hand 65. By the time hand 88 rolled around, I'd lost all patience and was looking either to double up or to hit the felt to put myself out of my misery.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 88 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 12 times while in big blind (41%)
 - 7 out of 11 times while in small blind (63%)
 - 41 out of 65 times in other positions (63%)
 - a total of 53 out of 88 (60%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 19 (26%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $-80,000
balance: $4,186,747

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A different sort of streak

On Monday night, a different sort of streak came to an end. It wasn't a winning streak, nor was it a losing streak. It was kind of a hybrid of the two. It was the number of consecutive sessions without two consecutive losing sessions, with the requirement that this "quasi-streak" both start and end with a winning session. I had a feeling I'd set a new personal best for this odd statistic, and turned out to be right. It lasted for 52 sessions. In that stretch, I lost only five times.

If I hadn't gotten a tad bit greedy, the quasi-streak would still be alive; I went up by about $21,000 early in the session, but there were a lot of aggressive players at the table, and I wasn't being quite selective enough in my choice of hands to play. I got unlucky on my last hand; I flopped a set of eights, and was a 75% favorite after the turn, but hit the felt when my opponent made a flush on the river.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 46 hands and saw flop:
 - 0 out of 6 times while in big blind (0%)
 - 4 out of 5 times while in small blind (80%)
 - 22 out of 35 times in other positions (62%)
 - a total of 26 out of 46 (56%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $-40,000
balance: $4,266,747


Monday, April 23, 2012

Four falls

Last night, my stack took four big falls on its way to the felt. For a combination of reasons, I don't remember what happened on those hands. The great thing about the PokerStars software is that it's trivial to have it save all your hands for later study. Before I realized this, I went through the pain of manually saving each hand. Let's take a look:

big fall #1: on hand 21, I was dealt 3h 5h, called a bet of $5,000 after a flop of 8h 7s 4h, then called a bet of $10,800 after a turn of Jc. I missed my heart flush when the river came up Qd, and lost to an 8 high straight. I was right to call the bet on the flop, but very wrong to call the bet on the turn. I lost $16,800 on this hand.

big fall #2: on hand 27, I was dealt Kc Qd, raised to $3,600 after a flop of 3h 5h Qs, bet $6,000 after a turn of 9d, and checked the river, which was 6d. My pair of queens lost to pocket rockets. I think I played this hand pretty well, and was just a bit unlucky. I lost $10,600 on this hand.

big fall #3: on hand 33, I was dealt 9c 8s, called a bet of $800 after a flop of Td 8d 2s, then called an all-in bet of $6,150 after a turn of Jh.I missed my open-ended straight draw when the river came up 9h, and lost to a queen high straight. I was right to call the bet on the flop, but wrong to call the bet on the turn. I lost $7,150 on this hand.

big fall #4: on hand 41, I was dealt 9h Qd, bet $200 on a flop of 9d 8s 2c, bet $600 on a turn of 2h, bet $1,100 on a river of 4h, called a raise to $4,200, and saw my pair of nines lose to 3 of a kind, deuces. My bets were fine, but my call of the river raise was pretty bad. I lost $5,200 on this hand.

Eventually, I got into Lazarus territory, and that was all she wrote.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 66 hands and saw flop:
 - 10 out of 11 times while in big blind (90%)
 - 5 out of 10 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 37 out of 45 times in other positions (82%)
 - a total of 52 out of 66 (78%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 17 (41%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $-40,000
balance: $4,306,747

Sunday, April 22, 2012

My favorite flush street

As you know, my favorite type of hand is a flush. What you don't know yet, since I didn't think about it until just now, is that my favorite street to hit a flush on is fourth street (aka the turn). Last night, I hit a king high flush on fourth street, and an opponent picked just that moment to go all in. I called, and won a pot worth $90,000. My opponent had two pair, kings and tens.

Why is the turn my favorite street to hit a flush on? It's pretty simple, really. If you hit a flush on the flop, by definition all three cards in the flop have the same suit; that's a very scary board for your opponents. They know that if someone didn't already make a flush, the odds are good that someone will still end up making one on the turn or the river. Therefore, you're not likely to be able to make very much money in that situation; you'll have to bet small and hope at least one opponent comes along for the ride. If you hit a flush on the river, in most cases you'll end up raking in a big pot, but often your opponents won't allow you to get there; they'll have made a bet that is too expensive to call given your odds of making your flush. If you hit a flush on the turn, though, you're in the ideal situation; you're less likely to have been forced off your hand by a big bet at this stage, your opponents are likely to be more committed to the pot, and they're more likely to have made some kind of a hand at this point, making it harder for them to fold. The biggest danger for you is that you'll lose to an uberflush, but that's unlikely. In last night's flush hand, I had two babies for hole cards (4h and 6h), but wasn't really that worried about the uberflush.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 9 hands and saw flop:
 - 0 out of 1 times while in big blind (0%)
 - 0 out of 1 times while in small blind (0%)
 - 3 out of 7 times in other positions (42%)
 - a total of 3 out of 9 (33%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 2 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $49,800
balance: $4,346,747

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Putting your money in the middle

In no limit hold'em, you have to be willing to put all your money in the middle when you're sure you have the best hand. Of course, that doesn't mean you'll do so in that situation every time, but you must be willing. There are some good reasons for not making a practice of going all in. For one thing, you can end up with less profit, since it will often scare opponents into folding. For another, you maximize your potential losses by going all in, since your hand can almost always be beaten, however unlikely that is. If you never go all in, however, I contend you'll never get much of anywhere.

Last night, I only went all in once, but I was as safe as houses. In fact, I'd made a full house on the turn, and went all in with it. I got one caller, doubled up, and called it a night. I love it when Lady Luck gets me on her wavelength!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 26 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 4 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 1 out of 3 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 13 out of 19 times in other positions (68%)
 - a total of 18 out of 26 (69%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 5 (60%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $52,377
balance: $4,296,947

Friday, April 20, 2012

Two out of three ain't bad

Last night's session had an unusual feature - in the top three hands ranked by absolute value of hand delta, I went toe to toe with the same opponent. Luckily for me, I won two of the three confrontations. Here's how they went down:

hand 47: I was dealt pocket rockets. My opponent, who I'll call Aggresso, was dealt king nine offsuit. Preflop, I raised to $1,000, Aggresso reraised to $29,600, I went all in, and he called for his remaining $600. My two pair of aces and threes beat his pair of threes, for a pot worth $62,300.

hand 54: I was dealt a pair of eights. Aggresso was dealt queen nine offsuit. Acting before me, he went all in preflop. I called. The flop came Ac Kc 2c, the turn was 7d, and the river was 3c. His ace high flush beat my pair of eights, for a pot worth $80,300. I was a 55% favorite preflop, 47% dog after the flop, and 68% favorite after the turn. That fourth club on the river was a killer.

hand 67: I was dealt a big slick. Aggresso was dealt a pair of fives. We got into a short raising war preflop, then he raised enough to force me to go all in to call; I did. The flop came Ac 4s Qc, the turn was Jc, and the river was Kh. My two pair of aces and kings beat his pair of fives, for a pot worth $70,900.

At that point, I knew I'd seen the best of my luck, and got out of Dodge.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 68 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 11 times while in big blind (54%)
 - 4 out of 9 times while in small blind (44%)
 - 28 out of 48 times in other positions (58%)
 - a total of 38 out of 68 (55%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 13 (38%)
 Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $30,700
balance: $4,244,570

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Three leaps

Having now written over 500 blog posts, I admit that sometimes it gets a little hard coming up with the title of a post. Of course, this is just another way of saying it's sometimes hard coming up with an angle. Once you have an angle, the title writes itself. Whenever I'm stuck, I have an old standby - I look at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the session, and see what jumps out at me. What jumps out from last night's chart is three big upward leaps. It's possible to have a successful session with just one big upward leap, so to have three is really an embarrassment of riches. Let me delve into the archives...

big leap #1: on hand 39, I won a pot worth $21,184 ($11,192 of it o.p.m.) with a full house, threes full of deuces

big leap #2: on hand 43, I won a pot worth $28,400 ($14,600 of it o.p.m.) with two pair, kings and threes

big leap #3: on hand 113, I won a pot worth $39,600 ($22,000 of it o.p.m.) with a full house, queens full of fives

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 114 hands and saw flop:
- 20 out of 24 times while in big blind (83%)
- 20 out of 26 times while in small blind (76%)
- 46 out of 64 times in other positions (71%)
- a total of 86 out of 114 (75%)
Pots won at showdown - 15 of 19 (78%)
Pots won without showdown - 18

delta: $46,174
balance: $4,213,870

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The One That Got Away

As I've mentioned before, I like to listen to music when I play poker. I also like to use song titles as the titles of my blog posts when the mood strikes me. I've been listening to Katy Perry's "The One That Got Away" a lot lately, and last night, poker's prettiest hand was the one that got away. What do I mean by poker's prettiest hand? The royal flush in spades. Since the ace of spades is the prettiest card in the deck (according to Norman Chad), that makes the spade royal flush poker's prettiest hand. Here's how the one that got away went down:

Table 'Aldebaran VIII' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: (84738 in chips)
Seat 2: (32200 in chips)
Seat 3: (140078 in chips)
Seat 4: (89800 in chips)
Seat 5: (34300 in chips)
Seat 6: (38743 in chips)
Seat 7: neostreet (51467 in chips)
Seat 8: (20900 in chips)
Seat 9: (40535 in chips)
Seat 2: posts small blind 100
Seat 3: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Js 6d]
Seat 4: calls 200
Seat 5: calls 200
Seat 6: folds
neostreet: calls 200
Seat 8: calls 200
Seat 9: calls 200
Seat 1: calls 200
Seat 2: calls 100
Seat 3: checks
*** FLOP *** [As Jh Qs]
Seat 2: checks
Seat 3: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: checks
neostreet: checks
Seat 8: checks
Seat 9: bets 200
Seat 1: folds
Seat 2: calls 200
Seat 3: calls 200
Seat 4: folds
Seat 5: calls 200
neostreet: calls 200
Seat 8: folds
*** TURN *** [As Jh Qs] [Ks]
Seat 2: checks
Seat 3: checks
Seat 5: bets 5200
neostreet: folds
Seat 9: calls 5200
Seat 2: folds
Seat 3: folds
*** RIVER *** [As Jh Qs Ks] [Ts]
Seat 5: checks
Seat 9: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 5: shows [Th Qc] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
Seat 9: shows [Td Ad] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
Seat 5 collected 6500 from pot
Seat 9 collected 6500 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 13000 | Rake 0
Board [As Jh Qs Ks Ts]
Seat 1: Seat 1 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: Seat 2 (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 3: Seat 3 (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 4: Seat 4 folded on the Flop
Seat 5: Seat 5 showed [Th Qc] and won (6500) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 6: Seat 6 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: neostreet folded on the Turn
Seat 8: Seat 8 folded on the Flop
Seat 9: Seat 9 showed [Td Ad] and won (6500) with a straight, Ten to Ace

Believe it or not, I had a strong hunch the ten of spades was going to hit on the river. The royal flush felt like a big old train speeding down the tracks. However, I folded because the odds were wrong; I was being asked to pay too much to stay in the hand. I still got to see the train roar through the station, I just didn't make any money on it :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 108 hands and saw flop:
- 11 out of 15 times while in big blind (73%)
- 11 out of 15 times while in small blind (73%)
- 47 out of 78 times in other positions (60%)
- a total of 69 out of 108 (63%)
Pots won at showdown - 10 of 20 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 13

delta: $1,367
balance: 4,167,696

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The trouble with triples

Readers of a certain vintage who are also sci fi fans will recognize that the title of this post was inspired by a classic Star Trek episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles". Last night, I had a lot of trouble with triples. That is, every time I had trips or a set, I ended up losing. A quick reminder: trips are when your hole cards are of different denominations, and one of them matches a pair of board cards; a set is when your hole cards are paired, and match one of the board cards. Here's a summary of my tale of triples woe:

hand 32: my three of a kind, jacks (a set) lose to a queen high straight; I lose $14,200 on the hand

hand 37: my three of a kind, jacks (trips) lose to a king high straight; I lose $19,600 on the hand

hand 53: my three of a kind, aces (trips) lose to a ten high flush; I lose $3,375 on the hand

Add them up, and I lost $37,175 on busted triples - nearly a full starting stack's worth. I didn't go on tilt, though, and ground away until I was able to realize a small profit.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 101 hands and saw flop:
- 11 out of 14 times while in big blind (78%)
- 7 out of 14 times while in small blind (50%)
- 37 out of 73 times in other positions (50%)
- a total of 55 out of 101 (54%)
Pots won at showdown - 11 of 20 (55%)
Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $1,575
balance: $4,166,329

Monday, April 16, 2012

Pot-based betting

Last night, I revisited a strategy I first tried out about a year ago;I learned it from a wonderful poker book called "Harrington on Hold 'em, Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1" by Dan Harrington. The idea is that you make bets based on the amount of money currently in the pot, rather than based on the amounts of your previous bets, or the amounts of opponents' bets. Harrington didn't state it this bluntly, but it's one of the takeaways I got from his book. I call this strategy pot-based betting. Why was I revisiting it? An excellent reason - I'd just purchased and started reading "Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. II: The Endgame". This volume promises to be as valuable and enlightening as the first one.

One great side effect of pot-based betting I rediscovered last night is that it enables you to be really dispassionate about the amounts of money you're risking. It's very scientific; you bet whatever fraction of the pot (including 0%) the current situation calls for. Over the past year, I haven't been using pot-based betting consciously, but I think I must have partially internalized it, or I wouldn't have done nearly so well. My goal is to use it more consciously, and conscientiously.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 47 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out of 6 times while in big blind (83%)
- 4 out of 6 times while in small blind (66%)
- 25 out of 35 times in other positions (71%)
- a total of 34 out of 47 (72%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 9 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $26,874
balance: $4,164,754

Sunday, April 15, 2012

A failure to protect

Last night, my gains of the session before were almost completely wiped out. I hit the felt twice. The first time, I was dealt a big slick, and ended up going all in with it pre-flop. I was up against an ace jack and an ace ten, and lost when the ace jack paired his jack on the flop. The second time, I made a full house on the turn, but lost to a better full house which was made on the river. I made two horrendous mistakes on this hand. The first mistake was that I failed to protect my full house by going all in. I merely raised a $1,400 bet up to $2,800, which allowed my opponent to get to see the river card way too cheaply. The second mistake was not mucking my hand when my opponent bet huge on the river. I knew he most likely had an ace, which would give him a better full house than mine, but somehow couldn't stop myself from calling.

Of the two mistakes, the first one is arguably worse, since it enabled the possibility for the second one to occur. If I'd protected my full house by going all in, in all likelihood my opponent would have folded, and I would have won the pot right there. Live and learn!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 61 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 9 times while in big blind (77%)
- 4 out of 9 times while in small blind (44%)
- 22 out of 43 times in other positions (51%)
- a total of 33 out of 61 (54%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $-80,000
balance: $4,137,880

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Delights of three

I've seen a dish called "Delights of three" on the menus of many Chinese restaurants. Though I've never ordered it, it sounds really good; the three delights are shrimp, beef, and chicken. Last night, I experienced two different poker variations on "Delights of three". The first was that my session was only three hands long; the second was that I tripled up! On hand 2, I was dealt a big slick; there were two insane pre-flop raises, but I called them both. When the flop came 8c 9h Ks, I went all in with my remaining $9,800 and got one caller. I hit trip kings on the turn. My three of a kind, kings won $19,600 from one side pot, $51,600 from another, and $53,000 from the main pot, for a grand total of $124,200. I exited stage left the next hand.

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

delta: $81,800
balance: $4,217,880

Friday, April 13, 2012

20 below

The longer you play poker, the harder it becomes to set a new single session record. When you've played north of 600 sessions, as I have, you just aren't going to have your very best session ever very often. At one point, I thought it was a pretty big deal to end a session at least $60,000 to the good, but I've now done it 45 times. Later, I thought it was almost unheard of to end a session at least $100,000 to the good, but I've now done that 9 times. For a record-setting junkie like me, the only records that really remain accessible are the cumulative ones. As long as I can keep growing my balance, I'll be able to continue to set new all-time cumulative highs. Also, as long as I can stay just slightly ahead of golden ratio pace, I'll be able to continue to set new all-time cumulative "golden distance" lows. As in golf, the lower your score is, the better.

What do I mean by "golden distance"? I'm glad you asked. Of course, it's another poker stat, and has a simple formula:

golden_distance = (number_of_losing_sessions * 2) - number_of_winning_sessions

With Tuesday night's winning session, my golden distance tied its all-time low of -20, hence the title of this post.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 43 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out of 6 times while in big blind (50%)
- 4 out of 6 times while in small blind (66%)
- 18 out of 31 times in other positions (58%)
- a total of 25 out of 43 (58%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 9 (44%)
Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $19,792
balance: $4,136,080

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Aces on the button

There's never a bad time to be dealt a pair of aces. Last night, it happened to me three times in 67 hands. Since you should only see a pair of aces once in every 221 hands, I was seeing them roughly 10 times as often as I should have been. I wasn't complaining :-) The first time, I won a pot worth $14,000; the second time, $43,900; the third, $75,152. You can't expect to win with rockets every time, of course.

Both the second and third time, I had the button (i.e., was the last player to act in all betting rounds except for the first one). Aces on the button are a beautiful thing! Opponents rarely expect you to have so strong a hand, and will often think you're bluffing; consequently, they'll often call your large bets. They can get into a world of hurt that way. I know, because it's happened to me, too.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 67 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out of 7 times while in big blind (71%)
- 8 out of 9 times while in small blind (88%)
- 22 out of 51 times in other positions (43%)
- a total of 35 out of 67 (52%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 8 (62%)
Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $61,752
balance: $4,116,288

Monday, April 9, 2012

Cowboys dusted

Last night, I hit the felt early when my cowboys bit the dust. On just the fifth hand, I was dealt Ks Kc, and went all in after a flop of 2h 3c 9s and a turn of Jc. The trouble was, one of my opponents had been dealt baby cowboys, which turned into a set on the turn; he had no trouble calling. I had a 91.62% of winning after the flop, but the third baby cowboy killed me.

I reupped for the max, and played 43 more hands before the table up and quit on me; at that point, I was down another $23,400. I joined a different table, and managed to win back $20,000 before calling it a night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 123 hands and saw flop:
- 17 out of 22 times while in big blind (77%)
- 16 out of 25 times while in small blind (64%)
- 52 out of 76 times in other positions (68%)
- a total of 85 out of 123 (69%)
Pots won at showdown - 10 of 24 (41%)
Pots won without showdown - 18

delta: $-43,400
balance: $4,054,536

Sunday, April 8, 2012

A shortage of fish

In poker, fish are inexperienced players who think they're better than they really are. It's not hard for experienced players to separate fish from their chips :-) Last Thursday night, there was a severe shortage of fish at the table I joined; in fact, there weren't any. When you're playing at a table without any fish, you have to adjust your expectations accordingly. You can't expect to double up; you can't even expect to win a big pot. The biggest pot I won last Thursday night was only worth $9,200; I called it a night on the next hand, recognizing that I'd probably seen the best of my luck.

Needless to say, I'm hoping to encounter some fish tonight!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 75 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 9 times while in big blind (77%)
- 7 out of 11 times while in small blind (63%)
- 35 out of 55 times in other positions (63%)
- a total of 49 out of 75 (65%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 10 (60%)
Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $3,200
balance: $4,097,936

Thursday, April 5, 2012

My blue heaven

If there's anything I like more than making up a new poker statistic, it's making one up which shows I'm at the top of my game. All the statistics I come up with can be used to rank sessions, or groups of contiguous sessions, in order from best to worst (in terms of the particular statistic). What I really love to see is when the top entry on the list has an ending date which is the date of my most recent session.

In neo parlance, a blue session is one where one's balance goes "into the blue" - in other words, hits a new all-time high. If a session is blue, it has a "blue count" of 1; otherwise, its "blue count" is 0. My new poker statistic is a moving sum of blue counts, looked at over a configurable number of contiguous sessions.

Here are my top ten blue counts over a 30 session span:

23 Mon Feb 27 00:00:00 2012 Wed Apr 04 01:00:00 2012 (28)
22 Sat Feb 25 00:00:00 2012 Tue Apr 03 01:00:00 2012 (28)
22 Mon Nov 14 00:00:00 2011 Tue Dec 20 00:00:00 2011 (27)
21 Fri Feb 24 00:00:00 2012 Mon Apr 02 01:00:00 2012 (28)
21 Fri Nov 18 00:00:00 2011 Tue Dec 27 00:00:00 2011 (26)
21 Thu Nov 17 00:00:00 2011 Fri Dec 23 00:00:00 2011 (26)
21 Wed Nov 16 00:00:00 2011 Thu Dec 22 00:00:00 2011 (26)
21 Tue Nov 15 00:00:00 2011 Wed Dec 21 00:00:00 2011 (26)
21 Sat Nov 12 00:00:00 2011 Mon Dec 19 00:00:00 2011 (27)
21 Fri Oct 14 01:00:00 2011 Tue Nov 22 00:00:00 2011 (25)

The number in parentheses is the number of winning sessions in the span. A blue session is by definition a winning session, but a winning session doesn't have to be a blue one.

As you can see, my blue heaven is happening right now :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 57 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 11 times while in big blind (63%)
- 9 out of 12 times while in small blind (75%)
- 24 out of 34 times in other positions (70%)
- a total of 40 out of 57 (70%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 10 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $2,800
balance: $4,094,736

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Sensing when you're due

Poker is largely a feel game. There are situations which arise which are impossible to navigate using logic alone. You have to rely on other things at these times, including imagination, heart, and your gut. Last night, my stack had descended slowly and steadily to $16,800 when I was called upon to exercise these other qualities. I hadn't won a single pot, and had played 33 hands. On hand 34, I was dealt Qs Tc, and the flop came 4h Ts 2c. With top pair and a good kicker, I sensed I was finally due to win a pot. I got into a raising war with another player; neither one of us wanted to back down, but eventually I did by just calling his reraise. When a queen hit on the turn, giving me top two pair, I went all in with my remaining $6,000. My raising war opponent called. I ended up winning a pot worth $49,600.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 42 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out of 5 times while in big blind (60%)
- 2 out of 4 times while in small blind (50%)
- 23 out of 33 times in other positions (69%)
- a total of 28 out of 42 (66%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 5 (20%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $18,800
balance: $4,091,936

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The right struff

Last night, on hand 20, I had the right struff. No, that's not a typo; it's my latest poker neologism. The right struff is a straight flush. I hit it on the river, and didn't get greedy; I merely raised a bet of $6,000 up by another $6,000. The bettor called, and I won a pot worth $29,000, my biggest pot of the night. I called it quits the next hand.

My latest secret of poker is that you need to quit when you've won your biggest pot of the night. The devilishly tricky part about this is, your biggest pot of the night often comes after earlier pots which qualified as the biggest in their time, but were eclipsed by bigger pots later on.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 21 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out of 4 times while in big blind (75%)
- 4 out of 4 times while in small blind (100%)
- 9 out of 13 times in other positions (69%)
- a total of 16 out of 21 (76%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 5 (60%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $26,400
balance: $4,073,136

Monday, April 2, 2012

Smallest loss

Last night, I set an interesting record: my smallest ever no limit hold'em loss. Over the course of 69 hands, I lost $150, which is less than one big blind. That's a very difficult feat to achieve, even though I wasn't trying to achieve it. Of course, the loss also meant that my nascent winning streak stalled out at 1. Back to the drawing board!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 69 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out of 8 times while in big blind (62%)
- 3 out of 9 times while in small blind (33%)
- 28 out of 52 times in other positions (53%)
- a total of 36 out of 69 (52%)

delta: $-150
balance: $4,046,736

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Baby cowboys

As I've mentioned before in this space, I really enjoy learning and using poker slang. Not only that, I like inventing my own, and putting it out there into the ether, in the hopes that it might thereby come into common usage someday. Today, I offer the latest example of my poker slang for your consideration - baby cowboys. This one came about somewhat accidentally. I remembered that cowboys was slang for a particular pocket pair, but got the denomination wrong. I thought it referred to pocket jacks, but instead if refers to pocket kings. Since jacks are worth less than kings, and since both jacks and kings are male, I came up with baby cowboys as a slang term for pocket jacks.

According to conventional wisdom, baby cowboys are one of the hardest hands to play in no limit hold'em. Last night, I won my biggest pot of the night with baby cowboys, and called it quits right afterwards. My new winning streak has begun :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 52 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out of 7 times while in big blind (71%)
- 5 out of 7 times while in small blind (71%)
- 26 out of 38 times in other positions (68%)
- a total of 36 out of 52 (69%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 6 (83%)
Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $33,300
balance: $4,046,886