Thursday, January 31, 2013

A whole lot of nothing

Last night, I may have set a record for the least amount of money lost in a win-starved session. My definition of a win-starved session is one where you win less than half the number of hands you expect to win. Since I always join a table which already has six players, I expect to win 1 of every 7 hands, or 14%. If I win less than 7%, that's a win-starved session. In last night's session, I won 3 of 58 hands, or 5%. The biggest amount I lost on a single hand was $7,200; the average amount I lost on a losing hand was $769. It's actually an important poker skill to be able to accept the fact that on some nights, there's just a whole lot of nothing going on :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 58 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 7 times while in big blind (42%)
 - 0 out of 8 times while in small blind (0%)
 - 20 out of 43 times in other positions (46%)
 - a total of 23 out of 58 (39%)
 Pots won at showdown - 0 of 3 (0%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $-15,700
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,078,703
balance: $6,528,111

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

One bad turn

The largest amount I lost on a single hand last night was $7,600. This came early on, in hand 3. Looking over the hand history, I realize I made a very bad play on the turn. I'd flopped a stealth two pair, but two of the flop cards were clubs. When the turn was a non-club, I made a feeble bet of $1,800 and got one caller. Wouldn't you know, he was on a club flush draw, and wouldn't you also know he made his flush on the river. When he bet $5,200 on the river, I felt duty bound to call, as there was a reasonable chance it was a bluff. Calling there wasn't so bad, but making such a small bet on the turn was very bad. What I needed to do was bet big enough to price the flush draws out of the market. Not only do I have a weakness for stealth two pairs, I have the even worse habit of slow-playing them! Live and (try to) learn :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 69 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 10 times while in big blind (60%)
 - 2 out of 7 times while in small blind (28%)
 - 29 out of 52 times in other positions (55%)
 - a total of 37 out of 69 (53%)
 Pots won at showdown - 2 of 8 (25%)
 Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $-18,166
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,094,403
balance: $6,543,811

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Acceptable losses

Some nights, even though you play well, you end up losing. Other nights, you might take an ill-advised risk, and come out on top. To help soothe your spirit after the first kind of night, it helps to have a working definition of an acceptable loss. Here's mine: a loss is acceptable if there's a hand which would have turned the loss into a win had there not been a bad beat. By this definition, last Saturday's loss was acceptable. On hand 65, I flopped a stealth two pair, bet it, and kept betting bigger on subsequent streets. I ended up losing to another two pair which was made on the river. I was a 68% favorite to win after the turn. I lost $13,600 on the hand. If I'd won, I would have netted $21,500. My delta for the session would have been in the black, at $6,997. I actually prefer this kind of loss to a fluky win.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 124 hands and saw flop:
 - 14 out of 19 times while in big blind (73%)
 - 13 out of 18 times while in small blind (72%)
 - 46 out of 87 times in other positions (52%)
 - a total of 73 out of 124 (58%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 14 (42%)
 Pots won without showdown - 8

delta: $-14,503
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,112,569
balance: $6,561,977

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Two silver linings

Last night, by rights, I should have lost $80,000. On two separate hands, I was willing to go all in, but didn't have to, since I had more chips at the start of the hand than the eventual winner. In both cases, the eventual winner went all in. On hand 70, I made a flush on the river, but lost to a flopped full house. On hand 102, I made a straight on the river, but lost to a four of a kind made on the turn. It may sound a little strange, but I consider myself very lucky :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 135 hands and saw flop:
 - 20 out of 23 times while in big blind (86%)
 - 12 out of 21 times while in small blind (57%)
 - 52 out of 91 times in other positions (57%)
 - a total of 84 out of 135 (62%)
 Pots won at showdown - 11 of 23 (47%)
 Pots won without showdown - 10

delta: $-24,522
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,127,072
balance: $6,576,480

Friday, January 25, 2013

Good bad cards

It sounds funny to say, but some bad cards are good. What I mean by that is some cards are so bad, you fold them without a second thought. Cards that are marginally better than that make you think, which is work :-) There are actually two great things about good bad cards:

1. you don't waste any poker brain cells on them
2. they're a harbinger of great cards in your future

By contrast, mediocre bad cards make you spend time on them, more often than not don't pan out, and as far as they can be said to portend anything, portend only more mediocre bad cards ahead. Last night, I had a nice run of good bad cards. When I finally got some good cards, my stack shot up quickly, and I cashed out.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 54 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 7 times while in big blind (85%)
 - 4 out of 6 times while in small blind (66%)
 - 15 out of 41 times in other positions (36%)
 - a total of 25 out of 54 (46%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 3 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $25,359
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,151,594
balance: $6,601,002

Thursday, January 24, 2013

That's a big 10-4

I never owned a CB radio, but was aware of the CB lingo which made its way into common usage. Jackson Browne wrote a song called "Shaky Town" which included these lyrics:

That's a big 10-4
From your back door
Just put that hammer down

This roughly translates to "I totally agree with you; I'm right behind you on the highway; let's step on the gas". Last night, I had a big 10-4 at the poker table; on hand ten, I made four of a kind, fives. I won a pot worth $17,100 with them, and wish I'd called it quits right then. However, I played another 88 hands, and ended up with a small loss.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 98 hands and saw flop:
 - 18 out of 24 times while in big blind (75%)
 - 16 out of 23 times while in small blind (69%)
 - 30 out of 51 times in other positions (58%)
 - a total of 64 out of 98 (65%)
 Pots won at showdown - 9 of 11 (81%)
 Pots won without showdown - 12

delta: $-9,565
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,126,235
balance: $6,575,643

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The best of all possible flops

If you play poker long enough, you're going to see some really awesome things. Some will happen to others, and some will happen to you. You really shouldn't be too surprised when they do. Last night, a really awesome thing happened to me. It was a personal first. I flopped a royal flush. I'd had royal flushes before, but I'd never flopped one. Unlike my other three royal flushes, which were all in clubs, this one was in diamonds. I didn't make much money out of my good fortune; the pot I won was only worth $2,488. Of course, that was decidedly secondary to the pure pleasure I had in seeing that flop!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 54 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 6 times while in big blind (66%)
 - 5 out of 8 times while in small blind (62%)
 - 25 out of 40 times in other positions (62%)
 - a total of 34 out of 54 (62%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 9 (44%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $5,480
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,135,800
balance: $6,585,208

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Two memorable hands

Two hands from Saturday night's session stand out. I lost both of them. Luckily, neither loss took me to the felt, though the second one nearly did. On the first hand, I made what I thought was the nut flush on the river, since I had an ace high, and the ace had been dealt to me. In actuality, the nut flush turned out to be a straight flush, also made on the river; I lost $19,200 on that hand. On the second one, I made trip jacks on the turn, and had an ace kicker. Stupidly, I raised a huge all in bet when there was still someone to act behind me, and lost both the side pot and the main pot. I lost a whopping $53,470 on that hand. The good news is, I battled back after that to end the night with a small profit.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 107 hands and saw flop:
 - 11 out of 17 times while in big blind (64%)
 - 8 out of 15 times while in small blind (53%)
 - 35 out of 75 times in other positions (46%)
 - a total of 54 out of 107 (50%)
 Pots won at showdown - 15 of 19 (78%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $2,107
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,130,320
balance: $6,579,728

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Fifty fifty

I keep changing my ideas about what constitutes a good seeing the flop percentage, and what constitutes a good showdown percentage. The lower the former, the higher the latter, in general. Last night, I had the unusual outcome of both of them being the same, 50. It turned out to be fine in the specific circumstance; one of my opponents was a big risk-taker, and I won a huge pot from him at the end of the night. Whenever you win an outsize pot, and happen to have been playing a little loosely, it validates your loose play (at least in your own mind :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 65 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 9 times while in big blind (77%)
 - 5 out of 9 times while in small blind (55%)
 - 21 out of 47 times in other positions (44%)
 - a total of 33 out of 65 (50%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 10 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $50,518
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,128,213
balance: $6,577,621

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Had I but chips enough, and time

I first read Andrew Marvell's poem "To His Coy Mistress" close to 40 years ago. Like all great poems, it has lines which you discover you've memorized, without even trying. Here are two that spring to mind:

Thou by the Indian Ganges' side shouldst rubies find;
I by the tide of Humber would complain.

Of course, these geographical references are examples of how far one could travel if space were no object, one of the two hypothetical conditions raised in the first lines of the poem:

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.

As you can see, I've appropriated the first line for my own purposes in the title of this post. Had I but chips enough, and time, I'd never lose another poker session :-)

Last night, I had a long session where I was card dead for long stretches and had to be really patient. My patience was rewarded in the end when I won three hands in a row, essentially tripling up.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 106 hands and saw flop:
 - 8 out of 13 times while in big blind (61%)
 - 7 out of 15 times while in small blind (46%)
 - 41 out of 78 times in other positions (52%)
 - a total of 56 out of 106 (52%)
 Pots won at showdown - 10 of 17 (58%)
 Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $20,294
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,077,695
balance: $6,527,103

Friday, January 18, 2013

Pay me on the river

The more I play poker, the more I realize the importance of getting your opponents to believe they have you beat. That's the best way to get paid off. It's clear that the longer someone stays in a hand, the more reluctant they'll be to throw it away. The less you bet in the early stages of a hand, the more likely that players will stay in it. The stronger your hand is, the more important it is that you don't bet it big early on. This whole philosophy can be summed up in five words: "Pay me on the river".

Last night, on hand 38, I got paid on the river. Unfortunately, it was only a side pot; I missed out on the main pot when one of my two opponents filled a gutshot straight draw. Fortunately, the side pot was big enough to give me a nice profit, and a reason to call it a night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 39 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 6 times while in big blind (83%)
 - 1 out of 6 times while in small blind (16%)
 - 10 out of 27 times in other positions (37%)
 - a total of 16 out of 39 (41%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 4 (75%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $19,926
cash game no limit hold'em balance: 4,057,401
balance: $6,506,809

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Sore thumb

Looking at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of last night's session, one hand sticks out like a sore thumb. That's the one where I flopped an open-ended straight draw, and called a short stack's all in on the turn. I got air on the river, and lost a pot worth $20,038 to a pair of jacks. I played a while longer, but wasn't able to recover the chips I lost on that hand.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 51 hands and saw flop:
 - 9 out of 11 times while in big blind (81%)
 - 7 out of 11 times while in small blind (63%)
 - 14 out of 29 times in other positions (48%)
 - a total of 30 out of 51 (58%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 9 (44%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5


delta: $-19,553
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,037,475
balance: $6,486,883

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Reeling one in

To catch a really big fish, you can't try to haul it in all at once; if you do, you'll just break your line. Instead, you need to reel in a little, pause, reel in a little more, pause again, etc. The poker equivalent of trying to haul a fish in all at once is going all in. The poker equivalent of reeling a fish in little by little is raising by the original bet amount. In hand 4 of last night's session, I flopped an open-ended straight draw, and made the high end of the straight on the turn. On the river, I bet $3,000, got raised to $6,000, raised to $9,000, and just kept raising by $3,000 whenever my opponent raised me by $3,000. After five raises each, he finally just called. He turned over a two pair, and I raked in a pot worth $72,200. That was sufficient for me to call it a night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 5 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 1 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 1 out of 1 times while in small blind (100%)
 - 1 out of 3 times in other positions (33%)
 - a total of 3 out of 5 (60%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 1 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $36,400
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,057,028
balance: $6,506,436

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Losing well

When you're losing, it's tempting to play more riskily; you justify this to yourself by saying you don't have enough chips to play properly. The reasoning here is that if your gamble pays off, you'll have more chips to play with right away, and if your gamble fails, you'll soon have more chips to play with, once you've hit the felt and are able to reload. Many times, this actually turns out to be a good strategy; I've often turned my luck around after hitting the felt. However, it's extremely important to be able to end your session before hitting the felt. You won't do it every time you have the opportunity, but you need to be able to do it. Otherwise, you're just a slave to your impulses. I consider quitting early like this a form of losing well. Last night, I lost well by quitting after my set of tens lost to an ace high flush. I sensed it wasn't my night, and acted on that sense.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 34 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 4 times while in big blind (25%)
 - 3 out of 5 times while in small blind (60%)
 - 17 out of 25 times in other positions (68%)
 - a total of 21 out of 34 (61%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 4 (25%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $-17,826
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,020,628
balance: $6,470,036

Monday, January 14, 2013

A shock to the system

I wasn't able to post last night since my browser locked up every time I logged into blogger.com. Tonight I figured out that the culprit was a Firefox plugin, Shockwave Flash. When I disabled it, I was back in business. I discovered it's very disorienting not to be able to post, truly a shock to the system.

It turns out that both Saturday night's session and last night's session qualify as poker sonnets, if I relax the rules a little bit. Since they're my rules, I think I will :-)

Saturday night's session:

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 30 hands and saw flop:
 - 2 out of 5 times while in big blind (40%)
 - 3 out of 4 times while in small blind (75%)
 - 12 out of 21 times in other positions (57%)
 - a total of 17 out of 30 (56%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $23,387
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,021,893
balance: $6,471,301

Last night's session:

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 26 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 4 times while in big blind (25%)
 - 2 out of 4 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 10 out of 18 times in other positions (55%)
 - a total of 13 out of 26 (50%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 1 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $16,561
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,038,454
balance: $6,487,862


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Poker sonnet

Some of the most beautiful poems in the English language are in the sonnet form. This form imposes structural, rhythmic, and rhyming constraints on the poet, but despite these constraints, or perhaps even because of them, the beauty of a well-made sonnet is manifest. Last night, I flatter myself that I wrote a poker sonnet. The constraints on poker sonnets are not as strict as those of the poetic kind, yet they do exist and must be adhered to. Here are the ones I've come up with, after over four years of playing poker:

- the session must be a winning one
- it must be at most 30 hands long
- the "seeing the flop" percentage must be well under 50
- the "pots won at showdown" percentage must be well over 50
- the maximum amount lost on a single hand should be at most a tenth of the maximum amount won on a single hand

Check, check, check, check, check :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 29 hands and saw flop:
 - 2 out of 3 times while in big blind (66%)
 - 2 out of 4 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 5 out of 22 times in other positions (22%)
 - a total of 9 out of 29 (31%)
 Pots won at showdown - 2 of 3 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $49,200
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $3,998,506
balance: $6,447.914


Friday, January 11, 2013

Smullyan's conundrum

I've always loved logical puzzles. The books of mathematician and philosopher Raymond Smullyan have afforded me many enjoyable hours indulging this hobby. Sometimes, puzzles defy logic, as Smullyan was able to demonstrate simply by his choice of a title for one of his books - "What is the Name of this Book?". One family anecdote he included in the preface to one of his books has stuck in my mind since the time I first read it. When he was a young boy, his older brother promised him he'd get a real April Fool's Day surprise that year. He waited all day for the surprise, but it never came. When he accused his brother of not surprising him, the brother informed him that that had been the actual surprise. Smullyan puzzled and puzzled over this, but could never decide whether he'd been fooled or not.

This conundrum came to mind as I was thinking about last night's session. Based on his play, and what I'd gotten to see of his holdings at showdowns, I'd come to the conclusion that one of my opponents was a bad player. He was playing too riskily; I came to believe that any big move he made at a pot had high bluff potential. When he went all in on the turn in a hand where I'd flopped a stealth two pair, I thought he was bluffing. The trouble was, he wasn't; the turn card had paired the board, and he'd made trips. In my postmortem analysis, I caught myself thinking, "He's so bad, I'll never know what he's holding." Looked at another way, you can be considered a very good player if other players can't guess what you're holding. So my conundrum was trying to figure out if he was a bad player or not. Just like Smullyan's conundrum, mine has no real answer.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 105 hands and saw flop:
 - 9 out of 15 times while in big blind (60%)
 - 4 out of 14 times while in small blind (28%)
 - 43 out of 76 times in other positions (56%)
 - a total of 56 out of 105 (53%)
 Pots won at showdown - 8 of 14 (57%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $-40,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $3,949,306
balance: $6,398,714

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Louisiana to Virginia

I'm closing in on my 800th post to this blog. I can remember when I thought 50 posts was a big deal. What an innocent I was :-) When you've written hundreds of posts, it's inevitable that sometimes you're going to find it a bit hard to come up with an angle. As I've mentioned once or twice before, my surefire cure for writer's block of this type is to look at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the session, and see what it suggests to me. Last night, I went up by about $10K early on, then saw my stack slowly and steadily drift just south of $20K. At the end of the session, I got back into the black in very short order. The right half of the bar chart reminds me of the coastline of the United States - specifically, the coastline starting at Louisiana and ending at Virginia. I was glad to travel up the Eastern seaboard!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 83 hands and saw flop:
 - 11 out of 13 times while in big blind (84%)
 - 10 out of 14 times while in small blind (71%)
 - 38 out of 56 times in other positions (67%)
 - a total of 59 out of 83 (71%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 12 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 10

delta: $5,187
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $3,989,306
balance: $6,438,714

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Spreading the wealth

A very rare thing happened in the final hand of last night's session. Even though it was to my detriment, I was intrigued by the rarity of the event. Four players, including me, went to showdown. There were a total of three pots, the main pot and two side pots. I lost, in spectacular fashion. I paid everybody else off; all three pots went to different players, and none of them was me. Here are the conditions which must be met for this to occur:

1. the four players must start the hand with significantly different stack sizes

2. up to the second side pot, the quality of the showdown hands must be in inverse proportion to the starting stack sizes of the players; that is, the player with the best showdown hand, who wins the main pot, must be the player who started the hand with the smallest stack, and the player with the second best showdown hand, who wins the first side pot, must be the player who started the hand with the second smallest stack

3. all four hands must be good enough so that each player is willing to go all in with his hand

I was dealt ace ten offsuit. My pair of tens lost the second side pot, which was worth $18,716, to a set of fives. My pair of tens lost the first side pot, which was worth $76,521, to a set of tens. Finally, my pair of tens lost the main pot, which was worth $54,272, to an eight high straight. I started the hand with $47,858, and ended it with nothing. In retrospect, I should have known that with three other players remaining in the fray, my hand was almost certainly beaten. What can I say? I was being stubborn :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 20 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 3 times while in big blind (33%)
 - 1 out of 2 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 12 out of 15 times in other positions (80%)
 - a total of 14 out of 20 (70%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 4 (25%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $-40,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $3.984,119
balance: $6,433,527

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Post-tournament gold

Last night's session was tricolored. It was green since it was a winning one. It was blue since it established a new all-time high for my cash game no limit hold'em balance. Finally, it was gold since it returned me to the golden ratio in post-tournament play; I've had 13 losing sessions and 26 winning sessions since returning to cash games.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 45 hands and saw flop:
 - 8 out of 10 times while in big blind (80%)
 - 4 out of 9 times while in small blind (44%)
 - 16 out of 26 times in other positions (61%)
 - a total of 28 out of 45 (62%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 5 (80%)
 Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $8,738
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,024,119
balance: $6,473,527

Monday, January 7, 2013

Limitless blue

Last night, I achieved limitless blue. That's a poetic way of saying that my balance in cash game no limit hold'em reached a new all-time high, topping 4 million play dollars. I made it with my favorite type of hand, a flush. Inexplicably, an opponent went all in on a flop of 5s 2s Js when he didn't have a spade in his hand. I had two, and had no difficulty calling :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 27 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 3 times while in big blind (33%)
 - 1 out of 2 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 11 out of 22 times in other positions (50%)
 - a total of 13 out of 27 (48%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 1 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $21,706
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,015,381
balance: $6,464,789

Sunday, January 6, 2013

A year of auto-archived hand histories

It's been over a year since I discovered the PokerStars feature of auto-archiving the hand histories. This is an incredibly useful feature, and I wish I'd discovered it earlier. Before I did, I was saving the hand histories manually, which was not only laborious but also had the effect of reducing the quality of my poker decisions.

Coincidentally, Friday night's session marked the 365th straight session with this feature turned on, a full year of sessions (though it took me more than a year to amass them). I now have a wealth of data to analyze, and it will just grow bigger and more valuable over time. Here are some initial raw numbers:

number of sessions: 365
number of calendar days: 451
number of tables: 640
number of hands: 37,616
delta: $4,430,023

The reason the number of tables is bigger than the number of sessions is because of my sit and go tournament binge; every sit and go session, I typically entered multiple tournaments.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 37 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 5 times while in big blind (80%)
 - 2 out of 5 times while in small blind (40%)
 - 12 out of 27 times in other positions (44%)
 - a total of 18 out of 37 (48%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 4 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $39,881
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $3,993,675
balance: $6,443,083

Friday, January 4, 2013

It's never too late to be patient

Last night, I played too many hands, and got impatient at last. On hand 104, I went all in with a pair of queens, and lost the remainder of my stack ($13,129) to a two pair. It's important to remember that it's never too late to be patient. This is all too easy to say, and all too difficult to do. Of course I would never have bet this much money on a pair of queens on hand 1. This leads me to yet another incarnation of my recurring epiphany about the secret of poker. Drumroll, please! The secret of poker is to play every hand as if it's your first hand of the night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 104 hands and saw flop:
 - 11 out of 14 times while in big blind (78%)
 - 5 out of 15 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 21 out of 75 times in other positions (28%)
 - a total of 37 out of 104 (35%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 10 (40%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $-40,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $3,953,794
balance: $6,403,202

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Riverboat ace

Last night, I had another boat on the river early on. It wasn't a double up, but was enough of a gain to tempt me to quit early. I didn't resist. You could say that with two sessions in a row ending in this fashion, I'm a riverboat ace :-) Of course, there's no such animal. I happened to be the beneficiary of pure luck two nights running; the most I can say for myself is that I knew what to do with it :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 4 hands and saw flop:
 - 0 out of 1 times while in big blind (0%)
 - 0 out of 1 times while in small blind (0%)
 - 1 out of 2 times in other positions (50%)
 - a total of 1 out of 4 (25%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 1 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $21,600
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $3,993,794
balance: $6,443,202


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

A boat on the river

Last night, I had a very short, very sweet session. On the first hand, I doubled up when I made a boat on the river. I had called a big turn bet in order to be able to see the river, and knew that if I just checked, my opponent (who had me covered) would likely put me all in. He did, and I happily called. My boat beat his straight to win a pot worth $42,400. Analyzing his play, I think it was a big mistake to put me all in when the board was showing a pair. He was basically guaranteeing that the only hands which would call him would beat him. He would have been far better off just checking.

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

delta: $42,300
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $3.972,194
balance: $6,421,602

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Late laydown

The largest amount I lost on a single hand on Sunday night was $12,600. This was near the end of the session, when I'd been dealt pocket rockets. Had I not laid them down when I got reraised on the flop, I would have lost a lot more. So, although it was my biggest net negative hand, it was also one of my best. The player who won the hand had me covered; if I'd stayed in the hand, there was an excellent chance I would've hit the felt. My only chance would have been if I'd gone all in and that player had laid down his straight draw. As it happened, he hit his straight on the river. Although it's not as exciting to avoid losing a massive amount of chips as it is to win a massive amount, it's just as important a poker ability.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 29 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 4 times while in big blind (75%)
 - 1 out of 4 times while in small blind (25%)
 - 12 out of 21 times in other positions (57%)
 - a total of 16 out of 29 (55%)
 Pots won at showdown - 2 of 4 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $5,519
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $3,929,894
balance: $6,379,302