Under the lights

I've been kidding you, and I've been kidding myself. Let me try to determine which is easier, and which is more difficult, to do. As a given, the easiest thing in the world to do is to kid yourself; therefore, perforce is must be more difficult to kid you. How have I been kidding you (and, by extension, myself?) I'll tell you how. I've been pretending that it doesn't matter to me whether or not I make a profit when I play poker. Such utter bullshit! In fact, it means a great deal to me always to be able to make a profit when I play poker. Stated another way, it means a great deal to have the ability to make a profit at will. I need to be able to believe, and with good reason, that I'm always and ever the captain of my own poker fate.

So let me tell you what I've come to realize. It means nothing to challenge myself if the odds aren't right. It's precisely the wrong thing to do to challenge myself when the odds are wrong. I recognize now that playing massive field MTTs is the wrong way to challenge myself. The profit potential just isn't there, and there must always be a profit potential. Otherwise, what's the point?

One very nice feature of making the final table of an MTT on PokerStars is that the software makes you feel very good about it. They actually add spotlights to the interface to make you feel super special!

Last night, I got back to the blue in a poker flavor. Specifically, my MTT 8-game balance hit an all-time high. It would be foolish for me to play any other flavor than MTT 8-game at this juncture.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

MTT   NLHE      900   100       9    91    79     3402
MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6   205     4    26390

delta: $23,792
MTT 8-game balance: $185,020
balance: $8,926,273