Monday, September 30, 2013

Other people's money

Every now and then I like to take a look at a percentage I call opm; it's short for "other people's money". It can only be calculated on hands where you won. opm is the percentage of your winnings which came from your opponents. The opm percentage has an upper bound of (num_players - 1) / (num_players); at a 9 player table, the upper bound is therefore 8 / 9, or .888888...

In practice, it's quite difficult to achieve an opm percentage of 80 or better, especially if there's a lot of betting going on. The more action there is, the more likely people are to drop out before showdown, which brings down the opm.

Last night, on the penultimate hand of the night, I won a pot worth $22,900 with a king high straight. Fully $18,100 of this was other people's money, so the opm percentage came out to 79.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 29 hands and saw flop:
 - 2 out of 3 times while in big blind (66%)
 - 3 out of 4 times while in small blind (75%)
 - 16 out of 22 times in other positions (72%)
 - a total of 21 out of 29 (72%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 5 (60%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $21,254
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,023,170
balance: $7,380,123

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Sixteened

The most I've ever lost on a hand when I was dealt pocket rockets is $51,200. Last night, on the next to last hand of the session, I was dealt pocket rockets, and lost $20,000. I was left with only $209, and lost it on the next hand. What made my $20,000 loss hurt even more than it normally would was that there were two pots, a main pot and a side pot, and statistically I'd had a great chance of either winning the side pot or chopping it. The opponent who won the side pot had only had a sixteen percent chance of winning it. When you're sixteened, it isn't sweet at all.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 76 hands and saw flop:
 - 10 out of 12 times while in big blind (83%)
 - 9 out of 11 times while in small blind (81%)
 - 37 out of 53 times in other positions (69%)
 - a total of 56 out of 76 (73%)
 Pots won at showdown - 8 of 15 (53%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $-20,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,001,916
balance: $7,358,869

Saturday, September 28, 2013

26 million play dollars lost

I recently achieved another milestone. At the end of Wednesday night's session, I topped 26 million play dollars lost. That's a staggering amount. Good thing for me I've won more than 33 million! Looking only at cash game no limit hold'em numbers, my losses and gains are much more modest -  7.7 million and 12.7 million, respectively. I'm looking forward to taking the crazy wild ride of sit and gos again when I manage to build my balance up to 8 million.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 33 hands and saw flop:
 - 2 out of 4 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 3 out of 4 times while in small blind (75%)
 - 16 out of 25 times in other positions (64%)
 - a total of 21 out of 33 (63%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 5 (60%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $-7,713
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,021,916
balance: $7,378,869

Friday, September 27, 2013

Sine wave hands

When you're looking at your career hand statistics, it quickly becomes clear that there are three types of hands - the ones you predominantly win with, the ones you predominantly lose with, and the ones that oscillate between winning for you and losing for you. It's a good idea to stay away from the hands you predominantly lose with,  if you can. That's not as easy as it sounds. My career worst hand is AJo (ace jack offsuit); I've lost a whopping $364,228 with it. However, I'm always glad to see it looking back up at me. I call the hands that can't make up their mind whether they want to help me or hurt me sine wave hands. You want to be careful with sine wave hands, but you shouldn't stay away from them; they can make you a ton of money. One of my favorite sine wave hands is pocket threes. Right now, I'm in the hole with this hand career-wise to the tune of $-50,897, but it was worse than that before hand 26 of last night's session. On that hand, I was dealt pocket threes, hit a set on the flop, hit a full house of threes full of kings on the river, and won a pot worth $36,900.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 28 hands and saw flop:
 - 2 out of 4 times while in big blind (50%)
 - 1 out of 3 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 15 out of 21 times in other positions (71%)
 - a total of 18 out of 28 (64%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 6 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $31,378
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,029,629
balance: $7,386,582

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Quads over house over house

Play enough poker, and you'll see some crazy things happen at a poker table. Freaky things. Entertaining things. Some of the most entertaining hands I've ever seen had nothing to do with me; I was just an interested onlooker. That was certainly the case last night on hand 150. I folded before the flop, but stuck around to watch; I was dumbfounded when three premium hands were shown down. My impression at the time was that I'd just witnessed a set over set over set, but reviewing the hand today, I discovered it was even more impressive than that. It was a quads over house over house. To add to the strangeness, there were two pots, a side pot and a main pot, and they went to different players. The quads won the main pot, and the better full house won the side pot. To top off the strangeness, the better full house basically broke even on the hand - he spent $19,000, and the side pot was worth $18,756. You just can't make this stuff up.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 187 hands and saw flop:
 - 33 out of 42 times while in big blind (78%)
 - 33 out of 45 times while in small blind (73%)
 - 71 out of 100 times in other positions (71%)
 - a total of 137 out of 187 (73%)
 Pots won at showdown - 24 of 44 (54%)
 Pots won without showdown - 17

delta: $-10,568
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,998,251
balance: $7,355,204

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

500 miles

Lord I'm one,
Lord I'm two,
Lord I'm three,
Lord I'm four,
Lord I'm 500 miles from my home.


These are the lyrics to one of the choruses in the classic folk song "500 Miles". The reason I'm quoting them is that last night marked my 500th cash game no limit hold'em session since I turned on the PokerStars feature which auto-saves the hand histories. 500 is a pretty big number, session-wise. I feel like I've come a long way in those 500 sessions. I am indeed a long way from where I started. The journey has certainly been worth it!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 120 hands and saw flop:
 - 22 out of 26 times while in big blind (84%)
 - 17 out of 27 times while in small blind (62%)
 - 47 out of 67 times in other positions (70%)
 - a total of 86 out of 120 (71%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 23 (30%)
 Pots won without showdown - 16

delta: $-5,469
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,008,819
balance: $7,365,772

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Kings catching up with queens

For some time now, I've known that I've won more money in my poker career with pocket queens than I have with pocket kings. It's not because I've been dealt pocket queens significantly more often than I've been dealt pocket kings; the reason is that I've lost more money when the kings were beaten than I've lost when the queens were beaten. Last night, thanks to winning a pot worth $26,700 with a set of kings, my kings are catching up with my queens. Here are my current top 10 career hands:

AA     1266719    1799900    -533181    123     54      0    177  1.06
QQ      611366    1006779    -395413     87     78      2    167  1.00
KK      583198    1145390    -562192    100     64      0    164  0.98
AKo     468462    1221539    -753077    148    178      0    326  0.97
77      286602     466535    -179933     52    108      1    161  0.96
TT      284109     487418    -203309     61     89      3    153  0.91
JJ      279724     568329    -288605     77     88      1    166  0.99
ATs     259359     426756    -167397     47     73      3    123  1.10
66      236775     398577    -161802     41    114      3    158  0.94
AQo     211299     726342    -515043    129    173      3    305  0.91


From left to right, the columns are hand, net money won, money won, money lost, hands won, hands lost, break even hands, total hands, and frequency factor.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 25 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 3 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 2 out of 3 times while in small blind (66%)
 - 13 out of 19 times in other positions (68%)
 - a total of 18 out of 25 (72%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 5 (60%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $29,081
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,014,288
balance: $7,371,241

Monday, September 23, 2013

30/30 vision

I play far too many 100+ hand sessions. That's bad. Why? The longer the session, the more likely it is you'll run into a cooler. However, I love to play, and would feel unsatisfied if the session were too short. What's the answer? I think it lies somewhere in the middle ground. At various times in the past, I've tried to go on a poker diet, but have never been able to stick to it. I think one of the main reasons for this is that the definition of the diet lacked a key element. Heretofore, I defined the diet simply as an optimal number of hands, regardless of where my stack stood when that number had been reached. That doesn't cut it. If you're underwater when you've reached the magic number, there's no way you're going to quit at that point. I still believe the optimal session length is 30, but I'm going to add another element to the diet. That number is also 30; namely, the requirement that I've made a profit of at least 30% of my starting stack amount. I'm calling this 30/30 vision. If, when the 30th hand has rolled around, I've made a profit of at least 30%, that's a good time to quit. Let's see if I can stick to this version of the diet.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 128 hands and saw flop:
 - 18 out of 20 times while in big blind (90%)
 - 13 out of 18 times while in small blind (72%)
 - 56 out of 90 times in other positions (62%)
 - a total of 87 out of 128 (67%)
 Pots won at showdown - 8 of 20 (40%)
 Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $-21,030
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,985,207
balance: $7,342,160

Sunday, September 22, 2013

The long way home

A long time ago, I read a science fiction novel called "The Long Way Home", by Poul Anderson. I remember that on the cover, above the title, was the lead-in "It got you there in no time at all ... but still it was ...". Since the heroes were on a space ship, on which time moves more slowly than on earth, by the time they returned to earth after their mission was over, everyone they'd known had died in the interim.

In poker, when I'm deep in the hole, the difficulty of bringing my stack back into the black, contrasted with the ease with which I got into the red, reminds me of this title. A paraphrase of the lead-in might be, "You can lose money in no time at all, but when you try to recoup your losses, you'll often discover you're taking ..." :-)

Last night, I was in the red at the start of hand 23, and it took 81 hands to get back into the black.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 149 hands and saw flop:
 - 14 out of 18 times while in big blind (77%)
 - 12 out of 20 times while in small blind (60%)
 - 57 out of 111 times in other positions (51%)
 - a total of 83 out of 149 (55%)
 Pots won at showdown - 12 of 23 (52%)
 Pots won without showdown - 8

delta: $799
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,006,237
balance: $7,363,190

Saturday, September 21, 2013

The kings came calling

Pocket kings are an excellent hand to call with, in almost any situation. Last night, I won my biggest pot of the session with them. I didn't bet on any street; I simply called whenever it was my turn to act. Before the flop, I called a bet of $1,100. After the flop, I called a bet of $2,800. After the turn, I called a bet of $5,600. After the river, I called a bet of $9,600. The kings held up to win a pot worth $47,700. I could have quit right then, but wanted to play a little more. I stayed roughly even for the next 15 hands, and finally decided that tripling my starting stack was good enough for one night :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 28 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 4 times while in big blind (75%)
 - 1 out of 3 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 17 out of 21 times in other positions (80%)
 - a total of 21 out of 28 (75%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 7 (85%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $40,145
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,005,438
balance: $7,362,391

Friday, September 20, 2013

Highest winning underwater percentage ever

As you know, I always like it when I set a new personal best, however dubious an achievement it might be. Last night, I set a new personal best for underwater percentage in a winning session. I was underwater for all but two hands - the first and last. By definition, that's underwater perfection for a winning session. What made this a new personal best was that it was the longest winning session where I'd ever done this. For the record, my underwater percentage last night was 99.0431.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 209 hands and saw flop:
 - 31 out of 42 times while in big blind (73%)
 - 27 out of 43 times while in small blind (62%)
 - 68 out of 124 times in other positions (54%)
 - a total of 126 out of 209 (60%)
 Pots won at showdown - 21 of 37 (56%)
 Pots won without showdown - 18

delta: $750
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,965,293
balance: $7,322,246

Thursday, September 19, 2013

High end plussed

One of the things which makes poker such a devilishly difficult game to play is that in many cases, players bet the nuts and air exactly the same way. In those cases, you can't use bet sizing to tell you anything. You need to find a read some other way. It's guesswork, plain and simple. Last night, I faced just such a situation on hand 41. I'd been dealt Kd 4d, the flop came Qd Td 2h, the turn was 9h, and the river was Jc. So I started out with a flush draw, and made a king high straight on the river. I was first to act in the final betting round, and bet $2,400. One opponent raised to $12,600, and the other folded. My thought process went like this: "He's betting like he has the high end plus. Odds-wise, that's less likely than that he just has a king high, like me, or even the ignorant end. However, bet-size-wise, his most likely holdings are the high end plus or pure air. I'm betting air". I called with my last $8,901, and he turned over a big slick, the high end plus. I hit the felt. I feel fine with the way I played the hand, though. When either of two holdings can prompt an opponent to bet a certain way, you just have to make a guess as to which holding he actually has. Sometimes your guess will be wrong. Such is poker :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 100 hands and saw flop:
 - 9 out of 13 times while in big blind (69%)
 - 11 out of 15 times while in small blind (73%)
 - 47 out of 72 times in other positions (65%)
 - a total of 67 out of 100 (67%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 15 (33%)
 Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $-24,289
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,964,543
balance: $7,321,496

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Mirror image

The bar chart of my stack size over the course of last night's session is a mirror image of the ideal one. Ideally, I like to see long stretches where my stack is steadily rising, where the amounts lost on lost hands are less than the amounts won on won hands. There should be several up-spikes thrown in there, each one establishing a new steadily-rising plateau, and the bar chart should end with an outsize up-spike on the penultimate hand of the session. That description, in reverse, precisely fits last night's bar chart. On just the second hand of the session, I hit the felt. I'd been dealt pocket nines, and went all in on the turn with them, seeing as they were top pair. I turned out I was up against pocket rockets. I ended up hitting the felt three times, and knew enough not to reup a third time.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 80 hands and saw flop:
 - 10 out of 11 times while in big blind (90%)
 - 9 out of 12 times while in small blind (75%)
 - 31 out of 57 times in other positions (54%)
 - a total of 50 out of 80 (62%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 18 (33%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $-60,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,988,832
balance: $7,345,785

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Nemesis

Last night, one of my opponents was a real thorn in my side. My nemesis, if you will. Every time I had a good hand, she had a better one. On hand 25, my two pair of aces and nines lost to her nine high straight; she won a pot worth $33,298. On hand 42, my two pair of jacks and fours (I'd been dealt pocket fours) lost to her two pair of kings and jacks (she'd been dealt pocket kings); she won a pot worth $4,488. On hand 60, my pair of aces lost to her set of jacks; she won a pot worth $8,213. On hand 102, my two pair of aces and sevens lost to her ace high flush; she won a pot worth $8,977. On hand 105, I made an eight high straight on the river, but folded when she more than doubled my river raise, and there was another player acting behind me. I was afraid one of them had what I call a "high end plus" straight - in this case, a nine high. As it turned out, neither of them did, and I missed out on a chopped pot. I was quite happy when she finally left the table; sometimes, you're just snake-bitten against certain players. After she left, I was able to get back into the black.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 132 hands and saw flop:
 - 18 out of 22 times while in big blind (81%)
 - 14 out of 23 times while in small blind (60%)
 - 43 out of 87 times in other positions (49%)
 - a total of 75 out of 132 (56%)
 Pots won at showdown - 12 of 24 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $11,908
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,048,832
balance: $7,405,785

Monday, September 16, 2013

Pokereading

Lately, I've been perfecting the art of pokereading. That is, playing poker and reading a novel at the same time. It's actually super relaxing; I'm doing two of my favorite things at once! I have the Kindle PC app on my computer, and it automatically synchs up with Amazon so I can read any book in my Kindle library. I probably read about 2/3 of "Ender's Game" this way, and am now about halfway through "The Cuckoo's Calling", 100% via pokereading.

I owe a debt of gratitude to the designers of the PokerStars client for this ability; the software is smart enough to thrust itself to the foreground whenever it's time for me to make a poker decision. I never have to worry that I'll miss a time control and be sat out automatically. The only improvement I could suggest would be to make the software smart enough to put itself back in the background once I've made my poker decision, so I could continue reading without any additional clicks.

Last night, I hit the felt twice. I never made it back into the black, but recovered some of my lost chips after reupping for the second time.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 216 hands and saw flop:
 - 24 out of 30 times while in big blind (80%)
 - 18 out of 29 times while in small blind (62%)
 - 93 out of 157 times in other positions (59%)
 - a total of 135 out of 216 (62%)
 Pots won at showdown - 18 of 34 (52%)
 Pots won without showdown - 12

delta: $-28,116
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,036,924
balance: $7,393,877

Sunday, September 15, 2013

In the sweetness

You never know when you're going to be in the sweetness. It can come at any time. Last night, in a rare occurrence, it came after I'd hit the felt and reupped. At the start of hand 113, my stack was at $19,483. At the end of hand 126, it was at $97,321. That's a very healthy fourteen hand stretch. I probably should have quit right then, but thought I could squeeze a bit more profit out of the session. It turned out I could, but it took another forty-three hands to do it.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 169 hands and saw flop:
 - 17 out of 22 times while in big blind (77%)
 - 14 out of 24 times while in small blind (58%)
 - 66 out of 123 times in other positions (53%)
 - a total of 97 out of 169 (57%)
 Pots won at showdown - 13 of 24 (54%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $81,304
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,065,040
balance: $7,421,993

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Uber and out

My preferred way of ending a session is to quit the hand after the hand where I won my biggest pot of the night. In other words, I like to end on a very positive note. However, it can sometimes be a good idea to end on a negative note, as long as you still made a profit. That's what I decided last night. As it turned out, I quit the hand after the hand where I lost the most chips. I hit a flush on the river, but lost to an uberflush. My opponent won a pot worth $26,600, and I lost $10,000 on the hand. So it was an uber and out :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 80 hands and saw flop:
 - 10 out of 14 times while in big blind (71%)
 - 9 out of 16 times while in small blind (56%)
 - 23 out of 50 times in other positions (46%)
 - a total of 42 out of 80 (52%)
 Pots won at showdown - 9 of 11 (81%)
 Pots won without showdown - 8

delta: $11,049
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,983,736
balance: $7,340,689

Friday, September 13, 2013

Bad river money

There are times when it pays to bet big on the river, and there are other times when it makes no sense to bet a single chip. If you do happen to bet in those latter situations, that's what I call bad river money. Last night, I spent bad river money on hand 14. I'd flopped a set of nines, but the board was showing two pairs, aces and sevens. I was toast if my opponent had an ace, so it didn't make any sense to bet. I didn't recognize this basic truth, and bet $3,800. My opponent called, had an ace, and won a pot worth $15,300. Poker is hard enough to win without making stupid mistakes; add them in, and the task is near impossible. In my defense, I was a bit distracted since I was watching some exciting action from a WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) tournament on PokerStars.TV.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 60 hands and saw flop:
 - 8 out of 9 times while in big blind (88%)
 - 7 out of 10 times while in small blind (70%)
 - 24 out of 41 times in other positions (58%)
 - a total of 39 out of 60 (65%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 16 (25%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $-40,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,972,687
balance: $7,329,640

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Thirty-aught-six

Last night, I had my best winning percentage ever for a winning session of at least 100 hands. I won 43 of 143 hands, for a 30.06 percentage. When I saw this number, "thirty-aught-six" sprang instantly to mind. That's a kind of ammunition. Even though I did so well percentage-wise, other than that it was a real up and down night. I was happy to put a stop to my losing streak.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 143 hands and saw flop:
 - 26 out of 32 times while in big blind (81%)
 - 25 out of 34 times while in small blind (73%)
 - 46 out of 77 times in other positions (59%)
 - a total of 97 out of 143 (67%)
 Pots won at showdown - 21 of 31 (67%)
 Pots won without showdown - 22

delta: $5,727
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,012,687
balance: $7,369,640

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Too frisky

I hit the felt twice last night; I was too frisky. It's actually important to be too frisky every so often; getting spanked when you are is what keeps you grounded in poker reality. Here were my three big reality checks:

- on hand 13, my two pair of kings and fours lost a pot worth $33,100 to an ace high flush; I lost $15,600 on the hand

- on hand 22, my two pair of tens and fours lost a pot worth $39,698 to a full house, fours full of aces; I lost $11,854 on the hand

- on hand 53, my two pair of aces and fives lost a pot worth $22,008 to a full house, threes full of fives; I lost $10,254 on the hand

Tonight I'll definitely play tighter.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 53 hands and saw flop:
 - 3 out of 5 times while in big blind (60%)
 - 6 out of 6 times while in small blind (100%)
 - 24 out of 42 times in other positions (57%)
 - a total of 33 out of 53 (62%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 12 (33%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

delta: $-40,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,006,960
balance: $7,363,913

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

"Always going broke" hands

Certain hands are good enough in the context in which they arise that they're known as "always going broke" hands. This doesn't mean that you'll always go broke with them; not by a long shot! It simply means you'll always be willing to go broke with them, since the odds against that happening are heavily in your favor. When you go broke with an "always going broke" hand, you'll have run into a cooler. That's what happened to me on the final hand of last night's session. I was dealt 5d As, the flop came 2h Qs 4h, and the turn was 3s, giving me a straight. An opponent bet $1,200 on the turn, and I raised to $2,400; another opponent and the original bettor called. After the river of 9c, the original bettor checked, I went all in for my last $4,891, the other opponent raised to $9,782, and the original bettor folded. The other opponent turned over 6s 5s to win a pot worth $21,482, and I hit the felt.

If the board had shown four cards to a straight, I never would have gone all in. However, since it only showed three cards to a straight, it required both hole cards for any player to make a straight. The odds were very slight that anyone else had also made a straight, which is what made this an "always going broke" hand for me.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 116 hands and saw flop:
 - 10 out of 14 times while in big blind (71%)
 - 10 out of 15 times while in small blind (66%)
 - 50 out of 87 times in other positions (57%)
 - a total of 70 out of 116 (60%)
 Pots won at showdown - 10 of 19 (52%)
 Pots won without showdown - 8

delta: $-20,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,046,960
balance: $7,403,913

Monday, September 9, 2013

The truth about coolers

Poker players like to complain about coolers, but they really shouldn't. Coolers are a fact of poker life. For those not familiar with the definition, a cooler is a situation where two opponents each have a strong hand, and each reasonably expects to have the strongest hand, but of course only one of them does. Cooler winners tend to win a ton of chips, and cooler losers tend to lose a ton of chips. More chips go into the pot with coolers, since neither player thinks he has much to fear. The truth about coolers is that every player will have his fair share both of winning coolers and of losing coolers. For that precise reason, no one has any cause to complain about them.

Last night, I won my biggest pot of the night when I was on the winning side of a cooler. It was a set over set cooler. I'd been dealt pocket jacks, and the flop came Jh 4c 9d. The turn was 6h and the river was Ac. I bet $3,800 on the river, and was raised to $7,600. I reraised to $11,400, and was reraised to $15,200. At that point I just called, since there was an outside chance my opponent had a set of aces. As it turned out, he had a set of sixes, and I raked in a pot worth $37,900.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 70 hands and saw flop:
 - 8 out of 9 times while in big blind (88%)
 - 5 out of 9 times while in small blind (55%)
 - 22 out of 52 times in other positions (42%)
 - a total of 35 out of 70 (50%)
 Pots won at showdown - 6 of 13 (46%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $28,566
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,066,960
balance: $7,423,913

Sunday, September 8, 2013

How not to not go broke

Poker is all about not going broke when you can help it. Last night, my final hand of the night was on object lesson in how not to not go broke. I'd played reasonably well all session long, started the final hand with a slight profit, and hit Broadway (an ace high straight) on the turn. When the river paired the board, I should have slowed way down, since it made a full house possible. I did nothing of the sort. Not only did I lead out with a large bet ($3,800), I got in a raising war and ended up going all in. Sure enough, my opponent had a full house, and I hit the felt. Had I had the sense simply to call my opponent's river raise, I would have ended the hand with $8,146 instead of nothing. It simply doesn't pay to bet as if you have the nuts when you don't. I should know that by now, but occasionally I forget :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 130 hands and saw flop:
 - 17 out of 19 times while in big blind (89%)
 - 13 out of 21 times while in small blind (61%)
 - 42 out of 90 times in other positions (46%)
 - a total of 72 out of 130 (55%)
 Pots won at showdown - 10 of 19 (52%)
 Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $-20,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,038,394
balance: $7,395,347

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Lucky number thirteen

Any time I make a profit of $100,000 or more in a single session, that's a big deal to me. That's because it just doesn't happen very often. Before last night, I'd only accomplished this feat twelve times in my cash game no limit hold'em career. Last night was lucky number thirteen. What made it more impressive than usual was that I did it with a starting stack of $20,000; on the earlier occasions, I'd started with $40,000.

The bulk of last night's winnings came very early on, but I kept playing. There were two reasons for that:

1. I was having fun
2. it's good practice playing with a big stack

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 140 hands and saw flop:
 - 12 out of 20 times while in big blind (60%)
 - 12 out of 19 times while in small blind (63%)
 - 51 out of 101 times in other positions (50%)
 - a total of 75 out of 140 (53%)
 Pots won at showdown - 14 of 21 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $103,042
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,058,394
balance: $7,415,347

Friday, September 6, 2013

Two busted flushes

Last night, I won my two biggest pots of the night on busted flushes. Of course, they weren't mine. On hand 30, I won a pot worth $14,300 when an opponent missed his spade flush. Neither of us had paired the board, and I outkicked him. On hand 35, I won a pot worth $9,863 when an opponent missed his club flush. I had top pair (queens), and it was enough. There was a third player who had also gone to showdown; he had a big slick, but hadn't been able to pair either his ace or his king.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 36 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 7 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 2 out of 4 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 12 out of 25 times in other positions (48%)
 - a total of 21 out of 36 (58%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 3 (100%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $16,065
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,955,352
balance: $7,312,305

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Raked and chopped

For some reason I can't fathom, PokerStars decided to institute a rake on their play money tables at some point within the last year. Actually, let me just do a little research to find out when ...

The first session I played which had a non-zero rake was on July 1st, 2012. For those who don't know, a rake on a poker table is how the house makes money. Every hand, some percentage of the pot goes to the house. The rake is generally capped, so that it's never more than a certain amount no matter how big the pot gets. It makes little sense to put a rake on a play money table, since any percent of any amount of play money has no real money value. The only reason I can see to do this is to get players used to a rake, so that there won't be any surprises if players transition from play money tables to real money tables.

Last night, I became aware for the first time how annoying a non-zero rake can be. On two separate occasions, I chopped the pot with another player, but neither of us made any money because of the rake. On the first occasion, we each spent $8,000, and each collected $8,000 from the pot, so neither of us came out with a profit, even though we had each won. A rake of $500 went to the house.  On the second occasion, we each spent $2,800; I collected $2,770 from the pot, and my opponent collected $2,669. The rake was $261, which was why there was an uneven amount in the pot to split. I ended up losing $30, and my opponent ended up losing $31, even though we had each won. The other $200 in the rake came from the big blind, who had folded before the flop.

I don't like being raked and chopped, but that's how poker sometimes rolls.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 29 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 7 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 5 out of 6 times while in small blind (83%)
 - 11 out of 16 times in other positions (68%)
 - a total of 23 out of 29 (79%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 13 (53%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $16,156
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,939,287
balance: $7,296,240

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Megafin

I've mentioned shark fins before in this blog. That's when the bar chart of your stack size over the course of a session has sharp jumps upward, following by groups of small losses. If you look at them the right way, these groupings resemble shark fins :-) Ideally, you want the start of the next jump to be higher than the start of the current jump, so that the shark finds trend upward. Last night, that didn't happen. Also, instead of many fins, I really only had one complete fin, which comprised more than half of the hands. I'm calling that a megafin. Luckily for me, I started a new megafin at the end of the session, but didn't stick around for the group of small losses that would have completed it. This enabled me to wind up with a small profit.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 58 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 7 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 6 out of 9 times while in small blind (66%)
 - 17 out of 42 times in other positions (40%)
 - a total of 30 out of 58 (51%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 5 (80%)
 Pots won without showdown - 0

delta: $6,900
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,923,131
balance: $7,280,084

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

6-freq rockets

There are 1,326 unique starting hands in hold'em. Six of those are pocket rockets, the best starting hand in hold'em. Therefore, you should expect to be dealt rockets once every 1326 / 6 = 221 hands. Since it's highly unusual for me to play that many hands in a session (I've only done it 5 times in my poker life), I can't expect to see rockets every session. Last night, I was dealt rockets three times. In this case, I got 6-freq rockets. That's my shorthand for seeing rockets six times as frequently as I should. The formula for calculating the rockets frequency factor is as follows:

freq_rockets = num_rockets * 221 / num_hands

Plugging in the numbers from last night's session, freq_rockets comes out to 3 * 221 / 111 = 5.97. Let's just call it 6; that's close enough for government work :-) The highest rockets frequency factor I ever got in my career was nearly 10; in that case also, I received them three times in the session.

The first time I got rockets last night, I won a pot worth $31,600. The second time, I won a pot worth $1,730. The last time, I lost a pot worth $4,584.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 111 hands and saw flop:
 - 10 out of 14 times while in big blind (71%)
 - 11 out of 14 times while in small blind (78%)
 - 43 out of 83 times in other positions (51%)
 - a total of 64 out of 111 (57%)
 Pots won at showdown - 9 of 15 (60%)
 Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $7,793
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,916,231
balance: $7,273,184

Monday, September 2, 2013

80-fold turnaround

Last night, after I'd already hit the felt once and seemed destined to hit it again, I had a remarkable turnaround. Looking at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the session, I'm convinced this is the best cash game mid-session turnaround I've ever achieved. I'll write a utility sometime to see if I'm right. I started hand 63 with a mere $648 in chips. At the end of hand 110, I'd built my stack up to $52,260. That's an 80-fold turnaround. Unfortunately, I didn't have the sense to quit while I was ahead. I played another 59 hands, giving back roughly half the chips I'd won.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 169 hands and saw flop:
 - 17 out of 23 times while in big blind (73%)
 - 14 out of 24 times while in small blind (58%)
 - 67 out of 122 times in other positions (54%)
 - a total of 98 out of 169 (57%)
 Pots won at showdown - 14 of 26 (53%)
 Pots won without showdown - 10

delta: $-15,100
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,908,438
balance: $7,265,391

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Four plateaus

The bar chart of my stack size over the course of last night's session shows four plateaus. Each one is higher than the previous one. Each one is closer to the one above it than to the one below it. Finally, each one is narrower than the one below it. This is one of the few sessions where my stack grew steadily and unspectacularly the whole time. I'll take it :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 69 hands and saw flop:
 - 8 out of 9 times while in big blind (88%)
 - 5 out of 9 times while in small blind (55%)
 - 32 out of 51 times in other positions (62%)
 - a total of 45 out of 69 (65%)
 Pots won at showdown - 8 of 15 (53%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $35,827
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,923,538
balance: $7,280,491