Preemptive immediate service

The most memorable hand of last night's session, as is generally the case for memorable hands, was one that I lost :-) I was dealt pocket rockets (a pair of aces). An opponent acting before me bet big enough to put me all in if I called, and I did. When he turned over AJo (ace jack offsuit), I was very happy; I knew he was a big underdog. Running the numbers, he had only a 6.75% chance of winning. However, unfortunately for me, he received preemptive immediate service from the poker gods. What do I mean by that? First, here's the definition of immediate service (from my blog post of September 20, 2015):

One of my favorite poker commentators is Nick Wealthall. He provides commentary for online tournaments on PokerStars. One  phrase I really like which he uses quite often is "immediate service"; it refers to hitting a straight or flush draw as soon as possible, in other words on the turn.

With that in mind, preemptive immediate service is immediate service which comes on an even earlier street, i.e. on the flop. The flop in this case came Qh Kh Tc, giving my opponent a straight, and reducing my winning chances to a meager 5.35%. After the turn of 7d, I was officially drawing dead. Not a fun way to hit the rail, to be sure. I played one more tournament after that, to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

By the way, my prediction that last night's session would be my final one of 2016 was wrong; I'm about to play some poker right now, at 1:52pm on the last day of the year :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    44     139   36    36    75000
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6     8     486  114     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    18     136   36    46        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    27     535  132   177        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    75     436  114    56    48000
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    27     109   30    36        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    50     365   96    93    26100

delta: $-80,900
MTT NLHE balance: $2,166,548
2016 balance: $966,866
balance: $11,667,230

Table selection fail

There are many ways to fail at poker, but one of the most shameful is to select the wrong table in the first place. Just two posts ago, I claimed that I never wanted to play another 9 max tournament in my life. What did I do last night, but play two 9 maxes out of 6 tournaments. Why? I attribute these bad decisions to two things:

1. impatience
2. greed

The 9 max tournaments always skew the pay tables to the top positions, so the up top money is gigantic. It's hard not to say to myself, "I can win some of those big bucks, while I wait for a 6 max" :-)

In the good news department, thanks to last night's overall good result, I've now topped one million play dollars in profit for the year. Tonight will likely be my last session in 2016, so I'll do my best to make it a memorable one.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    46     748  153    59    33300
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    38     129   36    30    81000
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9     4     578  117     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    25     136   36    49        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   135     447  114     7   195500
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    44     108   30    37        0

delta: $99,800
MTT NLHE balance: $2,247,448
2016 balance: $1,047,766
balance: $11,748,130

Futile perfection

I've talked about futile perfection before, in the context of cash games. It can be achieved in MTTs, too. I know, because I did so last night :-) In 22 hands, I failed to win a single pot. A little over halfway through the session, I had the gut feeling I wasn't going to win one. There was an undercurrent of inevitability. The good thing about undercurrents of inevitability is that they work in both directions; most of the time I get the feeling I'm going to make it under the lights, I do.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    22      76   21     0        0

delta: $-50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,147,648
2016 balance: $947,966
balance: $11,648,330

Golden

I've now achieved the golden ratio in the only poker style and flavor I currently care about - MTT NLHE 6 max. I've now played 162 of these tournaments, and have made the money in 84 of them, for a winning ratio of 51.85%, just over the golden ratio percentage of 50. The list of styles and flavors I never want to play again is growing; here it is:

- cash game, any flavor
- Omaha, any style
- sit and go, any flavor
- KO
- spin and go
- 9 max, any style or flavor

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    67     521  132    81    41900
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    15     436  114   230        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    76     124   30    15   133000

delta: $84,900
MTT NLHE balance: $2,197,648
2016 balance: $997,966
balance: $11,698,330

apb: apb

This post's title is my latest neologism. It stands for "All-points bulletin: another personal best". As I've mentioned before, the longer your career, the harder it gets to achieve personal bests (with the exception of overall balance :-)) On Sunday night, on the strength of two strong money finishes, I had the best yearly style flavor subtotal of my career; here are the top ten:

year      amount   hands count  style      flavor

2016  $2,108,696  12,523   257  MTT        No Limit Hold'em
2011  $2,011,642   9,978   130  Cash game  No Limit Hold'em
2012  $1,918,252  14,612   197  Cash game  No Limit Hold'em
2014  $1,800,019  12,925   166  Cash game  No Limit Hold'em
2015  $1,467,900  20,343   421  Sit & Go   No Limit Hold'em
2012  $1,2201,50  17,458   365  Sit & Go   No Limit Hold'em
2013    $868,418  23,506   308  Cash game  No Limit Hold'em
2010    $606,842   2,041   188  Cash game  Pot Limit Hold'em
2014    $416,700   3,869    33  Sit & Go   8-Game
2011    $389,725   4,242    62  Cash game  Pot Limit Hold'em

Of course, the year isn't done yet, so this is a provisional personal best as yet :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    13     131   36     -        0
MTT   NLHE    44000  6000       9    47     195   45    26   164100
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    93     119   30     8   187000

delta: $201,100
MTT NLHE balance: $2,112,748
2016 balance: $913,066
balance: $11,613,430

You were never shovelier

This is the fourth time I've used this blog post title. In one of the earlier posts, I asserted that calling all in doesn't count as shoving, but I want to relax that orthodoxy now in order to be able to reuse a title that tickles my fancy :-) In the second MTT I played last night, I was dealt a big slick (ace king) on the third hand. A player acting before me bet enough to put me all in if I called, and I did. My opponent turned over a pair of jacks, and we were off to the races. The board ran out without pairing my ace or my king, and I hit the rail. Running the numbers, I was a 43% dog to win the hand, which wasn't great, but wasn't that bad either, all things considered. Over time, you can't go wrong by backing your big slicks heavily; they're my second best MTT NLHE hand delta-wise, second only to pocket rockets.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000  6000       9    18     167   36    48        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9     3     445   90     -        0

delta: $-70,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,911,648
2016 balance: $711,966
balance: $11,412,330

The 10 minute rule

For the longest time, I was undecided on the optimal moment to join an MTT. MTTs almost always have late registration periods, so there's a wide range of times to join. I'm undecided no longer; I think the best time to join an MTT is when there are 10 minutes or less remaining in the late registration period. This gives ample opportunity for others to hit the rail before you put your first chip at risk; their buy ins are now community property :-) It's good to play with a sense of urgency, and that's certainly the case when you join an MTT late; your stack, by definition, will be one of the shorter ones. I'm doing so well lately playing MTTs I wish I'd played only MTTs all year long. That's what I'll try to do next year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    45     111   30    38        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    77      90   21    13   113000

delta: $13,000
MTT NLHE balance: $1,981,648
2016 balance: $781,966
balance: $11,482,330