Friday, November 30, 2012

Hot air balloon ride

Last night, I lost my starting stack of $40,000 in slow motion; the process took 108 hands in all. You could say my stack took a hot air balloon ride down to the felt :-). The largest amount I lost on a single hand was $7,200. The largest amount I won on a single hand was $2,366. Nights like that are inevitable; there's nothing you can do to avoid them, and there's precious little you can do once they've started (short of quitting early). The best thing to do is be philosophical about them.

In my SkillBet match, there was a lot of drama in the final four hands. At the start of hand 27, I was within striking distance of  my opponent, down $15.15. At the end of the hand, he was seemingly out of reach - I was down $45.15 to him, and there were only three hands left. Hand 28 was a wash. I beat him pretty soundly on hands 29 and 30, coming all the way back to being down $12.00. Unfortunately, I was out of hands.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 108 hands and saw flop:
 - 33 out of 37 times while in big blind (89%)
 - 22 out of 36 times while in small blind (61%)
 - 19 out of 35 times in other positions (54%)
 - a total of 74 out of 108 (68%)
 Pots won at showdown - 11 of 26 (42%)
 Pots won without showdown - 21

delta: $-40,000
balance: $6,257,591

Thursday, November 29, 2012

An unintended SkillBet lesson

Last night, I again played a match of SkillBet after a short PokerStars session. In the session, I won a nice pot on hand 8 and decided to call it a night two hands later. I was amazed that my opponent stayed in the hand to the end, seeing that he'd been dealt a pair of kings and an ace showed up in the flop. I'd been dealt a suited ace jack, and my aces held up.

The unintended SkillBet lesson came about due to the fact that their software doesn't bring their window up to top when an action is required by the user; I'd joined a table, and was web surfing while waiting for an opponent to join. When I eventually decided to look back at the table, I discovered that an opponent had joined some time before, and SkillBet had been auto-folding every hand for me; over ten hands of the thirty had already gone by. The interesting thing was that I wasn't that far behind; the poker lesson is that very often, nothing is the right thing to do :-) I ended up winning the match by playing more conservatively than my opponent.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 10 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 1 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 1 out of 1 times while in small blind (100%)
 - 5 out of 8 times in other positions (62%)
 - a total of 7 out of 10 (70%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 2 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $8,069
balance: $6,297,591

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Bozo or Pennywise?

I seem to be getting hooked on SkillBet; I'll know I've really got it bad if I ever switch the order up, and play on SkillBet before playing on PokerStars. The title of tonight's post refers to my SkillBet match last night, so I'll just be brief on my PokerStars session. It was another short one; on hand 17, I won a pot worth $73,522 with a full house, fives full of eights, and got out of Dodge.

Even though I don't think SkillBet is real poker, it's immensely fun to play. There's something really empowering about looking at what your opponent is doing when you're already out of the hand; you feel a bit like a god. This partial omniscience can reveal some poker truths to you in surprising ways. Let me give you an example from last night's match.

First, however, I need to fill in a bit of back story. Part of what makes the SkillBet site so entertaining is the graphics; they have a wide assortment of avatars, including the one they pick for each human player. The avatars they use for their poker bots are all over the map, even going so far as to include animals; last night, one of the poker bots had a dog avatar. Comically, they picked a bikini clad female for my avator, since they assumed from my first name (which is a somewhat unusual one in this country) that I'm female. Even though I corrected my gender in my profile, the SkillBet software didn't change my avatar. I have to say, I have a nice set of tatas!

Enough preamble - on to my point. Last night, one of the poker bots had a clown avatar. On one of the hands, I made a small preflop raise and everyone, including the clown, meekly folded. I then peeked at my human opponent's table to see how he was faring. Apparently, he hadn't made a preflop bet, since both he and the clown were still in the hand, and the flop had been dealt. Now, instead of being a lamb, the clown was a real lion, betting out. I'd gotten Bozo the clown with my preflop bet, but my opponent was getting Pennywise, the evil clown from Stephen King's "It". I loved it! I did better than my opponent on that hand, but unfortunately lost the 30 hand match.

It was a great illustration of how aggression in poker can turn on a dime; that part of the SkillBet experience is 100% poker.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 18 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 3 times while in big blind (33%)
 - 3 out of 3 times while in small blind (100%)
 - 7 out of 12 times in other positions (58%)
 - a total of 11 out of 18 (61%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $33,522
balance: $6,289,522

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Donkey credentials

Showdowns are very revealing. Not only can they show you how good an opponent is, they can also show you how bad he is. Last night, on hand 7, a showdown revealed to me just how bad two of my opponents were; they had full donkey credentials. Donkey number one, who was dealt ace three offsuit, went all in pre-flop with them. Donkey number two, who was dealt queen deuce offsuit, called. Donkey number one ended up winning with his ace high. Four hands later, I was dealt a big slick, and donkey number one went all in again. Donkey number two again called. I couldn't resist calling. As it turned out, this time, donkey number two actually had a hand; he had pocket queens. He hit a set on the flop, and bet a mere $2,000. I called, and paired my king on the turn. This time, he bet $6,800 and I raised him to $13,600; he called. I raised because I couldn't credit him for anything better than a pair of queens. He went all in for his remaining $3,336 on the river, and I called. My stack got crippled; I lost $38,900 on the hand, and hit the felt two hands later. I don't feel bad, though; I think I made the correct play, with the knowledge I had at the time.

Once again, I played a SkillBet match after my PokerStars session; I finally won another one.

delta: $-40,000
balance: $6,256,000

Monday, November 26, 2012

Why SkillBet is not real poker

Last night, I had another short and sweet session. On hand 8, I won a pot worth $32,100 with four of a kind, jacks. The funny thing was, even though I flopped trip jacks, I never bet the entire hand; I simply called. An opponent who'd made a full house on the river went all in, and since I'd made quad jacks on the river, I thought I might just look him up :-)

The shortness of the session left me time to play around some more on SkillBet. I've figured out why it's not real poker; the explanation is a variation on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Since the SkillBet software allows you to keep track of what your human opponent is doing in real time, including how much better or worse than you he fared on each hand, your poker decisions are necessarily different than they would be if you knew nothing of how your opponent was faring. For instance, if you're slightly ahead of him, it might be a good strategy to automatically fold all marginal hands, since the odds are that they won't win; your opponent, since he's behind, will be pressured to play those hands in the hope that he can catch up with you. In effect, he'll be forced to play hands he wouldn't play normally. Conversely, when you're behind and there are only a few hands left to play, your best strategy is to play very aggressively, hoping you get some callers and catch a lucky card. The knowledge of where you stand against your opponent can therefore make you play differently from your norm in two distinct ways:

1. you muck hands you might ordinarily play
2. you play hands you would definitely muck ordinarily

So what SkillBet measures is not precisely poker skill; more accurately, what it measures is how well you play poker knowing way more than you should about your opponent's play. I find it enjoyable, but it ain't poker.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 9 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 1 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 0 out of 1 times while in small blind (0%)
 - 3 out of 7 times in other positions (42%)
 - a total of 4 out of 9 (44%)
 Pots won at showdown - 2 of 2 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $16,301
balance: $6,296,000

Sunday, November 25, 2012

SkillBet sampler

Last night, my PokerStars session was short and sweet. On hand 17, I won a pot worth $51,300 with a full house, jacks full of tens. I exited stage left on the following hand. As is my custom, I'd been reading Card Player magazine online when not involved in the hands. An advertisement I saw there for another poker site had caught my eye, and I decided to check it out.

The site is called SkillBet, and it purports to supply a version of poker in which luck plays almost no role. You play against 5 poker bots, while at the the same time, at an adjacent table, another human (your actual opponent) plays against the same five bots. You each get dealt the exact same hand, and the community cards are the same at both tables. Everything's the same at the two tables except for the decisions the two human players make. You each play 30 hands (the same 30 hands), and at the end of them, whoever did better against the bots wins. Both humans could lose money, but whoever lost less money would be the winner.

Thankfully, they have a practice version where you can play with free tokens. I gave it a try. I played four different opponents; I won the first battle, but lost the remaining three. It was fun, but it didn't quite feel like real poker to me. I might play it now and again just for fun.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 18 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 2 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 1 out of 3 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 5 out of 13 times in other positions (38%)
 - a total of 7 out of 18 (38%)
 Pots won at showdown - 2 of 4 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $30,603
balance: $6,279,699

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Near miss

Last night, there was one particularly aggressive player at the table. He was going all in way too often. It was clear that if he continued to do it, he'd flame out quickly. When I was dealt pocket queens and he went all in again, I called. He turned over king nine suited. I was a 68% favorite before the flop, an 86% favorite after the flop, and an 84% favorite after the turn; unfortunately, the board provided a straight, so it was a chop. If I'd won that hand, I would have gained over $26,000 in chips, and would have called it a night right away. I had to settle for a much smaller gain, but stayed true to my new philosophy; I called it a night when a $12,808 pot put me back in the black after 17 hands in the red.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 77 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 11 times while in big blind (63%)
 - 6 out of 12 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 13 out of 54 times in other positions (24%)
 - a total of 26 out of 77 (33%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 9 (55%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $2,559
balance: $6,249,096

Friday, November 23, 2012

Niner niner

Several months ago I read the screenplay of the 1980 movie "Airplane" on my Kindle. I thought the movie was hilarious when I first saw it, and still think so. The humor is innovative on many levels; the movie loves to play with our expectations, constantly surprising us by parodying and breaking cinematic conventions. One convention it breaks is the one where the audience is supposed to accept the performance of each actor at face value, without taking knowledge of their real lives into account. The famous basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar plays the part of airline pilot Roger Murdock, but his real life keeps intruding on the fiction, to the point where it's clear he's not an airline pilot at all, and has to fake knowledge of how to fly the plane. Here's an excerpt from the script:

                        MURDOCK
         Listen, kid, I've been hearing that crap
         ever since I was at UCLA. Tell your old
         man to drag Unseld and Lanier up and down
         the court for forty-eight minutes.
              (into mike)
         Ah...Denver Control, this is Flight two-
         zero-niner continuing on a heading two-
         niner-niner...niner, ah...niner...niner.

The movie riffs on the fact that in air traffic control communications, the word "niner" is always substituted for the number nine.

Last night was a "niner niner" festival at the table I joined. On hand 1, an opponent was dealt pocket nines and won a pot worth $81,100 with them. On hand 9, I was dealt pocket nines and hit a set of nines on the flop; an opponent put me all in and I called, winning a pot worth $76,300. On hand 10, I was dealt pocket nines again, but folded on the flop when I didn't hit another set. I called it a night at that point.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 10 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 2 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 0 out of 1 times while in small blind (0%)
 - 2 out of 7 times in other positions (28%)
 - a total of 3 out of 10 (30%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 1 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $34,150
balance: $6,246,537

Thursday, November 22, 2012

It's time to begin

The title of this post is from the start of the chorus of a song I love named "It's Time", by Imagine Dragons. It's a song I often listen to while playing poker. What do I mean by "It's time to begin"? Simply that it's again time for me to reboot my poker thinking and reexamine my goals. I need to adjust my poker philosophy, and come up with a new set of goals. This will periodically be the case throughout my poker career.

I realize that my poker goals have drifted, and are no longer very clear. I took a walk on the wild side with sit and go tournaments, and that experience spoiled me a bit; I got used to increasing my stack in huge chunks, which is not the norm for cash games. Since quitting the sit and gos, I've played 10 cash tournament sessions, and have lost six of them. That's standing the golden ratio on its head. That trend has to stop. My immediate goal is to get back to the golden ratio, counting just the sessions I've played since the sit and gos. An adjunct goal is to recalibrate my thinking to appreciate sessions where I've won what my current thinking is telling me is a measly amount of chips. If I'd had that recalibration in place on Tuesday night, I would have quit playing when I went up $7,899, which would have represented nearly a 20% return on my initial investment of $40,000. Instead, I continued playing, and ended up hitting the felt.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 79 hands and saw flop:
 - 10 out of 15 times while in big blind (66%)
 - 9 out of 16 times while in small blind (56%)
 - 18 out of 48 times in other positions (37%)
 - a total of 37 out of 79 (46%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 10 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $-40,000
balance: $6,212,387

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Three on a match

Last night's session was very short, and not at all sweet. I hit the felt on hand 14, when I made a bad decision. I'd flopped top and bottom pair. A player acting before me went virtually all-in (he only left himself $137 behind). To call, I'd have to put myself all in. If it had immediately been my turn to act, a call here would certainly have been defensible; however, another player acted before me, and he called the first player's $37,800 bet. Loud klaxons should have gone off in my head at this point; you really need to have the nuts to call in this situation, since you have to beat not one but two players. The old superstition about three on a match has its poker analogue; you really don't want to be the third one going in to a huge pot. A fold would have been the correct play here. However, I called. As it turned out, I was a 72% favorite after the flop, but the first player, who'd flopped middle and bottom pair, hit a full house on the turn, and that was all she wrote.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 14 hands and saw flop:
 - 2 out of 2 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 2 out of 2 times while in small blind (100%)
 - 4 out of 10 times in other positions (40%)
 - a total of 8 out of 14 (57%)
 Pots won at showdown - 0 of 2 (0%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $-40,000
balance: $6,252,387

Monday, November 19, 2012

Three silly personal bests

Last night, I set three silly personal bests: most hands played in one session, most flops seen in one session, and most pots won in one session. The reason they're silly is they really have no bearing on whether or not I made a profit (I didn't). One reason my seeing the flop percentage was so high was there was a quite a stretch when the table was shorthanded. I may have actually set a fourth silly record, for most pots won without a showdown in one session, but I'm not sure (and it surely doesn't matter :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 262 hands and saw flop:
 - 50 out of 59 times while in big blind (84%)
 - 40 out of 61 times while in small blind (65%)
 - 69 out of 142 times in other positions (48%)
 - a total of 159 out of 262 (60%)
 Pots won at showdown - 24 of 54 (44%)
 Pots won without showdown - 32

delta: $-53,425
balance: $6,292,387

Sunday, November 18, 2012

My favorite card

It might seem a little absurd for me to say that I have a favorite card in the standard 52 card deck, but it's true. It might seem even a little more absurd for me to tell you that I only learned what my favorite card is last night. However, that statement also happens to be true. Not to keep you in suspense any longer, my favorite card is the seven of clubs.

You may already have known that clubs is my favorite suit, so it shouldn't be a total shock that my favorite card is a club. But why the seven? For the simple reason that last night, a seven of clubs on the river filled an inside straight flush draw for me. When that seven of clubs hit, it was love at first sight!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 42 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 5 times while in big blind (80%)
 - 2 out of 6 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 13 out of 31 times in other positions (41%)
 - a total of 19 out of 42 (45%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 4 (75%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $40,930
balance: $6,345,812

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Another cash game marathon

Now that I'm a veteran of both cash games and tournaments, I can make legitimate comparisons between them. It's pretty unusual for a tournament to last more than 100 hands, but that's nothing for a cash game. Last night, I had my second longest session ever, in terms of hands played - 240. I also won the most pots I've ever won in a single session - 46. Unfortunately for me, I hit the felt fairly early on in the session, and was never able to battle back to the black. One consolation was that at the time I finally quit playing, I was the chip leader at the table, having seen many different players come and go.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 240 hands and saw flop:
 - 35 out of 52 times while in big blind (67%)
 - 32 out of 54 times while in small blind (59%)
 - 76 out of 134 times in other positions (56%)
 - a total of 143 out of 240 (59%)
 Pots won at showdown - 22 of 39 (56%)
 Pots won without showdown - 24

delta: $-22,243
balance: $6,304,882

Friday, November 16, 2012

A rare career first

Last night, for the first time in over four years of play, I was dealt pocket rockets on back to back hands. This is a rare sequence of events, to put it mildly. I only ever remember it happening to an opponent once before, so that makes it just twice I've seen it happen in my whole career. How did I make out? Swimmingly! On the first of the two hands, I won a pot worth $62,921; on the second one, I won a pot worth $126,842. I got out of Dodge right after that.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 74 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 9 times while in big blind (55%)
 - 5 out of 10 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 24 out of 55 times in other positions (43%)
 - a total of 34 out of 74 (45%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 9 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $86,242
balance: $6,327,125

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Eighteened again

Last night, I played quite well, despite the fact that I ended up hitting the felt. On the third to last hand of the night, I had a great chance to double up. I'd flopped a stealth two pair, and called an all-in turn bet from an opponent whose stack was almost as big as mine. He turned over pocket queens, and was an eighteen percent dog. Wouldn't you know, the river was another queen, giving him a set and winning him a pot worth $82,100. I was crippled, with just $1,269 left.

To paraphrase a song lyric, "I wish I weren't eighteened again"!

delta: $-40,000
balance: $6,240,883

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

50,000 hands

On Monday night, I hit a poker milestone - the number of hands I've played on PokerStars reached 50,000. In actuality, I hit this milestone some unknown time ago, since I didn't start keeping stats until some months after I started playing, and didn't start keeping the hands played per session stat until another year and a half after that. I can attest that the more hands you play, the more likely you are to achieve your full potential.

Last night, I was underwater for 93 of the 96 hands I played, for an underwater percentage of 96.9. It's good practice when you're forced to grind it out like that every now and then!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 96 hands and saw flop:
 - 11 out of 14 times while in big blind (78%)
 - 7 out of 17 times while in small blind (41%)
 - 34 out of 65 times in other positions (52%)
 - a total of 52 out of 96 (54%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 12 (41%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $450
balance: $6,280,883

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Cake

Now that I've switched back to cash games after more than three months of playing tournaments, I can finally admit to myself that tournaments, although fun, are pretty stressful. Playing cash games is like cake in comparison. One's skill level makes a much bigger difference in cash games, over the long run. I'm actually pretty amazed that I was able to play tournaments as long as I did and still come out with a profit.

I have to say, I feel like I've been reunited with a long lost friend. I won't be able to make money as fast playing cash games, but I won't be able to lose it as fast either, and I'll have less stress and just as much fun. Who could argue with that? :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 61 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 9 times while in big blind (66%)
 - 3 out of 9 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 16 out of 43 times in other positions (37%)
 - a total of 25 out of 61 (40%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 9 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $21,612
balance: $6,280,433

Monday, November 12, 2012

SADLOP

Last night, my return to cash games wasn't enough to pull me out of my slump. I actually played quite well, until I succumbed to a SADLOP -  a sudden and dramatic loss of patience. I had no forewarning this was to occur, so I would classify SADLOPs as a subspecies of the imp of the perverse. A good way to remember the acronym is that it's very SAD when a huge chunk gets LOPped off the top of your stack :-) In this case, it was the whole stack. I actually have a pretty good idea why this occurred - I was up against a donk, and thought he was bluffing. It's never a good idea to stake your whole stack on a bluff read.

delta: $-40,000
balance: $6,258,821


Sunday, November 11, 2012

Worst baker's dozen

Last night, I entered three tournaments, and failed to make the money in any of them. Adding these three to the last ten tournaments I'd entered before last night makes a baker's dozen of near perfect futility - in those thirteen tournaments, I only managed one money finish, a second place. I ran the numbers and discovered that this set a personal worst for thirteen consecutive tournaments.

I'm no dummy; it's clear I need to take a break from tournament poker for a while. I'm in a major downswing. Accordingly, tonight and for the foreseeable future, I'm going to go back to playing no limit hold'em cash games.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 80000      1000           6        35     4        0
 80000      1000           6        38     3        0
 80000      1000           6        33     5        0


delta: $-243,000
tournament balance: $1,168,090
balance: $6,298,821

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Stopping the bitch

Memorable quotes are powerful. The proof of their power is the very fact that you remember them, years, or even decades, later. When I was trying to think of a title for this post, I knew I wanted it to relate to the fact that I finally stopped my losing streak. It was a bitch of a streak. That sparked the memory - years ago, Cedric Maxwell, a great Celtics player, said that the Celtics were not going to let Bernard King, a great Knicks player, score at will on them - Maxwell said they were going to "stop the bitch". His choice of words struck me forcefully at the time I read it, and it strikes me equally forcefully now. In one breath, he was praising King, and at the same time claiming that the Celtics would shut him down - and incidentally implying that this would largely be due to his (Maxwell's) defensive efforts.

Last night, I stopped the bitch. After tying a personal record streak of nine straight tournaments out of the money, I finally got back into the money again.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 80000      1000           6         7     6        0
 80000      1000           6       101     2   168000


delta: $6,000
tournament balance: $1,411,090
balance: $6,541,821

Friday, November 9, 2012

You were never shovelier

Given my druthers, I would never shove pre-flop in a tournament. As a reminder, shoving is poker slang for going all in. The reason I'd avoid it if I could is that it's just plain risky. Of course, not shoving pre-flop is a luxury that is often denied you; more often than not, you will have to shove pre-flop at one or more crucial points in the tournament in order to stay alive. This will generally be when you're short stacked; if you don't want to get eaten up by the blinds, which are always growing, you need to grow your stack back pronto when it falls below a certain number of big blinds.

This means that you need to be able to recognize "shovely" hands: hands which are lovely enough to shove with. If you wait too long, even though it doesn't qualify as shoving per se, you'll end up having to call for all your chips with inferior hands. There's a real art in sensing how long to wait; there's a healthy dose of luck involved, too.

Last night, my losing streak continued, as I lost two more tournaments. The most memorable, and painful, hand of the night came in the first tournament, when I'd been dealt a big slick. A short stack shoved, and I called. The shorty turned over rockets, and I was a huge underdog. I lost $525 on that hand.

I just realized I've never explained a really important point about sit and gos. The amount of chips every player starts with has no relation to the buy in. Everyone starts with $1,000 in chips. Losing $525 is a huge loss, effectively representing a loss of over $40,000 when the tournament has an $80,000 buy in.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 80000      1000           6        46     5        0
 80000      1000           6        45     4        0


delta: $-162,000
tournament balance: $1,405,090
balance: $6,535,821

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Here and there

With last night's two out of the money finishes, I've now lost nearly half a million play dollars in my last three sessions. To paraphrase Everett Dirksen, "A half million here, a half million there, pretty soon, you're talking real play money" :-) I'm not worried, though; I just missed the money in three out of the six tournaments in that stretch.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 80000      1000           6        56     3        0
 80000      1000           6        32     3        0


delta: $-162,000
tournament balance: $1,567,090
balance: $6,697,821

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Shipfest

I first learned of the poker expression "Ship it" from an article in Card Player magazine (which I read online); here's the relevant passage:

1. Ship It: This expression usually comes from the mouth of a person who just won a large pot. The common reason for its unpleasantness is that the player who lost the hand usually interprets it as rude. One of our Facebook users described it as the most tilting thing one can hear at a poker table.

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/12016-a-ranking-of-the-ten-most-overused-poker-terms-and-expressions

I've never used the expression myself (except sometimes in my head :-) With this background, the title of this post should become clear. The second (and final) tournament I played last night was a shipfest, since a huge stack of chips was shipped from player to player in fairly rapid procession. I was sitting in seat 2. On hand 2, Seat 1 shipped $990 my way. On hand 7, I shipped $820 of it to Seat 6. On hand 9, Seat 6 shipped $500 of it to Seat 3. It was pretty comical that nobody could hold onto it. The moral of the story is that when a huge stack is shipped your way, it behooves you to play a lot tighter from that point on, to try to protect it.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 80000      1000           6        16     5        0
 80000      1000           6        30     5        0


delta: $-162,000
tournament balance: $1,729,090
balance: $6,859,821

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

My oldest poker weakness

Last night, on the final hand of the night, I fell prey to my oldest poker weakness once again. That weakness, of course, is overvaluing a stealth two pair. The question is, am I ever going to be able to correct this weakness? To be honest, I don't think so. As Hercule Poirot might say, it's not in my character to correct it. Or to be more precise, it's in my character to have it. Without it, I wouldn't be the poker player that I am. It's an integral part of my poker personality. Who knows what would happen, if, like the husband in Hawthorne's "The Birthmark", I tried to eradicate the flaw? When it was gone, what would become of the rest of my game? I firmly believe it's best for me to keep it, strange as that might seem.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 80000      1000           6        47     3        0
 80000      1000           6        17     5        0


delta: $-162,000
tournament balance: $1,891,090
balance: $7,021,821

Monday, November 5, 2012

Waking a sleeping dog

Last night, I entered just one tournament, and played quite well, coming in second. I regret the way I played one heads up hand, however. I made the mistake of waking a sleeping dog. Here's how it went down:

Table '639013346 1' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: (1160 in chips)
Seat 2: neostreet (4840 in chips)
neostreet: posts small blind 100
Seat 1: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [3d Ah]
neostreet: raises 200 to 400
Seat 1: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [Td 8d 7s]
Seat 1: checks
neostreet: checks
*** TURN *** [Td 8d 7s] [2h]
Seat 1: checks
neostreet: checks
*** RIVER *** [Td 8d 7s 2h] [Ad]
Seat 1: checks
neostreet: bets 200
Seat 1: raises 560 to 760 and is all-in
neostreet: calls 560
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 1: shows [6c 9h] (a straight, Six to Ten)
neostreet: shows [3d Ah] (a pair of Aces)
Seat 1 collected 2320 from pot


My pair of aces was a pretty weak holding, considering I had to go all the way to the river to get them. There's no way I should have made a river bet, since any call or raise would likely mean my aces were no good. There's just too much downside to betting in this situation, and precious little upside. The only upside would be if my opponent had a holding weaker than aces, but somehow believed that I was bluffing, and called. That scenario strains credulity.

As is often the case in poker, a bad decision begot another bad decision. Instead of folding when my opponent went all in, I called. I guess I just couldn't credit that he'd had the patience to sandbag me this way, when I'd started the hand with over four times as many chips as him. If that's an indication of the skill level of the typical $80,000 buy in player, I definitely need to raise my game! (By the way, I'm always trying to raise my game, regardless of the skill level of my opponents :-) Things went south in a hurry for me after that. On the final hand, I flopped an ace high flush, only to lose to a full house. C'est la vie!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 80000      1000           6        84     2   168000


delta: $87,000
tournament balance: $2,053,090
balance: $7,183,821

Sunday, November 4, 2012

A decent start

Last night, I got off to a decent start at my new buy in level; I didn't win any tournaments, but came in second twice. On my final hand of the night, I got twenty-threed on the river, when a flush beat my turned set of sixes.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 80000      1000           6        52     2   168000
 80000      1000           6        19     5        0
 80000      1000           6        80     2   168000
 80000      1000           6        41     3        0


delta: $12,000
tournament balance: $1,966,090
balance: $7,096,821

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Moving up

Last night, I surpassed the seven million dollar mark in play money. I've won nearly two million playing sit and gos in the last 3 1/2 months, predominantly at the $50,000 buy in level. The time is right to play for higher stakes. I've decided to move up to the $80,000 buy in tournaments. For fun, I took a look at the amounts I would have won had I played exclusively at specific buy ins, with the same results of 66 firsts and 67 seconds out of 350 tournaments played; here they are:

 $50,000 buy in: $2,125,000
 $80,000 buy in: $3,498,000
$150,000 buy in: $6,777,500
$200,000 buy in: $9,095,000

Of course, there's no guarantee that the competition isn't stronger at the higher buy in levels; but by the same token, there's also no guarantee that it isn't weaker! On to pastures new.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        95     1   195000


delta: $144,200
tournament balance: $1,954,090
balance: $7,084,821

Friday, November 2, 2012

Once more into the blue, dear friends

I've said before that winning never gets old. That goes at least quadruple for getting into the blue. It's undeniably a rush to see your balance reach a height it's never reached before. It validates all the hard work you've put into your game. I'm psyched!

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        73     1   195000


delta: $144,200
tournament balance: $1,809,890
balance: $6,940,621

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Ridonkuluck

Last night's first tournament inspired another neo neo (neostreet neologism). Ridonkuluck is when someone you suspect of being a donkey is the beneficiary of a ridiculous amount of luck. On the final hand of the tournament, I was dealt a pair of fives, and called an all in preflop raise to go all in myself. I made a set on the turn, but hit the felt when my opponent made a flush on the river. He'd been dealt a pair of fours. I had an 84% chance of winning after the flop, and an 82% chance of winning after the turn. Getting beaten by an 18% underdog by itself isn't enough to say my opponent benefited from ridonkuluck; what is enough is the fact that it was the second hand in a row where he made a flush after being dealt a pair. For that to happen, four of the five board cards have to match suit with each other, and with one of his hole cards, two hands in a row. Ridonkulous! :-)

It didn't sit right with me to quit after being eighteened, so I played one more tournament.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 50000       800           6        30     3        0
 50000       800           6        96     1   195000


delta: $93,400
tournament balance: $1,665,690
balance: $6,796,421