Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The spectrum of poker patience

Having played online poker for over four years, I've discovered that the spectrum of poker patience is very wide. For all practical purposes, it's as wide as the spectrum of poker skill. Last night, I played patiently, but just not patiently enough at a crucial time. Looking at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the tournament, it's clear why I decided to call a big (given the size of my stack at the time) postflop raise - I'd been card dead for a while, and had finally been dealt a decentish hand. However, simply looking at the hand in question on its own merits, it's clear I shouldn't have called that raise. This pinpoints a vital poker skill - you need to be able to stare down your own imminent demise. If the odds tell you you're not going to win a hand, don't play it, even if your stack is minuscule. As long as you have a chip and a chair, you're still alive!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        24     4        0


delta: $-50,800
tournament balance: $1,572,290
balance: $6,703,021

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The power of scarcity

Since I now author two blogs, I have less time to play poker. I'm going to try to turn this situation to advantage by harnessing the power of scarcity. I find that I tend to play better when I know I won't be able to play for as long as I'd like to. When I feel like I have all the time in the world, my play tends to get a bit sloppy. On Sunday night, I only had time to play one tournament, but I made the most of it, coming in first. I think I'll aim for one tournament per work night for the foreseeable future.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        49     1   195000


delta: $144,200
tournament balance: $1,623,090
balance: $6,753,821

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The bottom of the top

When you play in 6 player tournaments, you want to be in the top half all the time. The trouble is, you want even more than that. You want to be above the bottom third of the top half, i.e. above third place. So, not only do you want to avoid the bottom of the tournament, you also want to avoid the bottom of the top. If you make the bottom of the top, you've certainly achieved something, but you haven't made the money. Last night, I made the bottom of the top in 3 of the 5 tournaments I entered. That tells me I was playing well, just not quite well enough :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        86     2   105000
 50000       800           6        10     6        0
 50000       800           6        33     3        0
 50000       800           6        38     3        0
 50000       800           6        75     3        0


delta: $-149,000
tournament balance: $1,478,890
balance: $6,609,621

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The difference between a wash and a bath

Last night, I played six tournaments. The most memorable hand of the night ended up being the difference between a wash and a bath. In tournament 4, I made it to heads up with less than a third of the chips. In a short time, I got to a commanding chip lead of $5,110 to $890. The hand that was my undoing was hand 68; here's how it went down:

Table '634554122 1' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: (2680 in chips)
Seat 4: neostreet (3320 in chips)
Seat 2: posts small blind 100
neostreet: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [3s Qs]
Seat 2: calls 100
neostreet: raises 200 to 400
Seat 2: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [4h Qd 3d]
neostreet: checks
Seat 2: bets 400
neostreet: raises 400 to 800
Seat 2: raises 1480 to 2280 and is all-in
neostreet: calls 1480
*** TURN *** [4h Qd 3d] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [4h Qd 3d 8d] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
neostreet: shows [3s Qs] (two pair, Queens and Threes)
Seat 2: shows [6d Qc] (two pair, Queens and Sixes)
Seat 2 collected 5360 from pot


I was a 64% favorite to win after the flop, but it wasn't to be. Since my opponent had gone all in, I would have won the tournament if I'd won that hand. If I'd won that tournament, my session delta would have been $-4,800, essentially a wash. Since I lost it, my session delta turned out to be $-94,800, which is more like taking a bath :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        32     5        0
 50000       800           6        87     2   105000
 50000       800           6        37     4        0
 50000       800           6        69     2   105000
 50000       800           6        38     4        0
 50000       800           6        12     6        0


delta: $-94,800
tournament balance: $1,627,890
balance: $6,758,621

Friday, October 26, 2012

5 rubouts

Last night, I played two tournaments, and rubbed out five opponents. In the first tournament, I rubbed out the 6th, 5th, and 4th place finishers; I'm pretty sure I've never done that before. In the second tournament, I rubbed out the 4th and 2nd place finishers. Considering there are only 10 rubouts in 2 tournaments, I think being responsible for half of them is pretty impressive. It shows a willingness to gamble, which is definitely a requirement for tournament success.

I'm very happy to say that with last night's results, I'm back in the blue!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6       108     2   105000
 50000       800           6        81     1   195000


delta: $198,400
tournament balance: $1,722,690
balance: $6,853,421

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Two all in rules of thumb broken

Last night, in the first tournament I entered, I hit the felt when I broke not one but two all in rules of thumb. Here are the rules I broke, to my detriment:

1. never go all in on a draw
2. never go all in when more than one opponent has gone all in before you

I was dealt the ace and seven of spades, and the flop came 3s 5c 8s. It's very tempting to go all in in this situation, but also very risky. When two players have already gone all in before you, it's downright suicidal. Live and learn!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        14     6        0
 50000       800           6        30     4        0


delta: $-101,600
tournament balance: $1,524,290
balance: $6,655,021

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

An overly cautious foe

Last night, I only played one tournament again. Once again, I came in first. I had to go all in seven separate times, but was more than willing to do so. The player who had the chip lead for most of the tournament was playing way too cautiously. If he'd shown just a bit of gumption when we were three handed, I think he could have won easily. I'm not complaining!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        99     1   195000


delta: $144,200
tournament balance: $1,625,890
balance: $6,756,621

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The golden 1 / 6

Last night, I played one tournament, and won it. I have to say, winning never gets old! Here are my current place stats:

place    count(*)    count(*) / 328
1    60    0.1829
2    63    0.1921
3    65    0.1982
4    55    0.1677
5    52    0.1585
6    33    0.1006


This data inspires me to come up with yet another golden rule (yagr). This one is the golden 1 / 6 rule. Briefly stated, you will have tournament success if the number of times you come in first is at least double the number of times you come in sixth. I haven't quite reached this goal, but I'm within shouting distance.

One curious thing about the golden rules I've come up with is how often a factor of two comes into play. I can think of three off the top of my head:

1. the golden ratio (twice as many winning sessions as losing sessions)
2. the golden tgotl (twice as much money won as money lost)
3. the golden 1 / 6 (twice as many first place finishes as sixth place finishes)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        78     1   195000


delta: $144,200
tournament balance: $1,481,690
balance: $6,612,421

Monday, October 22, 2012

X ray vision

Sometimes, I feel like I have X ray vision at the poker table. Sometimes I can "see" what cards my opponents have by the way they're betting. You'd think that would be helpful, right? As it turns out, it's only as helpful as your knowledge of poker odds is good :-) In the second tournament I entered last night, I got to heads up, but only lasted a single heads up hand. My X ray vision correctly told me what my opponent had, but my gut feel for the odds of the situation was way off. Here's what went down:

Table '632163287 1' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 4: neostreet (1185 in chips)
Seat 5: (4815 in chips)
Seat 5: posts small blind 100
neostreet: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Qh Kc]
Seat 5: calls 100
neostreet: raises 200 to 400
Seat 5: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [7c 9h 3c]
neostreet: bets 200
Seat 5: raises 800 to 1000
neostreet: calls 585 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (215) returned to Seat 5
*** TURN *** [7c 9h 3c] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [7c 9h 3c 8d] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
neostreet: shows [Qh Kc] (high card King)
Seat 5: shows [5d As] (high card Ace)
Seat 5 collected 2370 from pot
neostreet finished the tournament in 2nd place and received 105000.00.
Seat 5 wins the tournament and receives 195000.00 - congratulations!


My X ray vision told me that my opponent had an ace and a low card. I knew that if he paired his low card and I paired either of my cards, I had him beat. I really liked the fact that I had two overcards to the board. I thought odds-wise I was just a small dog, and that it was worth it to call. As it turns out, I was a big dog, and never should have called. It would certainly behoove me to start committing the odds of certain hand matchups to memory.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        49     4        0
 50000       800           6        54     2   105000


delta: $3,400
tournament balance: $1,337,490
balance: $6,468,221

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Another tournament milestone

Last night, I set another tournament milestone - I went over the $20 million play dollar mark in money invested in tournaments (i.e., the sum of all the buy ins and entry fees). Here are the exact figures to date:

play money invested:  $20,141,080
winnings:             $21,475,170
profit:                $1,334,090
return on investment:       6.62%


I've now played in 325 sit and gos. As long as I continue to do well in them, I don't see myself going back to the cash games.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        96     1   195000
 50000       800           6        54     3        0
 50000       800           6        38     3        0
 50000       800           6        11     5        0
 50000       800           6        29     5        0
 50000       800           6        36     2   105000


delta: $-4,800
tournament balance: $1,334,090
balance: $6,464,821

Saturday, October 20, 2012

The One

Online poker players, like members of other online communities, use a lot of specialized shorthand to communicate with each other. Anyone who plays online poker long enough is bound to be exposed to enough of it to pick it up, even if they never chat with anyone; they'll see enough chat going on among their opponents to pick up the lingo. Here's a summary of the most common shorthand used by online poker players; some of it is generic internet shorthand which we as internet citizens also use:

nh - nice hand
ty - thank you
yw -you're welcome
vnh - very nice hand
lol - laughing out loud
brb - be right back

Shorthand also comes into play in how we address each other in the chat box. Almost invariably, user handles are shortened to the likeliest abbreviation. As you might suspect, people generally address me as "neo"; they almost never address me by my full handle of "neostreet". The fact that I'm known as "neo" has a nice side effect - it calls to mind the hero of the classic science fiction movie "The Matrix" (and its sequels). I can't swear that some part of me didn't have this in the back of my mind when I picked my handle four years ago. I have to say, when you come out on top in a sit and go, you definitely feel like you're "The One"! :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        14     5        0
 50000       800           6        42     1   195000


delta: $93,400
tournament balance: $1,338,890
balance: $6,469,621


Friday, October 19, 2012

Three kings went south

Last night, in the second tournament I entered, I ran into some bad luck on a hand where I'd been dealt cowboys (a pair of kings). I hit a set of kings on the turn, at which point I went all in. I got one caller, who was an 18% underdog but hit his flush to cripple my stack. I started the hand with $840, and ended it with just $75. You could say my three kings went south! I was dealt a pair of queens on the very next hand, but they lost to a pair of aces, and I finished that tournament in 5th place. The good news is, I made the money in the other two tournaments I entered.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        65     1   195000
 50000       800           6        19     5        0
 50000       800           6        68     2   105000


delta: $147,600
tournament balance: $1,245,490
balance: $6,376,221

Thursday, October 18, 2012

A probe bluff gone horribly wrong

Lately, I've been dusting off an old and reliable poker tool, the probe bet. I first learned about it in "Harrington on Hold 'em, Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1" by Dan Harrington. Actually, I've come up with a variation on the probe bet which I'll call the probe bluff. The basic idea of the probe bluff is that when you have cocktail napkins (a colorful name for two worthless cards) and the flop has scare cards in it, it's worth a small bet just to see if you can steal the pot. You say to yourself, "I have such a shit hand, these are the definitely the last chips I'm putting into this pot. If everyone folds, good on me, but if anyone raises, I'll just fold. I'm totally prepared to fold; I just want to see if this probe bluff will take the pot."

The danger with probe bluffs is that if nobody raises you but at least one opponent calls, then you'll get to see another card. That other card can put you in a world of hurt. You almost shouldn't even look at it; by rights, you should honor your probe bluff philosophy by just folding on that street. Last night, in the first tournament I entered, I lost $800 on the penultimate hand because I didn't honor my probe bluff philosophy. I probe bluffed the flop, then liked the card I saw on the turn and decided to stay in the hand. Bad dog! :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        53     4        0
 50000       800           6        67     2   105000
 50000       800           6        57     4        0


delta: $-47,400
tournament balance: $1,097,890
balance: $6,228,621

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Three handed marathon

Last night, in the third tournament I entered, I had the longest three handed stretch of my tournament poker career - 59 hands. Unfortunately, I came out on the short end, finishing in third. When the stretch began, the blinds were at $50 and $100; when I hit the felt, they were up to $200 and $400, with $25 antes. I know this marathon was unusual, and was happy to be a part of it. I feel that only three very skilled players could achieve this.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        55     4        0
 50000       800           6         3     6        0
 50000       800           6        95     3        0


delta: $-152,400
tournament balance; $1,145,290
balance: $6,276,021

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The imp of the perverse

I've mentioned the imp of the perverse in this space before. In a poker context, it's when you make a call you know you shouldn't make. It's hard to explain why this happens, but sometimes it just does. In the third tournament I entered last night, the imp struck when I'd made it to the final three, and was the chip leader. A player who'd been playing very tight all tournament went all in on the turn; I'd flopped a stealth two pair and we'd both checked the flop. I thought for a bit, knew he had some kind of a hand, but couldn't stop myself from calling. He turned over a pair of deuces, which gave him a set; my stealth two was deuces and threes, so I knew I was in for a world of hurt. The river card was icing on the cake, giving him a full house he didn't need to beat me. I lost $2,240, and hit the felt on the next hand. Live and learn!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        84     2   105000
 50000       800           6        46     1   195000
 50000       800           6        53     3        0


delta: $147,600
tournament balance: $1,297,690
balance: $6,428,421

Monday, October 15, 2012

Twenty-fived

Last night, in the second tournament I entered, I got twenty-fived on hand 45. That is, I was a 75% favorite after the turn, but lost to the 25% underdog on the river. My opponent was holding out for a gutshot straight or a flush, and hit his flush. The good news for me was that I didn't get taken to the felt, though I did lose a whopping $2,100 on the hand. I managed to take out the third place finisher several hands later, and wound up in second place after an 18 hand heads up battle.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        29     5        0
 50000       800           6        67     2   105000 


delta:  $3,400
tournament balance: $1,150,090
balance: $6,280,821

Sunday, October 14, 2012

House money

I love it when I win the first tournament of the night I enter. That means I can play for the rest of the night with house money. Lately I've been gravitating to three tournaments a night. If you win one of the three, you realize a $42,600 profit. Of course, if you stop after winning the first tournament, you come out with a $144,200 profit. But where's the fun in quitting so early? Whenever I win the first one, I figure, rightly or wrongly, that I'm "in the sweetness", and that it would be foolish not to see how far the sweetness will go.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        52     1   195000
 50000       800           6        36     4        0
 50000       800           6        37     4        0


delta: $42,600
tournament balance: $1,146,690
balance: $6,277,421

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Blue percentages

It's been a while since I've been in the blue. The last time was on September 16. I've kind of been in a holding pattern since then. I got curious to see how my tournament blue percentage compared to my cash game blue percentage. Note that I aggregate by session date, so that each date has a single delta associated with it, regardless of how many tournaments I played on that date. Here are the current percentages:

cash games

number of dates:               760
number of times in the blue:   172
blue percentage:             22.63

tournaments

number of dates:                66
number of times in the blue:    12
blue percentage:             18.18

It's a decent percentage, but I'd like to increase it.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        70     3        0
 50000       800           6        29     5        0
 50000       800           6        18     6        0


delta: $-152,400
tournament balance: $1,104,090
balance: $6,234,821



Friday, October 12, 2012

Career best heads up comeback

Last night, in the second tournament I entered, I had the best heads up comeback of my career. At the start of hand 88, I was down to $235 in chips, facing my opponent's seemingly insurmountable $5,765 stack. Eleven hands later, nine of which I won, I emerged the victor. The right side of the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the tournament resembles the left side of the Empire State building :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        36     3        0
 50000       800           6        98     1   195000


delta: $93,400
tournament balance: $1,256,490
balance: $6,387,221

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Unbenign nines

Friends and neighbors, another streak has come to an end. After 37 straight nights of playing poker, I missed a night last night. That ties my record for the longest such streak. Believe it or not, I already feel like I haven't played in a while, and am really looking forward to playing tonight!

I entered two tournaments on Tuesday night. In the first one, I was playing well, but hitched my wagon to a pair of nines on hand 40. I went all in with them preflop; my opponent turned over a big slick, paired his ace on the flop, and that was all she wrote. I made the money in the second tournament.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        40     4        0
 50000       800           6        60     2   105000


delta: $3,400
tournament balance: $1,163,090
balance: $6,293,821

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

One shove too many

Last night, there was a player who was shoving (i.e., going all in) too often. I got fed up with it and decided to call his third or fourth shove. As I suspected, he didn't have a premium hand; truth be told, neither did I. With my 10 3 offsuit, I was a 40.36% dog to his king 2 offsuit. The good news was that I'd started the hand with $1,380 in chips to his $370; that mismatch definitely figured into my decision to call. The better news was that Lady Luck smiled on me, as I paired my 3 and he paired his 2. I went on to win the tournament, and called it a night.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        74     1   195000


delta: $144,200
tournament delta: $1,159,690
delta: $6,290,421

Monday, October 8, 2012

Flushed away

Last night, in the second tournament I entered, I had to deal with one too many flushes; you could say I got flushed away :-) On the first hand, I was dealt a big slick, then flopped a pair of aces, but lost $540 when an opponent hit a flush on the river. I battled back gamely, but ran into another flush on hand 30 which took me to the felt. On that hand, the flush was hit on the turn, and my opponent boiled a frog by not betting too big on that street. I'd been dealt pocket queens, and hit a set of queens on the very street which gave my opponent his flush.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        73     3        0
 50000       800           6        30     5        0
 50000       800           6        18     5        0


delta: $-152,400
tournament balance: $1,015,490
balance: $6,146,221

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Heads up microthon

Recently I've bragged a bit about heads up marathons. In the third tournament I entered last night, I had nothing to brag about; I only lasted one heads up hand. I call that a heads up microthon :-) Here's how it went down:

Table '624883831 1' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: neostreet (1510 in chips)
Seat 4: (4490 in chips)
neostreet: posts small blind 75
Seat 4: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Ac 4h]
neostreet: raises 150 to 300
Seat 4: calls 150
*** FLOP *** [As 8h 2d]
Seat 4: checks
neostreet: bets 150
Seat 4: raises 3150 to 3300
neostreet: calls 1060 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (2090) returned to Seat 4
*** TURN *** [As 8h 2d] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [As 8h 2d 6h] [Jd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 4: shows [9c Ad] (a pair of Aces)
neostreet: shows [Ac 4h] (a pair of Aces - lower kicker)
Seat 4 collected 3020 from pot
neostreet finished the tournament in 2nd place and received 105000.00.
Seat 4 wins the tournament and receives 195000.00 - congratulations!

I have no regrets about calling to go all in, however. A pair of aces on the flop is a huge hand heads up.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        37     1   195000
 50000       800           6        51     3        0
 50000       800           6        40     2   105000


delta: $147,600
tournament balance: $1,167,890
balance: $6,298,621

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Rockets crashed and burned

I haven't done the research yet, but feel certain I've had a better net result over my poker career with pocket threes than I've had with pocket rockets (aces). This may seem strange at first blush, but it's really not. For one thing, I'd rarely be tempted to go all in with pocket threes, but I've gone all in with aces many times. One such time was in the fourth tournament I entered last night. I was up against two opponents and lost to both, so you could say my rockets both crashed and burned. I was a 62.44% favorite, but one opponent made a straight to win our side pot, and the other made a full house to win the main pot. Man, did that hurt!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        24     5        0
 50000       800           6        52     3        0
 50000       800           6        40     3        0
 50000       800           6         9     6        0
 50000       800           6        79     2   105000
 50000       800           6        47     4        0


delta: $-199,800
tournament balance: $1,020,290
balance: $6,151,021

Friday, October 5, 2012

The golden 123 / 456

You know me; I love coming up with statistical theories related to poker. Here's my latest: if you can finish in the top three places 33% more than you finish in the bottom three places, you'll make a profit. I call this the golden 123 / 456. Right now, I'm hitting it on the nose:

place    count(*)    count(*) / 280
1    51    0.1821
2    54    0.1929
3    55    0.1964
4    47    0.1679
5    43    0.1536
6    30    0.1071


123/456 = (51 + 54 + 55) / (47 + 43 + 30) = 160 / 120 = 1.333333

Of course, skeptics among you might claim that I came up with this number based on my data. Actually, I did! However, I still think it's a pretty good theory.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        15     4        0
 50000       800           6        43     5        0
 50000       800           6        36     2   105000


delta: $-47,400
tournament balance: $1,220,090
balance: $6,350,821

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Quarter million dollar downswing

If there's one thing I've learned about the tournament game, it's that it gives rise to big swings, both up and down. You can feel like you're on top of your game, then suddenly find yourself on a cold streak where you're ending up outside the money time and time again. That's one reason I picked a buy in level of $50,000, instead of a higher buy in. Even at the $50,000 level, you only have to miss the money 5 times running in order to drop over a quarter of a million play dollars. That's what happened to me last night, when you combine my three losses with two from the night before.

Another thing I've learned about the tournament game is that you really don't need to worry as much as you think you should. $254,000 seems like a lot to drop in 5 consecutive tournaments, but I just checked the records and I've done that 13 times now. When an event has happened that many times before, and you ended up surviving it, you realize you're likely to survive it this time also.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        49     3        0
 50000       800           6        62     3        0
 50000       800           6        36     5        0


delta: $-152,400
tournament balance: $1,267,490
balance: $6,398,221

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

An insurmountable lead

Last night, in the first tournament I entered, my stack rose steadily to the top. By the time I got to heads up, I had an insurmountable lead of $5,848 to $152. I've never experienced such total domination of a table. I have to say, it was a lot of fun!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        49     1   195000
 50000       800           6        12     6        0
 50000       800           6        20     5        0


delta: $42,600
tournament balance: $1,419,890
balance: $6,550,621

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Top 10 tournament four bagger

As you know, I love it when I have a session which puts me in the career top 10 for a statistic. The longer the career, the more impressive hitting the top 10 becomes. Last night's first two tournaments, in conjunction with the last two tournaments from the night before, gave me my 8th best ever tournament four bagger (cumulative delta for four consecutive tournaments). Here are the current top 10:

    839200 2012-08-21 2012-08-24 (3)
    644200 2012-08-20 2012-08-23 (3)
    635900 2012-08-18 2012-08-21 (3)
    624800 2012-08-23 2012-08-27 (4)
    600250 2012-08-16 2012-08-19 (3)
    457400 2012-08-22 2012-08-26 (3)
    448000 2012-08-19 2012-08-22 (2)
    441400 2012-09-28 2012-10-01 (4)
    380400 2012-09-09 2012-09-12 (3)
    353200 2012-08-15 2012-08-18 (3)


For each four bagger, the number in parentheses is the number of money finishes in that stretch.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6       106     2   105000
 50000       800           6        61     1   195000
 50000       800           6        42     4        0


delta: $147,600
tournament balance: $1,377,290
balance: $6,508,021

Monday, October 1, 2012

Epic heads up battle

Last night, in the first tournament I entered, I got to heads up at the end of hand 50. I had the chip lead, with $4,410 to my opponent's $1,590. Thus began an epic heads up battle. On hand 60, my stack took a huge hit when my two pair lost to a straight; I lost $2,640, bringing my stack all the way down to $720. It dropped to $420 after two more hands, and I was essentially on life support. I'm proud to say I was able to battle back from this virtually certain defeat. With grit and luck, I brought my stack back up to a high of $4,245 on hand 79. Alas, that was to be my last hurrah. I finally hit the felt on hand 97. I'm certain this is the longest heads up battle I've ever had in a tournament - 47 hands. I don't even mind that I lost it, since it was so well played by both players.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        97     2   105000
 50000       800           6        94     2   105000


delta: $108,400
tournament balance: $1,229,690
balance: $6,360,421