Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Personal borscht

Like most players, I enjoy it when I achieve a personal poker best. Unlike some, I also enjoy it when I achieve a personal poker worst. Why would I enjoy a personal worst? The simplest way to explain it is that it's a luxury to be able to enjoy it, and I like luxury :-) I know that I'm a good enough player that no personal worst will ever be able to discourage me. I know that I'll bounce back, and even reach new heights.

There's a third kind of personal poker record that I also enjoy, but it's hard to come up with a name for it. It's neither a personal best nor a personal worst, yet shares features of both. At first I thought I'd call it a bestworst, then a worstbest, but neither of those really fit the bill. I eventually came up with personal borscht. Of course, that's a nonsensical name, but it has the merit that phonetically it reminds one of both best and worst. Also, borscht is a kind of soup, and this new kind of record is like soup in that it combines disparate elements.

My latest personal borscht is that on Sunday night, I had the lowest winning percentage for a winning session of at least 100 hands. I won only 9 of 113 hands, for an anemic winning percentage of 7.96%.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 113 hands and saw flop:
 - 13 out of 16 times while in big blind (81%)
 - 7 out of 16 times while in small blind (43%)
 - 33 out of 81 times in other positions (40%)
 - a total of 53 out of 113 (46%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 17 (35%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $21,531
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,857,347
balance: $7,306,755

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Perpetual patience

I gave this post a title describing a poker quality which I don't possess. To be fair, no human being possesses such a quality; only a machine could. Last night, I was patient for a long time, but not perpetually. I started the last hand of the night with $10,129, and ended it with nothing. I'd been dealt a pair of eights, and the flop came 3d Kc 3s. A player acting before me bet $2,200, and I decided he didn't have a king. I didn't make this decision based on any kind of read; I made it because I was tired of playing, and my holding was good enough to make a final stand with. To be consistent with my decision that my opponent didn't have a king, I felt duty bound to call with my last $5,129 when my opponent put me all in on the turn, after a turn card of 2c. It turned out he did have a king, and I was done for the night. This hand revealed to me one of the weak parts of my game. I'm not willing enough to cut my losses and end a session before I hit the felt. A session where I lose $30,000 is better than one where I lose $40,000, and I need to keep that in mind more often.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 110 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 13 times while in big blind (53%)
 - 9 out of 14 times while in small blind (64%)
 - 35 out of 83 times in other positions (42%)
 - a total of 51 out of 110 (46%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 10 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $-40,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,835,816
balance: $7,285,224

Saturday, April 27, 2013

My latest sincemillion

It's been a while since I coined a poker neologism, and there's no time like the present. Therefore, I present for your approval (drumroll, please): sincemillion. A sincemillion is a million play dollars earned since a specific point in time. My latest sincemillion is the million play dollars I've earned since returning to cash games from sit and go tournaments. I achieved this last night on the strength of a great comeback in the second half of the session; I leaped from below $20,000 to more than $100,000 in under 20 hands.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 45 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 5 times while in big blind (60%)
 - 2 out of 6 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 12 out of 34 times in other positions (35%)
 - a total of 17 out of 45 (37%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 4 (75%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $61,638
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,875,816
balance: $7,325,224

Friday, April 26, 2013

Six whales

One of the nice features of the PokerStars software is the ability to see at a glance, in a section of the main lobby window, a list of all the players at a selected table, what country they're from, and what the current size of their stack is. You can sort the list by any of these attributes, in either ascending or descending order. I always sort the list by stack size, in descending order; that's how I keep track of where my stack is relative to the other players at my table. Last night, I noticed something quite rare - the combined amount of chips at the table kept growing, until there were fully six players (including me) who had stacks of more than $100,000. The only way that can happen is for the unsuccessful players to keep hitting the felt, and either keep reupping or keep getting replaced by new (and equally unsuccessful) players, and for the successful players to keep playing instead of cashing out. The combined amount of chips at the table peaked at $820,073; I checked the records, and there was only one session this year which had a higher combined amount - $961,977, on 4/13.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 60 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 7 times while in big blind (57%)
 - 6 out of 9 times while in small blind (66%)
 - 15 out of 44 times in other positions (34%)
 - a total of 25 out of 60 (41%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 9 (77%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $62,552
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,814,178
balance: $7,263,586

Thursday, April 25, 2013

The exploding hand

The mark of a truly great poker player is the ability to lay down aces. By that standard, I'm not great yet. I haven't done the research, but know that when I do, I'll probably only find a couple of times when I've laid down aces, in the 112 chances I've had since I started auto-saving the hand histories. Last night, I had another chance, and failed. This failure cost me $40,600 and caused me to hit the felt. Aces, aka pocket rockets, are truly the exploding hand. They can explode on your opponents, but they can also explode on you. You have to be really careful with them; the thing you really have to guard against is the feeling of invulnerability they can give you. There's no better illustration of the volatile nature of aces than the fact that they are the hand I've won the most money with, and also the hand I've lost the most money with. I've won $1,173,920 with aces, and lost $416,003 with them.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 132 hands and saw flop:
 - 19 out of 27 times while in big blind (70%)
 - 14 out of 24 times while in small blind (58%)
 - 40 out of 81 times in other positions (49%)
 - a total of 73 out of 132 (55%)
 Pots won at showdown - 12 of 26 (46%)
 Pots won without showdown - 18

delta: $-24,450
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,751,626
balance: $7,201,034

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The Table Vanishes

The title of this post is a snowclone of "The Lady Vanishes", a classic Hitchcock movie. What do I mean by it? Simply that all of a sudden, the players at the first table I joined last night all left in a hurry. Here's how the number of players dropped off:

hand 29: 6 players at the start of the hand
hand 30: 5 players at the start of the hand
hand 31: 4 players at the start of the hand
hand 32: 2 players at the start of the hand
hand 33: my sole opponent leaves the table at the end of the hand

Undeterred, I joined another table and played another 28 hands. I ended up making a profit at both tables.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 61 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 8 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 5 out of 10 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 18 out of 43 times in other positions (41%)
 - a total of 27 out of 61 (44%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 6 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $23,389
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,776,076
balance: $7,225,484

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

A lesson from Paavo Nurmi

Last night, I hit the felt after only 16 hands, then reupped for the max and played essentially even the rest of the night (another 38 hands). Thinking back over how I played, which wasn't actually all that badly, I realize my cardinal sin was that I saw too many flops. I wasn't disciplined enough to fold enough hands before the flop. That can really do you in. What does Paavo Nurmi have to do with this? In case you haven't heard of him, Nurmi was a great middle and long distance runner, the winner of 9 gold and 3 silver Olympic medals in the 1920's. I saw a documentary on him roughly four decades ago, and one detail has stuck with me all these years later. Nurmi trained with a watch, and kept himself to a specific pace for every lap. He realized that he didn't have to race against other runners; he merely had to race against the clock. If he could keep up the pace he set for himself, he essentially knew he would win. Here's how I relate this to poker: if I can keep my seeing the flop percentage under 50%, I essentially know that I'll win the session. It's really as simple as that. I just need to have the discipline to follow this flop pace that I'm setting for myself :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 54 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 7 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 2 out of 6 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 26 out of 41 times in other positions (63%)
 - a total of 35 out of 54 (64%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 12 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $-39,550
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,752,687
balance: $7,202,095

Monday, April 22, 2013

The cutting room floor

I've never acted in a drama, either on screen or on the stage; however, like many movie buffs, I've done my share of imagining what that might be like. If I could appear in any movie, delivering just one line, I'd choose the following, spoken by Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End": "Send this pestilent, traitorous, cow-hearted, yeasty codpiece to the brig". Of course, like all poker players, I'm an actor of sorts; I try to tell different stories by the betting actions I make. Sometimes, I'm a frustrated actor; I'm all set for my closeup, really ready to chew the scenery, and the other players at the table just won't oblige me. In short, they chew the scenery before I can! That's what happened to me last night on hand 34. I was dealt a pair of sevens, and hit a set on the flop. I smooth called an $8,200 turn bet, and was all ready to shove all in on the river, but didn't get the chance to make this move as dramatic as I would have liked it to be. You could say my big scene fell to the cutting room floor :-) A player acting before me bet $20,600 on the river, and my subsequent all in raise to $27,857 lacked the fireworks I would have liked. Be that as it may, I still raked in a pot worth $86,714. It's better to be successful than dramatic.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 35 hands and saw flop:
 - 2 out of 3 times while in big blind (66%)
 - 3 out of 5 times while in small blind (60%)
 - 14 out of 27 times in other positions (51%)
 - a total of 19 out of 35 (54%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 3 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $46,714
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,792,237
balance: $7,241,645

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Eighted

The difference between a winning session and a losing one can often be razor thin. Last night, if I hadn't been eighted, I would have come out in the black. On hand 73, I was dealt a suited big slick, and paired my ace on the flop. There was only one other player still in the hand, and I had him covered. I went all in; he called. He'd been dealt a pair of sixes, hit a set on the turn, and ended up with a full house of sixes full of aces. That beat my trip aces, and he raked in a pot worth $41,500. I'd been an 87.58% favorite after the flop; he'd been a 7.88% dog. There'd been a 4.54% chance of a chop. I hit the felt 14 hands later, when I was severely short-stacked. Starting the final hand with $2,183, I went all in preflop with another big slick; my pair of kings lost to a two pair of jacks and eights.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 87 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 10 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 7 out of 12 times while in small blind (58%)
 - 28 out of 65 times in other positions (43%)
 - a total of 40 out of 87 (45%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 9 (44%)
 Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $-40,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,745,523
balance: $7,194,931

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Lucky 13

Last night, I had a short and sweet session - only 13 hands. In general, it's great to have such a short session when you're playing a cash game, but it's disastrous when you're playing a tournament. I decided to check the archives to see how I've fared in 13 hand sessions; the results are in:

date        sit_and_go     delta

2013-04-19           0     53999
2012-11-26           0    -40000
2012-09-23           1    -50800
2012-09-14           1    -50800
2012-08-23           1    -50800
2012-07-21           1    -81000
2011-03-03           0      1140
2010-10-05           0     11500


The only surprise here is the losing cash game session on 2012-11-26.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 13 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 1 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 0 out of 2 times while in small blind (0%)
 - 6 out of 10 times in other positions (60%)
 - a total of 7 out of 13 (53%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 4 (75%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $53,999
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,785,523
balance: $7,234,931

Friday, April 19, 2013

Saved By Zero

Once again, I've chosen the name of a song for the title of a blog post. "Saved By Zero" was released by The Fixx in 1983, the year I started my software engineering career. Last night, my session was saved by zero; that is, I survived in large part by not betting when I was given the opportunity not to bet. My stack took a huge hit on hand 30, when an opponent hit a 4 outer on me; I had been a 90% favorite after the turn. I lost $40,942 on the hand, and was left with only $3,667. A common reaction to such misfortune is to try to win chips back too quickly, but I refrained from reacting that way. With patience and luck, I was able to end the night in the black. What do I mean by the opportunity not to bet? Simply, those times when I wasn't in either the small blind or the big blind. Tonight I wrote a program to calculate a new poker statistic, which I'm calling the zero bet percentage; it's the percentage of the time zero is bet on a hand when it's possible to bet zero on it. It turns out that I set a personal best in this statistic last night. Here are my top ten zero bet percentages for sessions of at least 10 hands:

0.657895 (25 38) 2013/04/18
0.629032 (39 62) 2013/02/26
0.622642 (33 53) 2012/11/23
0.619048 (13 21) 2013/01/11
0.615385 ( 8 13) 2012/05/06
0.611111 (22 36) 2013/03/23
0.604651 (26 43) 2012/11/12
0.600000 ( 6 10) 2013/03/21
0.591549 (42 71) 2012/11/11
0.583333 ( 7 12) 2011/11/02


During current Hold'em session you were dealt 55 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 7 times while in big blind (42%)
 - 5 out of 9 times while in small blind (55%)
 - 14 out of 39 times in other positions (35%)
 - a total of 22 out of 55 (40%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 8 (75%)
 Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $2,160
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,731,524
balance: $7,180,932

Thursday, April 18, 2013

A new use for agoal

When I first came up with the agoal poker statistic, I intended it to be a good indicator for a successful session. That turned out to be the case. Last night's session was a winning one, and its agoal was a solid 10.14. What I've only now realized is that agoal can also be used to qualify how bad a losing session was. On Tuesday night, I lost my complete starting stack of $40,000. However, the agoal for that session was actually greater than 1 (1.02 to be precise). That tells me that although I hit the felt, I was playing fairly well. It's always nice to find silver linings like that :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 51 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 7 times while in big blind (85%)
 - 2 out of 6 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 24 out of 38 times in other positions (63%)
 - a total of 32 out of 51 (62%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 9 (77%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $31,939
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,729,364
balance: $7,178,772

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Another coldie

Last night, I was subjected to another coldie - cold deck, that is. On the final hand of the night, I flopped a straight, went all in on the turn, and lost to a full house. The "fatty" had been made on the turn, so I was actually drawing dead on the river. I fully expect to hit the felt in these kinds of situations. The only chance for me not to have hit the felt on this hand was if my opponent had been the first to act on the turn, and had gone all in; then I would at least have considered folding. As it was, he didn't have to do any heavy lifting, he simply had to call my all-in bet. I don't get down in these situations; I recognize that I've been on the other side of them many times.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 47 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 8 times while in big blind (87%)
 - 5 out of 9 times while in small blind (55%)
 - 12 out of 30 times in other positions (40%)
 - a total of 24 out of 47 (51%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 7 (42%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $-40,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,697,425
balance: $7,146,833

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Bluo di tutti blui

For the title of this post, I've used a snowclone of the Italian phrase "capo di tutti capi". This roughly translates to "boss of all bosses", and can refer to a Mafia Godfather. What do I mean by "bluo di tutti blui"? Simply that my overall balance has reached the bluest of all blues; in other words, a new career best. What are the other, lower-ranking blues? My career-best balances in individual poker flavors, such as deuce, Omaha, cash game no limit hold'em, sit and go no limit hold'em, etc. Last night, one hand stood head and shoulders above the rest - hand 33, when I won a pot worth $107,000 with an ace high flush.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 34 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 6 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 4 out of 6 times while in small blind (66%)
 - 11 out of 22 times in other positions (50%)
 - a total of 21 out of 34 (61%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 7 (71%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $70,601
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,737,425
balance: $7,186,833

Monday, April 15, 2013

A good losing session

It's a given that you can't win every session. In fact, even when you're a very good player, you must expect to lose roughly a third of the sessions you play. What makes for a good losing session? I think there are three criteria:

1. you were dealt a large number of hands
2. your seeing the flop percentage was low
3. you didn't hit the felt

Last night's session met all three criteria. The first two criteria cause your winning percentage to be very low. When your winning percentage is low, and you don't hit the felt, you've achieved a victory of sorts :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 82 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 8 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 3 out of 10 times while in small blind (30%)
 - 25 out of 64 times in other positions (39%)
 - a total of 32 out of 82 (39%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 9 (44%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $-31,033
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,666,824
balance: $7,116,232

Saturday, April 13, 2013

On the cusp of blue

When I stopped playing tournaments, I knew it would take a while to replace the $885,000 I lost in the horrendous stretch I endured when I switched from the $50,000 buy in level to the $80,000 buy in level. Friends and neighbors, I'm happy to say I've almost made it all the way back. My cash game no limit hold'em balance has been pretty consistently in the blue for a while now, but when I finally succeed in recouping the tournament losses, my overall balance will be in the blue as well. I'm psyched!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 67 hands and saw flop:
 - 9 out of 10 times while in big blind (90%)
 - 5 out of 10 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 22 out of 47 times in other positions (46%)
 - a total of 36 out of 67 (53%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 12 (58%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $20,413
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,697,857
balance: $7,147,265

Friday, April 12, 2013

The seduction of the right price

Several posts ago, I bragged about how I'd made a perfect value bet on the river. Well, turnabout is fair play; last night, an opponent did that to me. I was almost certain he had me beat, yet I paid him off anyway. Why would I do such a thing? For the simple reason that I thought I was getting the right price to call. Of course, if you really think you're beat, no price is the right price to call; however, if the odds are juicy enough, you can sometime seduce yourself into believing your hand is better than it is. In this case, there were four cards to a flush on the board, and I had a set of jacks. My opponent bet $3,000 into a $22,300 pot; I was getting over 7 to 1 pot odds. If there were more than a 1 in 7 chance that my opponent was bluffing that he had a flush, I thought I should call here. Of course, there are two fallacies in this way of thinking. The first is that if you calculate pot odds this way, you're not taking into consideration the amount of money you've already put into the pot before this decision point. You're acting as if nothing happened before, as if you're making this decision completely independently. The second fallacy is that even if you disregard the first fallacy, the odds that your opponent is bluffing in this situation are way less than 1 in 7. I ended up losing $13,000 on this hand when I should only have lost $10,000. The good news is, I'd won a pot worth $84,375 the hand before :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 14 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 1 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 1 out of 2 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 7 out of 11 times in other positions (63%)
 - a total of 9 out of 14 (64%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 2 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $40,739
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,677,444
balance: $7,126,852

Thursday, April 11, 2013

One Hand to rule them all

By my count, this is the third time I've used this blog post title. What can I say? It suits last night's session to a tee. A whole lot of nothing happened for 37 hands. Then, on hand 38, I had three things going for me:

1. a good high hole card (a king)
2. a gutshot straight draw (after the flop)
3. a flush draw (after the flop)

I decided to turn the dial to 11 (i.e. go all in) and got one caller. I paired my king on the turn, and filled my gutshot on the river. My straight easily beat his pair of tens, and I raked in a pot worth $68,378.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 40 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 8 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 6 out of 8 times while in small blind (75%)
 - 12 out of 24 times in other positions (50%)
 - a total of 22 out of 40 (55%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 11 (36%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $18,678
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,636,705
balance: $7,086,113

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Colded

Last night, I got colded. That's my new shorthand for getting cold decked. On hand 37, I was dealt ace five suited, and hit the nut flush on the turn. I ended up going all in, and was all prepared to quit with a nice profit for the night when the cold front hit. I lost to a flopped four of a kind, threes (two were in the flop). The only good thing about the hand was that the winner started it with less chips than I did. I lost $18,200; the pot was worth $61,900. If I'd had any sense, I would have realized right then it wasn't my night and quit. However, I didn't, and played another 40 hands. I finally hit the felt when my two pair of queens (my hole cards) and sixes lost to three of a kind, sixes.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 77 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 8 times while in big blind (75%)
 - 7 out of 12 times while in small blind (58%)
 - 24 out of 57 times in other positions (42%)
 - a total of 37 out of 77 (48%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 13 (38%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $-40,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,618,027
balance: $7,067,435

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Floppapalooza

I've had many sessions of 30 or longer hands. In what must be a first, however, last night I had one with a seeing the flop percentage in the 90s. That's a truly eye-popping number. Granted, this was partially due to the fact that I had a nice little stretch of heads up play in the middle of the session; however, that's not the sole reason. Another contributing cause was that none of my opponents was making any big pre-flop bets. If it just costs a big blind to see the flop, you should generally pay it more often than not. Despite the influence of those factors, I still find it astonishing that I saw every flop but one. I'm sure that's never happened before, and it's not very likely to happen again. Just call last night's session a floppapalooza :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 34 hands and saw flop:
 - 8 out of 9 times while in big blind (88%)
 - 10 out of 10 times while in small blind (100%)
 - 15 out of 15 times in other positions (100%)
 - a total of 33 out of 34 (97%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 4 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $2,038
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,658,027
balance: $7,107,435

Monday, April 8, 2013

A bucket of cold water

There I was, sitting in my comfortable Adirondack chair by the shores of Lake Poker. The weather was pleasantly warm, and there was a nice breeze coming off the lake. I was sipping a brewski, and all was right with the world. Suddenly, with no warning, I was doused by a large quantity of cold water. So much for my month by the lake!

That's a dramatization of what happened to me on hand 3 on Saturday night. I was dealt 7h Jh, and hit trip sevens on the turn; I went all in on the river. I started the hand with $39,600, and ended it with nothing. I lost to another trip sevens who had a better kicker (a king).

As you'll know, if you're familiar with my poker philosophy, I have no regrets about playing this hand the way I did. I'd play it this way every single time. Sometimes, you're just predestined to lose a hand; that's just how poker rolls.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 98 hands and saw flop:
 - 11 out of 15 times while in big blind (73%)
 - 9 out of 17 times while in small blind (52%)
 - 28 out of 66 times in other positions (42%)
 - a total of 48 out of 98 (48%)
 Pots won at showdown - 8 of 15 (53%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $-31,326
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,655,989
balance: $7,105,397

Saturday, April 6, 2013

A month by the lake

When I play poker, I feel like I'm on vacation. Believe it or not, I find it very relaxing. I've found something I'm very good at that I also enjoy very much. It just feels right to be playing. How does the title of this post relate to this? Simply that I want to take a month by the lake. What is this lake? Poker itself. My goal is to play for a whole month by the shore of this beautiful lake without losing a single session.

To give credit where credit is due, "A Month By the Lake" is the name of a novel by H.E. Bates. In 1995, it was made into a movie of the same name which starred Vanessa Redgrave, Uma Thurman, and Edward Fox.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 51 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 7 times while in big blind (42%)
 - 5 out of 7 times while in small blind (71%)
 - 16 out of 37 times in other positions (43%)
 - a total of 24 out of 51 (47%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 5 (80%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $32,784
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,687,315
balance: $7,136,723

Friday, April 5, 2013

A perfect value bet

On the penultimate hand of last night's session, I made a value bet on the river. I knew it was a good one, but not how good until just now, when I looked back over the hand history. It was perfect. How do I have the gall to make such a claim? For the simple reason that my opponent's holding was so bad, there was very little chance he would have called any higher bet on my part. I hit a straight on the river, and bet $1,400 into a pot of $16,300. My opponent, who only had a pair of fours, called. All five cards of the board were over a four. For him to call my bet, he had to somehow believe I didn't even have a pair. I like to think it was the smallness of my river bet which convinced him.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 46 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 4 times while in big blind (75%)
 - 5 out of 6 times while in small blind (83%)
 - 17 out of 36 times in other positions (47%)
 - a total of 25 out of 46 (54%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 6 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $2,708
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,654,531
balance: $7,103,939


Thursday, April 4, 2013

Odoriferous bet sizing

A classic skill of live poker is the ability to pick up on the physical signals, aka tells, that other players unconsciously send out. You might think there are no analogues of physical tells in the virtual world of online poker. You'd be wrong, of course :-) One of those analogues is bet sizing. At every decision point in a hand, each player has the option to fold, bet, raise, or call. The decisions a player has made, when considered as a group, can't help but tell a story of some kind. Sometimes, it becomes clear that the story is lie. Last night, on hand 100, the amounts my opponent chose to bet on the turn and the river encouraged me to call him. On the turn, he bet $4,000 into a pot of $5,200. On the river, he bet $4,800 into a pot of $13,200. The turn bet was too big, and the river bet was too small. Why do I say the turn bet was too big? For the simple reason that it told me he didn't have that good a hand. Good hands don't need to be protected by big turn bets; mediocre hands do. If you bet a good hand too big on the turn, you scare people away and don't end up winning as many chips as you could have. Why do I say the river bet was too small? If he really had a hand, or wanted to represent that he did, he should have made a bet of about half the size of the pot. His weak river bet told me he was only able to scare off a bluff. My eights and deuces beat his sevens and deuces to win a pot worth $22,300, and I was done for the night.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 101 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 14 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 4 out of 13 times while in small blind (30%)
 - 38 out of 74 times in other positions (51%)
 - a total of 49 out of 101 (48%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 10 (70%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $4,312
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,651,823
balance: $7,101,231

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Side pot salvation

I've sung the praises of side pots before, but they're worth singing again. If you have a good hand, and one player has already gone all in, an all in bet from another player shouldn't scare you too much. What are the odds the second all in player has that good a hand, given that yours is a good one, and the likelihood that the hand of the first all in player is decent? I found myself in just this situation on hand 13 last night. I made top two pair on the turn, and a second player went all in. I had the feeling I was best, so I called. The second player turned out to be on a flush draw, and didn't make it. My two pair won a side pot worth $53,564, though I lost the main pot of $26,471 to the first all in player, who had a full house.

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 - 2 of 3 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $35,625
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,647,511
balance: $7,096,919

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Top of the session

Last night, I had a short session. That was due to an appointment I had at 10 PM with the latest episode of a fabulous new mini-series on the Sundance channel called "Top of the Lake". Luckily, I won a pot near the top of the session (hand 4), so I could quit early with a clear conscience :-)

Interestingly, all the statistical percentages came out the same; I'm pretty sure that's never happened before.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 14 hands and saw flop:
 - 1 out of 2 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 1 out of 2 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 5 out of 10 times in other positions (50%)
 - a total of 7 out of 14 (50%)
 Pots won at showdown - 1 of 2 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $2,677
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,611,886
balance: $7,061,294

Monday, April 1, 2013

Why 20,000 is equal to 40,000

When I first started playing cash games with a maximum starting stake of $40,000, I started getting nervous and antsy whenever my stack descended to $30,000. I actually started feeling frantic whenever my stack descended to $20,000. What a neophyte I was :-) What I didn't know then, but certainly know now, is that in poker, $20,000 is equal to $40,000. Why do I say this? For the simple reason that, when you have a stack of $20,000, you can turn it into $40,000 in a single hand. You just need to wait for a hand you're willing to go all in with, then go all in with it. The worst that can happen is that you hit the felt. The best that can happen is that you double up, or even triple up. Anything in between, you make some kind of profit. Last night, I doubled up on hand 24, when I'd been dealt pocket rockets. The board came 8h Ks 2c 6d 5h, and I beat an opponent who had a pair of kings. That one hand made the session a winner.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 39 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 6 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 2 out of 6 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 9 out of 27 times in other positions (33%)
 - a total of 17 out of 39 (43%)
 Pots won at showdown - 2 of 4 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $15,555
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,609,209
balance: $7,058,617