I made one monstrously bad decision last night, and it took me down to the felt at the first table I joined. It was another case of falling in love with a hand, and letting my emotions rule. It was my favorite (but fickle) hand. I had another stealth two pair, and went all in with it, failing to notice the straight possibility on the board. I got beaten by a straight, as I assuredly deserved to be. Down -$40K.
At the next table, I did a shade better than doubling my original stake, so I ended the night slightly in the black.
delta: $2,456
balance: $478,383
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Fool's gold
Last night I had another -$40K correction, and then there was a power outage. Poker interruptus! That's frustrating. The correction taught me a valuable lesson, though. I realized I'd been taught this same lesson several times before, but it had never "taken". I promise I've learned it now! The first time was when I hit the felt playing offline poker at my company's holiday party. I remember the hand that beat me was trip queens over my two pairs. There were two queens in the flop, and the third card paired one of my hole cards -- I'm pretty sure it was a king. This type of flop is what I now recognize as pure fool's gold. It's just not worth playing, period. I've sworn off it for good now.
I way overvalued this same type of hand last night, to the tune of about $32K. The one extenuating circumstance was that there were a lot of high rollers at the table, and they'd demonstrated to me on previous hands that they were willing to go all in without premium hands. I had top pair in my two pair. One of the high rollers had just rocketed his stack up to over $240K in front of my eyes, and I was blinded by all those dollar signs and got greedy. I hit the felt, deservedly. Again, it was trips that beat me.
I only got to play about three or four hands after I re-upped at another table before the power went out.
delta: -$41,300
balance: $475,927
I way overvalued this same type of hand last night, to the tune of about $32K. The one extenuating circumstance was that there were a lot of high rollers at the table, and they'd demonstrated to me on previous hands that they were willing to go all in without premium hands. I had top pair in my two pair. One of the high rollers had just rocketed his stack up to over $240K in front of my eyes, and I was blinded by all those dollar signs and got greedy. I hit the felt, deservedly. Again, it was trips that beat me.
I only got to play about three or four hands after I re-upped at another table before the power went out.
delta: -$41,300
balance: $475,927
Friday, March 26, 2010
Through the roof
Tonight I had my best poker session ever! I actually surpassed the audacious goal I set myself several posts ago. I'm over halfway to my goal! Not surprisingly, I won the biggest single pot of my career tonight also -- $111,300, for an ace high straight.
I'm dumbfounded, but happy.
delta: $98,200
balance: $517,227
I'm dumbfounded, but happy.
delta: $98,200
balance: $517,227
Recovery
Last night I made a nice recovery from my previous session. So nice, in fact, that it was my second best session ever! I got a little practice in as the big stack, but didn't try to bully people. I went up about 50K midway through the session, and instead of profit-taking, I decided to hang out and see how much higher I could go. Turns out I couldn't go any higher, but at least I stayed up there!
Best pot of the night: $57,000, for trip jacks.
delta: $53,200
balance: $419,027
Best pot of the night: $57,000, for trip jacks.
delta: $53,200
balance: $419,027
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Invisible leprechauns
I bet with a title like this one, you're thinking my streak stayed alive. Sadly, that's not the case. I'm posting this the day after the event itself, since it was too late to post last night. Of course, a correction of fortune was inevitable at some point, but it still hurt. I won some pots at the first table I joined, but had several premium hands kicked ignominiously to the curb. Eventually, I hit the felt, $40K in arrears. I re-upped at another table, and had built my stack up to $62K when disaster struck. Here's how the penultimate hand of my night went down; this is taken from the PokerStars hand history of the hand, with my opponent's name changed to "frustrated":
PokerStars Game #xxxxxxxxxxx: Hold'em Pot Limit (100/200) - 2010/03/24 xx:xx:xx
Table 'xxxxxxxxx' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #7 is the button
Seat 4: frustrated (17200 in chips)
Seat 7: neostreet (62600 in chips)
neostreet: posts small blind 100
frustrated: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Qc Qs]
neostreet: calls 100
frustrated: raises 400 to 600
neostreet: raises 400 to 1000
frustrated: raises 2000 to 3000
neostreet: raises 2000 to 5000
frustrated: raises 10000 to 15000
neostreet: calls 10000
*** FLOP *** [Jd 3s Qd]
frustrated: bets 2200 and is all-in
neostreet: calls 2200
*** TURN *** [Jd 3s Qd] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 3s Qd Kd] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
frustrated: shows [Th Td] (a straight flush, Nine to King)
neostreet: shows [Qc Qs] (three of a kind, Queens)
frustrated collected 34400 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 34400 | Rake 0
Board [Jd 3s Qd Kd 9d]
Seat 4: frustrated (big blind) showed [Th Td] and won (34400) with a straight flush, Nine to King
Seat 7: neostreet (button) (small blind) showed [Qc Qs] and lost with three of a kind, Queens
After doubling up through me so improbably, frustrated immediately left the table. Utterly shell-shocked, I paid out one more big blind in a final hand with someone who joined the table at that point, then called it quits.
You may be wondering about the title of this post. Here's the explanation: I remember reading a comic book about 35 years ago which was a collection of stories of the supernatural. In one of them, a young man captures a leprechaun and it grants him a wish in return for its freedom. His wish is to bowl a really high score in bowling. The leprechaun grants him the wish, but warns him not to try to bowl a perfect 300. The young man agrees. When he starts bowling, however, he gets caught up in the excitement of bowling strike after strike. After 11 strikes, he only needs one more to get a perfect 300 score. Ignoring the leprechaun's warning, he throws another perfect ball, which heads right for the pocket and looks like it'll be a certain strike. However, the leprechaun appears in the lane just before the ball gets to the pocket and kicks it out of the way; none of the pins go down. Only the young man can see him; he's invisible to everyone else. Everyone else if mystified and flabbergasted by what they've just seen. The moral of the story is that it's not a good thing to chase perfection, particularly not with hubris. "Pride goeth before a fall", basically. I know I've been guilty of poker hubris lately, and an object lesson was certainly in order.
The poker gods were my invisible leprechauns tonight. My incredibly bad luck on the penultimate hand had me lying awake thinking over it. It added insult to injury that not only did my opponent make a straight, he made that rarest of rare hands, a straight flush. Since I hadn't memorized the hand, for quite a while I thought that the reason "frustrated" went all in was that he'd flopped a set of tens. I remembered the following facts about the hand: 1. I was dealt a pair of queens 2. he was dealt a pair of tens 3. the flop contained a queen, giving me a set 4. the turn was the king of diamonds 5. the river was the nine of diamonds 6. he made a straight flush with the 9 to king of diamonds 7. the PokerStars engine reported that I lost with a set of queens. So as you can see, I remembered everything except for two of the flop cards. Using the information I remembered, though, I was able to deduce that frustrated couldn't have flopped a set of 10s, for if he had, then I would have lost with a straight instead of with a set. When I realized he hadn't flopped anything but a long-shot straight draw, I realized he had bet extremely riskily and unwisely. Not only that, he'd done so from the very beginning of the hand, even before the flop. Going all in was an afterthought, really; he'd bet most of his stack before the flop. The only explanation I have for this absurd betting behavior was that he was fed up and frustrated.
Thinking over QQ vs. TT with a flop of Jd 3s Qd, there are only four ways the tens can win, each less likely than its predecessor: 1. either ten completes a straight 2. one of the tens completes a flush 3. both the turn and the river are tens, creating four of a kind, tens 4. one of the tens completes a straight flush. I knew that no full house could beat me, since I'd also have a full house in that case, and a guaranteed better one.
When I get a moment, I'm going to calculate the odds that TT beats QQ with that flop; I'm guessing it will be somewhere around the 1% mark.
delta: -34,800
balance: $365,827
PokerStars Game #xxxxxxxxxxx: Hold'em Pot Limit (100/200) - 2010/03/24 xx:xx:xx
Table 'xxxxxxxxx' 9-max (Play Money) Seat #7 is the button
Seat 4: frustrated (17200 in chips)
Seat 7: neostreet (62600 in chips)
neostreet: posts small blind 100
frustrated: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to neostreet [Qc Qs]
neostreet: calls 100
frustrated: raises 400 to 600
neostreet: raises 400 to 1000
frustrated: raises 2000 to 3000
neostreet: raises 2000 to 5000
frustrated: raises 10000 to 15000
neostreet: calls 10000
*** FLOP *** [Jd 3s Qd]
frustrated: bets 2200 and is all-in
neostreet: calls 2200
*** TURN *** [Jd 3s Qd] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 3s Qd Kd] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
frustrated: shows [Th Td] (a straight flush, Nine to King)
neostreet: shows [Qc Qs] (three of a kind, Queens)
frustrated collected 34400 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 34400 | Rake 0
Board [Jd 3s Qd Kd 9d]
Seat 4: frustrated (big blind) showed [Th Td] and won (34400) with a straight flush, Nine to King
Seat 7: neostreet (button) (small blind) showed [Qc Qs] and lost with three of a kind, Queens
After doubling up through me so improbably, frustrated immediately left the table. Utterly shell-shocked, I paid out one more big blind in a final hand with someone who joined the table at that point, then called it quits.
You may be wondering about the title of this post. Here's the explanation: I remember reading a comic book about 35 years ago which was a collection of stories of the supernatural. In one of them, a young man captures a leprechaun and it grants him a wish in return for its freedom. His wish is to bowl a really high score in bowling. The leprechaun grants him the wish, but warns him not to try to bowl a perfect 300. The young man agrees. When he starts bowling, however, he gets caught up in the excitement of bowling strike after strike. After 11 strikes, he only needs one more to get a perfect 300 score. Ignoring the leprechaun's warning, he throws another perfect ball, which heads right for the pocket and looks like it'll be a certain strike. However, the leprechaun appears in the lane just before the ball gets to the pocket and kicks it out of the way; none of the pins go down. Only the young man can see him; he's invisible to everyone else. Everyone else if mystified and flabbergasted by what they've just seen. The moral of the story is that it's not a good thing to chase perfection, particularly not with hubris. "Pride goeth before a fall", basically. I know I've been guilty of poker hubris lately, and an object lesson was certainly in order.
The poker gods were my invisible leprechauns tonight. My incredibly bad luck on the penultimate hand had me lying awake thinking over it. It added insult to injury that not only did my opponent make a straight, he made that rarest of rare hands, a straight flush. Since I hadn't memorized the hand, for quite a while I thought that the reason "frustrated" went all in was that he'd flopped a set of tens. I remembered the following facts about the hand: 1. I was dealt a pair of queens 2. he was dealt a pair of tens 3. the flop contained a queen, giving me a set 4. the turn was the king of diamonds 5. the river was the nine of diamonds 6. he made a straight flush with the 9 to king of diamonds 7. the PokerStars engine reported that I lost with a set of queens. So as you can see, I remembered everything except for two of the flop cards. Using the information I remembered, though, I was able to deduce that frustrated couldn't have flopped a set of 10s, for if he had, then I would have lost with a straight instead of with a set. When I realized he hadn't flopped anything but a long-shot straight draw, I realized he had bet extremely riskily and unwisely. Not only that, he'd done so from the very beginning of the hand, even before the flop. Going all in was an afterthought, really; he'd bet most of his stack before the flop. The only explanation I have for this absurd betting behavior was that he was fed up and frustrated.
Thinking over QQ vs. TT with a flop of Jd 3s Qd, there are only four ways the tens can win, each less likely than its predecessor: 1. either ten completes a straight 2. one of the tens completes a flush 3. both the turn and the river are tens, creating four of a kind, tens 4. one of the tens completes a straight flush. I knew that no full house could beat me, since I'd also have a full house in that case, and a guaranteed better one.
When I get a moment, I'm going to calculate the odds that TT beats QQ with that flop; I'm guessing it will be somewhere around the 1% mark.
delta: -34,800
balance: $365,827
Monday, March 22, 2010
Another milestone
Tonight, I reached another milestone; for the first time, I cracked the $400K barrier. I have to say, this hot streak I'm on is surprising even me! I'm doing so well, I need to reset my short term goals to give me something really challenging to shoot for. My new goal for the end of this month is to break $500K. I realize that's brash, absurd, and unrealistic, but I'm gonna give it a shot anyway!
I chased a flush tonight, but got away with it. It hit on the river, and paid off handsomely, to the tune of $47,200.
delta: $24,400
balance: $400,627
P.S. I started reading "The Biggest Game in Town", by A. Alvarez, on my Kindle last night.
I chased a flush tonight, but got away with it. It hit on the river, and paid off handsomely, to the tune of $47,200.
delta: $24,400
balance: $400,627
P.S. I started reading "The Biggest Game in Town", by A. Alvarez, on my Kindle last night.
Friday, March 19, 2010
The art of folding
Folding at the appropriate times is vital if you want to be successful. It doesn't always feel good, though. Folding a good hand when the price is just too steep to stay in the pot can be like taking cod liver oil. Actually, I've never had cod liver oil, but I'm reasonably sure it doesn't have a delightful taste!
Tonight the hand that hurt me to fold was trip 2s. I was dealt 6h 2s and the flop came 2c Th 2h. On the betting round after the flop, I doubled the bet when it was my turn to act, then called a reraise. The turn card was the jack of hearts, giving a flush possibility. The table checked around to the button, who bet a whopping $38,400. That was just too rich for my blood; not only was it likely that the button also had a 2, making my 6 kicker vulnerable, I couldn't ignore the flush possibility. I would have had to go all in to call. So I folded, with regret. The button's hole cards were 7 2 offsuit, giving him trip 2s; he raked in a pot worth $118,000. If I'd hung in, I'd have split the pot with him, since the river was a king.
The very next hand, though, I made an ace high flush -- the hard way. I was dealt 5s Ac, and the last four community cards were clubs. I won a pot worth $38,800, and decided to call it a night.
delta: $12,334
balance: $376,227
Tonight the hand that hurt me to fold was trip 2s. I was dealt 6h 2s and the flop came 2c Th 2h. On the betting round after the flop, I doubled the bet when it was my turn to act, then called a reraise. The turn card was the jack of hearts, giving a flush possibility. The table checked around to the button, who bet a whopping $38,400. That was just too rich for my blood; not only was it likely that the button also had a 2, making my 6 kicker vulnerable, I couldn't ignore the flush possibility. I would have had to go all in to call. So I folded, with regret. The button's hole cards were 7 2 offsuit, giving him trip 2s; he raked in a pot worth $118,000. If I'd hung in, I'd have split the pot with him, since the river was a king.
The very next hand, though, I made an ace high flush -- the hard way. I was dealt 5s Ac, and the last four community cards were clubs. I won a pot worth $38,800, and decided to call it a night.
delta: $12,334
balance: $376,227
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