Another personal borscht

On Friday 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 times I've ever gone all in in an MTT-R NLHE where I failed to make the money - 9. Here are the hand details:

delta  hole cards  hand

 2745     Jc Jh       8
-5025     Ad As      12
 2080     8c Ah      14
 4780     6c 6s      40
 3125     Ah 5s      45
 6625     Ac Ks      56
 4052     Kh Td      66
 5954     7h Tc      74
-6858     Ah Kc      76

Of course, it's easy enough to set this record if one plays like a maniac (as many of my opponents do); simply go all in every hand, and rebuy whenever you hit the felt. Interestingly, I didn't hit the felt on hand 12; when I went all in, I had more chips than my callers, and also won a small side pot.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    76      59   12    16        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    24      71   15    42        0

delta: $-300,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $32,192,500
2017 balance: $32,564,430
balance: $43,982,260

The 300 club

Very recently, I joined the 300 club for this year - that is, I reached 300 sessions played. In 9+ years of playing online poker, I've only managed this 3 times. 300 sessions represents a squeak over 82% of the nights in a year in a non leap year, and a squeak under 82% in a leap year. For quite a few years, I very rarely played on Sundays, and played less often on Saturdays than on weekdays. I now play more often on Sundays, but still play less often on Saturdays than on other days. Just for fun, here's my career session breakdown by weekday:

Sun:   200
Mon:   342
Tue:   392
Wed:   393
Thu:   398
Fri:   378
Sat:   255

Here's my 2017 session breakdown by weekday:

Sun:    39
Mon:    49
Tue:    51
Wed:    49
Thu:    46
Fri:    45
Sat:    23

So as you can see, I've already played more than a month of Sundays this year :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    80      71   15    13   311000

delta: $161,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $32,492,500
2017 balance: $32,864,430
balance: $44,282,260

My corrected gross

I realized after the fact that I'd used the wrong methodology to determine my gross profit for the year. No negative numbers should ever be included in a gross, but that's what I was doing. I was adding up the total of my profitable sessions, but profitable sessions often contain hidden losses embedded within the positive number. The calculation of the true gross for the year is simplicity itself - just sum up the tournament winnings, ignoring any outlay, such as buy ins, entry fees, rebuys, and add ons. My corrected gross for the year is ... drumroll please ... $96,297,950. I have an outside chance to hit $100,000,000 by the end of the year. I'll be gunning for it :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    50      80   18    22        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    28      77   18    38        0

delta: $-250,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $32,331,500
2017 balance: $32,703,430
balance: $44,121,260

Holy gross, Batman!

Before this year, my largest gross profit for a single year was last year's $28,227,937. It's a given that the bigger your gross profit is, the bigger your net profit may potentially be. Currently, my gross profit for 2017 is a whopping $74,789,100. Holy gross, Batman! :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    16      60   12    36        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    44      61   15    29        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    57      35    7    18        0

delta: $-500,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $32,581,500
2017 balance: $32,953,430
balance: $44,371,260

The Full Monty

A straight flush is the rarest of hands, and deserves a fitting nickname. I've come up with one I like, and which I think is apt - the Full Monty. Last night, I had a Full Monty on hand 71. It was my first in over four months. I raked in a 28,012 chip pot with it, putting me in great shape to make a deep run. 147 hands later, I was the top dog. I'm back in the blue, baby!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   218      69   15     1  3813000

delta: $3,713,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,081,500
2017 balance: $33,453,430
balance: $44,871,260

Under the lights

Good results in poker tend to come in bunches. Last night, for the second time in three tournaments, I made it under the lights. That brought my under the lights percentage up to 19.48. I'm going to make hay while the sun shines :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    23      43    9    27        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   149      49   12     3  1406000

delta: $1,006,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $29,368,500
2017 balance: $29,740,430
balance: $41,158,260

The invisible fatty

As you may know, my nickname for a full house is a fatty. What do you call it when you make a full house, but no one goes with you to showdown? The invisible fatty :-) I had one on hand 42 of the only tournament I played last night. I flopped aces full of sevens, checked the flop, called a $1,000 bet on the turn, and bet $3,350 on the river. No one called, and I collected a modest pot of $6,700. I made my first final table in an MTT-R NLHE since December 8, so I was quite happy.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   113      88   18     6  1070000

delta: $970,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $28,362,500
2017 balance: $28,734,430
balance: $40,152,260

Farewell, my shovely

This is the second time I've used this blog post title. Here's what I had to say the first time:

I've now played nearly 1,000 MTTs of one style or another, and I've only come in first twice. What this means in practical terms is that 99.8% of the time, I'm going to lose the final hand of a tournament. I'm going to get all my chips in the middle, and then go bust. I often go back to the archives to look at the final hand of a tournament, to see if I got my money in good. If I did, that's a "Farewell, my shovely" situation. This translates roughly to:

1. I had a hand good enough to shove with
2. I shoved accordingly
3. I ended up losing the hand, but have no regrets

Last night, the second MTT-R NLHE I played ended with a "Farewell, my shovely". I had a stealth two pair, but lost to an opponent who made a flush on the turn. Whatcha gonna do?

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    43      63   15    26        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    64      64   15    18        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $27,392,500
2017 balance: $27,764,430
balance: $39,182,260

Reward for a laydown

I've known for a long time that one of the things that separates the great players from the good ones is the ability to lay down strong hands. Even though I know this, I can't always find a fold when I should. The inescapable conclusion is that I'm not a great player, but I'll allow that I'm damn good :-)

Last night, I was able to lay down aces in a crucial spot, and that helped propel me into the money. After 14 straight out of the money finishes, it was nice to get two straight in the money.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    92      70   15    11   375000 

delta: $275,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $27,592,500
2017 balance: $27,964,430
balance: $39,382,260

Bonsai loss

Sometimes, it's as satisfying to sustain a minimal loss as it is to achieve a maximal gain. That was the case last night, when I wagered $400,000 and lost just $9,000, or 2.25%. I ran the numbers and that's my personal best minimal loss, percentage-wise, in MTT-R NLHEs. In other good news, I stopped my MTT-R NLHE losing streak at 14. My session losing streak is still alive at 10, but who's counting? :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    62      93   27    29        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    42      74   15    32        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    80      63   15    12   391000

delta: $-9,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $27,317,500
2017 balance: $27,689,430
balance: $39,107,260

Loss statistics

With last night's ninth straight losing session, I registered my fastest 2 million dollar loss - 9 sessions. The previous fastest had been 10. I've now failed to make the money in 12 straight MTT-R NLHEs, a new personal worst. My blue distance, $3,394,025, is now within spitting distance of another personal worst, $3,543,654. It's even money that it will soon top 4 million.

How are my poker spirits holding up under all this? Just fine, I'm happy to say :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    39      64   15    33        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    43      74   15    41        0

delta: $-350,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $27,326,500
2017 balance: $27,698,430
balance: $39,116,260

Worst eight bagger ever

The longer you play poker, the harder it gets to achieve a new personal best or personal worst. Their rarity makes even the personal worsts worth celebrating :-) Last night, I achieved my worst eight bagger ever. In the last eight sessions, I've lost 1.8 million play dollars. My blue distance has ballooned to over 3 million play dollars. Yet I'm able to say, with complete honesty, that I'm not fazed by this in the least. I'm going to ride this thing out, and come out on top again eventually.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    52      60   12    28        0

delta: $-300,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $27,676,500
2017 balance: $28,048,430
balance: $39,466,260

Nine and counting

Counting last night's session, I've now failed to make the money in nine straight MTT-R NLHEs. My all-time record is eleven straight, which appears to be in some jeopardy :-) The good news, such as there is, is that I've come very close to making the money several times during the streak, registering one bubble and two bubble bubbles.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    89      59   12    14        0

delta: $-100,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $27,976,500
2017 balance: $28,348,430
balance: $39,766,260

Third worst six bagger ever

Just ten days after recording my second worst six bagger ever, I recorded my third worst. That was on Friday night. I've lost $1,400,000 in my last six sessions. My blue distance is now north of 2.5 million. Despite this massive downswing, I'm not discouraged at all. I know my ship will come in soon.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    37      50   12    29        0

delta: $-350,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $28,076,500
2017 balance: $28,448,430
balance: $39,866,260

Gone, rockets, gone

When I first mentioned in this blog the scenario where you hit the rail in a tournament while holding pocket aces, I dubbed it "aces out". That now seems too pedestrian a name for this catastrophe. My new name for it is "Gone, rockets, gone". Last night, my session ended with a "Gone, rockets, gone". It was the sixth time in my MTT-R NLHE career that that's happened to me. Let me just say, it's never fun.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    93      71   15    17        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $28,426,500
2017 balance: $28,798,430
balance: $40,216,260

Third worst 18 tournament run

Last night, my blue distance grew to over $2,000,000 again. I've only made the money in 3 of the last 18 MTT-R NLHEs I've played, which ties for my 3rd worst 18 tournament run ever. There are several possible explanations; here are the two which immediately spring to mind:

1. I'm finally emerging from a months-long profit bubble, into a harsh reality I was blissfully ignorant of before
2. I'm overdue for a hugely profitable session

You won't be surprised to hear that my money is on the second one :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    20      64   12    35        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    80      69   15    21        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $28,626,500
2017 balance: $28,998,430
balance: $40,416,260

Bubble outlier

I was the bubble boy in the first tournament I played last night. It was my 11th MTT-R NLHE bubble, and 5th in MTT-R NLHEs with 12 money places. I decided to look at all my finishes in 12 money place tournaments, and discovered  that for me, the bubble place (13th) is an outlier. It's currently my most common finish. In contrast, I've only come in 12th once, and only come in 14th once. Of course, my sample size (74) is too small to draw any real conclusions from that, but it sure seems suggestive.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    74      55   12    13        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    44      55   12    27        0 

delta: $-250,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $28,776,500
2017 balance: $29,198,430
balance: $40,616,260

Freefall from the peak

Whenever I'm at a loss for what to write about my previous night's session, I fall back on the handy expedient of looking at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the night for inspiration. I almost never fail to see something I can use. What I saw in last night's chart is quite unusual. Once my stack hit its peak, I didn't win a single pot; my stack was in freefall for 29 hands, until finally I crashed out of the tournament. You don't see that every day, for sure.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    71      65   15    22        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $29,026,500
2017 balance: $29,448,430
balance: $40,866,260

Two nice numbers

Last night, I achieved two nice numbers: .586 and 59,900,000. The first is an all-time low, and the second is an all-time high. .586 is the cumulative rate at which I add on in MTT-R NLHEs. I aim to get this number below .500 one day. 59,900,000 is the amount of play dollars I've wagered this calendar year. That means I'll hit $60,000,000 wagered this calendar year tonight, which was one of my goals for this year.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    57      64   15    29        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    67      51   12    17        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $29,226,500
2017 balance: $29,648,430
balance: $41,066,260

Pokereading, take 2

I used to be able to play poker and read a novel (using the Kindle for PC reader) at the same time. Sadly, that ability disappeared when Kindle "improved" its app by hogging the window focus 24/7, making it impossible for the PokerStars app to inform me when it was my turn to act. Lately, I've been playing poker and reading comic books at the same time, since the comic book reading app I'm using isn't as "helpful" as the Kindle app :-) So let's call what I'm doing now pokereading, take 2.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    86      63   15    14   252000

delta: $52,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $29,426,500
2017 balance: $29,848,430
balance: $41,266,260

Premium bigs

I had my second straight winning session last night, on the strength of a sixth place finish in the second MTT-R NLHE I played. I'd been a little trigger happy in the first one, firing 7 bullets in a losing cause. One thing that really struck me about the second tournament was that the deck was hitting me in the face when I was in the big blind. That luck propelled me into the money; I might not have made it there without it. You can't expect premium bigs like that every tournament, but they sure are nice :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    34      69   15    39        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   147      61   15     6  1039000

delta: $489,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $29,374,500
2017 balance: $29,796,430
balance: $41,214,260

Stopping the bitch

Last night, I stopped the bitch. After seven straight losing sessions, I finally had a winning one. I made a $200,000 rebound, and dropped my blue distance below $2,000,000. There's no guarantee I'm out of my slump, but at least I broke the losing streak :-)

I made a disciplined laydown when I was getting close to the money and I had a suspicion a big stack was bullying me. It left me severely short-stacked, and I lucked my way into the money from there, just making the landing on the first foot of runway.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   118      44    9     9   337000

delta: $237,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $28,885,500
2017 balance: $29,307,430
balance: $40,725,260

The unheavenly seven

Last night, I had a seventh straight losing session. It was my worst seven bagger ever; my overall balance has taken a whopping $1,740,625 hit. The unheavenly seven, indeed :-) My blue distance is now $2,022,025. The one bright spot of the session was another quirk - I played the same number of hands as the place where I finished.

 style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    40      55   12    40        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $28,648,500
2017 balance: $29,070,430
balance: $40,488,260

Second worst six bagger ever

In my last six sessions, I've lost $1,540,625. That clocks in as my second worst six bagger ever. My blue distance is currently $1,822,025. The good news is, that's not the largest it's been this year. On September 20, it was $2,391,125.

In other news, I managed to finish in the same place in both tournaments I played last night. Just a quirk, but I like quirks :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    47      64   15    32        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    61      62   15    32        0

delta: $-600,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $28,848,500
2017 balance: $29,270,430
balance: $40,688,260

Dialed in

In the last three MTT-R NLHEs I've played, I've really been dialed in. Here are the percentiles:

percentile  entries  paid  place  winnings     date

    0.6818       66    15     21         0  2017-12-02a
    0.6667       36     8     12         0  2017-12-03b
    0.7241       58    12     16         0  2017-12-04a

It bodes well that I've been lasting so long, even though I haven't been making the money. I can feel the profit on the horizon :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    81      58   12    16        0

delta: $-150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $29,448,500
2017 balance: $29,870,430
balance: $41,288,260

Cowboys into the sunset

Last night, I hit the rail in the one MTT-R NLHE I played on a hand where I'd been dealt pocket kings. You could say my cowboys rode off into the sunset :-) They ran into a set of eights. Sets are one of the most disguised hands in hold'em. I wasn't too far away from the money when this happened, but have no regrets. If you can't bet your big pocket pairs big, you might as well not play.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

KO    NLHE    42500  7500       9    17       9    3     5        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    62      36    8    12        0

delta: $-278,750
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $29,598,500
2017 balance: $30,020,430
balance: $41,438,260

Runner runner

The most memorable hand of last night's session was one where I should have hit the rail, but miraculously didn't. On hand 65, I was dealt T4o (ten four offsuit). I was in the small blind, and started the hand with just 480 in chips. Since at that point the ante was 75, and the small blind was 400, I had just 5 chips behind after the forced bets. I put those last 5 in, to discover I was up against an opponent with aces. The flop came 6 8 J rainbow, which meant my only way to win was to hit a runner runner. I proceeded to do just that, with a 5 on the turn and a 7 on the river, completing a straight. Alas, that wasn't enough to ensure that I made the money; I hit the rail in 21st place, 22 hands later.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    87      66   15    21        0 

delta: $-100,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $29,848,500
2017 balance: $30,299,180
balance: $41,717,010

Getting it in bad

Poker players always like to get their money in good. What this means is that when they go all in, they want the odds of winning to be heavily in their favor. Sometimes, it works out that way. Other times, not so much :-) Last night, I got it in bad on my final hand of the night. Almost as bad as it gets. I was dealt KQs (king queen suited) and went all in against two opponents. You never want to go all in against more than one opponent if you can help it, because your odds of winning decrease dramatically with every additional opponent. In this case, my odds of winning were an anemic 11.40%. One opponent hit a king high flush - and lost. The other hit a full house. All I had was a measly pair of sixes. Hitting the rail was a blessing in disguise, as it was quite late at night and I was nodding off anyway.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

KO    NLHE    42500  7500       9    41       9    3     1   138125
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    45      41    9    31        0

delta: $-61,875
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $29,948,500
2017 balance: $30,399,180
balance: $41,817,010

Shove count

When you play a tournament, you're going to have to go all in at times; it's unavoidable if you want to succeed. Of course, if you go all in too often, you'll likely to be out of the tournament in a New York minute. So there's a dynamic tension between going all in and not going all in. In MTT-R tournaments, this tension is reduced by the ability to rebuy during the late registration period; however, it's foolish to get "rebuy happy". A lot of the usual suspects I play against are rebuy happy; this leads me to conclude that they must be losing scads of money at MTT-Rs over the long term. In contrast, I'm making money hand over fist at MTT-Rs in the long term :-)

One statistic I look at occasionally is what I'm calling shove count; it's the number of times you were all in during a tournament. My average shove count in MTT-R NLHE is currently 3.61; my shove count in Thursday night's tournament was nearly double that, at a hefty 7.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    88      58   12    17        0

delta: $-350,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $30,098,500
2017 balance: $30,461,055
balance: $41,878,885