The last money place yardstick

I've been comparing and contrasting MTTs and MTT-Rs, and the latter have the former totally beat. It's no contest. I wished I'd noticed MTT-Rs sooner; as it was, I didn't so much notice them as join one accidentally :-) One of the most telling comparisons is the last place money each typically provides. In the most recent MTT I played, the buy in plus the entry fee was $50,000, and the last place money was $49,000. So the reward for all your hard work to "make the money" is to lose 2% of the money you wagered. In the most recent MTT-R I played, the buy in plus the entry fee was also $50,000, which generally translates to $150,000 wagered - one entry, one rebuy, and one add on. The last place money was $400,000, meaning the reward for your hard work is to nearly triple the money you put up. Why oh why did it take me so long to find this wonderful poker variant? Now that I've found it, I'm never going to let it go :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    59      81   18    34        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    98      77   18    13   419000

delta: $19,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $4,243,000
2017 balance: $5,222,825
balance: $16,640,655

Best 42

It took me 745 sessions to make my first 5 million play dollars. It took me just 42 to make my latest 5. Needless to say, it's the best 42 session stretch of my career. I've now made the final table 4 times in the 11 MTT-R NLHEs I've played, good for a 36.36% clip. I may never play another non-rebuy tournament again :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   129      69   15     5  1300000

delta: $1,150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $4,224,000
2017 balance: $5,203,825
balance: $16,621,655

First MTT-R NLHE aces out

Whenever you try out a new poker variant, the firsts come fast and furious :-) Last night, I had my first "aces out" in an MTT with rebuys NLHE tournament. That is, I hit the rail on a hand where I'd been dealt pocket aces. As you can imagine, it's a painful way to go, even more so in the case where you got rivered, as I did last night. Still, "aces out" is certainly an honorable way to go; I'd play that hand the way I did every single time.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    82      79   18    25        0
MTT   NLHE    43500  6500       9    36     226   54    57        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $3,074,000
2017 balance: $4,053,825
balance: $15,471,655

A different animal

I recently realized that MTT rebuy tournaments are an interesting hybrid of cash games and MTTs. Like a cash game, you can buy in for more chips if you hit the felt (although only if you do so within the late registration period). Once the late registration and add on periods are over, MTT rebuy tournaments are like traditional MTTs; once you hit the felt, you're out. I'd lazily been summing all the different types of MTTs (traditional, knockout (i.e., with bounties), and rebuy) into the same bucket, but today took the time to do the necessary recategorizations, so they show up in separate buckets. Here are my current career results by style and flavor:

$5,698,087   890  Cash game          No Limit Hold'em
$3,224,000     9  MTT with rebuys    No Limit Hold'em
$2,601,668   631  MTT                No Limit Hold'em
$2,198,340  1583  Sit & Go           No Limit Hold'em
$1,172,147   378  Cash game          Pot Limit Hold'em
  $673,710   123  Sit & Go           8-Game
  $557,180    16  MTT with bounties  No Limit Hold'em
   $59,092    57  Cash game          Limit 7 Card Stud
   $15,027    36  Cash game          No Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball
    $2,600     1  Sit & Go           HORSE
    $1,155     2  Cash game          Pot Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball
        $0   102  Spin & Go          No Limit Hold'em
     $-500     1  Cash game          Limit 5 Card Draw
     $-897     1  Cash game          Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball
   $-1,260     2  Sit & Go           Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball
  $-10,875    12  Power up           No Limit Hold'em
  $-15,000     3  MTT                Limit Triple Draw 2-7 Lowball
  $-50,800     1  Sit & Go           Limit Hold'em
  $-69,160    26  MTT                HORSE
  $-70,707    41  Cash game          Pot Limit Omaha
 $-133,064   101  KO poker           No Limit Hold'em
 $-267,830   215  MTT                8-Game

In just 9 MTT with rebuy tournaments, I've amassed over 3 million play dollars. I can state unequivocally that MTT rebuys are my new favorite poker variant :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    60      79   18    24        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   107      71   15    14   390000

delta: $40,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $3,224,000
2017 balance: $4,253,825
balance: $15,671,655

Rebuy tournaments considered addictive

I've only played a small number of rebuy tournaments so far, but I'm already noticing patterns. Since poker is all about pattern recognition, that's a good thing :-) The behavior of some of my fellow players is truly astonishing. They pop rebuys like Pez, even though every rebuy costs them another buy in and entry fee. Some of them literally go all in every single hand, and do a double rebuy when they hit the felt (I forgot to mention, at every point where a rebuy is possible, a double rebuy is also possible; you pay twice the normal amount for twice the normal amount of chips). I can't get too upset at these players, however; they're the ones who cause the prize pool to get so ginormous. I just wish they'd play at somebody else's table :-) It seems pretty clear that they're actually addicted to going all in, and just can't stop themselves. They rationalize this by saying they can always rebuy if they lose. All I can say is that's an excellent way to decimate your PokerStars balance; I'd never do it in a million years.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   130500 19500       9    51      65   15    39        0
MTT   NLHE   130500 19500       9    44      73   15    49        0

delta: $-300,000
MTT NLHE balance: $6,342,848
2017 balance: $4,213,825
balance: $15,631,655

Quantum leap

It's hard to know where to begin with last night's session. I broke many personal records. Here are the highlights (the numbers in parentheses are the old records):

- largest profit in a single tournament: $2,547,000 ($855,600)
- largest profit in a single session: $2,547,000 ($1,035,500)
- largest profit since the start of a year: $4,513,825 ($3,897,702)
- total balance all-time high: $15,931,655 ($13,384,655)

My extrapolated profit for the year is now $11,441,292.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    43500  6500       9   205      72   15     2  2647000

delta: $2,547,000
MTT NLHE balance: $6,642,848
2017 balance: $4,513,825
balance: $15,931,655

A new goal

The largest profit I've ever made in a single calendar year is $3,093,183 in 2012. That was the year I started playing sit and gos, back in the days when PokerStars didn't have exorbitant sit and go entry fees. I'm setting my sights higher these days :-) Last night, I made another final table of a rebuy tournament. The last two sessions comprise the third best "two bagger" of my career, clocking in at $967,000. Of course, these recent wonderful results made me want to look at my extrapolated profit for the year; as of this moment, it's an eye-popping $5,020,217. It's high time I set myself a new poker goal, and my new one is to realize a profit of at least $5,000,000 this calendar year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       9    50      83   18    47        0
MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       9   134      69   15     6   792000

delta: $592,000
MTT NLHE balance: $4,095,848
2017 balance: $1,966,825
balance: $13,384,655

First rebuy tournament final table

Certain poker variants hold an endless fascination for me, even if I know they're no good for me. I looked forward to playing Omaha before I ever played it, believing I'd be able to do so profitably. I couldn't have been more wrong :-) I also looked forward to playing deuce before I ever played it, believing the same thing. I was closer to correct on that one. In their turn, Spin and Go, KO, and Power up poker all held a distinct allure for me at one time or another. My latest crush is rebuy tournaments. There's a certain devil-may-care nature to them which is very appealing. You need to be able to gamble it up, but still do so intelligently. I think I've only ever seen 9 max rebuy tournaments, and that makes a lot of sense; you don't want the blinds coming around and chopping into your stack as often as they do in 6 max, since there'll be some wild and wooly betting going on most of the time.

Last night, I made my first final table in a rebuy tournament, coming in seventh. I hit the rail once in the late registration period, did a rebuy, then went for the add on option when the late registration period ended. That was three bullets at $50,000 each, for a total outlay of $150,000. I was the second shortest stack when I reached the final table, and knew I'd have to use a "ladder up" mindset. The money jumps are enormous at the final table of these rebuy tournaments. After the shortest stack finished in ninth, I became the shorty. By folding, folding, and folding again, I was able to last long enough until someone got too frisky and hit the rail before me. I exited on the very next hand, but was a money jump of $105,000 richer for my efforts :-)

Will I play another rebuy tonight? You'd better believe it!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    36     479  114   213        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    20     140   36    47        0
MTT   NLHE   130500 19500       9   116      72   15     7   595000

delta: $375,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,503,848
2017 balance: $1,374,825
balance: $12,792,655

Ofer 2017

Last night, when I couldn't find a $20,000 or $50,000 BI+EF MTT NLHE tournament in progress, I made the mistake of joining a $50,000 BI+EF MTT 8-game tournament which was. I did this because I wanted to start playing right away. I missed the money by a mile, and ran my MTT 8-game deficit for the year to $-201,000. I'm now ofer 2017 in MTT 8-games :-( I need to just say no to them.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    53      64   12    32        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    91     148   36    42        0

delta: $-100,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,128,848
2017 balance: $999,825
balance: $12,417,655

New-fangled evermore and ever better

I've had a fair amount of "evermore and ever better" sessions, but the "ever better" part has typically focused on the place where I finished, rather than the percentile of that place. Friday night, I had an "evermore and ever better" session where better was determined by percentile. That now seems to me the better yardstick to use. For the record, my percentiles were 56, 80, and 86. Even though I had a losing session, I was still satisfied that I was playing well.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    46     146   36    64        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    70     419   96    81    35900
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    74     398   96    55    45900

delta: $-8,200
MTT NLHE balance: $3,178,848
2017 balance: $1,099,825
balance: $12,517,655

Going deep

There are lots of different ways of making a profit playing MTTs. I used to think the most important predictor of success was a really good making the money percentage. While no one should turn their nose up at that, lately I think a better predictor is the ability to go deep in tournaments. I knew that I'd have to choose a percentile to consider the minimum requirement for "going deep", and was all set to pick the 93rd; however, when I ran last night's numbers and saw that I hit the 92nd percentile in the second tournament I entered, I ended up picking that one instead :-)

Now that I have the definition, I can calculate the rate I go deep in MTT NLHEs. Drumroll, please ... My rate is 12.77% (82 of 642). Not too shabby!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    20     377   96   221        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   161     125   30    10   151000

delta: $81,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,187,048
2017 balance: $1,108,025
balance: $12,525,855

The mythical futile century

I only played one tournament last night, and failed to make the money. However, I played a goodly number of hands for having nothing to show for it - 77, to be exact. That got me to wondering what's the most hands I've ever played in a losing cause in an MTT NLHE. Here are the top ten:

93  2017-05-10a
87  2017-02-19d
84  2017-03-30a
82  2017-05-11c
80  2017-04-05c
78  2017-04-19a
77  2017-05-17a
77  2017-05-08b
76  2017-03-31b
76  2016-12-14b

Fully four of those tournaments were played this very month, and nine of the ten were played this year. This tells me I'm playing on the cusp of great. I wonder if it's possible to play 100 or more hands and still fail to make the money. Call that a futile century :-) I think it's just a myth.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    77      86   21    31        0

delta: $-50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,106,048
2017 balance: $1,027,025
balance: $12,444,855

Rivered

I first used this blog post title over seven years ago, on December 19, 2009. Here's what I had to say:

If you're scientific about poker, which I claim to be, you realize that if you play long enough, you'll be dealt "unbeatable" hands which nonetheless not only can be beaten, but will be beaten. When this happens, you must simply tip your hat to the poker gods and realize that no one can win all the time they "should" win.

Last night, I hit the rail in two tournaments where I was a heavy favorite after the turn on the final hand, but got rivered. The harder of the two to take was the first; I hit a flush on the turn, but my opponent hit a four of a kind on the river. Ouch!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    60     444  114   106    27100
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    44      73   21     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    52     411   96   113        0
MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       9     7      76   18    52        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    57     348   84    86        0

delta: $-182,900
MTT NLHE balance: $3,156,048
2017 balance: $1,077,025
balance: $12,494,855

The land of the ones

Last night, in the first tournament I entered, I reached the land of the ones. That is, I reached the upper level of the payout table, where each payout amount goes to a single player. That's almost as good as making the final table :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   186     143   36     9   186000
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    61     494  132   150        0

delta: $116,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,338,948
2017 balance: $1,259,925
balance: $12,677,755

Sloppy table selection

Last night, I was a victim of self-inflicted sloppy table selection. I had a jones for playing another rebuy tournament, but that only explains one of the two 9 max tournaments I joined. I actually didn't notice the other one was a 9 max, hence the sloppiness. What makes the rebuy tournaments so enticing is the huge money up top. However, there's too much luck involved, so I need to just say no to rebuy tournaments. Tonight, I promise to play neither a rebuy tournament nor a 9 max.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    24      60   15     -        0
MTT   NLHE    43500  6500       9    59      53   12    29        0
MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    34     542  117   158        0

delta: $-120,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,222,948
2017 balance: $1,143,925
balance: $12,561,755

Futile perfection (almost)

When you don't win a single showdown, which is what happened to me last night, you'll have come close to futile perfection. The only thing which prevented me from achieving this was the single pot I won, which didn't go to showdown (and was for a negligible gain). After achieving bluidity, I've had three straight losing sessions. It's time to stop the bitch :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    16500  3500       9    13     269   54     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    28       ?    ?     -        0

delta: $-70,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,342,948
2017 balance: $1,263,925
balance: $12,681,755

Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Rebuy

I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but there's a type of MTT NLHE tournament on PokerStars which includes a rebuy option. What that boils down to is that if you hit the rail before the late registration period ends, you can rebuy into the tournament as if you hadn't already entered it. You can do this as many times as you like, within that time period. Not only that, when the late registration period ends, everyone has a one-time opportunity to buy more chips for a set price.

I think I've played at most five of this type of tournament in my career. Last night, in the fourth tournament I entered, I played another. I realize I didn't play it in the optimal fashion. What's the optimal way to play such a tournament? I've thought about this a fair amount, and here's what I came up with:

1. during the late registration period, you should throw caution to the winds; since you can always rebuy if you hit the rail, it's to your advantage to play very aggressively. Your goal is to build your stack up as much as possible; it's worth it to play more loosely at this stage.

2. as soon as the late registration period ends, you should avail yourself of the buying extra chips option if your stack is less than the average stack

3. from this point onwards, you have to play as tight as a drum

My mistake was to play as tight as a drum from the get-go.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    47     486  114   158        0
MTT   NLHE    43500  6500       9    13      51   12     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    22      29    8     -        0
MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       9    33      76   18    34        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    87     463  114    73    39700 

delta: $-200,300
MTT NLHE balance: $3,412,948
2017 balance: $1,333,925
balance: $12,751,755

Sweet and sour

I played my first MTT NLHE tournament on December 21, 2014, more than six years after I started playing online poker. At the time, cash game NLHE was my bread and butter, and I hadn't yet soured on it. In the 2 1/2 years since that first MTT NLHE, I've completely soured on both cash games and sit and gos. MTT NLHE is now my bread and butter, both in terms of profit potential and personal satisfaction. It's hard for me to imagine ever souring on it - it's just too sweet to play :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    23      53   15     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   123     434  114    31    63700
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    82      68   18    36        0

delta: $-56,300
MTT NLHE balance: $3,613,248
2017 balance: $1,534,225
balance: $12,952,055

369 sessions in the wilderness

Thanks to another final table last night, I finally got my overall balance back into the blue. I'm jazzed! I was out of the blue for 369 sessions, which is by far the longest such streak of my career; the next longest one clocked in at a mere 189 sessions. If I never have another out of the blue streak as long as the one that just ended, it'll be too soon :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    93     134   36    41        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    48     452  114   152        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   179     131   36     6   271000

delta: $151,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,669,548
2017 balance: $1,590,525
balance: $13,008,355

Under the lights

Getting under the lights (in other words, making the final table of a tournament) never gets old. It's always a thrill. Sometimes, I know it's going to happen, and it almost always does when I have this conviction. As far as I can recall, I've only not made the final table once when I "knew" I was going to :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    33     133   36    78        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    23     406   96   264        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   183     126   30     5   340000

delta: $220,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,518,548
2017 balance: $1,439,525
balance: $12,857,355

Pockmarked

Pocks are generally a very good holding in 6 max. Last night, I got pocks 9 times, but only won 2 of those hands. Pockmarked! Here's my tale of woe:

 -328 Jd Jc 2017\0508\a hand 17
 -372 3d 3s 2017\0508\a hand 33
  260 5d 5s 2017\0508\b hand  4
   24 6s 6c 2017\0508\b hand 11
 -266 Ts Tc 2017\0508\b hand 18
  -56 3h 3s 2017\0508\b hand 25
 -287 Jh Jc 2017\0508\b hand 53
 -166 2d 2s 2017\0508\b hand 66
-2074 Tc Ts 2017\0508\b hand 77

Fittingly, the pocks I had the biggest loss with came on my last hand of the session. I was a 71.26% favorite before the flop, a 69.70% favorite after the flop, and an 84.09% favorite after the turn. However, my opponent filled a gutshot straight draw on the river, and that was all she wrote.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    36      54   15    21        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    77      97   24    39        0

delta: $-100,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,298,548
2017 balance: $1,219,525
balance: $12,637,355

"That's what you get for all your trouble"

I'm old enough to remember the big hit Dionne Warwick made in 1969 with the song "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", written the year before by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the musical "Promises, Promises". Here are the opening lyrics:

What do you get when you fall in love?
A guy with a pin to burst your bubble
That's what you get for all your trouble
I'll never fall in love again

Sometimes, poker reminds me of this sentiment :-) For all the trouble I took in the MTT 8-game tournament I played last night, in which I "made the money", what I actually got for it was a loss of $1,000. I'll never play another MTT 8-game again! (of course, that's simply not true :-)).

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6   128      85   18    14    49000
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    25      53   15     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   155     159   42    13   143000

delta: $42,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,398,548
2017 balance: $1,319,525
balance: $12,737,355

Under the lights, twice

I always enjoy achieving personal firsts. On Friday night, I achieved another one, when I got under the lights twice in the same session. That moved my 2017 balance above the million play dollar mark for the first time, and reduced my blue distance to 270,939. That's the lowest my blue distance has been since February 23, 2016, when it was 164,190. I have 3 main goals for this poker year:

1. play only MTTs
2. make a profit of over $1,000,000
3. get back into the blue

As of this moment, I've achieved 2 of the 3.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   182     160   42     4   446000
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    32     479  114   275        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       9   119     185   54     8   198000

delta: $524,000
MTT NLHE balance: $3,355,548
2017 balance: $1,277,525
balance: $12,695,355

Aiming for 10%

It's good to have poker goals, and I've just come up with a new one. I aim to get my percentage of MTT NLHE tournaments where I made a century up above 10%. Currently, it's a little shy - 58 of 606 tournaments have been centuries, for 9.57%. My most recent one was just last night.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    18      74   21     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6   107     380   96    32    61800

delta: $-8,200
MTT NLHE balance: $2,831,548
2017 balance: $753,525
balance: $12,171,355

A stampede of baby cowboys

I like it when freq-ish things happen at a poker table :-) Last night, after writing about baby cowboys, I experienced a stampede of them - they were occurring at 4 times their normal frequency. In 165 hands, I was dealt baby cowboys 3 times. Unfortunately, I lost two of the three hands.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    40     469  114   172        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   108     163   42    27   102000
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    17     287   72     -        0

delta: $12,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,839,748
2017 balance: $761,725
balance: $12,179,555

Out with baby cowboys

On April Fools' day of 2012, I coined a poker neologism:

As I've mentioned before in this space, I really enjoy learning and using poker slang. Not only that, I like inventing my own, and putting it out there into the ether, in the hopes that it might thereby come into common usage someday. Today, I offer the latest example of my poker slang for your consideration - baby cowboys. This one came about somewhat accidentally. I remembered that cowboys was slang for a particular pocket pair, but got the denomination wrong. I thought it referred to pocket jacks, but instead if refers to pocket kings. Since jacks are worth less than kings, and since both jacks and kings are male, I came up with baby cowboys as a slang term for pocket jacks.

It's never fun to hit the rail at a tournament, but I never feel too badly when I had a good holding on my final hand. That was the case in my final MTT last night, when I went out with baby cowboys. I got all my chips in before the flop; at that moment, I was a 56.72% favorite to win the hand. After the flop, I was a 9.19% dog. After the turn, I was a 4.55% dog; only two cards could save me, and neither did. Although I had a losing session, it was nonetheless an evermore and ever better one.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    39      80   21     -        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    65     496  132   136        0
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    95     425  114    32    62400

delta: $-27,600
MTT NLHE balance: $2,827,748
2017 balance: $749,725
balance: $12,167,555

A soupçon of rust

When you haven't played poker for over a week, you should expect to be a little rusty, and that certainly was the case with me last night. I played well enough to make a small profit, but the rust was showing, especially in the two costliest hands I played in the second tournament I entered. In the costliest hand, I hit the nut flush on the turn, but made a foolish raise on the river, when a third seven appeared on the board. It's poker 101 never to raise when the board supports a hand that's better than yours; I lost to a full house. In the next costliest hand, which is when I hit the rail, I overplayed a stealth two pair, and lost to a set of tens.

An interesting habit I seem to be getting into lately is playing two tournaments simultaneously, hitting the rail quickly in the second one, and going deep in the first one. I really don't care how soon I hit the rail in one, as long as I go deep in the other :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    93     492  114    31    72300
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6    38      83   21     -        0

delta: $2,300
MTT NLHE balance: $2,855,348
2017 balance: $777,325
balance: $12,195,155

Double century

It's been far too long since I last played poker; I've really been missing it. I was out sick for three days last week, and when I got back, I had to endure an extended "crunch time" to make up for lost time. That meant no poker; there simply wasn't time. Tonight, there is :-)

I don't remember much about my last session, other than that I did really well in one of the two tournaments I played. For just the fifth time in my MTT NLHE career, I lasted at least 200 hands - a double century. In other good news, my balance broke the 12 million play dollar barrier again.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6   204     130   36     4   386000
MTT   NLHE    17500  2500       6    38     527  132   232        0

delta: $316,000
MTT NLHE balance: $2,853,048
2017 balance: $775,025
balance: $12,192,855