Another poxit

Last night, I had another poxit. As I've said before, when you're short-stacked, it's any pair in a storm. This time around, I had pocket threes, and called all in on a flop that had two jacks and a queen. I figured my opponent was trying to bully me off the hand, but sometimes the big stacks actually have it; he'd flopped trip jacks. Whatcha gonna do?

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      81   21    36        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,223,768
2021 balance: $9,802,000
blue distance: $1,185,000
balance: $87,467,453

A premonition of disaster

Whenever PokerStars reveals the hole cards of the players who are still in a hand, before the river card is dealt, the software also displays the percent chance of winning to the right of each player's name. It's nearly impossible, in such a situation, for me not to stare at the number to the right of my name, willing it to stay above 0. When it's 80 or above after the turn, but turns to 0 on the river, I have to say it hurts - especially when I'm all in. That's what happened on the final hand of last night's session. I had a premonition of disaster, but couldn't tear my eyes away.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      79   21    23        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,423,768
2021 balance: $10,002,000
blue distance: $985,000
balance: $87,667,453

I didn't mean to go to sea

When I was about ten or so, I devoured a series of children's books written by Arthur Ransome about the adventures of four young English siblings who loved to sail and who called themselves the Swallows and the Amazons. The title of one of the books was "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea". Somehow the children ended up putting out to sea without really meaning to. Something very similar happened to me in last night's session.

This is an excerpt from my April 14, 2019 post. It applies equally well to last night's session. I boarded the train before the midnight train without noticing it was a deepstack. Had I noticed, I would have picked a different tournament, since I've unofficially sworn off deepstacks. I had more than my fair share of good luck, and got under the lights.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    87000  13000       6      60   12     5   365000

delta: $265,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,623,768
2021 balance: $10,202,000
blue distance: $785,000
balance: $87,867,453

Train wreck

On Tuesday night, I had a train wreck of a session. I entered the tournament with 8 minutes left in the late registration period and hit the rail after only 3 minutes. I stubbornly held on to my top pair with a decent kicker, losing to a straight. I hadn't done the due diligence to discover that the board supported a straight, so I got what I deserved.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      39   10     -        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,358,768
2021 balance: $9,937,000
blue distance: $1,050,000
balance: $87,602,453

Escape velocity

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.

This is an excerpt from my October 19, 2020 post. Last night, I had another escape velocity win. Even though they're min cashes, escape velocity wins are immensely satisfying; you feel like you've pulled a fast one on the poker gods :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    87000  13000       6      46   12    12   150000

delta: $50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,558,768
2021 balance: $10,137,000
blue distance: $850,000
balance: $87,802,453

How to fall out of a fine blue cadence

To my chagrin, I've discovered a sure-fire way to fall out of a fine blue cadence - blog about it. This is an example of how the act of observing something can change it. The first time I blogged about being in a fine blue cadence, the next 39 sessions were non-blue. I'm now in the middle of the fallout from the second time; my streak of non-blue sessions currently stands at 6. That'll teach me to brag :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000   5000       6      63   18     -        0

delta: $-50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,508,768
2021 balance: $10,087,000
blue distance: $900,000
balance: $87,752,453

Last second 0th place

I've registered last minute 0th places before, but never a last second 0th place; never, that is, until last night. When I hit the rail, I saw that I was within the final minute of the late registration period. As is my custom, I took a screenshot of the tournament lobby to preserve the tournament details. However, in the short interval between hitting the rail and taking the screen shot, the late registration period expired, promoting my 0th place to an official place. I'm choosing to ignore the official place, and have recorded this as a 0th place in my poker database. Since last second events are rarities, and I love rarities, I'm actually quite pleased things panned out the way they did :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      79   21     -        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,558,768
2021 balance: $10,137,000
blue distance: $850,000
balance: $87,802,453

Stay of execution

The most memorable hand of last night's session was the one where I was all in, failed to have the winning hand, and yet didn't hit the rail. The secret? Three of us went to showdown, and there were two pots - the main pot and a side pot. I won the latter. God bless side pots :-) For all that good luck, I still failed to make the money.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      72   18    22        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,758,768
2021 balance: $10,337,000
blue distance: $650,000
balance: $88,002,453

90 to 0

A very fast racing car can go from 0 to 90 in a matter of seconds. A poker hand, however, can go from 90 to 0 in a heartbeat. That is to say, your chances of winning the hand can go from 90 percent to 0 percent in a New York second. That's what happened to me on the final hand of last night's session. I had two pair on the turn, up against an opponent with one pair. He hit trip fives on the river, though, and that was all she wrote.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      73   21    36        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,958,768
2021 balance: $10,537,000
blue distance: $450,000
balance: $88,202,453

Thin tournaments considered harmful

I got what I wished for last night - an earlier train which wasn't a toy train. Then I discovered that I hadn't wished for enough. I should have wished for a train which not only wasn't a toy, but was also not thin. A thin tournament is one that doesn't have a large number of entries. Thin tournaments have smaller prize pools, fewer paid places, and smaller payouts. A trifecta of good reasons not to enter them! The only way to ensure that you don't enter a thin tournament is to postpone entering it until it has grown fat :-) Last night, I failed to do that.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      54   15    17        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $34,158,768
2021 balance: $10,737,000
blue distance: $250,000
balance: $88,402,453

Tired of toy trains

The midnight train is never a toy train. However, the midnight train starts too late to be a viable week night option. The trains that run before the midnight train tend to be toy trains. I had to settle for another one last night, and I'm getting tired of them. You know they're no good for you when you can make the money and still see your extrapolated profit for the year go down, as happened the session before last. Choosing a toy train is akin to choosing to limit your profit; not an especially good move.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000   5000       6      75   21     -        0    

delta: $-50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $34,358,768
2021 balance: $10,937,000
blue distance: $50,000
balance: $88,602,453

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.

This is an excerpt from my October 6, 2020 post; it applies equally well to my recent results. Six of my last ten sessions have been blue ones. I'm on pace to make a profit of more than 25 million play dollars this year, which would take my overall balance north of 100 million. Now that's a nice round number :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000   5000       6      86   21    13   108000

delta: $58,000
MTT NLHE balance: $34,408,768
2021 balance: $10,987,000
blue distance: $0
balance: $88,652,453

Jacks upset

Last night, I hit the rail on an "always going broke" hand. I was dealt pocket jacks and flopped a set. I shoved, and got not just one but two callers. I was a favorite, but it didn't pan out; I actually lost to both opponents. That translated to a 0th place with fully 24 minutes left in the late registration period. Ouch! Thankfully, it was only a toy train tournament :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000   5000       6      24    7     -        0

delta: $-50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $34,350,768
2021 balance: $10,929,000
blue distance: $50,000
balance: $88,594,453

Surviving a superdonk

Superdonks are never fun to play against. They're the main reason I don't play rebuy tournaments any more. They show up far less frequently in non-rebuy tournaments, but they still show up. When they do, you have to find a way to survive them. Generally speaking, you should fold to their all in bets. You can't do this all the time, though; you must think seriously of calling if you've been dealt a decent hand. Last night, I survived a superdonk by following this strategy. I folded to every all in by the superdonk except two, and won both those hands. Poetic justice was served when the superdonk hit the rail two spots shy of the money.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      71   18     7   642000

delta: $442,000
MTT NLHE balance: $34,400,768
2021 balance: $10,979,000
blue distance: $0
balance: $88,644,453

My kingdom for an orbit

By the time I finished writing last night's blog post, the midnight train had already left the station. Therefore, once again, I had to settle for a toy train. The good news about toy trains is that if you fail to make the money, you only lose a quarter of the money you would have lost with a midnight train. The bad news? If you make the money, you only gain a quarter of the money you would have gained with a midnight train. Given my druthers, I'd take the midnight train every single time.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000   5000       6      99   24    26        0

delta: $-50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,958,768
2021 balance: $10,537,000
blue distance: $100,000
balance: $88,202,453

Cutting it too fine

I love joining $200,000 buy in MTT NLHE tournaments late; the later the better. Last night, I cut it too fine, however. I tried to join in the final minute, but got foiled by the confirm popup. I was in time to register my intention to join, but by the time I clicked the okay button in the confirm popup, the late registration period had ended and I was shut out. That hurt! I had to settle for a toy train 8-game.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game  45000   5000       6      57   12    26        0

delta: $-50,000
MTT 8-game balance: $698,170
2021 balance: $10,587,000
blue distance: $50,000
balance: $88,252,453

When too far to go actually isn't

... Well before I hit the rail, I knew my cause was doomed. I had to fade upwards of twenty players, and that was about ten too many ...

This is an excerpt from my March 2 post. Last night, at one point I was in last place, 39th of the 39 remaining players. That meant I had to fade twenty-one players in order to make the money. Too far to go, right? As it turned out, actually not. Not only did I make the money, I laddered up three spots after making the final table as Caboose Boy, earning myself an additional $479,000 in profit. Ka-ching :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      64   18     3  1147000

delta: $947,000
MTT NLHE balance: $34,008,768
2021 balance: $10,637,000
blue distance: $0
balance: $88,302,453

A comedy of errors

I got back into the blue by the skin of my teeth last night, bettering my previous best by a mere $4,000. However, just as a rose is a rose is a rose, blue is blue is blue :-) My final hand was a comedy of errors. I was dealt rags, one of which was a seven, and tried to fold; however, in attempting to move the cursor over the fold button, I was a little too forceful, and ended up mistakenly clicking the raise button instead. As I've noted before, I consider it to be a horrible design failure of my laptop's trackpad not to include left and right mouse buttons. Be that as it may, another seven showed up in the flop, so I stayed in the hand. A third seven showed up on the river, and I called all in. My trip sevens got crushed by a full house of sevens full of kings. Ouch!

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      83   21    14   404000

delta: $204,000
MTT NLHE balance: $33,061,768
2021 balance: $9,690,000
blue distance: $0
balance: $87,355,453

The rag trade

Every so often, I encounter the rag trade on PokerStars. That is, players who bet absurd amounts with nothing but rags ...

This is an excerpt from my January 29, 2014 post. That was in my cash game days, but the rag trade can be found in tournaments as well. Last night, I lost half my stack early on to a rag trader who went all in with T8o (ten eight offsuit). He'd hit middle or bottom pair on the flop, while I'd hit top pair with an overcard kicker. I was an 80+ percent favorite, but he paired his other rag on the turn, and suddenly I was an 18 percent dog. The river was a brick. I felt that some measure of justice had been served when the rag trader hit the rail on the very next hand :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      53   15    30        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $32,857,768
2021 balance: $9,486,000
blue distance: $200,000
balance: $87,151,453