The money caboose

When you make the money in the bottom paying place of a tournament, you've made what could be called the money caboose. It's a min cash, but better than not cashing at all. In fact, if I'm going to min cash, I'd rather it be the money caboose, since that's a more dramatic finishing spot. The edge of the cliff, as it were. That's where I ended up last night.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      86   21    21   329000

delta: $129,000
MTT NLHE balance: $22,382,668
2020 balance: $15,160,343
blue distance: $2,109,000
balance: $76,968,353

Putting a million dollar loss into perspective

Of the 3,287 sessions I've played in my online poker career, there have been only three where I lost at least a million play dollars. The first time that happened, on July 21, 2012, it represented 18.7% of my overall balance. The second time, on August 24, 2015, it represented 12.2% of my overall balance. The most recent time, two nights ago, it represented just 1.3% of my overall balance. Puppy food :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      64   18    16   278000

delta: $78,000
MTT NLHE balance: $22,253,668
2020 balance: $15,031,343
blue distance: $2,238,000
balance: $76,839,353

P.S. Last night, the midnight train returned, as I knew it would.

Midnight train missing again

I first used this blog post title on August 31 of this year; here's an excerpt of what I had to say:

My bread and butter buy in for MTT NLHE is $200,000. As I've mentioned before, there's a nightly tournament with this buy in which starts at 11:28pm EST and whose late registration period ends at 12:12am EST. I call this tournament the midnight train. Every so often the midnight train goes missing. I always fret that it's gone for good when this happens, but so far it's always shown up again the very next night. Last night it went missing again ...

Last night the midnight train went missing again, but this time there was no obvious replacement. I wanted to play a 6max MTT NLHE with at least a $100,000 buy in, but none were on offer using my standard search criteria. I decided to look for a higher stakes tournament, and found a 6max MTT NLHE with a $1,000,000 buy in which was nearing the end of its late registration period. I jumped in and made it to Station 2. I ended up bubbling the bubble. I'm not going to be a high stakes regular, but it's a thrill to play high stakes every now and then :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   870000 130000       6      37   10    12        0

delta: $-1,000,000
MTT NLHE balance: $22,175,668
2020 balance: $14,953,343
blue distance: $2,316,000
balance: $76,761,353

Coolerbyed

A coolerbye is a cooler goodbye; in other words, a hand where you hit the rail on a cooler. Last night, I got coolerbyed. On my last hand of the tournament, I was dealt pocket queens, and lost to an opponent who'd been dealt rockets (pocket aces). I think of this as Cooler #2. Cooler #1, as I've mentioned before, is cowboys (pocket kings) vs. rockets.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      93   24    50        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,175,668
2020 balance: $15,953,343
blue distance: $1,316,000
balance: $77,761,353

Apockalypse now

The most memorable hand of last night's session was one that I folded before the flop. I'd been dealt pocket queens and was preparing to back them strongly. However, one player acting before me put in a big bet, which had me pondering. When a second player acting before me put in a big raise, there was nothing to ponder anymore; I folded gladly. The original bettor called all in. He turned over cowboys (pocket kings), and the raiser turned over rockets (pocket aces). The rockets held, and the kings hit the rail. Funnily enough, the river card was a queen, which would have won me a huge pot if I'd stayed in the hand. Nevertheless, my fold was correct.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      82   21     9   542000

delta: $342,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,375,668
2020 balance: $16,153,343
blue distance: $1,116,000
balance: $77,961,353

Another station 2

Last night, I rode the night train to station 2 again. That is, I outlasted the late registration period, and outlasted at least half of the field. Unfortunately, I didn't get to station 3 (making the money). That made me curious to know what percentage of the tournaments where I failed to make the money were station 2 tournaments, so I checked it out. The answer? 54.28 (368 of 678).

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      71   18    27        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,033,668
2020 balance: $15,811,343
blue distance: $1,458,000
balance: $77,619,353

Shot from guns tournament

I first came up with the concept of a shot from guns session in my cash game days. Later, I applied it to tournaments. Last night, I had a shot from guns tournament; I won the first two hands I was dealt, and never looked back. When I joined the tournament, there were only eight minutes left in the late registration period; that was due to playing a lengthy chess session before switching to poker.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      85   21    21   325000

delta: $125,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,233,668
2020 balance: $16,011,343
blue distance: $1,258,000
balance: $77,819,353

Three memorable hands

Last night's session featured three memorable hands, the first two of which were consecutive. Hand 1: I was dealt QJo (queen jack offsuit), and flopped a king high straight. Hand 2: I was dealt pocket threes, and flopped quad threes. Hand 3: I was dealt pocket fours, flopped a set, shoved, and hit a full house of fours full of fives on the river. With luck like that, it's hard not to make the money :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      95   24    19   330000

delta: $130,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,108,668
2020 balance: $15,886,343
blue distance: $1,383,000
balance: $77,694,353

Badbeatbyed

Time for another neo neo. A badbeatbye is a hand where you hit the rail on a bad beat. To use the verb form, I got badbeatbyed last night. I was dealt a pair of queens and hit a set on the flop. I shoved and got one caller. He hit a queen high straight on the river. Whatcha gonna do?

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      92   24    26       0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $22,978,668
2020 balance: $15,756,343
blue distance: $1,513,000
balance: $77,564,353

When the queen came

When the dream came
I held my breath with my eyes closed

Buffalo Springfield, "On the Way Home"

When the queen came
I was holding my breath with my eyes open

neostreet

Last night, nearing the money bubble, I was short-stacked and got dealt ATs (ace ten suited). In my head I said to my hole cards, "You never looked shovelier". Accordingly, I shoved preflop and got one caller. He'd been dealt cowboys (pocket kings), so I was roughly a 2 to 1 underdog. I became an even more severe underdog when he hit a set of kings on the turn. My only hope was to fill an inside straight; I needed a queen to complete Broadway. Miraculously, the queen came on the river. I made the money soon after that stroke of luck.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      69   18    14   360000

delta: $160,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,178,668
2020 balance: $15,956,343
blue distance: $1,313,000
balance: $77,764,353

River aced out

Last night, I fared a little better in chess before playing poker, registering 2 wins, 2 draws, and 4 losses. My chess rating still took a hit, but not as big a one as before. The only hand I remember from my poker tournament was the last one. I had a nine in my hand, and the high card of the flop was a nine. The turn was another low card, and I was in good shape to double up. However, my opponent rivered an ace, giving him aces up, and that was all she wrote.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6     101   24    52        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,018,668
2020 balance: $15,796,343
blue distance: $1,473,000
balance: $77,604,353

Chess hammer a bad omen

Even though I abandoned my chess blog years ago, I've never abandoned chess. I've fallen into the pleasurable habit of playing chess before every poker session. In the last month, my chess rating has risen to a new personal best. Last night, however, it took a beating. I played nine games, winning just two and losing seven. Since deuce seven is jokingly called a hammer in poker, I'm calling a 2 and 7 result a chess hammer :-) It was a bad omen, as I missed the money in my poker tournament by a country mile.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      71   18    40        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,218,668
2020 balance: $15,996,343
blue distance: $1,273,000
balance: $77,804,353

Escape velocity

At one point I wrote a chess blog in addition to this poker one. Since chess and poker have commonalities, some of my chess posts have ideas I can steal for poker posts :-) Here's what I had to say in a chess blog post with an identical title, written on January 24, 2015:

One of the wonderful features of blitz is that it allows you to subvert the traditional purpose of a chess game, which is to checkmate your opponent. Blitz allows you to aim solely for a time win. If you think you can think just faster enough than your opponent to make enough "good enough" moves to cause him to lose on time, no matter how far ahead he is materially and positionally, I say go for it! The ultimate artistic triumph of this form of subverted chess is to have only your king remaining at the end. I almost achieved that rare distinction in the second game I played last night. I had only my king and one pawn, while my opponent had a king, a queen, and a pawn. My king did a little soft shoe routine between two squares near the middle of the board while my opponent's time ran out.

I call this type of win an "escape velocity" win. Escape velocity is the speed a rocket must reach in order to escape earth's gravity. In order to achieve this, a lot of fuel must be burned, and at some point the section of the rocket which contained the now-spent fuel must be jettisoned. The part of the rocket which reaches outer space is necessarily much smaller than the original rocket. In an "escape velocity" blitz win, when the time advantage one has over one's opponent is big enough, pieces can be jettisoned with impunity, in order to get one's king into "outer space" - alone but untouchable, since one's opponent simply has no more time :-)

An escape velocity win in a poker tournament is when you min cash with virtually no chips - just enough to fold your way into the money. That's what I did last night; when the money bubble burst, I had just 42 chips to my name.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      97   24    22   337000

delta: $137,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,418,668
2020 balance: $16,196,343
blue distance: $1,073,000
balance: $78,004,353

Stations along the line

I've often likened playing a poker tournament to riding on a train. You never know when you're going to be thrown off the train, but there are stations along the line you hope to reach before that happens. The first station is outlasting the late registration period. If you can achieve that, typically you will have outlasted about a third of the field. The next station is outlasting at least half of the field. The next station after that is making the money; that means you will have outlasted at least seventy percent of the field. The penultimate station is getting to the final table, aka getting under the lights; that means you will have outlasted at least ninety percent of the field. Of course, the final station is winning the tournament. Last night, I reached the second station. All things considered, not that bad a result.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      91   24    40        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,281,668
2020 balance: $16,059,343
blue distance: $1,210,000
balance: $77,867,353

The lion in winter

When you're short-stacked in a tournament, you're in a poker winter. There's more than a decent chance you'll end up like the Jack Nicholson character at the end of "The Shining", a frozen corpse. The question becomes, how will you play? Last night, I chose to play like a lion in winter. I missed the money, but not by much.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      69   18    20        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,481,668
2020 balance: $16,259,343
blue distance: $1,010,000
balance: $78,067,353

My new favorite trick

Last night, I figured out how to work around the deficiency of my new laptop's trackpad, and it's become my new favorite trick. I should have thought of it long before this. All I need to do is Alt Tab to take me to a different window, move the cursor to the side, then Alt Tab again to return to the PokerStars client. Safe as houses :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      85   21     8   650000

delta: $450,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,681,668
2020 balance: $16,459,343
blue distance: $810,000
balance: $78,267,353

The ho-hum eight

Even though seven of my last eight sessions (including last night's) have been losing ones, for an aggregate loss of $1,260,000, those sessions are far from the hateful eight; they're closer to the ho-hum eight :-) This is due to my impressive loss portfolio. That million plus loss doesn't even crack the top 100 eight session aggregate losses of my career, believe it or not. For the record, my largest eight session aggregate loss is $3,348,000, from October 14 through 21 of last year. That's the current hateful eight :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      74   21    41        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,231,668
2020 balance: $16,009,343
blue distance: $1,260,000
balance: $77,817,353

Laptop design failure

My session ended abruptly last night due to a design failure of my new laptop. Specifically, a failure in the design of the trackpad. It has no mouse buttons; my old laptop did. Without mouse buttons, the trackpad itself must emulate their features. That's where the problem lies. The primary function of the trackpad is to move the cursor around. Thanks to no mouse buttons, the secondary function is to register left clicks and right clicks. It's a bad idea to overload the same input device with multiple functions, since the action intended by the user can be misconstrued. That's what happened to me last night. I had top pair (jacks) on the turn, but there were two deuces on the board. An opponent bet big enough to put me all in if I called, so I figured he had a deuce in his hand. I decided to fold. Unfortunately, the cursor was hovering over the call button, so I needed to move it over the fold button and then perform a left click operation on the trackpad. I put a little bit too much pressure on the trackpad in my attempt to move the cursor, and my action was interpreted as a left click instead. I was put all in, and was out in a New York minute; my opponent did indeed have a deuce. This never could have happened had my laptop's trackpad included mouse buttons. Expletive deleted.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      42   10     -        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,431,668
2020 balance: $16,209,343
blue distance: $1,060,000
balance: $78,017,353

Three on a match

I used this blog post title once before, on November 20, 2012. Here's a brief excerpt of what I had to say:

The old superstition about three on a match has its poker analogue; you really don't want to be the third one going in to a huge pot.

Back then, I was playing cash games, but this advice applies equally well to tournaments. On my final hand last night, I was dealt a big slick (ace king). A player acting before me bet big enough to put me all in if I called, and a second player acting before me called. The correct play here was to fold, but I was both too impatient and too stubborn to do it. I had a decent chance to win after the flop, but the initial bettor hit a straight on the river, and that was all she wrote.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      28    8     -        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,631,668
2020 balance: $16,409,343
blue distance: $860,000
balance: $78,217,353

Heaven's door

Whenever I'm dealt pocks (a pocket pair) and pay to see the flop, what I'm hoping to do, of course, is flop a set. Sometimes, I get a premonition that I'm going to hit one; often, the premonition comes true. More rarely, the premonition is more specific - namely, that I'll hit the set with the door card (the first card in the flop). Last night, I got the door card premonition when I was dealt pocket fives. It came true, which virtually ensured that I'd make the money. You could say I flopped heaven's door :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      89   21    20   340000

delta: $140,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,831,668
2020 balance: $16,609,343
blue distance: $660,000
balance: $78,417,353

Session quirk

When I can't find a lot to say about a session poker-wise, I fall back on statistics :-) When I looked at the summary data of last night's session, one quirky thing stood out - the number of entries, the number of paid places, and my place shared the same digit in the units position. That got me to wondering how rare that might be, so I wrote a program to figure that out. The answer? Rare indeed; it's only happened 8 times in 1,154 MTT NLHEs.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      81   21    51        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,691,668
2020 balance: $16,469,343
blue distance: $800,000
balance: $78,277,353

Cooler #1

A cooler is a hand where two or more players are dealt a premium holding. Neither (or none) of the players will be likely to fold, so at least one player will be in for a world of hurt. Different players may have different ideas about what constitutes the most hurtful cooler. My cooler #1 is when one player has been dealt rockets (pocket aces) and another has been dealt cowboys (pocket kings). The player with the aces is an 81.06% favorite to win the hand, and stands to make a killing. Last night, I was on the right end of a cooler #1 early on. Two players went with me to showdown, and I raked in a huge pot, shooting my stack up to the #5 spot. Alas, despite this good fortune, I failed to make the money.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      93   24    29        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,891,668
2020 balance: $16,669,343
blue distance: $600,000
balance: $78,477,353

Two hand memories

I can only remember partial details of two hands from last night's session. On the first, I was dealt a pair of threes; they were good enough to see the flop with, but I had to fold them when I whiffed on the flop. On the second, I was dealt ATo (ace ten offsuit) and went all the way to showdown, but lost to an AJo.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      81   21    42        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $24,091,668
2020 balance: $16,869,343
blue distance: $400,000
balance: $78,677,353

Another down payment

Losing sessions are a simple fact of poker life. So far in my career, I've had 1,526 losing sessions. If they had happened one right after the other, I would have had a losing streak more than four years long. The way I look at losing sessions is that they're simply down payments on future profits. Last night I made another one :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      69   18    27        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $24,291,668
2020 balance: $17,069,343
blue distance: $200,000
balance: $78,877,353

A fine blue cadence

Lately I've settled into a fine blue cadence. What I mean by this is that I'm regularly achieving blue sessions, at fairly predictable intervals. Already, this year's blue count is the third highest of my career. Last night, I did something I almost never do - I registered for a tournament before it began. That meant I got to play more hands, as long as I didn't run into a cooler or do something stupid. Playing more hands is not always a good idea in cash games, but it's unequivocally a good idea in tournaments :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      77   21     7   669000

delta: $469,000
MTT NLHE balance: $24,491,668
2020 balance: $17,269,343
blue distance: $0
balance: $79,077,353

Tenliness is next to quadliness

The most memorable hand of last night's session, as is so often the case, was one I lost. I was dealt cowboys (pocket kings) and hit a set on the flop. My set of kings improved to a full house of kings full of tens on the turn. However, the river was another ten, and I lost to quad tens. Thanks to my opponent betting conservatively on the river, I didn't lose my shirt. I was able to make the money, and even laddered up two money jumps after the money bubble burst.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      79   21    14   384000

delta: $184,000
MTT NLHE balance: $24,022,668
2020 balance: $16,800,343
blue distance: $66,000
balance: $78,608,353

Come out cowboys crushed

Last night's session was short, but definitely not sweet. I was dealt cowboys (pocket kings) on the very first hand, and called the all in preflop bet of a player I had covered (barely). He turned over A6o (ace six offsuit), which meant that I was a heavy favorite. However, it wasn't meant to be. He spiked an ace on the river,  leaving my stack on life support. It gave up the ghost about five hands later, and I recorded another 0th place.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      56   15     -        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,838,668
2020 balance: $16,616,343
blue distance: $250,000
balance: $78,424,353

Puppy food

I missed the late train last night, due to playing online chess. By the time I eventually logged in to PokerStars, the only 6max MTT NLHE on offer was a $50,000 buy in one. Puppy food! However, beggars can't be choosy. I refuse to play 9max, but I also refuse not to play at all once I've logged in.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6     118   30    34        0

delta: $-50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $24,038,668
2020 balance: $16,816,343
blue distance: $50,000
balance: $78,624,353

Grand slam

I got back into the blue last night. The way I did it triggered my probability radar; I thought it might be a unique sequence of events. I was almost right :-) Here's what I saw when I examined my recent poker sessions: blue, loss, loss, loss, loss, blue. It's unusual to have only losses between blue sessions. It's highly unusual to have at least four losses with no wins between blue sessions. I hereby dub this achievement a grand slam. It turns out this was only the second grand slam of my poker career.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      93   24     5  1051000

delta: $851,000
MTT NLHE balance: $24,088,668
2020 balance: $16,866,343
blue distance: $0
balance: $78,674,353

Fantasy hands

Fantasy hands are hands you make after you've already folded. You may well have folded for excellent reasons, but it can still be tough to see what you missed out on, especially if you folded before the flop and the fantasy hand materialized on the flop. Last night, I had two fantasy straights. I folded before the flop both times. Later, I flopped an actual straight; I'm guessing I saw the flop in that case due to being in the big blind. Alas, I didn't win a big enough pot to propel me into the money.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      57   15    24        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $23,237,668
2020 balance: $16,015,343
blue distance: $800,000
balance: $77,823,353