Thursday, December 31, 2015

Biggest MTT payout

Last night, I had my biggest MTT payout ever - $74,020, for coming in second in an MTT 8-game. That one tournament took over 2 hours to play. Since the buy in plus entry fee was $5,000, that means I made a profit of $69,020, which comes out to roughly $575 a minute. That turns out to be chump change :-) The last time I came in first in a sit and go (which was the session before last), I made a profit of $125,500 in about 36 minutes, which comes out to roughly $3,486 a minute. There's clearly a better ROI in sit and gos than in MTTs, but I still like to play MTTs for the sheer fun of them.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6   191      94   18     2    74020
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    26       6    3     3        0


delta: $19,020
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,574,300
balance: $10,535,364

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The deepest dive

Last night, my overall balance returned to the blue. As always when this happens, it's a wonderful feeling :-) This reversed the deepest dive between blues I've ever undergone - a whopping deficit of $3,357,215. I've never had a blue session on a December 31st, but that's what I'm aiming for tomorrow night. I have a hunch it's going to happen.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    27       6    2     4        0
MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    56      93   18    27        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6   105       6    2     1   175500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6   113       6    2     2    94500
MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    77      78   18     8    11400
MTT   NLHE      900   100       6    69     876  216    94     2680


delta: $123,080
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,624,300
balance: $10,516,344

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

The 39 steps

This is the second time I've used this blog post title; the first was on July 26th of last year. Again, I'm echoing the title of a classic Alfred Hitchcock movie. This time, however, instead of referring to the number of hands in a session, I'm referring to the number of hands which were needed to get to the first elimination in the first sit and go no limit hold'em tournament I played last night. It's quite an astonishing number. It bested the previous record, set in a tournament I played in 2012, by 3 hands. Just for some perspective, the average number of hands it takes to get to the first elimination in a sit and go no limit hold'em tournament is 9.18.

Sometimes, when all the players at a table are highly skilled, poker rises to the level of performance art. In such cases, everyone is contributing to the creation of something which no one could have created on their own. At the height of the art, the other players are no longer your opponents, but your collaborators :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    59     120   24    29        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    93       6    2     3        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    67       6    2     2    94500
MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    47      81   18    25        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    46       6    2     1   175500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    29       6    2     3        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    86       6    2     2    94500


delta: $104,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,504,300
balance: $10,393,264

Monday, December 28, 2015

Appointment cancelled

Last night, for the first time, I experienced the MTT equivalent of a sit and go table which doesn't fill up - a cancelled MTT. Earlier in the session, I'd played (and narrowly missed making the money in) the MTT 8-game which started at 9:42 pm. To while away the time until the next MTT 8-game, which wasn't scheduled to start until 11:42 pm, I played several sit and go no limit hold'em tournaments. When I tried late registering for the 11:42 pm MTT 8-game sometime after midnight, it was nowhere to be found. Apparently, if not enough people pre-register for an MTT, PokerStars simply cancels it :-(

There's not much I can do to make 8-game more popular on PokerStars. No limit hold'em is the 800 pound gorilla. Looks like I'll be playing more "gorilla" than 8-game in the foreseeable future. Oh, well; there are worse things :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    57     102   24    26        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    44       6    2     2    94500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    25       6    2     4        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    41       6    2     3        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    27       6    2     3        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    82       6    2     2    94500


delta: $-66,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,379,800
balance: $10,288,764

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Appointment poker

I first used this blog post title on April 8th of this year. I was referring to the PokerStars MTTs which start at a regularly scheduled time each day. After lots of experimentation, I think I've found the best poker style to use with each of my two favorite poker flavors, and perhaps not too surprisingly, each flavor has a different best style. Also, neither of the styles is cash game :-) I've sworn off cash games for the indefinite future. As you may know, my two favorite poker flavors are no limit hold'em and 8-game. The best poker style for no limit hold'em, at least for me, is sit and go. The best poker style for 8-game, at least for me, is MTT. Sit and go no limit hold'em tournaments are typically fast and furious affairs, whereas MTT 8-game tournaments typically take over an hour to complete. I like both paces, at different times. Success in November with sit and go no limit hold'em is what saved my 2015 poker year, but I think my best long term profit potential lies with MTT 8-games. Accordingly, I'm going to play appointment poker for the rest of the year, and on into the new year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    25      18    4    14        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9     8      45    7    29        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6   102       6    2     2    18900
MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6   139      79   18     5    23100


delta: $7,000
MTT 8-game balance: $153,420
balance: $10,354,764

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Shopping horror

I played six sit and gos last night, and didn't make the money once. I can accept the results of the first five tournaments with equanimity. The sixth tournament was torture, however. I was doing really well, right up to the point when my internet connection went south. Every time I tried to reconnect, it stayed up for only a couple of seconds before getting dropped again. The consequence was that I got blinded out of the tournament, bubbling in 8th place. That hurt!

I think I've figured out what the problem was. The day after Christmas has become as big an online shopping day as Cyber Monday. I don't know if they've come up with a name for this day yet, but they probably should. My guess is all that online shopping activity used up so much internet capacity that it seriously affected my PokerStars internet connection. It just felt so unfair to miss the money through not being able to communicate with the PokerStars servers. Shopping horror!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game   9000  1000       6    52     5        0


buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

  9000  1000       9    21      45    7    12        0
  9000  1000       9    46      18    4     8        0
  9000  1000       6    45       6    2     4        0
  9000  1000       9    41      18    4     6        0
  9000  1000       9    17      45    7     8        0


delta: $-60,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,451,900
balance: $10,347,764

Friday, December 25, 2015

Saved by Broadway

Playing a sit and go is much like canoeing down a river which has some dangerous whitewater sections. Much of the time, you're not in any danger; however, there are periods of intense danger which you must survive if you're going to make it all the way to the sea. Sometimes, you're forced to throw caution to the winds. That's what happened to me on hand 9 of the second tournament I entered last night. I'd been dealt a big slick (ace king), and called a big pre-flop bet to go all in. I spiked a jack on the river to complete Broadway (an ace high straight). Saved by Broadway - what a great feeling :-) That allowed me to play 35 more hands, come in 3rd, and make a healthy profit on my investment.

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

  9000  1000       9    78      18    4     4    16200
  9000  1000       9    44      45    7     3    66825
  9000  1000       9    85      18    4     4    16200


delta: $69,225
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,511,900
balance: $10,407,764

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Aces out

I first used this blog post title on July 3rd of this year. "Aces out" is what I call it when you hit the rail at a tournament on a hand where you've been dealt pocket rockets. It's a painful way to go. It's even worse when you've been rivered. That's what happened to me in the second sit and go I entered last night. I was a 79.55% favorite after the turn to win the hand, but my opponent spiked trip sevens on the river, and that was all she wrote.

This made me curious to find out how many times I've had aces out in my sit and go no limit hold'em career. The answer? 9 times, in 980 tournaments.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game   9000  1000       6    86     3        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    59     3        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    28     5        0


delta: $-30,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,442,675
balance: $10,338,539

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

A bet-shy opponent

The fewer opponents you have at a table, the less shy you should be about betting. What this means in sit and gos is that you should get less shy as the tournament goes on. When you get to heads up play, you shouldn't be shy at all. Last night, the opponent I faced heads up didn't follow this maxim. When I noticed this, I knew I had little risk of losing :-)

Here's a breakdown of the decisions I made during heads up play:

fold   29 check  144 call   50 bet   39 raise    5

Here's a breakdown of the decisions my opponent made during heads up play:

fold   57 check  151 call   41 bet   24 raise    6

He had almost double the number of folds, and I had 50% more bets. After a certain point, the outcome was never in doubt.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game  45000  5000       6   203     1   175500


delta: $125,500
Sit and go 8-game balance: $695,210
balance: $10,368,539

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Triple knockout

The most memorable hand of last night's session was the very first one. Folding to a pre-flop raise, I was merely an interested bystander for the bulk of the hand. Be that as it may, I witnessed something I'm sure I never had before - a triple knockout. Four players went all in, and one came out on top. The winning hand was quad fives. The winner of that hand went on to knock out his remaining two opponents, which included me, in relatively short order. It's pretty rare for one player to knock out all his opponents in a six seater sit and go, but not as rare as a triple knockout on a single hand :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    22     2    18900
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    33     3        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    22     4        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    23     4        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    19     4        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    58     2    18900


delta: $-22,200
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,462,675
balance: $10,243,039

Monday, December 21, 2015

10, 9, and 2

If you play long enough, you're going to suffer some brutal bad beats. However, you're also going to inflict some brutal bad beats on your opponents. That's what I got to do in the first sit and go no limit hold'em tournament I played last night. Let me break down the numbers in the title of this post:

10: the number of hands I went all in
9 : the number of hands I went all in and got to showdown
2: the number of hands I went all in, got to showdown, and won the pot by spiking a card on the river

It's lucky enough to spike a card on the river once in a tournament; twice is ridiculous (but I'll take it :-))

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    79     1    35100
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    86     1    35100
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    38     4        0


delta: $40,200
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,484,875
balance: $10,265,239

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Blue counts by year

Although I'm greatly relieved to have been able to preserve my streak of profitable poker years (barring some sort of calamitous collapse in my final 12 sessions of 2015), there's a very sobering number staring me in the face - my 2015 blue count, especially when considered in relation to my blue counts of previous years. As a refresher, a session where my overall balance achieves a new all-time high is a blue session. The blue count of a session is either 0 or 1 - 0 if the session was not a blue session, and 1 if it was. The blue count of a poker year is the number of blue sessions achieved in that year. Here are my blue counts by year so far:

2009: 14 of 128 (0.109375)
2010: 29 of 208 (0.139423)
2011: 79 of 253 (0.312253)
2012: 67 of 298 (0.224832)
2013: 25 of 311 (0.080386)
2014: 31 of 280 (0.110714)
2015:  2 of 263 (0.007605)


Less than 1 percent of my 2015 sessions have been blue. That's a number I intend to better in 2016.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    77     2    18900
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    29     1    35100
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    43     4        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    49     1    35100


delta: $49,100
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,444,675
balance: $10,225,039

Saturday, December 19, 2015

UPS

The acronym UPS stands for a lot of different things. One of them is uninterruptible power supply. The undisputed uninterruptible power supply in poker is no limit hold'em. There is never a shortage of players who want to play it, at any conceivable buy in. Despite my love for 8-game, there just aren't enough 8-game enthusiasts out there for me to more than dabble in it. As I periodically realize anew, no limit hold'em is my bread and butter, and I'm forced to keep returning to it, sometimes seemingly against my own will :-) Tonight, I'm going straight to the power source.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game    900   100       6    96     2     1890
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    94     1    35100


delta: $25,990
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,395,575
balance: $10,175,939

Friday, December 18, 2015

Leaving Lilliput

One of the really great features of sit and go 8-games is that they generally last a long time, often over an hour. That makes them a great value for (play) money. Another advantage is the variety they provide; you can't get bored when you're playing 8 different games in rotation. I find a heck of a lot to like about sit and go 8-games. They do have two serious drawbacks, however:

1. the tables take much longer to fill up than sit and go no limit hold'em tables
2. at the stakes I really want to play, it's not clear if the tables ever fill up at all :-(

Right now, I'm waiting for a 10K table to fill up. So far, I'm the only customer. I'm trying to leave Lilliput (in other words, give up the small stakes tables), but that's easier said than done. Poker players need action, and waiting an hour or more for a table to fill up ain't it.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game    900   100       6   164     1     3510 


delta: $2,510
Sit and go 8-game balance: $568,820
balance: $10,149,949

Thursday, December 17, 2015

yagr (yet another golden ratio)

As you may know, my favorite poker statistics category is that of golden ratios. The idea behind golden ratios is to provide a guarantee of poker success. The theory is that, if you can achieve a particular golden ratio, you'll be successful in the poker flavor it was designed for. Golden ratios give you something to shoot for over the long run, which you generally can't achieve in a single session.

My new ratio (at least I think it's new; I need to double-check my old posts to be positive :-)) is what I'm calling the top to bottom sit and go ratio. It's the ratio of your first place finishes to your sixth place finishes. My theory is that the golden top to bottom sit and go ratio is 4. In sit and go 8-games, I'm currently hitting it on the nose:

place count

    1    24
    2    17
    3    13
    4     8
    5    12
    6     6


Last night, I played two no limit hold'em massives to start off the session; I got impatient waiting for a sit and go 8-game table to fill up. My final tournament was a sit and go 8-game. Tonight, I'll try to be patient from the get-go, and only play sit and go 8-games.

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

   900   100       6    12    1077  264   597        0
   900   100       9    65    1219  315   357        0

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game    900   100       6   177     2     1890


delta: $-1,110
Sit and go 8-game balance: $566,310
balance: $10,147,439

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The seventy-per-cent solution

This blog post title was inspired by the title of a novel I read years ago. In the post I wrote on November 29th, 2010, entitled "The seven-per-cent solution", I explained the connection:

Fans of Sherlock Holmes and of the writer Nicholas Meyer will recognize in the title of this post the title of Meyer's first novel, which starred the famous fictional detective and Sigmund Freud. In Sherlock's case, the solution was a mixture of water and cocaine ...

In my current case, the solution is what I consider to be the ideal percentage of days (or rather, nights :-)) to play poker. Since I started recording my poker data on March 24th, 2009, and including tonight, 2,459 days will have elapsed. Out of those days, I will have played poker on 1,737 of them. Friends and neighbors, that amounts to 70.64%.

Last night, I got temporarily sidetracked on my quest to play 8-game when the lobby showed me a nearly full sit and go no limit hold'em 18 seater as I logged in. I jumped on, and had a chance to make the money, but unfortunately squandered it when I got engrossed by a chess video I was watching and didn't notice when the PokerStars software automatically sat me out. I eventually got blinded off, finishing in sixth place. I then registered at an 8-game, and ended up coming in first an hour and a half later.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    43     6        0
SNG   8-Game    900   100       6   120     1     3510


delta: $-7,490
Sit and go 8-game balance: $565,420
balance: $10,148,549

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

High time to get to sea

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.

Herman Melville, "Moby-Dick"

After last night's session, it's starting to feel like a damp, drizzly November in my poker soul. It's clearly high time to get to sea :-) In this case, that means switching poker flavors. One of my very favorite flavors is sit and go 8-game, so that's what I'll play tonight. It naturally provides a great deal of variety, which is what I'm craving at the moment.

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

  9000  1000       9    15      45    7    20        0
  9000  1000       9    69      18    3     5        0
  9000  1000       9    23      18    3    11        0
  9000  1000       9     9      18    3    16        0
  9000  1000       9    31      18    3     8        0
  9000  1000       9    51      18    3     8        0


delta: $-60,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,380,475
balance: $10,156,039

Monday, December 14, 2015

Fortuitous session

When you make the money in two straight six seat sit and gos, you know without a doubt that you're in the sweetness. It's not as clear cut when you make the money in two straight 18 seat sit and gos. Since 3rd and 4th place finishes make the money in 18 seaters, in addition to 1st and 2nd place finishes, it all depends on how excited you can get about finishing 3rd or 4th. I've discovered I can't get very excited about that. Therefore, I can't say I was in the sweetness on Saturday night; since I came in 4th and 2nd, let's just say it was a fortuitous session :-)

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

  9000  1000       9    72      18    4     4    16200
  9000  1000       9   130      18    4     2    48600


delta: $44,800
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,440,475
balance: $10,216,039

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Evermore and ever better correction

It turns out my probability radar was off, after all. Instead of just 2, I've actually had 6 evermore and ever better sessions:

date          delta  count

2012-07-17  -243000      3
2012-08-17   251150      4
2015-04-07    -5550      3
2015-12-04     2400      3
2015-12-08    95800      5
2015-12-09   -30000      3


Note that I only consider sessions where I played 3 or more sit and gos to be eligible. As the 2012-07-17 session vividly demonstrates, you can lose a ton of play money even when you're steadily improving throughout a session.

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

  9000  1000       9    14      18    4    13        0
  9000  1000       9    53      18    4     9        0
  9000  1000       9    84      18    4     4    16200
  9000  1000       9    54      18    4     9        0

delta: $-23,800
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,395,675
balance: $10,171,239

Friday, December 11, 2015

Everless session

The opposite of an evermore session is an everless session - one where the number of hands played decreases each successive tournament. Everless sessions are somewhat easier to come by than evermore sessions, and I had one last night. If you don't make the money in the first tournament you play in an everless session, you're unlikely to do it at all. That was the case for me last night. The one bright spot, if you can call it that, was that I bubbled the first tournament :-)

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

  9000  1000       9    65      18    4     5        0
  9000  1000       9    42      18    4    11        0
  9000  1000       9    30      18    4     7        0


delta: $-30,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,419,475
balance: $10,195,039

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Evermore and ever better, all for naught

Just one session after having what I believe was my very first evermore and ever better session, I had my second, but it was all for naught. The best I could do was bubbling the third tournament. My enthusiasm for 45 seaters is currently on the decline, but my enthusiasm for 18 seaters hasn't wavered. Let me at 'em :-)

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

  9000  1000       9    11      18    4    17        0
  9000  1000       9    13      45    7    11        0
  9000  1000       9    49      18    4     5        0


delta: $-30,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,449,475
balance: $10,225,039

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Evermore and ever better

An evermore session is one where you play multiple tournaments, and manage to play more hands each tournament than you did in the previous one. An ever better session is one where you play multiple tournaments, and manage to place better each tournament than you did in the previous one. An evermore and ever better session is, as you'd expect, an session which is both an evermore session and an ever better session. Last night, I had such a session, and if it wasn't the first of my career, my probability radar is way out of whack :-)

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

  9000  1000       9     1      45    7    44        0
  9000  1000       9     9      45    7    22        0
  9000  1000       9    71      18    4     3    32400
  9000  1000       9    91      18    4     2    48600
  9000  1000       9    92      18    4     1    64800


delta: $95,800
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,479,475
balance: $10,255,039

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Just say yes to hypers

I've long felt that hyper tournaments on PokerStars are a losing proposition, and have avoided them like the plague. Hyper tournaments have some defining detrimental characteristics:

1. you start out chip-starved
2. the antes and blinds escalate quickly
3. you run up against lots of bingo players

However, my experience in last night's session is forcing me to revise my evaluation of hypers - slightly :-) I will still avoid them like the plague, except in the case of hyper 45 seater sit and gos. Playing 18 seater sit and gos got me really interested in multiple table sit and gos, and when I saw a 45 seater filling up in the PokerStars lobby, I jumped in without noticing that it was a hyper. I ended up cashing, and was hooked just like that :-)

I really think multiple table sit and gos are a third kind of tournament animal, neither sit and go nor MTT, yet sharing some features of both. Since everyone starts playing at the same time, there's no dead money at the beginning, as is the case when you late register an MTT. However, since there are multiple tables, you're insulated from some potential big stack bullies until the tables consolidate, which doesn't occur in a normal sit and go.

What makes a hyper 45 seater different from a normal hyper sit and go, which only seats 6 players? The differences can be summed up in three words: time, panic, and patience. In a hyper sit and go, you have no time, whereas in a hyper 45 seater, you have more time than most players realize. When you realize this, you have a distinct advantage over players who don't. The players who don't realize this play in panic mode from the get go, and soon hit the rail. The players who do realize this can afford to exercise patience, which will often take them a long way.

Tonight, I'm going to play a bunch of hyper 45 seaters; it's my new favorite flavor :-)

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

  9000  1000       9    29      45    7     6    24300
  9000  1000       9     3      18    4    15        0
  9000  1000       9    52      45    7     2    87075
  9000  1000       9    26      45    7    13        0
  9000  1000       9    26      45    7     9        0
  9000  1000       9    93      18    4     4    16200
  9000  1000       9    30      18    4     7        0


delta: $57,575
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,383,675
balance: $10,159,239

Monday, December 7, 2015

Three final tables

When a tournament only starts with two tables, as these 18 seaters do, it's a little grandiose to talk about final tables. It's exponentially harder to make the final table of an MTT than it is to make the final table of an 18 seater. Nevertheless, it's still an achievement to make the final table at every 18 seater you enter during a single session, even if you fail to make the money in any of them (as I did last night). Even though I've only made the money once in nine 18 seaters, I'm really enjoying them, and will continue to play them for the time being.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    53     7        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    63     5        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    39     8        0

delta: $-30,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,356,100
balance: $10,131,664

Sunday, December 6, 2015

First 18 seater bubble

I've decided to call my new favorite type of tournament an 18 seater. Last night, I had my first 18 seater bubble, when I came in fifth in my final tournament of the night. I played three in all and failed to cash in any of them. I'm not discouraged, though; I think there's a real profit potential in these 18 seaters. I'll play another three or so tonight.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    46     8        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    20    10        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    57     5        0


delta: $-30,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,356,100
balance: $10,131,664

Saturday, December 5, 2015

The land of the twos

I think I've found the perfect tournament. It was just sitting there for years, waiting for me to find it :-) It's a sit and go no limit hold'em tournament with 18 seats, spread across two 9 seat tables. 4 places are paid, which translates to 22.222222% of the participants - in other words, the land of the twos. Last night, I played three such tournaments, and came out in the black, thanks to cashing in the final one. I'll be playing some more of them tonight :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    24    11        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    69     6        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       9    73     3    32400

delta: $2,400
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,386,100
balance: $10,161,664

Friday, December 4, 2015

A chip and a chair

This is the third time I've used this title; the first was on October 27, 2011. I included a reference in both previous posts, and I'll do the same here:

An old poker adage says that all you need to win is a chip and a chair, especially since Jack “Treetop” Straus pulled off this feat in the '82 championship.

James McManus, "Positively Fifth Street"


Last night, I played two MTTs and one sit and go. In the sit and go, I was in dire straits after 8 hands. I had only $90 in chips of the $6,000 in play, which is a meager 1.5%. The classic chip and a chair scenario! However, I didn't end up winning. Nor did I come in second. However, I did come in third, fully 43 hands later. That's a noteworthy comeback. I'll have to check, but I'm pretty sure I've never played longer than 43 hands starting with just 1.5% of the chips in play.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

MTT   NLHE     4500   500       6    64    32    11000
MTT   NLHE     4500   500       9     5    74        0
SNG   NLHE     9000  1000       6    51     3        0


delta: $-9,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,383,700
balance: $10,159,264

Thursday, December 3, 2015

MTT personal best

As you know, I really like personal bests. Last night, I had another one - the longest MTT no limit hold'em tournament of my career, in terms of number of hands. At a whopping 154 hands, it dwarfed its nearest competitor (104). This was not in a massive, by the way. I may have to adjust my thinking about massives. Massives apparently only get that way due to their low buy in; higher buy ins don't attract as many players. There are advantages and disadvantages to that. One disadvantage is that you have to outlast an ungodly number of opponents to get to the decent money. Another is that a fair percentage of the field plays bingo poker. I'll have to come up with a name for a reasonably big, yet not massive MTT. I know - I can call them mid-caps :-) I'll be on the lookout for a mid-cap tonight.

buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

   900   100       6    20    1140  264   473        0
  4500   500       6   154     174   42    12    17200


delta: $11,200
MTT NLHE balance: $3,372
balance: $10,168,264

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Massive crush

I have a real hankering to play a bunch of massive field MTTs. Let's call them massives for short. You could say I have a massive crush on massives :-) I stopped playing massives in October since I really wanted to get my 2015 balance back into the black. Now that I've done that, there's nothing to stop me from indulging my hankering. Of course, the only massives I've encountered so far have been in no limit hold'em, so that's the flavor I'll play. I can't wait!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game  45000  5000       6    78     5        0


delta: $-50,000
Sit and go 8-game balance: $562,910
balance: $10,157,064

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

My toughest opponents

What makes poker so special is that you're always relearning things you learned before. Poker keeps you humble that way :-) What I relearned last night is that my toughest opponents on PokerStars are the ones who play for the lowest stakes. It's actually kind of foolish of me to play at those low stakes tables, unless I'm a glutton for punishment. The alternative is too attractive to pass up - play against lower quality opponents for way more play money. I guess you could argue that I'm never going to improve by playing so many fish, but I'll take my chances :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game    900   100       6    64     5        0
SNG   8-Game   9000  1000       6   101     1    35100


delta: $24,100
Sit and go 8-game balance: $612,910
balance: $10,207,064