Chips ahoy

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a creature of habit. When I find something I like, I stick with it. I generally don't like to change things up. One of the downsides of this is that I can miss out on some really interesting things. Last night, by accident, I discovered a whole new world of possibilities on PokerStars that I hadn't been aware of. I was using my normal table selection routine: in the PokerStars lobby, I make sure that the tables are sorted in ascending order by the number of players currently at the table, then I scroll down to the sixes, and scroll beyond the 6-max tables (which are marked by a small icon with a 6 in the middle). Once in the 9-max tables area, I use the down arrow to go through them, looking for a table with sufficient money to attract my interest. Once I find a table I like, I take a seat to the left of the biggest bankroll I can find. I always select the max starting amount, which is a radio button choice. Last night when I did this, I was shocked to discover that I was starting with $100,000 in chips instead of the usual $40,000. The reason was simple - instead of a $100/$200 table, I'd actually selected a $500/$1,000 table. For some reason the $500/$1,000 tables were showing up where the $100/$200 tables used to show up. I'd never seen any $500/$1,000 tables in the lobby before. I was psyched at the higher maximum starting stack size, and thought to myself, "Chips ahoy!" :-)

As it turned out, the higher maximum starting stack size table appeared to attract players with less talent than those I'm used to playing at the $100/$200 tables. Of course, with a sample size of just one table, that's not statistically significant, but it is a good omen! I made sure to keep my flops seen percentage well below 50. The amount of chips I won last night came in sixth on my all time cash game no limit hold'em list. It sure seemed like easy money! Encouraged by this discovery of a higher stakes table, I did some more investigation in the PokerStars lobby and found a whole range of higher stakes tables, including both 6-max and 9-max variants. Tonight, I'll stick with the $500/$1,000 stakes, but in the 6-max instead of 9-max variant. That means I'll have to change my table search method to scroll down to the fives instead of the sixes. Sometimes change is good!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 38 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 5 times while in big blind (80%)
 - 1 out of 5 times while in small blind (20%)
 - 10 out of 28 times in other positions (35%)
 - a total of 15 out of 38 (39%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 6 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $114,943
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,036,196
balance: $7,485,604