Tuesday, October 31, 2017

The perils of divided attention

I go back and forth on the desirability / advisability of adding on in an MTT-R NHLE tournament. At the moment, my belief that it's generally a good thing is back in the ascendancy. That's what made my failure to add on in last night's tournament regrettable. Why didn't I add on? For the simple reason that my attention was focused elsewhere. I was surfing the net for the whole two minutes of the add on period. Oops!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    39      65   15    45        0


delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $21,027,500
2017 balance: $21,926,955
balance: $33,344,785

Monday, October 30, 2017

Putting in the time

Like no other poker style/flavor combination I know, MTT-R NLHE richly rewards putting in the time. You're going to fail to make the money roughly 63% of the time, but when you do make it, you'll have a chance to make a real killing. Your window of observation should be large enough so that you only see profit in it :-) You just need to get used to losing a million or two in swings here and there, since you'll win multiple millions in other swings elsewhere. I'd say I'm pretty used to all the swings by now :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    77      62   15    20        0


delta: $-250,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $21,227,500
2017 balance: $22,126,955
balance: $33,544,785

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Interlude

I couldn't play any MTT-R NLHEs last night, since I wouldn't have been able to save the hand histories. Instead, I played some KOs. The reason why I wouldn't have been able to save the hand histories? The new PokerStars client I downloaded was conspicuously missing that feature. The reason I had to download a new PokerStars client? The old client stopped working. Will I be able to save the hand histories tonight? Yes. Why? I downloaded yet another PokerStars client, and this latest one has that feature :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

KO    NLHE    42500  7500       9     -       9    3     3    59500
KO    NLHE    42500  7500       9     -       9    3     2    78625
KO    NLHE    42500  7500       9     -       9    3     4        0
KO    NLHE    42500  7500       9    10       9    3     6        0


delta: $-61,875
KO no limit hold'em balance: $-68,689
balance: $33,794,785

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Competing against yourself

When you do something really well, you're creating a worthy future opponent. To be more precise, this opponent will eventually be a worthy past opponent; he'll be someone you measure yourself against in the future, but his accomplishments will have occurred in the past. In the last five sessions, I've made a packet of play money - $3,653,375 to be exact. However, since I've done so well this year, this latest five bagger doesn't crack my all-time top ten; it falls just outside, in 11th place. Amazingly enough, the top 39 spots on my career five bagger list all fall in 2017. The year of the rebuy :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

KO    NLHE    42500  7500       9    46       9    3     1    95625
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    71      64   15    26        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   125      49   12     3  1735000


delta: $1,365,625
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $21,477,500
2017 balance: $22,438,830
balance: $33,856,660

Friday, October 27, 2017

My blue heaven

Last night, I got most of what I was aiming for:

- back in the blue? yes ($32,491,035)
- three straight MTT-R NLHE final tables? no :-(
- most final tables in a 5 MTT-R NLHE stretch? no :-(
- most final tables in a 6 MTT-R NLHE stretch? yes (4)
- largest profit for a calendar year? yes ($21,073,205)

This continues to be a career year. These are the good old days :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    40      82   18    47        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   163      68   15     6   915000

delta: $565,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $20,242,500
2017 balance: $21,073,205
balance: $32,491,035

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Blue proximity

The last time my overall balance was in the blue was on August 6th. On August 7th, I lost $158,800. With last night's profit, my overall balance has come the closest to being back in the blue since August 7th; my blue distance is now $193,070. If I play a single tournament tonight and make the final table, I'll achieve all of the following:

1. my overall balance will be back in the blue
2. I'll set a new personal record of three straight tournaments under the lights
3. I'll set a new personal record of four out of five tournaments under the lights

I have a lot to play for, and I'm going for it :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   115      57   12     6   694000


delta: $494,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $19,677,500
2017 balance: $20,508,205
balance: $31,926,035

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The delicious dozen

When I started this blog, I never imagined it would be possible for me to make a profit of a million play dollars in a single session. I wasn't entirely sure I'd even ever be able to make a profit of a million play dollars, regardless of the number of sessions. Last night, I made a single session profit of a million play dollars for the twelfth time in my career. I'm calling those sessions the delicious dozen :-)

Making such a massive profit took most of the sting out of how my second tournament ended - I hit the rail with pocket aces, when my opponent hit a two outer on the river. Had I won that hand, I think the odds are better than 50 50 that I would have won it all.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    43      71   15    29        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   123      63   15     4  1376000


delta: $1,076,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $19,183,500
2017 balance: $20,014,205
balance: $31,432,035

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

A fine way to end a losing streak

Last night, I got under the lights again. It was a fine way to end my MTT-R NLHE losing streak. Notice I'm not claiming that I ended my slump, just my losing streak :-) Through the quirk of a double knockout, only 8 players made it to the final table. I was the short stack and also the first to hit the rail, after just 4 hands. However, I wasn't about to complain, as I'd been the beneficiary of a goodly amount of luck along the way.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   105      52   12     8   424000


delta: $174,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $18,107,500
2017 balance: $18,938,205
balance: $30,356,035

Monday, October 23, 2017

Powerless before the will of the poker gods

Sometimes, the poker gods like to rub it in. On Saturday night, they ensured I'd set a new personal worst for consecutive MTT-R NLHEs missing the money by throwing two outlier events at me. The first was dropping my network connection just as I hit the felt in the first MTT-R I entered, causing me to get timed out during the rebuy interval. The second was throwing a bad beat on me in the second MTT-R when I appeared to be heading toward the money. I hit the rail losing to a 4 outer. My new all-time record is 11 consecutive MTT-R NLHEs missing the money - and counting.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    14      62   15     0        0
KO    NLHE    42500  7500       9    13       9    3     3    38250
KO    NLHE    42500  7500       9    28       9    3     2    57375
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    59      47   12    23        0


delta: $-204,375
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $17,933,500
2017 balance: $18,764,205
balance: $30,182,035

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Second worst six bagger ever

Let's face it, to have a session finish in the top 2 all-time for any category is an achievement, whether or not it's a positive one or a negative one. Last night, I completed my second worst six bagger ever. Here are the top ten:

 $-1,819,525 2017-08-13 2017-08-18 (1)
 $-1,374,770 2017-10-14 2017-10-20 (0)
 $-1,330,147 2015-08-19 2015-08-24 (1)
 $-1,315,400 2017-08-29 2017-09-04 (2)
 $-1,295,500 2015-08-20 2015-08-25 (1)
 $-1,265,700 2017-08-28 2017-09-03 (2)
 $-1,228,525 2017-08-14 2017-08-20 (2)
 $-1,216,000 2017-08-08 2017-08-15 (2)
 $-1,203,812 2015-08-21 2015-08-26 (1)
 $-1,191,608 2012-07-17 2012-07-22 (2)


I've now failed to make the money in 9 straight MTT-R NLHEs. My career record losing streak in MTT-R NLHEs is 10 straight. If I don't get on my horse, I'm going to set a new all-time negative record.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    43500  6500       9    24     105   27     0        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    60      56   12    22        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    30      52   12    34        0


delta: $-300,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $18,133,500
2017 balance: $18,968,580
balance: $30,386,410

Friday, October 20, 2017

Twelfth worst session ever

When you've played over 2,000 sessions of poker, as I now have, it's a pretty big deal to have a session which is within the top 20 in a category, since that represents the top 1%. Last night, I had my 12th worst session ever, losing half a million play dollars. Despite that cold hard fact, I was actually playing quite well. I feel like I'm due for a big win one of these days.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    36      85   18    48        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    44      71   15    43        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    70      61   15    17        0


delta: $-500,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $18,383,500
2017 balance: $19,268,580
balance: $30,686,410

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Never say never

Last night, for the first time in over a year, I played a cash game. It was a very unusual situation; I was essentially forced into it. For the first time in my nine years of playing on PokerStars, they had some sort of software problem with the play money tournaments, and none were available. If I wanted to play any poker at all, it would have to be a cash game. I love poker too much not to play, so I bit the bullet. All my prejudices against cash games were reconfirmed, not too surprisingly. I'm happy to say the glitch has been fixed, and I'll be able to play tournaments again tonight. Yeehaw!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 58 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 8 times while in big blind (75%)
 - 2 out of 8 times while in small blind (25%)
 - 16 out of 42 times in other positions (38%)
 - a total of 24 out of 58 (41%)
 Pots won at showdown - 2 of 7 (28%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $-24,770
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,673,317
balance: $31,186,410

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Erroring out

In computer parlance, erroring out is when a program realizes it has reached a state from which it can't continue, and exits with an error condition. In a poker tournament context, erroring out is what I call it when I make a fatally bad decision, and hit the rail as a result. Last night, I errored out when I went all in after the flop, on a non-rainbow board. A non-rainbow flop is one where at least two of the three cards are of the same suit. You should never go all in on a non-rainbow board, since if you get called, there's a good chance your opponent will be on a flush draw, and you'll be flipping for your tournament life. Although I made this error last night, funnily enough, I didn't actually lose to a flush. But that's beside the point :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    57      62   15    31        0


delta: $-150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $18,883,500
2017 balance: $19,793,350
balance: $31,211,180

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Loss portfolio

This poker year, in addition to building an impressive win portfolio, I've also built an impressive loss portfolio. I've lost more play money this year than in any previous year - $29,926,900, to be precise. Let's just round that up to 30 million. If I keep up this pace, I will have lost over $37.8 million by year's end. However, I will also have won over $63.6 million :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    61      65   15    39        0


delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $19,033,500
2017 balance: $19,943,350
balance: $31,361,180

Monday, October 16, 2017

Thrown off the bus

Close to four years ago, firmly embedded in my lengthy cash game phase, I wrote a blog entry entitled "The middle of nowhere"; here's how it began:

Playing poker can be likened to being on a long bus ride. You want to stay on the bus, and go as far as you can. Sometimes, though, you're forced off the bus, dropped off essentially in the middle of nowhere.

Hitting the rail (i.e., exiting a tournament) is much worse than hitting the felt (i.e., losing your initial stake in a cash game), and the feeling you get is correspondingly stronger. Instead of feeling like you're being dropped off in the middle of nowhere, you feel like you're being thrown off a moving bus :-)

I got thrown off the bus in the second tournament I played last night, missing the money by one measly spot.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    22      65   15    39        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    95      47   12    13        0


delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $19,233,500
2017 balance: $20,143,350
balance: $31,561,180

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Poker trifecta

It's rare to get dealt the same hand twice in a row - this should happen only once every 1,326 hands. It's even rarer to get dealt the same hand twice in a row, where the cards have been dealt in the same order. This should happen only once every 2,652 hands. These odds are very similar to hitting a trifecta in a 14 horse race, which is 1 in 2,184. So let's call getting dealt the same hand in the same order twice in a row the poker trifecta. Last night, I hit the poker trifecta in style - I was dealt the hand As Ad twice in a row. I won the first time, and had a chopped pot the second, since my opponent had been dealt the other two aces.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   126      52   12     7   543000


delta: $393,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $19,433,500
2017 balance: $20,343,350
balance: $31,761,180

Friday, October 13, 2017

The pleasures of failing to make the money

When I don't make the money in a tournament, all is not for naught. In fact, there are multiple pleasures to be had; here are some of them:

- the joy of playing well
- the fun on seeing very rare events, even if they're not happening to you
- the schadenfreude of outlasting many of your "usual suspect" opponents

Last night, I experienced all of these. The rare event was when one of my opponents made quad jacks.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    65      78   18    40        0


delta: $-150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $19,040,500
2017 balance: $19,950,350
balance: $31,368,180

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Evermore session

Last night, I had an evermore session - I lasted longer in each succeeding tournament. My final table finish in the third and final tournament enabled me to make a decent profit on the night. I'm now making the final table in MTT-R NLHEs at a 17.22% clip. I sense that I'll be back in the blue within the next week.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    29      71   15    28        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    51      59   12    29        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   129      46   12     6   545000


delta: $145,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $19,190,500
2017 balance: $20,100,350
balance: $31,518,180

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

A different kind of yardstick

When I first started this blog, the sum of my ambition was to earn a million play dollars in profit. At that time, one million play dollars was a ne plus ultra yardstick; literally, I couldn't imagine anything beyond it, since it was so far out of reach to begin with. Of course, the times they have a-changed :-) Now, a million play dollars is a different kind of yardstick. Now, whenever I'm anything less than a million play dollars away from getting back into the blue, I feel like I'm practically there :-) For the record, I'm currently $745,925 away from getting back into the blue.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    36      59   12    32        0


delta: $-150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $19,045,500
2017 balance: $19,955,350
balance: $31,373,180

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Once more unto the breach

I had several storylines to choose from for this post. Here they are, in brief:

- I made a profit of over half a million play dollars in Friday's session
- in my last four sessions, I've made a profit of over 1.7 million play dollars
- despite such gaudy numbers, neither of these achievements was able to crack the top 20 in their respective category (proof of just how insanely good I've been running in 2017)
- I have a streak of 3 consecutive MTT-R NLHEs where I've made the money, which is my fourth such streak

I decided to pick the last storyline. I've never had 4 consecutive MTT-R NLHE money finishes, and I aim to fill that gap on my poker resume tonight. Of course, once again I'm jinxing myself by talking about a streak before it's over, but it's my blog and I can write what I want :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   128      58   12     5   715000


delta: $565,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $19,195,500
2017 balance: $20,105,350
balance: $31,523,180

Friday, October 6, 2017

Twin century

Last night, I completed the second half of a twin century; that is, for the second time in a row, I lasted at least 100 hands in a tournament. It pretty much goes without saying that I made the money. I missed getting under the lights by four places. Twin centuries aren't terribly hard to come by in MTT-R NLHEs; so far in my career, I've had 21 of them.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   122      66   15    13   405000


delta: $305,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $18,630,500
2017 balance: $19,540,350
balance: $30,958,180

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Two out of three ain't bad

I've never made it under the lights three times in a row. However, I have made it under the lights two out of three times before. Fairly often, in fact - 14 times, including the span from Tuesday night's tournament through yesterday's two tournaments. As I've mentioned before, often I get the feeling I'm going to make the final table well before I actually do. What can I tell you? It's a hunch, and we poker players live and die by our hunches :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    67      66   15    35        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   106      44    9     4   965000

delta: $415,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $18,325,500
2017 balance: $19,235,350
balance: $30,653,180

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Under the lights

Last night, for the first time in nearly a month, I got under the lights again in an MTT-R NLHE. That's always a great feeling :-) I started the final table in 6th place, and laddered up one spot to 5th. I only fired two bullets. Thanks to the great result, my overall balance once again topped the 30 million play dollar mark.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   109      46   12     5   551000


delta: $451,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $17,910,500
2017 balance: $18,820,350
balance: $30,238,180

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

For want of a bounty

Lately, I've been warming up for poker by playing chess. The problem with this is that since I'm starting poker later in the evening, I can't be as choosy about what tournaments I enter. Last night, I would have had to wait 22 minutes to play an MTT-R NLHE. That wasn't going to cut it. Instead, I jumped into an MTT-B NLHE which had just one minute left in its late registration period. It seems to me the penalty for joining a bounty tournament late is much less severe than joining a rebuy tournament late; for one thing, typically many more players will have hit the rail in a bounty tournament at this stage than in a rebuy tournament, meaning there's lots of juicy dead money laying around. There are two main drawbacks to playing bounties instead of rebuys:

1. the money up top is much less
2. making the money in a bounty doesn't guarantee a profit; you must typically have won at least one bounty in addition to making the money

Obviously, it's much harder to win a bounty when you join a tournament late. Last night, I failed to win a bounty, so I had a loss on the night even though I made the money.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-B NLHE    44000  6000       9    22     171   36    34    28200


delta: $-21,800
MTT with bounties NLHE balance: $460,080
2017 balance: $18,369,350
balance: $29,787,180

Monday, October 2, 2017

Failure to shove

Tournaments are dynamic. Conditions are changing all the time, so the decisions you make must take that into account. When you're severely short-stacked, you should be shoving with any marginally good hand. I failed to do this in the second tournament I entered last night, and it cost me. When I was down to just 425 in chips, the blinds were 500 and 1000, and the ante was 100. I was dealt Q5o (queen five offsuit), and should have shoved, since I was going to be in the big blind the next hand and would be forced all in. Instead, I folded and hoped for the best the next hand. Had I shoved, I would have won the main pot with a king high flush, and at least have had an outside chance of making the money. Live and learn!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    75      79   18    27        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    54      77   18    23        0


delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $17,459,500
2017 balance: $18,391,150
balance: $29,808,980

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Another final table bubble

On Thursday night, I bubbled the final table of the only tournament I entered. That's the fourth time I've done that in an MTT-R NLHE. Only by making the final table can you position yourself to make a truly huge profit; still, making a profit of over $200,000 in 79 hands is nothing to sneeze at.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    79      55   12    10   387000


delta: $237,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $17,659,500
2017 balance: $18,591,150
balance: $30,008,980