Double twin killing

Last night, I got under the lights again, for the first time in just over two weeks. I was the second shortest stack when the final table began, but laddered up several spots with virtually no effort on my part. On the very first hand of the final table, two opponents got knocked out by a third opponent. Just nine hands later, the same thing happened. It was a double twin killing! I'll take a fifth place finish like that any day of the week :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    93      52   12     5   727000

delta: $577,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,918,500
2018 balance: $537,000
balance: $46,050,260

Triple up

In rebuy tournaments, it's common for some players to get large infusions of chips early on, doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling their stacks. The longer you last in a tournament, however, the harder it gets to double or triple up. Last night, I more than tripled up on hand 57, which is pretty unusual. For that to happen, not only do you have to have a premium hand, but slightly less premium hands must have been dealt to two of your opponents. I finally made the money, halting my session losing streak at eight.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    86      77   18    13   303000

delta: $53,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,341,500
2018 balance: $-40,000
balance: $45,473,260

The last time I fell in

I've mentioned before that there are three ways for all your chips to go into the middle:

1. the all in
2. the call in
3. the fall in

Of the three, the one to avoid like the plague is the fall in. I'll go further than that - I'll categorically state that you should never allow yourself to fall in if you haven't made the money yet. In practical terms, that means going all in proactively, rather than waiting for the fall in to happen to you. If you've made the money, there's no harm at all in falling in - it simply means you were employing a "ladder up" strategy, which may or may not have worked out for you.

Last night, I missed the money for the eighth consecutive session. The good news is, I didn't fall in once during that stretch. The last time I fell in was on November 16, but that was in a tournament where I'd already made the money. The last time I fell in during a losing cause was longer ago - on November 8, to be precise.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    50      46   12    27        0

delta: $-150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,288,500
2018 balance: $-93,000
balance: $45,420,260

The lonely bullet

Last night, I had my seventh losing session in a row. That brought my 2018 balance down to $57,000, or just over the price of a single bullet. I've fired 1,531 bullets in 2018 so far. Only having one bullet to show for it is pretty pitiful! However, as a wise man once said, "It ain't over til it's over" :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    40      66   15    23        0

delta: $-100,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,438,500
2018 balance: $57,000
balance: $45,570,260

Double flush

As I've said before, my favorite hand is a flush. Even though it's not the most powerful hand, it gives me the best feeling of any hand when I hit it. Last night, I had two flushes, and the second came just two hands after the first. An embarrassment of riches :-) I didn't make the money, but had plenty of fun.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    84      75   15    19        0

delta: $-150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,538,500
2018 balance: $157,000
balance: $45,670,260

Drawing mighty thin

The most memorable hand of last night's session, as is often the case, was one which I lost. I was dealt AJo (ace jack offsuit), and flopped a pair of aces. A queen on the turn gave me a straight draw, but also gave an opponent a set of queens. I was drawing mighty thin, as only a ten could save me. The river was a brick, but luckily I didn't lose any more chips than I'd already put into the pot, as my opponent just checked and I checked behind. My stack was severely crippled, however, and I hit the rail three hands later. Once again, my 2018 balance is on life support. I ain't afeared, though :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    66      75   15    31        0

delta: $-150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,688,500
2018 balance: $307,000
balance: $45,820,260

Autopilot

Last night, I played on autopilot. I remember almost nothing about the session. The clearest memory I have is that I didn't make the money. That's not actually a memory, come to think of it. You can't remember something which didn't happen :-)

Playing on autopilot is not necessarily a bad thing. It's really hard to make a bad decision on autopilot. If a difficult decision arises, the autopilot disengages and manual flying takes over. That didn't happen, therefore I can pretty safely conclude that no difficult decisions arose.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    20      61   15    46        0

delta: $-150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,838,500
2018 balance: $457,000
balance: $45,970,260

Call in

The most memorable hand of last night's session was the one where I was dealt pocket tens, an opponent acting before me bet enough preflop to put me all in if I called, and I did. My tens held, and I doubled up. Unfortunately, that chip infusion didn't last long enough, and I missed the money. I'm still happy with the way I played, however.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    49      61   15    23        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,988,500
2018 balance: $607,000
balance: $46,120,260

Deadly flush

One of the cruelest ways to hit the rail in poker is to "get there" on the river on the final hand, only to discover you are actually nowhere :-) That's what happened to me in the second tournament I entered last night. I hit a flush on the river, but it was a deadly flush, losing to a full house made by the same river card. Had I not made my flush, I would have folded to my opponent's river bet; hence, the deadliness :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9     9      56   12    40        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    72      60   12    16        0

delta: $-400,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $34,188,500
2018 balance: $807,000
balance: $46,320,260

yabb

Last night, my result was yabb - yet another bubble bubble. In other words, I finished two spots out of the money. I lasted longer than a bunch of the usual suspects, but another bunch lasted longer than I did. It's time to check the current value of my added on percentage; the answer: 55.01. I'd eventually like to get it down to 50.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    53      66   15    17        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $34,588,500
2018 balance: $1,207,000
balance: $46,720,260

Riverboy

In the one tournament I played on Friday night, I tied a personal best. I went all in 11 times. You have to have Lady Luck strongly on your side in order to survive that many all-ins. I survived the first 10, hitting the rail on the 11th. I haven't done the in-depth analysis yet, but am reasonably sure I was an underdog after the turn in most of the all-ins. Just call me riverboy :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    96      97   27    14   315000

delta: $215,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $34,788,500
2018 balance: $1,407,000
balance: $46,920,260

One and done

Poker provides many opportunities to feel humble, yet paradoxically can also provide you with so much success that it's hard to feel humble. Case in point: the one and done tournament. This is a tournament when you only win a single hand. This guarantees that you won't make the money, and should be a humbling experience. And yet, when you've played poker as long as I have, it's actually not. I had a one and done tournament last night, and got curious about how often this happens to me. Quite a lot, it turns out. Better than a 10% clip! When you've had so many one and done tournaments, you know they're no big deal. All that really matters is making a profit over time; if you are, any incidental losses are just that - incidental.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    29      77   18    42        0

delta: $-250,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $34,573,500
2018 balance: $1,192,000
balance: $46,705,260

Six poker selfies

It's hard to resist taking a poker selfie when you're at the top of the leaderboard :-) I wasn't able to last night; in fact, I took six selfies! Here are my chip counts for those six, along with my place at the time:

 80,325 (1 of 19)
100,350 (1 of 13)
110,600 (1 of 11)
 94,600 (2 of 9)
128,000 (1 of 8)
141,000 (1 of 7)

I wound up in 4th. To use one of my father's favorite phrases, I "put some color in the cheeks" of my 2018 balance :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   159      67   15     4  1500000

delta: $1,400,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $34,823,500
2018 balance: $1,442,000
balance: $46,955,260

Freefall into the money

Last night, in the only tournament I entered, I had a long freefall into the money. It was actually a freefall from the peak, and lasted for 29 hands. I ran the numbers, and that was my career longest (percentage-wise) freefall from the peak into the money, clocking in at 44.62%. In other news, my 2018 balance returned to the black once again.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    65      49   12    11   267000

delta: $167,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,423,500
2018 balance: $42,000
balance: $45,555,260

Polarized

One of the fascinating features of poker is polarization. That's the state you're in when the betting pattern of an opponent can mean only one of two things:

1. your opponent has air
2. your opponent has the goods

In such cases, your only choice is to go with your gut. On the final hand of the first tournament I entered last night, I was polarized. I'd been dealt a big slick, and the flop came 8h 5d 5c. An opponent who started the hand with three times as many chips as me raised me big on the turn. I had the feeling he was trying to bully me off the hand, and called. He made a river bet big enough to put me all in if I called. I still felt he was trying to bully me, so I called again. He had the goods. I don't feel bad about the way I played the hand; if you can't go with your reads, you won't last long in poker.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    89      72   15    22        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    19      49   12    30        0

delta: $-300,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,256,500
2018 balance: $-125,000
balance: $45,388,260

Min cash

Last night, I min cashed. Sometimes, that's the most you can hope for, given your stack size, how far off the money you are, and the size of the blinds. I'll certainly take a min cash over missing the money, but it's not exactly exciting :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    57      64   15    14   207000

delta: $57,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,556,500
2018 balance: $175,000
balance: $45,688,260

One hand to rule them all

Last night, I got back my 2018 balance back into the black. Looking at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of the only tournament I entered, one hand sticks out like a sore thumb. On hand 85, I was dealt pocket eights, flopped a set, went all in, got one caller, and wound up winning a 61,080 chip pot. One hand to rule them all :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   109      52   12     4  1004000

delta: $854,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,499,500
2018 balance: $118,000
balance: $45,631,260

Nell mezzo del cammin

I first used this blog post title on November 26, 2013. Here's an excerpt of what I had to say:

I've only read bits and pieces of Dante's Inferno, but some lines have remained with me ... Here's the first:

Nell mezzo del cammin di nostra vita

In Allen Mandelbaum's translation: "When I had journeyed half of our life's way". ... Literally, "nell mezzo del cammin" means "in the middle of the road".

Thursday night, in the middle of the only tournament I entered, I was dealt pocket kings. They matured to a set of kings on the flop, held up, and gave me my biggest hand delta of the night - 4,650 chips. Unfortunately, things went south from that point, and I failed to make the money. Still and all, I'll take a set of kings in the middle of a tournament any day :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    44      80   18    29        0

delta: $-150,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $32,645,500
2018 balance: $-736,000
balance: $44,777,260

7 bullets

As I've said before, the more bullets you fire in an MTT-R NLHE, the worse off you're likely to be. Last night, I fired 7 bullets in the only tournament I entered, which is far too many. In the 36 tournaments where I've fired 7 bullets, I've lost almost 9 million play dollars; it's my losingest bullet number by far. The next closest is 5 bullets, where I've lost a little over 3 million in 91 tournaments. If I never fire 7 bullets in a single tournament again, it'll be far too soon :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    44      59   12    33        0

delta: $-350,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $32,795,500
2018 balance: $-586,000
balance: $44,927,260

Letting go of aces

One of the hardest things to do in poker is to let go of pocket aces. Sometimes, though, it's the right play. In 45,447 hands of MTT-R NLHE, I've received pocket aces 213 times, and have only managed to lay them down 13 times. Seeing as how they were cracked 35 times, I clearly needed to be letting go of them more often. Last night, I was able to fold pocket aces correctly, on a hand where the flop came 6h Qs 6s. Ironically, I lost more chips on that hand than on any other :-) I'm proud of that fold.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    61      65   15    23        0

delta: $-100,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,145,500
2018 balance: $-236,000
balance: $45,277,260

Lord High Everything Else

Getting under the lights never gets old. Last night, I did it again, starting the final table in seventh position. I laddered up five spots, finishing in second place. When heads up play began, I had just 10.3% of the chips in play, with 40,046 to my opponent's 348,454. I was able to chip all the way up to 131,346 after 29 heads up hands, but hit the rail just two hands later, when my pocket sevens failed to hold up to my opponent's K5o (king five offsuit). The massive profit I made on the tournament put a huge dent in my 2018 losses, I'm happy to say :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   153      53   12     2  2003000

delta: $1,853,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,245,500
2018 balance: $-136,000
balance: $45,377,260

$11,010,000

The gaudy number in the title of this post is my current blue distance. Needless to say, it's a new personal worst. The blue distance percentage of my all-time high total balance has now crept above 20, the highest it has been since I started playing MTT-R NLHEs. My 2018 losses are fast approaching 2 million. It's high time to get this ship turned around!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    32      60   12    30        0

delta: $-100,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $31,392,500
2018 balance: $-1,989,000
balance: $43,524,260

Feltfirst

It's about time for another neo neo :-) Let me present feltfirst. This is when you go all in on the first hand of a tournament, and promptly hit the felt. Last night, I had a feltfirst in the second tournament I entered. As a rule, you should never go all in on the first hand of a non-rebuy tournament, and you should almost never go all in on the first hand of a rebuy. The only time you should do it is when you know for sure that you'll only have one opponent to beat. The only scenario which guarantees that is when a player to your left bets, everyone acting before you folds, and there are no active players between you and the player who bet. Unfortunately, I didn't follow this dictum; I was up against four opponents, and got what I deserved.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    44      73   15    31        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    80      61   15    15   243000

delta: $-157,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $31,492,500
2018 balance: $-1,889,000
balance: $43,624,260

Stopping two bitches

Last night, I stopped two bitches - a 10 session losing streak and a 10 tournament losing streak. The former began on October 16, and the latter began on October 20. Before starting play, I flirted with the idea of playing sit and gos, but stayed with MTT-R NLHEs since I realized that switching styles would have been a panic move, and I'm not panicked yet :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    47      82   18    26        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    79      68   15    12   401000

delta: $151,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $31,649,500
2018 balance: $-1,732,000
balance: $43,781,260