18 again

Last night, I played a poker flavor I hadn't played in eight months - SNG NLHE where the number of entrants is 18 instead of 6. Instead of 2 players making the money, 4 players do. Also, there are two tables of 9 instead of one table of 6. Playing this flavor, it's pretty easy to make it under the lights (i.e., to the final table). I enjoyed myself immensely, and even came in first one of the three times I played this flavor. That single windfall allowed my night to be profitable.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    17       6    2     5        0
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    17       6    2     5        0
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       9    34      18    4    10        0
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       9    89      18    4     1   316800
SNG   8-Game  44000  6000       6   123       6    2     3        0
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       9    70      18    4     5        0

delta: $16,800
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,043,640
balance: $9,752,404

SNG 8-game milestone

Last night, I achieved a SNG 8-game milestone - I played in my 100th tournament. I made the money in 51 of them, and came in first in 28. It's my co-favorite poker style/flavor combo, along with SNG NLHE. The only thing I don't like about it is how long it takes for a table to fill up - often over an hour. However, that's a pretty small price to pay.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6     7     6        0
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    45     3        0
SNG   8-Game  44000  6000       6   117     2    92400
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    65     2    92400
SNG   8-Game  44000  6000       6    45     5        0

delta: $-65,200
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,976,840
balance: $9,735,604

Comfort zone

I freely admit that I'm not in my comfort zone when I'm putting up $100,000 a tournament. That's what I did last November, and it worked out really well; it's what I've been trying to do again, and it's not working out so well this time around. Accordingly, I'm going to drop down in stakes to my comfort zone, which is $50,000 a tournament. If I'm still in the red for the year when November rolls around, I'll raise the stakes up to my discomfort zone again :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    88000 12000       6    13     4        0
SNG   NLHE    88000 12000       6    46     3        0

delta: $-200,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,034,440
balance: $9,800,804

Another kind of rebound

Over the course of my career, I've defined at least three different kinds of poker rebound. I'm sure you'll forgive me if I have the temerity to define yet another :-) In earlier incarnations of the definition, I was fixated on the requirement that a rebound be a losing session followed by a winning one. Pas du tout, now say I :-) My latest definition of poker rebound cares only about the profit differential between two consecutive sessions; as long as the second session showed a greater profit than the first, that qualifies as a rebound, even if both sessions were losing ones. By this new definition, I had a great session last night. I had a rebound of $456,400, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    88000 12000       6    29     2   184800
SNG   8-Game  44000  6000       6   157     1   171600
SNG   NLHE    88000 12000       6    10     5        0
SNG   NLHE    88000 12000       6    55     3        0
SNG   8-Game  44000  6000       6   118     3        0

delta: $-43,600
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,234,440
balance: $10,000,804

Riding the big horse

Last night, I decided to ride the big horse. That is, I moved up to the $100,000 BI+EF level. I kept getting bucked off, and kept getting back in the saddle again :-) Profit-wise, I had the fifth worst session of my career, losing a cool half a million play dollars. That represented 4.74% of my career balance at the start of the session.

Have I lost my marbles? No. I just had a hankering for bigger stakes. Did the big loss cure me of this hankering? No again :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game  44000  6000       6    76     5        0
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    10     6        0
SNG   NLHE    88000 12000       6    30     5        0
SNG   NLHE    88000 12000       6    16     5        0
SNG   NLHE    88000 12000       6    25     4        0
SNG   NLHE    88000 12000       6    39     3        0

delta: $-500,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,349,640
balance: $10,044,404

Never underwater

Last night, I cracked the $800,000 barrier in SNG 8-game. I'm going to try to hit $1,500,000 by the end of the year. It's good to give yourself stretch goals :-) I hold a unique distinction in SNG 8-game, which I'm sure I'll never be able to duplicate with any other poker style/flavor - I've never been underwater in it. I won the first two tournaments I entered, and haven't looked back since.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    13     815  216   310        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    62     977  243   127     2320
SNG   8-Game  44000  6000       6   163       6    2     2    92400
MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    37     669  168   197        0

delta: $41,720
Sit and go 8-game balance: $805,410
balance: $10,544,404

Hiding in plain sight

Just before starting this post, I registered in a sit and go 8-game. I've discovered that I still need to register early for this poker style and flavor; last night, I had to wait over an hour and a half for my table to fill up. The good news is, I made the money (so it was worth the wait :-)) I played some MTTs while waiting, which is what I'll do tonight, too.

Every so often I like to look at the ordered list of my average deltas by poker style and flavor. When I did so this morning, SNG 8-game came out on top, with an average of $8,117 won per tournament. Second place went to cash game NLHE, with an average of $6,648 won per session. The top place position for SNG 8-game was a surprise to me, but shouldn't have been; it's been hiding in plain sight for a while :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    18     838  216   379        0
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    56      70   18    22        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    44     734  192   128     1915
SNG   8-Game  44000  6000       6   176       6    2     2    92400

delta: $37,315
Sit and go 8-game balance: $763,010
balance: $10,502,684

Show me the money

Last night, after missing the money in four straight MTTs, I decided to start Movember early :-) Accordingly, I entered a $50,000 BI+EF SNG 8-game, and came in first. I never can seem to make up my mind about whether I like SNGs or MTTs better; the only thing I know for sure is that I hate cash games.

It's very liberating to play for big money! In a single SNG, I cut my 2016 deficit by a third. I really need to focus on playing more SNG 8-games. Maybe those tables have started to fill up faster on PokerStars than they were the last time I set myself this goal; at any rate, last night I lucked out by finding a table with five players already sitting down, so I had no wait at all. I'm hoping for something similar tonight.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    18      86   18    45        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       6     8     749  192     -        0
MTT   Horse    4350   650       8    30      78   16     -        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    12     595  150   350        0
SNG   8-Game  44000  6000       6   159       6    2     1   171600

delta: $109,600
Sit and go 8-game balance: $720,610
balance: $10,465,369

Razz raspberry

I definitely have some 8-game holes I need to patch up. The most glaring one is in Razz. Last night, I shed 1,284 chips on a single razz hand, and hit the rail. I never should have gone to showdown. Yet again, I treated a razz hand as if it were a deuce hand, which is a real no-no. Back to the drawing board :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    64     907  243   143     1956
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    23      86   18    39        0

delta: $-4,044
MTT NLHE massive balance: $67,995
balance: $10,355,769

Train wreck

Right now, I'm averaging just a squeak under 50 hands per massive. Last night, I had a train wreck - I only lasted 8 hands in the massive I entered. The fewest hands I've ever lasted in a massive is 2; that disaster happened nearly a year ago, on August 26th, 2015. The only saving grace of last night's session is that I made the money in an MTT 8-game; it was cold comfort, though, since I actually lost money on the deal. Movember is looking better and better :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    54      73   18    18     4120
MTT   NLHE      870   130       6     8     567  150   256        0

delta: $-1,880
MTT NLHE massive balance: $67,039
balance: $10,359,813

The joys of multi-tabling

About ten years or so ago, some company came out with a great toy named BopIt. It had a very simple premise - the toy had three actions you could perform on it:

1. twist it
2. pull it
3. bop it

Your job was to listen to what the toy told you to do, and then perform that action, within a specified time limit. If you succeeded in performing the action, the game continued; over time, the toy sped up, giving you instructions more frequently, and the time limit decreased correspondingly. I ended up being very good at BopIt, since I learned to make my mind be like a still lake, just waiting for instructions :-) The skill was all in the listening - being in utter readiness to hear what the toy was about to tell you. I closed my eyes, in order to be able to listen better.

As it turns out, multi-tabling, or playing multiple tables of poker at the same time, bears a striking resemblance to playing BopIt. You don't have time to think long and hard. You only have time to listen to what the situation is telling you, and act accordingly. Your near-instantaneous assessment of what the situation is telling you comes from the hundreds of thousands of hands you've played in your career. You don't necessarily know why you know what to do, but nevertheless, you do know what to do :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    45     944  243   224     1437
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    85      81   18    11     7570
MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    78     664  162    30     3697
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    19      67   18    34        0

delta: $704
MTT NLHE massive balance: $68,039
balance: $10,361,693

The land of the fifty-sevens

With three more in the money finishes in MTT NLHE massives last night, I've now made the money in 76 of 132 massives, for 57.575757%, aka the land of the fifty-sevens :-) I'm in the sweetness, massives-wise. I was out of the other two MTTs I played early. I've realized two important points about non-massive MTTs:

1. the only non-massive MTT flavor worth playing is 8-game; limit deuce just has too much variance
2. I should be joining the MTT 8-games a little bit earlier in the late registration period than I have been

Projecting my recent results several months into the future, it's clear I'm not going to be able to avoid switching to Movember mode when November rolls around, if I want to have a chance of ending 2016 in the black. That's fine by me.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    56     774  192   123     2020
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6     9      66   12    36        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    47     695  168   148     1693
MTT   L27Lo    4350   650       6     7      45    9     -        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    77     628  162    25     3824

delta: $-5,463
MTT NLHE massive balance: $64,905
balance: $10,360,989

Multiple MTT, all in the money session

Last night, I had a multiple MTT, all in the money session. It was only the twelfth time I've achieved that, and the first when I played more than two MTTs in the session. I've now made the money in 14 of my last 17 MTT NLHEs, so I'm feeling really dialed in. In other good news, I was finally able to make the money in an MTT 8-game, after 5 straight failures. I'll be playing another in a little under an hour from now. Poker life is good :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    57     930  243   165     1804
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    96      75   18     8    10600
MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    61     619  162    57     2746

delta: $8,150
MTT NLHE massive balance: $60,368
balance: $10,366,452

Another career first

As I've said before, the longer your career, the harder career firsts are to come by. Of course, some are easier to achieve than others. In fact, some require no skill at all; they merely require that you try something you've never tried before :-) That's what I did last night, in the third MTT I entered. It was the first time I'd ever played an MTT limit deuce tournament. I didn't make the money, but had fun playing it.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    62     941  243   234     1432
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    11      73   18     -        0
MTT   L27Lo    4350   650       6    14      32    6     8        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    43     634  162   114     1930

delta: $-8,638
MTT NLHE massive balance: $57,818
balance: $10,358,302

Withdrawal symptoms

This is the third time I've used this blog post title. I last played poker on August 8th, 8 full days ago. There are two reasons for this hiatus:

1. I was on vacation in Cape Cod from last Wednesday to last Saturday
2. I've been absorbed by the Olympics since returning home

I have an inkling this may be my second longest hiatus since I started playing online poker nearly 8 years ago. Let me check the archives ...

I was pretty far off. This latest hiatus ties for my seventh longest. I'm really looking forward to playing tonight; let's hope I remember how :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    81      59   12    18        0

delta: $-5,000
MTT 8-game balance: $281,840
balance: $10,366,940

Solo blue

As you know, I like to keep track of my poker balances. My main goal is for my overall balance to be in the blue; a subsidiary goal is to have as many sub-balances be in the blue as possible. Right now, I only have a single sub-balance in the blue; here are my current blue distances:

        $0   MTT         No Limit Hold'em
   $21,338   Cash game   No Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball
   $40,640   MTT         8-Game
   $66,180   MTT         HORSE
   $80,000   Spin & Go   No Limit Hold'em
   $96,200   Sit & Go    8-Game
  $100,455   Cash game   Pot Limit Omaha
  $120,000   Cash game   Limit 7 Card Stud
  $175,723   Cash game   Pot Limit Hold'em
  $313,200   KO poker    No Limit Hold'em
$1,227,773   Cash game   No Limit Hold'em
$2,168,660   Sit & Go    No Limit Hold'em

Last night I made the money in two MTT NLHEs, which pushed that balance into the blue.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    56     680  168   113     2129
MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    82     571  150    96     1937

delta: $2,066
MTT NLHE massive balance: $56,456
balance: $10,371,940

Missing the money by waking up

Last night, I had the most humorous MTT NLHE of my career. I kept falling into a doze, waking up, noticing that I'd been auto sat out, clicking the "I'm back" button, and promptly falling back into a doze again. Lather, rinse, and repeat :-) The really funny (and ironic) thing is that had I just napped a little longer the last time, I realistically might have dozed my way into the money. However, noticing that I had top pair got me excited enough to actually call a bet for most of the rest of my chips, and to go all in the street after that. I lost to a two of a kind, and ended the tournament two spots out of the money.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    29     556  135   137        0

delta: $-1,000
MTT NLHE massive balance: $54,390
balance: $10,369,874

Autopilot decisions

For the bulk of my career, I've played one table at a time. Lately, I've been multi-tabling. Granted, I've only been playing two tables at a time, but that's twice as many as I'm used to :-) Here's what's been going down: I've been joining the currently running MTT NLHE as soon as it grows to 700 entries or more, and have been joining the regularly scheduled 9:42 pm est MTT 8-game tournament whenever there are between 5 and 10 minutes left in the late registration period.

Playing more than one table at a time means you have less time to make each decision. In general, that's a good thing :-) As an old poker adage proclaims, "Long is wrong" :-) Last night, it seemed like my two tournaments were in lock-step. I was doing well in both. The 5 minute breaks even coincided. I was essentially making decisions on autopilot, going with my gut on just about everything. When you have good card sense, you can do a lot worse that going with your gut. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't able to make the money in the MTT 8-game. I'm definitely overdue.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9   101     707  189    14     4834
MTT   NLHE     4350   650       6    50      83   18    27        0

delta: $-1,166
MTT 8-game balance: $286,840
balance: $10,370,874

Middling results

My last two MTT 8-game percentiles have been 50.00 and 54.55. Very middling results. I need to do better. The thing is, I generally only get one shot at an MTT 8-game per night, so I have to make the most of it. In other news, my MTT NLHE winning percentage remains north of 50.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    58     985  243   287        0
MTT   NLHE     4350   650       6    32      88   18    40        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    60     959  243   161     2069

delta: $-4,931
MTT 8-game balance: $291,840
balance: $10,372,040

Three times out of ten

Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.
 
Ted Williams

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tedwilliam100519.html

Of course, Ted Williams was referring specifically to batting average. His statement may have been true at the time he came up with it, but nowadays it's no longer true. I can think of at least one other endeavor which fits this categorization - MTT 8-game poker. My current rate of making the money in this poker style and flavor is 36.05% (62 for 172). This is actually a winning percentage, at least for me.

It's definitely hard to feel successful with a percentage like this; my winning percentages in other poker style/flavor combos are much gaudier. However, that's not such a bad thing; it keeps me humble :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    48    1020  279   362        0
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    17      84   18    42        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    42     785  192   152     1639

delta: $-5,361
MTT 8-game balance: $296,840
balance: $10,376,971

Five bagger

With last night's two money finishes in the two MTT NLHEs I played, I ran my streak of consecutive MTT NLHE money finishes to 5. It's a far cry from my personal best of 13 straight, but it isn't chopped liver, either :-) In other news, I played well in the MTT 8-game I entered, but missed the money.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    38     896  243   140     1933
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    42      88   18    22        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    66     968  243    90     2720

delta: $-2,347
MTT 8-game balance: $301,840
balance: $10,382,332

Appointment poker

This is the third time I've used this blog post title. I need to heed my own advice, and start playing appointment poker. Specifically, I need to play MTT 8-game by appointment just about every night. My career MTT 8-game balance is a creditable $306,840, and my career MTT 8-game average profit is an equally creditable $1,805 per tournament. Although the average field size for an MTT 8-game is much smaller (57) than the average field size for massives (885), history has proven that MTT 8-games are more financially rewarding for me. I'm going to make it my goal to get my 2016 balance back into the black by playing appointment MTT 8-game; if I succeed, I won't have to try do duplicate the success of last Movember by playing high buy in SNG NLHE.

As I've mentioned before, PokerStars has $5,000 BI+EF (buy in plus entry fee) MTT 8-game tournaments starting at regular times every 2 hours; the tournament that works out the best for me is the one which starts at 9:42 pm Eastern Standard Time. That's not to say that that's when I start playing it, though :-) It makes much more sense to let a bunch of players hit the rail before I buy in. I've gravitated to starting play anywhere from 10:20 pm to 10:30 pm; the late registration period ends at 10:31 pm.

Of course, I'm not going to stop playing massives (they're simply too much fun not to play), but my bread and butter for the foreseeable future will be MTT 8-game.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       6    57     940  240   133     2069
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6   140      80   18     5    22620

delta: $18,689
MTT 8-game balance: $306,840
balance: $10,384,679

Four massives

Last night, I played four massives. That number in itself is a bad sign, since it means I must not have lasted very long in at least two of them. That was indeed the case in the first two. I'm happy to say I made the money in the final two. Even though I didn't end the night in the black, I'm satisfied with my performance. I think tonight I'll play a mix of NLHE and 8-game, for variety.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    22     783  189   298        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       6     9     932  240   465        0
MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    46    1073  279   245     1400
MTT   NLHE      870   130       9    69     927  243   122     2201

delta: $-399
MTT NLHE massive balance: $48,126
balance: $10,365,990