Funny money on the runway

Last night, in the final MTT I played, I had a personal first. I landed on the first inch of the runway in an MTT where over 100 players were paid. In other words, I came in dead last of the paying places. Even though I made the money, I ended up losing money on the tournament, since the payout was less than the buy in plus the entry fee. Ergo, funny money on the runway :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    16     852  171   302        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    64     368   99    34    59000
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    28     718  144   294        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    37     448  114   193        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    23     647  135     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    51     376   96   154        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    36     498  108   108    17200

delta: $-63,800
MTT NLHE balance: $743,348
balance: $10,244,030

16k the harder way

As I wrote in my post "16k the hard way":

When I start the session with a failure to make the money, I know that each subsequent failure will make it that much harder for me to turn a profit.

In the session I was writing about, I failed to make the money in the first three tournaments I played, but was able to recoup my losses and make a small profit by cashing in the fourth one. In last night's session, I didn't achieve profitability until my seventh tournament. Strangely enough, I ended up with almost the identical small profit.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    16     487   99     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    52     447  114   165        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    65     318   81    66    34000
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    34     604  126   120    17900
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    44     249   63    88        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    38     487   99   147        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   143     331   84    10   104200

delta: $16,100
MTT NLHE balance: $807,148
balance: $10,307,830

The first foot of runway

In an earlier post, I compared making the money in an MTT to landing an airplane. I actually had a particular airport (and runway) in mind when I made the analogy - Logan Airport in Boston. To land on the runway I'm thinking of, planes have to approach over water. This can be disconcerting to the passengers, to say the least :-) It's hard not to get the impression that the plane is coming in too low, and will hit the water first. Last night, in the final MTT NLHE I played, I thought my plane was coming in too low. I held out as long as I could; when I eventually hit the rail, I had to wait a bit to find out what my place was. This was due to the fact that multiple players from multiple tables can hit the rail in rapid succession. As it turned out, I landed essentially on the first foot of runway :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    13     835  171   378        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    19     590  126     -        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    20     316   81     -        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    46      73   18    29        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    42     651  135   195        0
MTT   NLHE    18000  2000       9    47     265   72    71    31000

delta: $-119,000
MTT NLHE balance: $791,048
balance: $10,291,730

Movexit

On Friday night, I had the fifth worst session of my career, delta-wise; I lost over half a million play dollars. This was enough to convince me to stop playing sit and goes immediately, before November ends. I call this decision Movexit, since it puts an abrupt end to my Movember :-)

Looking at the numbers, I take some solace from the fact that I actually came out in the black in my latest foray into the high variance world of sit and gos - albeit for the paltry sum of $55,625. I renew the pledge I made not so long ago to play MTT NLHEs exclusively for the rest of the year (and hope I can hold myself to it this time :-))

Truth be told, I'm breathing a sigh of relief, and really looking forward to MTTs again.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    41     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    31     5        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    91     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    23     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    21     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    83     1   331500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    63     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    27     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    30     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    17     5        0

delta: $-508,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,198,340
balance: $10,410,730

Futile half century

The most memorable feature of last night's session was the number of hands I had to play in the SNG 8-game I entered, only to come in last. The 51 hands were the second most I'd ever played in such a situation; I call them a futile half century. You know you've joined a talented table when it takes that long for anyone to hit the rail.

In other news, an opponent accused me of making a foolish call and then lucking out by hitting a flush on the river to beat his straight. What he failed to realize is that I'd made a better straight than his on the turn. I pointed out the error in his thinking :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    23     3        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    51     6        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    64     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    86     2   178500

delta: $-141,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,666,840
balance: $10,919,230

The river giveth, and the river taketh away

Poker fortunes are largely made or lost on the river. The river giveth, and the river taketh away. Sometimes, the river giveth and taketh at the same time :-) That's what happened to me last night, twice. The first time, the river card gave my opponent a flush, and me a full house. I won a pot worth 3,060 chips. I ended up winning that sit and go. The second time (in a different sit and go), the river card gave me two pair, and my opponent a straight. I lost 1,450 chips on that hand. I really had no business calling my opponent's all in bet, but there you are.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    47     1   331500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6   133     2    35700
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    34     3        0

delta: $147,200
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,788,340
balance: $11,060,730

Another personal borscht

Last night, I had another personal borscht. To refresh your memory, here's my definition (from the April 30, 2013 post):

There's a third kind of personal poker record that I also enjoy, but it's hard to come up with a name for it. It's neither a personal best nor a personal worst, yet shares features of both. At first I thought I'd call it a bestworst, then a worstbest, but neither of those really fit the bill. I eventually came up with personal borscht. Of course, that's a nonsensical name, but it has the merit that phonetically it reminds one of both best and worst. Also, borscht is a kind of soup, and this new kind of record is like soup in that it combines disparate elements.

This time, the record was for the most hands I've played in a SNG 8-game where I came in third; I beat out the old record by a single hand :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6   159     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    42     3        0

delta: $-120,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,656,840
balance: $10,913,530

A hulk and a hubcap

If you park your car at night in a poorly lit, high crime area of a major city, the longer you leave it there, the less of it there'll be when you get back. Last night, figuratively speaking, I left my vehicle so long that all that was left on my return was a hulk and a hubcap. Let me explain. Whenever a six player sit and go reaches three handed play, and one of the three players happens to be sitting out, the other two players can guarantee that they both make the money simply by taking turns winning the blinds. The player to the right of the player who is sitting out gets the best of it; he'll take the blinds two times every orbit, whereas the player to the left of the player who is sitting out will only take them once every orbit. However, neither of these players will lose any chips, while the player who is sitting out will eventually be blinded off. The two active players, figuratively speaking, are stripping the abandoned vehicle of the player who is sitting out.

How did I come to abandon my vehicle? It was unintentional, of course. While waiting for my table to fill up, I decided to use the Kindle reader app to continue reading Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White", which I'd started reading over the weekend. In their infinite wisdom, the programmers of the Kindle app evidently decided that reading was the most important thing anyone could ever do on a computer, so they disabled the ability of any other app to take the input focus away from the Kindle reader. This meant that when the table filled up, I had no way of knowing that it had. The PokerStars software did the right thing in this case, which was to automatically sit me out. The combination of being sat out, along with being thoroughly engrossed in "The Woman in White", conspired to make me forget to check on my poker table until it was much too late. Of the 40 hands I "played", I only actually got to play the last one. I find it rather humorous to think that I came in third :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6   155     2    35700
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    40     3        0

delta: $-84,300
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,756,840
balance: $11,033,530

The quarter million club

When I was playing strictly cash games, which I did for the first four years of my career, it was a big deal to have session deltas of 100,000 play dollars or more. When I started playing sit and gos, this was no longer a big deal. The new big deal was to have session deltas of 250,000 or more. Just call it the quarter million club :-) On Thursday night, I had the 28th quarter million club session of my career.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    63     1   331500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6   138     1    66300

delta: $277,800
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,856,840
balance: $11,117,830

30 million wagered

At the beginning of the year, I set myself a goal to wager 60 million play dollars playing SNG NLHEs. A massive downswing, in combination with PokerStars increasing its entry fees, pushed me off that goal. It's interesting to note that I recently passed the halfway point of the abandoned goal; I've wagered 30,505,000 playing SNG NLHEs this year. For comparison purposes, that's over eight million more than I wagered last year, and I'm not done yet :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    69     3        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    62     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    58     2   178500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    79     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    45     3        0

delta: $-161,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,625,340
balance: $10,840,030

Eleven is heaven

Last night, on the strength of a first place SNG NLHE finish, my overall balance topped the 11 million play dollar mark for the second time in my career. The first occurred on January 4th of this year. This year's Movember isn't as outrageously good as last year's, but it's still very good :-) I'm now about a third of the way to my goal of making a million play dollar profit on the year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    29     5        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    58     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6   114     1   331500
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    51     1    40375

delta: $141,875
MTT NLHE balance: $860,048
balance: $11,001,530

Double tabling

Last night, I double tabled most of the session. I was playing $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHE on one table, and $20,000 BI+EF SNG 8-game on another. I've noticed this before, but it bears repeating - I seem to play better when I double table. In an earlier post I attributed this to being forced to make decisions faster, and that's certainly a part of it, but I think I've found another important reason - I'm not focusing nearly as much on the size of my stack. When you're just playing at a single table, it's all too easy to get overly caught up with how you're doing, and how many chips you have left. That can't help but influence some of the decisions you make, which is more often than not a bad thing. When you're double tabling, you're focusing most of your attention on the hand you were dealt, the community cards, and the actions your opponents have taken. It's of secondary importance how many chips you have left, which is just as it should be :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    12     2   178500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    91     1   331500
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    89     2    35700
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    30     5        0
SNG   8-Game  17000  3000       6    79     2    35700

delta: $241,400
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,615,340
balance: $10,859,655

Min three bullet win

As you know, I like to quote myself as often as I can :-) Here's what I had to say on February 9th:

Poker commentators often refer to buy ins as bullets. This is in the context of tournaments which have rebuys; "He's on his second bullet" refers to someone who hit the felt on his first buy in, and bought in again. The sit and gos I play on PokerStars don't have rebuys, but I like the bullet metaphor so much I'll appropriate it anyway. I tend to fire anywhere from three to six bullets a night. Last night, I fired five, and came out with the min win for five $45,000 bullets, or $20,000. One good sit and go rule of thumb is to quit whenever your profit hits the min win for the number of bullets you've fired. I don't always follow it, but wish I did :-)

On Saturday night, I fired three $85,000 bullets, and came out with the min win for that scenario, which is $31,500. However, I also fired two $8,500 KO bullets, and missed the money in both of those.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    58     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     5     8        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    79     3        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     1     8        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    38     1   331500 

delta: $11,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,405,340
balance: $10,618,255

50,000 hands

Very recently, I surpassed the 50,000 hands milestone for this poker year. The most I'd ever played in a prior year was 42,911 (last year). Every year since I started playing, I've played more hands per year, and I fully intend to keep that streak going :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    32     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    16     4        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    23     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    21     3    11900
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    43     3        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     9     3     7650

delta: $-310,450
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,373,840
balance: $10,606,755

Near ever less session

I've talked before about ever more sessions, where each succeeding tournament lasts longer than its predecessor. Last night, I nearly head an ever less session, where each succeeding tournament is shorter than its predecessor. Despite this, I made a very healthy profit. In the last three sessions, I've made over half a million play dollars. At the moment, my 2016 balance is in the black to the tune of $216,841. All is right with my poker world :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    52     1   331500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    43     2   178500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    34     6        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    15     2    15725
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    19     2    15725
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     9     6        0

delta: $211,450
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,673,840
balance: $10,917,205

A chip and a chair

This is the fourth time I've used this title; the first was on October 27, 2011. I included a reference in all the previous posts, and I'll do the same here:

An old poker adage says that all you need to win is a chip and a chair, especially since Jack “Treetop” Straus pulled off this feat in the '82 championship.

James McManus, "Positively Fifth Street"

Last night was the closest I've ever come to winning a sit and go when I was down to my last chip. For definition purposes, I consider having a stack of one small blind or less to be the time when you're down to your last chip. In the second SNG NLHE I played, I started three-handed play with just 115 of the 6,000 chips at the table. At this point, the small blind was 75 and the big blind was 150. I was sitting in the big blind, so I "fell in" for my last 115. I won this pot without a showdown, as both my opponents folded. 67 hands later, I finished in first. I won in style, with quad kings :-) This wonderful result enabled me to get back into the black on the year. My goal is to keep playing $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHEs until my 2016 balance tops a million play dollars; if I can achieve that, I'll play MTTs for the rest of the year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    33     2   178500
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    11     5        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6   116     1   331500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    66     4        0

delta: $200,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,463,840
balance: $10,705,755

Double first

On Monday night, as promised, I went back to my discomfort zone - playing $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHEs. For variety, I sprinkled a couple of $10,000 BI+EF KOs in there. I got in the hole to the tune of $312,350 before finishing super strong - two first places in a row. There's nothing quite like the feeling of winning $463,000 in an hour, even if it is play money :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    71       6    2     3        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    29       9    3     3     7650
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       9    47      18    4     7        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9     2       9    3     7        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    21       6    2     3        0
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    46       6    2     1   331500
SNG   NLHE    85000 15000       6    89       6    2     1   331500

delta: $150,650
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,253,840
balance: $10,505,755

Movember it is

I've decided to throw caution to the winds, and try to end my 2016 poker year in the black by returning to $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHEs. Movember it is! I wonder when was the last time I've played one of these; let me check the archives ... August 27th. Here's what I had to say about it:

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 :-)

I'm pretty sure I promised myself sometime after that that I'd never play sit and gos again, since the entry fees are prohibitively expensive. Oh well, sometimes you need to break promises like that. My goal here is not to prove that SNGs are viable, it's quite simply to get lucky and end my year in the black :-)

By the way, last night I had a KO fest, as you can see.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    45       9    3     2    19975
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    16       9    3     3     7650
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    37       9    3     1    40375
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    74      73   18    23        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    10       9    3     5        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    11       9    3     3     7650
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    15       9    3     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    13       9    3     6        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    30       9    3     2    24225

delta: $-30,125
KO no limit hold'em balance: $-112,089
balance: $10,355,105

I hear Movember calling

As I've chronicled before, my poker exploits of last November turned my 2015 poker fortunes around, leading me to dub it "Movember" afterwards. Once again, I find myself in the red for the year as November commences. I hear Movember calling me once again. It's a siren call :-) If I heeded it, I'd start playing $100,000 BI+EF SNG NLHE again. I'm not going to do that, at least for now. Instead, I'm going to double down on MTTs. On Friday night, I threw in some KOs at the end of the session, just to keep my hand in :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    37     866  180   179    18500
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    55      73   18    26        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    28      81   18    61        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    98     806  162    21    53100
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    19      22    4     -        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    27       9    3     4     4250
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    25       9    3     1    36125
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    22       9    3     4        0
KO    NLHE     8500  1500       9    59       9    3     2    19975

delta: $-98,050
MTT NLHE balance: $860,048
balance: $10,385,230

18th century

The title of this post is deliberately misleading, just for fun :-) No, I'm not talking about the 1700's, the century in which America was born. I'm talking about the number of MTT NLHEs I've played where I've lasted at least 100 hands. I had my 18th such last night. I've had 45 centuries in MTT 8-games, but they're much easier to come by.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    23     628  126     -        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    98      65   12    15        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   113     333   84    21    69900

delta: $-20,100
MTT NLHE balance: $828,448
balance: $10,483,280

Final table bubble

In all my recent enthusiasm for $20,000 BI+EF MTT NLHEs, I lost sight of MTT 8-games temporarily. Last night I decided to play an 8-game (in addition to some NLHEs) for two reasons:

1. I hadn't been doing well at MTT NLHEs
2. I was bored of playing the same game all the time

I failed to make the money in the MTT NLHEs, but did very well in the MTT 8-game. I ended up bubbling the final table, coming in 7th. That got me to wondering if that had ever happened to me before; turns out it had, three previous times. From now until the end of the year, I'm going to try to play at least one MTT 8-game per session.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    36     799  162   277        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6     6     520  132     -        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9     3     297   63     -        0
MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6   180      64   12     7   108000

delta: $-2,000
MTT 8-game balance: $233,170
balance: $10,503,380

The best laydown I ever saw live *

I didn't play poker last night for a very good reason - I was watching the final night of the WSOP November Nine final table, on television (for the third night in a row, the ESPN live streaming site didn't work for me). I didn't stay to see the new champion crowned, but what I did see was highly entertaining. The most memorable hand for me was the one where Gordon Vayo took over 5 minutes to fold, after Qui Nguyen had bet over $100,000 on the river. Vayo had aces up, but the river card supported both trip kings and a club flush (the latter of which Nguyen had). It was mesmerizing to watch Vayo's immediate, distraught reaction as soon as he saw the river card, as well as the progression of emotions he went through during his agonizing thought process, which played out plainly on his face. I was rooting for him to fold, and believed he would. Eventually he did, but not before torturing himself. This laydown showed the quality and purity of his poker instincts; it was the best laydown I ever saw live *. I've added an asterisk for two reasons:

1. I wasn't physically present
2. the broadcast was on a half hour delay

The most amazing thing about the laydown, to me, was that it was very clear from his initial reaction that he instinctively knew he couldn't call the bet, yet he agonized over the decision. In poker, the longer someone takes to make a decision, the more likely it is to be wrong. Vayo had the discipline to heed his instincts, even after such a lengthy decision process. That's the longest tussle I've ever seen anyone take with the imp of the perverse, and he vanguished it. I cheered!

On Monday night, I played two MTT NLHEs, and missed the money in both.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    31     557  117     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    55     336   84    97        0

delta: $-60,000
MTT NLHE balance: $898,548
balance: $10,505,380