Polar bull

Actions made on the river are often polarizing. A polarizing action is a bet which could equally have been made by an opponent with a worthless hand and by an opponent with the nuts. When you respond to a polarizing action, you must decide for yourself whether your opponent has nothing, or everything. I've just come up with some terminology to distinguish your response. If you believe your opponent has everything, you should fold; in this case, you're a polar bear. If you believe your opponent has nothing, you should call; in this case, you're a polar bull. Not only are you bullish on your own hand, you believe your opponent's bet is bull(shit) :-)

Last night, I hit the rail in the second tournament I entered when I made a polar bull decision. I was dealt 4s Ah. The board was 8d Qd Qh Jh Jd. An opponent who had me covered went all in on the river, and I called. He turned over 9s Jc. I thought he was bluffing, since an earlier showdown had revealed his willingness to bluff. I was wrong, but I went with my read. That counts for something!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    43500  6500       9    36     170   36    48        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    55     115   30    25    77000

delta: $-23,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,712,948
2017 balance: $795,800
balance: $12,213,630

The Orient Express

Playing an MTT is like riding on a train where the conductor has the option of throwing you off at any time, even while the train is in motion :-) Sometimes, this happens before you even get to the first station. When you're at the combination of your best and your luckiest, however, you don't believe you're ever going to be thrown off the train. It becomes the Orient Express, and you're damn well going to ride it hundreds of miles to the end of the line. Those kinds of journeys make all the times you're summarily chucked off other trains worth it.

Last night, it took me five tournaments to get on a decent train. I think I set a record for most times in a session I failed to last until the end of the late registration period - a gaudy four :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    17     481   99     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    24      83   21     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    18     293   72     -        0
MTT   NLHE    43500  6500       9    10      84   18     -        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    83     459   99    18    53000

delta: $-107,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,735,948
2017 balance: $818,800
balance: $12,236,630

Kicked out

I was kicked out of the final tournament I played last night. No, I wasn't asked to leave :-) I was simply done in by an opponent with a better kicker. My ace nine suited lost to an ace ten offsuit, on a board of 5d Ac Jh 3h 3c. Thankfully, I'd already made the money when this occurred. It was the only tournament where I made the money, in fact.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    38     546  117   143        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    36      56   15     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    61     310   84    41    48800

delta: $-41,200
MTT NLHE balance: $2,842,948
2017 balance: $925,800
balance: $12,343,630

Freudian slip

Last night, for the first time in years, I played poker without writing a blog post first. This wasn't intentional, but was a Freudian slip of sorts. It's indicative of a slight disinclination to blog. Since I hadn't played since Friday night, I subconsciously felt that I must have done my duty already. I don't think this is a very serious lapse, since I generally love to blog. It's certainly true, though, that I'm finding it harder lately to figure out what to write about. This in turn has made my blogging a tad stale. I'm sure I'll eventually pick up the pace again, but I'm somewhat in the blogging doldrums right now.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   125     128   36    15   126000
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9     3     267   54     -        0

delta: $56,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,884,148
balance: $12,384,830

S.O.S.

One of the hardest hands to lay down is a set, especially when the board doesn't support a straight, doesn't support a flush, and doesn't support a full house. In such a case, the only hand that can beat yours is a better set. That boils down to someone having been dealt a better pocket pair than yours. That situation is called "set over set". I call it S.O.S. for short :-)

Last night, I was on the wrong end of an S.O.S. on just the second hand of the first MTT I joined. All my chips went into the middle, and I was out of the tournament in a New York minute. There's no use complaining about S.O.S.'s, though; they happen, and they happen to everyone. I'm sure I've been on the right end of just as many as I've been on the wrong end of.

I joined my second MTT with just a minute left in the late registration period, and ended up making the money. I have enough confidence in my poker abilities to believe I can join an MTT at any time and still have a decent chance to make the money.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6     2     234   60     0        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    78     114   30     9   153000

delta: $83,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,828,148
2017 balance: $911,000
balance: $12,328,830

Consecutive centuries

Counting last night, I've now played 410 MTT NLHEs. That's well behind the 1,583 SNG NLHEs I've played, but I know I'll catch up :-) Of those 410, 35 have been centuries; that is, have lasted 100 hands or longer. Last night, I had another, which was my second in a row. That got me curious to see if I'd ever had consecutive centuries before; as it turned out, I had, twice.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   125     116   30    16   109000

delta: $59,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,745,148
2017 balance: $828,000
balance: $12,245,830

The money up top

One of the fascinating things about poker is that nothing is true for long. Things that are true become false, and then true again, in cycles. I used to think that I should avoid 9 max like the plague. Now I think I should be on it like white on rice :-) Last night, I joined a 9 max by mistake, via a fortuitous fingerfehler. It was fortuitous since I was able to get under the lights, and make a huge cash in fifth place. The money up top in 9 max tournaments is truly obscene. Since I joined the 9 max before the late registration period had begun, and had good luck that way, I'll continue to join 9 maxes in this fashion.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9   140     621  126     5   516400

delta: $496,400
MTT NLHE balance: $2,686,148
2017 balance: $769,000
balance: $12,186,830