"Always going broke" hand

Certain hands are good enough in the context in which they arise that they're known as "always going broke" hands. This doesn't mean that you'll always go broke with them; not by a long shot! It simply means you'll always be willing to go broke with them, since the odds against that happening are heavily in your favor.

This is an excerpt from my September 10, 2013 post. Yesterday, in the first tournament I entered, I hit the rail on just my second hand, which was an "always going broke" one. I'd been dealt AQo (ace queen offsuit), flopped top pair (queens), and had a gutshot Broadway straight draw after the turn, which I would make if the river was a king. The river wasn't a king, but at that point I was pot committed, so I called a river bet made by the only other player still in the hand, which put me all in. My opponent turned over AKo (ace king offsuit), and I lost to a Broadway straight. Whatcha gonna do?

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     367   99   251        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     330   81   194        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     329   81   122        0

delta: $-150,000
2024 balance: $3,261,000
2024 blue distance: $658,000
balance: $16,070,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.59 (1278 of 3073)

Stopping one of two bitches

Heading into yesterday's session, I had two bitches of streaks going on:

Bitch #1: an eight tournament streak of missing the money

Bitch #2: a four session streak of failing to make a profit

I stopped Bitch #1 at nine, making the money in the second tournament I played. Had I called it quits there, I would've stopped Bitch #2 as well, but I decided to play a third tournament, failed to make the money, and thereby extended the Bitch #2 streak to five sessions.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     472  117   211        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     309   81    45   122000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     276   72    98        0

delta: $-28,000
2024 balance: $3,411,000
2024 blue distance: $508,000
balance: $16,220,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.63 (1278 of 3070)

The hateful eight

I've never seen Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight", but that won't stop me from appropriating its title :-) In this case, the hateful eight are the eight most recent MTT NLHE tournaments I've played. I've failed to make the money in any of them. This year, my longest streak of tournaments where I've failed to make the money is ten, so that record is in jeopardy.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     414   99   207        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     365   99   151        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     349   81   190        0

delta: $-150,000
2024 balance: $3,439,000
2024 blue distance: $480,000
balance: $16,248,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.64 (1277 of 3067)

Rexit

One of the more painful ways to hit the rail in a tournament is when you're a favorite after the turn on your final hand, but the river does you in. You could call that a rivered exit, which I'm going to nickname a rexit. When you're having a good night, a rexit wrecks it :-)

This is an excerpt from my February 23, 2022 post. Yesterday, in the first tournament I entered, I rexited with pocket rockets. I was an 80% favorite after the turn, but it wasn't meant to be. My consolation prize? Earlier in that tournament, I'd been dealt a pair of queens, and flopped quads. That's what I'm talkin' about :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     445  117   138        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     245   63    79        0

delta: $-100,000
2024 balance: $3,589,000
2024 blue distance: $330,000
balance: $16,398,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.68 (1277 of 3064)

More session stats

I often play two MTT NLHE tournaments in a session ... My MTT NLHE ITM percentage in these sessions is 41.19. What this shows is that the number of tournaments I play per session has no bearing on my ITM percentage. It would be weird if it did.

This is an excerpt from my November 12, 2024 post. It turns out I was wrong. I was only looking at two data points - my overall ITM percentage and my ITM percentage in sessions where I played in two tournaments. I needed to be looking at additional data points, namely my ITM percentage in sessions where I played either a single tournament, or more than two tournaments. Here are some revealing ITM percentages:

48.9459 (534 1091)    one tournament played in session
41.1348 (348 846)     two tournaments played in session
36.8132 (201 546)     three tournaments played in session
31.8750 (102 320)     four tournaments played in session

It's clear that the more tournaments I play in a session, the worse my ITM percentage gets. I now think it would be weird if it didn't :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     319   81    75    70000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     292   72   104        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     326   81   169        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     217   63    90        0

delta: $-130,000
2024 balance: $3,689,000
2024 blue distance: $230,000
balance: $16,498,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.70 (1277 of 3062)

The streak is dead. Long live the streak!

When I first heard the phase "The king is dead. Long live the king!" it made no sense to me. How can the king live a single day, let alone a long time, when he's dead? Of course, the answer is that the phrase refers to two different kings. So you'll understand that when I say "The streak is dead. Long live the streak!" I'm referring to two different streaks.

This is an excerpt from my March 31, 2012 post. The streak that died yesterday was my dynamic duo streak. I played two tournaments, fulfilling the first of the two requirements for a dynamic duo, but failed to fulfill the second, namely, making the money in at least one of the tournaments. I'll try to start a new streak today :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     301   72    88        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     238   63   100        0

delta: $-100,000
2024 balance: $3,819,000
2024 blue distance: $100,000
balance: $16,628,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.73 (1276 of 3058)

A pitiful ROI, but mine own

It's easy to calculate the ROI for tournament sessions; simply divide the sum of the deltas by the sum of the amounts wagered. My ROI for yesterday's session was a pitiful 2 percent. I just ran the numbers and found that this is the lowest positive ROI I've recorded for the year, and no less than the fifth time I've recorded it. The good news is that my ROI for the year is a healthy 10.8 percent. In other news, I registered my seventh straight dynamic duo.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     266   72   102        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     195   54    29   102000

delta: $2,000
2024 balance: $3,919,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,728,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.75 (1276 of 3056)

Poxits and prexits

Last night's final hand inspired my latest neo neo - poxit. A poxit is what has befallen you when you were dealt a pocket pair, went all in with it, and hit the rail.

This is an excerpt from my August 5, 2019 post. Yesterday's final hand inspired yann (yet another neo neo) - prexit. A prexit is what has befallen you when you were dealt a premium holding, went all in with it, and hit the rail. Here are the holdings I consider to be premium: AA, KK, QQ, AKs, JJ, TT, AQs, AKo, AJs, and KQs. Note that not all prexits are poxits, and not all poxits are prexits. I was dealt pocket queens on yesterday's final hand, so it was both a prexit and a poxit. In other news, I recorded my sixth straight dynamic duo. In other other news, my 2024 balance returned to the blue.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     438  117   218        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     357   99    27   157000

delta: $57,000
2024 balance: $3,917,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,726,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.75 (1275 of 3054)

Bubbling the bubble

I go back on forth on what makes me feel worse - bubbling a tournament or bubbling the bubble. I think I know why this is. How bad I feel has less to do with the number of places I miss the money by, and more to do with how good I thought my chances of making the money were, before I hit the rail.

This is an excerpt from my November 6, 2021 post. In the first tournament I played yesterday, I bubbled the bubble. I hadn't been expecting to make the money, so I wasn't disappointed. In other news, I recorded my fifth straight dynamic duo.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     307   81    83        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     309   81    78    67000

delta: $-33,000
2024 balance: $3,860,000
2024 blue distance: $52,000
balance: $16,669,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.74 (1274 of 3052)

The dynamic duo

I first came across the phrase "the dynamic duo" when I was a kid, reading a comic book; it was one of the sobriquets of Batman and Robin. I'm going to borrow it for use in a poker context. It'll be my shorthand for a session where I play two tournaments and make the money in at least one of them. Counting Friday's session, I've now achieved the dynamic duo in four straight sessions, my longest such streak of the year.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     385   99    79    91000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     307   81   126        0

delta: $-9,000
2024 balance: $3,893,000
2024 blue distance: $19,000
balance: $16,702,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.74 (1273 of 3050)

A different zip code

Sometimes in poker, you get a premium hand precisely when you need it most. That's what happened to me in the second tournament I entered yesterday. I was short stacked, and hadn't won a single pot. I was dealt a big slick, shoved, got two callers, and tripled up. That moved my stack into a different zip code, and it was easy enough to make the money from there :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     312   81   186        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     275   72    57    90000

delta: $-10,000
2024 balance: $3,902,000
2024 blue distance: $10,000
balance: $16,711,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.73 (1272 of 3048)

Doppelsession

Last night's session was almost a carbon copy of the one before it, giving rise to another neostreet neologism (or neo neo for short :-) -- doppelsession.

This is an excerpt from my September 10, 2010 post. Tuesday's session was a doppelsession of Monday's. I made a decent profit the hard way, missing the money in the first tournament, but making up for it in the second. Since Monday's session got my overall balance into the blue, Tuesday's kept it there. Here's hoping for a threepeat :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     276   72   160        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     355   81    36   147000

delta: $47,000
2024 balance: $3,912,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,721,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.73 (1271 of 3046)

Punctuated equilibrium

The most common outcome of a hand played in a tournament is that you fold preflop, and lose your ante. Therefore, you must accept that your chip stack will undergo periods where it steadily decreases. Consider these periods as the cost of doing business. Moreover, since every player in the tournament is alike in this respect, you can even consider these periods as periods of equilibrium. Hands which punctuate this equilibrium are the bread and butter of every successful player. When they arrive, they should be jumped on with both feet :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     328   81   142        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     399   99    43   143000

delta: $43,000
2024 balance: $3,865,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,674,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.72 (1270 of 3044)

Apockalypse Now

In yesterday's session, I received more than my fair share of pocks (pocket pairs). In the second tournament I entered, I was dealt pocket queens twice, and folded both times. Those are the hands I was proudest of, since I would've hit the rail had I not folded them. In the third tournament I entered, I was dealt pocket sevens three times, the first two of which were back to back. I lost the first one, but made a killing on the other two. Apockalypse now!

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     421   99   173        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     322   81    21   155000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     312   81    44   123000

delta: $128,000
2024 balance: $3,822,000
2024 blue distance: $22,000
balance: $16,631,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.72 (1269 of 3042)

Futile perfection

When you love probability, you find yourself appreciating the beauty of futile perfection, even when it's at your expense. On Saturday night, I hit the felt in 31 hands. I didn't win a single pot. I only went to showdown 3 times. The bar chart of my stack size over time shows a steady, stately descent to zero. Sometimes, there's nothing you can do to prevent a result like this. All you can do is sit back and enjoy its perfection.

This is an excerpt from my February 20, 2012 post. Yesterday, in the first tournament I entered, I achieved futile perfection. I hit the rail in just 23 hands. I didn't win a single pot. I only saw the flop twice. I only went to showdown once, and that was on my final hand. There was a minuscule silver lining - I made it to Station 2.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     339   81   112        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     357   99   120        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     267   72   130        0

delta: $-150,000
2024 balance: $3,694,000
2024 blue distance: $150,000
balance: $16,503,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.69 (1267 of 3039)

Dancing with the one who brung you

It's much easier to make the money in a tournament than to go deep in one. However, to make a profit on tournaments in the long term, it's essential to go deep every now and then. I've debated whether I should change my playing style once I've made the money in a tournament (if I make the money, that is), to maximize my chances of going deep. There are arguments for both sides. I've decided I prefer not to change my playing style except in the following two scenarios:

1. the money bubble is about to burst

2. it's heads up play

When the money bubble is about to burst, it pays to play extremely tightly. Unless you get a premium hand, you should be a folding machine. When it's heads up play, you're essentially forced to play much more loosely; you should be paying to see the flop almost all the time. If neither scenario in in effect, it pays to play the way that got you to where you are in the first place. In other words, you should be dancing with the one who brung you :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     315   81    38   124000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     229   63    31   105000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     449  117    36   158000

delta: $237,000
2024 balance: $3,844,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,653,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.73 (1267 of 3036)

House money

It's always nice to cash in the first tournament you enter in a session; when you do, you're playing with house money. You can reinvest that profit in additional tournaments, and potentially still come out with a profit, even if you fail to cash in any of the others.

This is an excerpt from my December 28, 2019 post. I cashed in the first tournament of yesterday's session, and played a second tournament with house money.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     303   72   34    139000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     280   72   150        0

delta: $39,000
2024 balance: $3,607,000
2024 blue distance: $195,000
balance: $16,416,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.67 (1264 of 3033)

Ubermagicked

It sucks to lose to a magic flush. It sucks even more when you also have a magic flush, but an inferior one. In that case, you've been ubermagicked. That's what happened to me on the final hand of yesterday's session. I was dealt AQo (ace queen offsuit), where the queen was the queen of diamonds. I ended up going all in, and had one opponent at showdown. Four of the five community cards were diamonds, including the ace. I therefore had a nearly unbeatable magic flush. However, my opponent turned over Kxo (king and some random card offsuit), where the king was the king of diamonds, giving him the nut magic flush. All I can say is "Ouch!".

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     339   81   181        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     261   72   186        0

delta: $-100,000
2024 balance: $3,568,000
2024 blue distance: $234,000
balance: $16,377,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.67 (1263 of 3031)

Station 2 percentage

As a reminder, here are my definitions of the first two stations on the poker tournament train line:

Station 1: when you've outlasted the late registration period

Station 2: when you've outlasted at least 50% of the field

Thanks to my latest tournament selection criteria, my station 1 percentage going forward will be a perfect 100. Therefore, the first station whose percentage is meaningful will henceforth be station 2. My station 2 percentage since the final time I recorded a 0th place is currently 89.29 (100 of 112). I aim to keep it there :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     274   72    49   102000

delta: $52,000
2024 balance: $3,668,000
2024 blue distance: $134,000
balance: $16,477,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.70 (1263 of 3029)

A farewell to 0th places

The last time I recorded a 0th place in an MTT NLHE was on October 5. The next time I'll register a 0th place is - drumroll please - never. How can I be so sure? Simply because I won't allow it to happen. From here on I'll exclusively enter tournaments which are on break and nearing the end of their late registration periods. That means that no matter how quickly I hit the rail, even if it's on my very first hand, I'll always receive an official place, since the late registration period will officially be over before I've even played a single hand.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     244   63   118        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     197   54    73        0

delta: $-100,000
2024 balance: $3,616,000
2024 blue distance: $186,000
balance: $16,425,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.68 (1262 of 3028)

A good poker year

The year is winding down, and it's been a good one for me, poker-wise. Barring a collapse, it will be the fifth best poker year of my career, profit-wise. Currently, my extrapolated profit for the year is a smidgen below four million, which would better last year's profit by nearly a million. Not too shabby :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     368   99    96    64000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     302   72    89        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     280   72   114        0

delta: $-86,000
2024 balance: $3,716,000
2024 blue distance: $86,000
balance: $16,525,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.71 (1262 of 3026)

In the sweetness

I first came up with the phrase "in the sweetness" when I was playing sit and gos, but one can be in the sweetness when playing any poker style.

This is an excerpt from my May 19, 2019 post. Lately, I've been in the sweetness playing MTT NLHE tournaments. I've made the money in 15 of the last 19 I've entered, which is nearly at a 79% clip, close to double my lifetime average of 42%.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     325   81    74    71000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     301   72    49   112000

delta: $83,000
2024 balance: $3,802,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,611,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.71 (1261 of 3023)

Poker parkour

This is all by way of trying to describe the kind of daring that at times is absolutely required when playing tournament poker. It's kind of like leaping from stone to stone across the Grand Canyon, when these stones are magically suspended in mid-air and don't even appear until after you've already started to jump towards where you hope the next one will be.

This is an excerpt from my July 29, 2017 post. In my luckiest hand of yesterday's session, I took a leap of faith with a pair of jacks, only to discover that I was up against an opponent who had a pair of aces. I saw the bottom of the Grand Canyon far beneath me, and was in freefall on the flop and the turn, but was miraculously saved by a stone materializing under my left foot - a jack on the river :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     317   81    11   209000

delta: $159,000
2024 balance: $3,719,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,528,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.67 (1259 of 3021)

Feeling like Conan

The movie "Conan the Barbarian" came out in 1982, thirty-seven years ago. I went to see it when it came out, and one particular montage has stuck with me all these years. Conan begins the movie as a small boy, who has become enslaved after the murder of his parents. He is set to work in a flour mill, which is manned by many slaves who push the spokes of a huge wheel which powers the grindstone. To show the passage of time, and also to show how big and strong Conan becomes, you see less and less slaves pushing the spokes over the years, until finally it's just Conan pushing, powering the mill all by himself.

I find this an apt metaphor for making a deep run in a poker tournament. When it begins, you're just one of many players, with a tiny stack. As time goes by, your stack grows and the number of remaining players shrinks. If you make it all the way, there's only you left, and you have all the chips :-)

This is an excerpt from my June 12, 2019 post. Yesterday, I felt like Conan again :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     250   63    69        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     365   99     5   472000

delta: $372,000
2024 balance: $3,560,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,369,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.66 (1258 of 3020)

The best time to join a tournament

I disagree with my earlier self. The best time to join a tournament is not "any time at all". I now firmly believe the best time is as late as possible.

This is an excerpt from my September 29, 2024 post. I haven't changed my mind since then. Moreover, this understanding has caused me to be more specific about my tournament selection criteria. I will only enter tournaments whose late registration periods contain a break in their final minutes. That way, I can join during the break, which guarantees that when the break ends, I'll have the full complement of starting chips to play with. The ironic thing about this is that if everyone followed my lead, the number of entries per tournament would be considerably smaller, and the payouts therefore considerably less. Thankfully, there are always plenty of players who are unwilling to wait that late before joining :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     270   72    70    77000

delta: $27,000
2024 balance: $3,188,000
2024 blue distance: $107,000
balance: $15,997,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.65 (1257 of 3018)

(Don't Go Back To) Showdown

The title of this post riffs on "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville", an R.E.M. song I like.

This is an excerpt from my February 18, 2013 post. Those were the days when I was playing cash games exclusively. Deciding whether to go to showdown in a tournament is quite different from deciding in a cash game. I've found that you can do quite well in tournaments going to showdown only sparingly. Yesterday, in the one tournament I played, at one point I'd only gone to showdown once (losing that pot), but had won five pots without going to showdown. I'm pretty sure that at the time the money bubble burst, I hadn't won a single pot at showdown.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     298   72    56    98000

delta: $48,000
2024 balance: $3,161,000
2024 blue distance: $134,000
balance: $15,970,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.63 (1256 of 3017)

A week away from the lake

Poker is the most relaxing thing I know how to do. Whenever I play it, I'm on vacation. I feel like I'm sitting in an Adirondack chair, with a beer on a table beside me and a novel in my hands, on the shore of a beautiful lake. I just want to stay there and never leave :-)

This is an excerpt from my November 14, 2019 post. I haven't played poker since last Tuesday. As today is Tuesday, that means I've been away from the lake for a week. This was due to having a surgical procedure last Wednesday, and recuperating from it. I'm happy to be back! I don't remember any salient details of last Tuesday's session, so I'll just report on the numbers.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     346   81    58   106000

delta: $56,000
2024 balance: $3,113,000
2024 blue distance: $182,000
balance: $15,922,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.61 (1255 of 3016)

Knowing enough not to complain

It always surprises me a little when poker players complain about bad luck. If you play long enough, and don't play like a donk, you're essentially guaranteed to receive as much good luck as bad. That's just how poker rolls. I know enough not to complain, or at least, not to complain much :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     242   63   192        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     307   81    67    81000

delta: $-19,000
2024 balance: $3,057,000
2024 blue distance: $238,000
balance: $15,866,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.59 (1254 of 3015)

2k the hard way

The hard way to make a profit for a session is to lose your first buy in. You're playing catch up at that point.

This is an excerpt from my March 16, 2020 post. Yesterday I made 2k the hard way. This tied for my lowest profit session of the year. Be that as it may, a profit is a profit :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     322   81   158        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     275   72    51   102000

delta: $2,000
2024 balance: $3,076,000
2024 blue distance: $219,000
balance: $15,885,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.59 (1253 of 3013)

A set of fours

Yesterday, I only played one tournament. The most memorable hand was the one where I was dealt a pair of fours, hit a set on the flop, went to showdown against two opponents, and tripled up. That set me up (pun intended) to have a good shot at making the money, and I did.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     252   63    58    83000

delta: $33,000
2024 balance: $3,074,000
2024 blue distance: $221,000
balance: $15,883,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.58 (1252 of 3011)

Divided attention

Divided attention is bad for most pursuits, but turns out to be just fine for poker. Indeed, more than just fine - actively good. Last night, I played two tournaments simultaneously, and made the money in both. I've noted before that I seem to play better when I'm double tabling. I've come up with some theories about why this might be so. One of the simplest is that it's good not to spend too long on poker decisions, and you're forced not to spend too long on them when you have twice as many to make :-)

This is an excerpt from my February 14, 2019 post. In yesterday's session, though I wasn't double tabling, I did have divided attention - I was web surfing while playing. I made the money in all three tournaments I entered. I think I'll divide my attention again today :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     293   72    25   148000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     358   99    44   129000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     305   72    30   140000

delta: $267,000
2024 balance: $3,041,000
2024 blue distance: $254,000
balance: $15,850,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.56 (1251 of 3010)

DVexit

DVexit is my latest neo neo, and is shorthand for Deja Vu exit. Yesterday, for the second day in a row, I hit the rail on my last hand by losing to a magic flush. I'd been dealt AJo (ace jack offsuit), and paired my jack on the flop. I got all my chips into the middle, and was an 80% favorite after the turn, but it wasn't meant to be. The river put a fourth heart on the board, and I lost to an opponent who had a heart in his hand. I left with a hand to my heart :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     495  117    78   106000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     389   72   113        0

delta: $6,000
2024 balance: $2,774,000
2024 blue distance: $521,000
balance: $15,583,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.50 (1248 of 3007)

Broadway and a wheel

The two most memorable hands from yesterday's session came in the second tournament I entered. In the first, I flopped Broadway (an ace high straight); in the second, I hit a wheel (a five high straight) on the river. I won nice pots both times, and was on my way to making the money. I finished two pay jumps higher than a min cash, and likely would have done even better had I not been magic flushed out of the tournament.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     327   81   151        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     311   81    58    95000

delta: $-5,000
2024 balance: $2,768,000
2024 blue distance: $527,000
balance: $15,577,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.50 (1247 of 3005)

A multitasking fingerfehler

There are many different varieties of fingerfehler. One of the most pernicious is the double-tabling fingerfehler. That is what happens when you're playing two tournaments at once, and just about to click on a button in one of the tournaments, but end up clicking a button in the other tournament instead because the PokerStars software has thrust the other tournament to the forefront of the screen at the very last second.

This is an excerpt from my July 31, 2018 post. The double-tabling fingerfehler is a subtype of a more general type, the multitasking fingerfehler. That is what happens when you have two apps running, and are just about to click on a button in one of them, but end up clicking a button in the other app instead because the input focus changed from one to the other at the very last second. I fell prey to a multitasking fingerfehler in the second tournament I entered yesterday. I was playing online poker and online chess at the same time, and an attempted button click in the chess app became an unwanted click in the poker app instead; the result was that I inadvertently called a bet I would have folded. I lost 300 chips I shouldn't have, and thereby harmed my chances of making the money. I didn't make it. Ouch!

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     246   63   121        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     283   72    89        0

delta: $-100,000
2024 balance: $2,773,000
2024 blue distance: $522,000
balance: $15,582,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.49 (1246 of 3003)

Sometimes one hand is all you need

Yesterday, in the second tournament I entered, I tripled up early on. That chip infusion lasted me all the way into the money, without me winning another hand. Sometimes one hand is all you need. I only min cashed, but I'll take it :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     340   81   120        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     204   54    49    80000

delta: $-20,000
2024 balance: $2,873,000
2024 blue distance: $422,000
balance: $15,682,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.52 (1246 of 3001)

The straight flush that wasn't

The most memorable hand of yesterday's session was the straight flush that wasn't. On a hand where I folded preflop, the flop came ? 4d 5d (I forget what the first card in the flop was). The turn was 6d, and the river was 7d. I took another peek at my hole cards at this point, and discovered that one of them was 8d. I don't feel cheated by hands like this, and actually enjoy seeing my phantom ships come in :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     422   99   272        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     348   81    59   107000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     427  117   188        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     256   72    30   118000

delta: $25,000
2024 balance: $2,893,000
2024 blue distance: $402,000
balance: $15,702,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.51 (1245 of 2999)

The quad that wasn't

The most memorable hand of yesterday's session was the quad that wasn't. I'd been dealt pocket sixes, but folded them preflop because the action before me was too rich for my blood. A third six showed up on the flop, and the case six showed up on the river. Since I'd made the correct play to fold, I had no regrets.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     319   81    99        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     266   72    16   146000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     489  117    71   118000

delta: $114,000
2024 balance: $2,868,000
2024 blue distance: $427,000
balance: $15,677,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.50 (1243 of 2995)

The cruelest game

Decades ago, I was interested in backgammon, and bought a book called "Backgammon: The Cruelest Game". Its awesome title has stayed with me all these years. I'm here to tell you that there are moments when poker usurps the mantle of cruelest game.

This is an excerpt from my October 2, 2018 post. Yesterday, in the first tournament I played, poker usurped the mantle again. I was dealt QTo (queen ten offsuit), and flopped Broadway (an ace high straight). All my chips went into the middle after the turn. I was up against two opponents, and was an 80% favorite. However, one of my opponents rivered either a flush or a full house (I didn't notice which), and I was gone in a New York minute.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     325   81   128        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     315   81   175        0

delta: $-100,000
2024 balance: $2,754,000
2024 blue distance: $541,000
balance: $15,563,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.48 (1241 of 2992)

Another kind of cinco

Yesterday, though my streak of in-the-money finishes ended at five, I achieved a cinco of another kind - I've now had five winning sessions in a row. My luckiest hand came in the second tournament I entered. I was short-stacked, and got all my chips into the middle with a holding of KTo (king ten offsuit). I was up against an opponent who'd been dealt rockets, so I was a 14% underdog. We both missed the flop, which didn't have a pair. The turn was a ten, the river was a king, and the pot was mine :-) My unluckiest hand was the last one of the session. I turned a flush, but my opponent rivered a full house. I knew I couldn't complain.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     327   81   112        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     403   99    40   145000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     263   72    63    86000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     235   63   156        0

delta: $31,000
2024 balance: $2,854,000
2024 blue distance: $441,000
balance: $15,663,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.51 (1241 of 2990)

Señor Cinco

Yesterday, I played one tournament and made the money again. I've now made the money in five straight tournaments. Just call me Señor Cinco :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     272   72    14   167000

delta: $117,000
2024 balance: $2,823,000
2024 blue distance: $472,000
balance: $15,632,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.49 (1239 of 2986)

The dreaded quatro's non-evil twin

Inherently good things can have evil twins. Looked at another way, inherently bad things can have non-evil twins. The dreaded quatro, inherently a bad thing, thankfully does have a non-evil twin. It's everything the dreaded quatro isn't, except for the number four. Let's call this non-evil twin the good quatro.

This is an excerpt from my March 13, 2015 post in another of my blogs, Fahrenheit 1451. In a poker context, the dreaded quatro is when you miss the money in four straight tournaments; the good quatro is when you make the money in four straight tournaments. Yesterday, I completed a good quatro.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     306   72    44   127000

delta: $77,000
2024 balance: $2,706,000
2024 blue distance: $589,000
balance: $15,515,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.47 (1238 of 2985)

Three bagger

Yesterday I played one tournament, and made the money in it. That makes three tournaments in a row where I've made the money, which is a rare enough occurrence to be worth celebrating. Yay!

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     290   72    32   133000

delta: $83,000
2024 balance: $2,629,000
2024 blue distance: $666,000
balance: $15,438,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.45 (1237 of 2984)

Some session stats

I often play two MTT NLHE tournaments in a session, and Sunday's session was no exception. I made the money in both tournaments, a nice turnaround from Saturday's session. This got me curious about my aggregate stats in such sessions. Here are the numbers:

0 money finishes: 138

1 money finish:   198

2 money finishes:  67

My MTT NLHE ITM percentage in these sessions is 41.19. What this shows is that the number of tournaments I play per session has no bearing on my ITM percentage. It would be weird if it did.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     442  117    63   118000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     350   81    67    92000

delta: $110,000
2024 balance: $2,546,000
2024 blue distance: $749,000
balance: $15,355,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.43 (1236 of 2983)

A month by the lake

Poker is the most relaxing thing I know how to do. Whenever I play it, I'm on vacation. I feel like I'm sitting in an Adirondack chair, with a beer on a table beside me and a novel in my hands, on the shore of a beautiful lake. I just want to stay there and never leave :-)

This is an excerpt from my November 14, 2019 post. Since I don't have anything exciting to report from yesterday's session, I've decided to find something positive in my recent data, in the aggregate. Here it is: I've had more than a month by the lake without a 0th place. As a refresher, a 0th place is what I "award" myself with whenever I hit the rail before the late registration period of a tournament has ended. In these cases, the PokerStars client displays a hyphen in the place column for the player who has been ousted, since it's unknown what the actual place for the player will be until the late registration period ends. Since I never rebuy, I consider my tournament over whenever I hit the rail.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     363   99   164        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     300   72   130        0

delta: $-100,000
2024 balance: $2,436,000
2024 blue distance: $859,000
balance: $15,245,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.40 (1234 of 2981)

Two memorable bystander moments

The two most memorable moments of last night's session occurred in hands where I'd already folded, so I was merely an innocent bystander. In the first hand, I was dealt T6o (ten six offsuit), and folded preflop. The flop came two tens and a six. Had I paid to see the flop, I would've flopped a fatty. However, I made the right play; T6o is basically a garbage hand. In the second hand, one of my opponents made a straight flush on the river. It's fun to see that happen, even when it's not happening to you :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     251   63    85        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     268   72    58    88000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     243   63   120        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     287   72    92        0

delta: $-112,000
2024 balance: $2,536,000
2024 blue distance: $759,000
balance: $15,345,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.42 (1234 of 2979)

What I miss the most, pokerwise

One unfortunate consequence of being forced onto a new computer is that PokerStars has made it much harder (if not impossible) for American-based players to get the full-featured version of the PokerStars client software if they don't live in a state where online poker is legal. As far as I can tell, only the play money version is available for such players, and it's severely dumbed down. There's no feature to save the hand histories! That's criminal. Loving my poker data as I do, I'm depressed that I'll be missing so much of it going forward.

This is an excerpt from my November 20, 2019 post. I'm coming up on the five year anniversary of not having hand histories. I miss them just as much as ever.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     193   54    62        0

delta: $-50,000
2024 balance: $2,648,000
2024 blue distance: $647,000
balance: $15,457,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.45 (1233 of 2975)

Distracted

At the end of the first tournament I entered yesterday, I became distracted by reading a New York Time op/ed on the election results. I momentarily forgot that I was playing poker, and suffered the consequences, narrowly missing the money. That'll larn me :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     322   81    86        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     293   72   142        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     414   99    96    72000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     196   54    67        0

delta: $-128,000
2024 balance: $2,698,000
2024 blue distance: $597,000
balance: $15,507,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.46 (1233 of 2974)

Runner runner

The most memorable hand of yesterday's session came in the first tournament I entered. I was short-stacked, and got all my chips into the middle preflop when I was dealt K9o (king nine offsuit) and was one seat to the left of the big blind. I figured it was better to hitch my wagon to this hand now than to fold and hope for a better holding next hand, when I was going to fall in no matter what. K9o will be better than an unknown random hand most of the time. The poker gods rewarding me for making the right play; I paired my nine on the turn and my king on the river. Runner runner for the win!

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     237   63    20   109000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     309   81   120        0

delta: $9,000
2024 balance: $2,826,000
2024 blue distance: $469,000
balance: $15,635,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.48 (1232 of 2970)

Mr. 71st percentile

My average percentile in MTT-Rs is amazingly consistent; for the last 75 tournaments, it's been locked in at the 65th. Considering that the average percentile for making the money is the 77th, what this means is that the only reason I'm making money playing MTT-Rs is that I have enough variance in my results, even though the average is so consistent. Variance is actually the lifeblood of poker :-)

This is an excerpt from my January 10, 2018 post. My average percentile in MTTs is also amazingly consistent; for the last 519 tournaments, it's been locked in at the 71st. Considering that the average percentile for making the money in MTTs is the 75th, what this means is that the only reason I'm making money playing MTTs is that I have enough variance in my results. Long live variance!

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     272   72    90        0

delta: $-50,000
2024 balance: $2,817,000
2024 blue distance: $478,000
balance: $15,626,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.48 (1231 of 2968)

The top of the bottom third

When you play in 6 player tournaments, you want to be in the top half all the time. The trouble is, you want even more than that. You want to be above the bottom third of the top half, i.e. above third place. So, not only do you want to avoid the bottom of the tournament, you also want to avoid the bottom of the top.

This is an excerpt from my October 28, 2012 post, in the days when I was playing sit and gos. In order to have a good chance of making the money in a multi-table tournament, the strategy is significantly different from the sit and go strategy. Since there are many more players in MTTs than there are in sit and gos, you can afford to have a more modest goal, and to play more patiently. I've found that a good objective in an MTT is to be at the top of the bottom third of the remaining players in the tournament, when more than half of the overall number of entrants have already hit the rail. It doesn't matter if your current position is greater than the number of paid places; all that matters is that you maintain being at the top of the bottom third. If you can do this, the tournament will essentially melt itself down until you're in the money. It almost feels like cheating :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     416   99   108        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     242   63    46    90000

delta: $-10,000
2024 balance: $2,867,000
2024 blue distance: $428,000
balance: $15,676,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.49 (1231 of 2967)

Disappearing into the year

The deeper you play into a poker year, the more the accumulated data of the year outweighs whatever your current results are. In effect, you disappear into the year, and it takes a search party to find you.

This is an excerpt from my November 2, 2019 post. I disappeared into this poker year a while ago. That's not a bad thing, as long as you're net positive :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     200   54    67        0

delta: $-50,000
2024 balance: $2,877,000
2024 blue distance: $418,000
balance: $15,686,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.48 (1230 of 2965)

Saved by the cavalry

The best hand you can receive in hold'em is pocket aces, and the best time to receive them is when you're in the big blind. No one will credit you with having them. It's even better when your tournament life is at stake. Getting rockets in that situation, when you so desperately need them, is like being saved by the cavalry.

This is an excerpt from my January 4, 2018 post. Yesterday, in the first tournament I entered, I was saved by the cavalry again. I was so short-stacked at one point that a big blind caused me to fall in. Imagine my delighted surprise to be dealt rockets, when all hope had appeared to be lost :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     369   99    64    99000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     326   81    40   129000

delta: $128,000
2024 balance: $2,927,000
2024 blue distance: $368,000
balance: $15,736,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.50 (1230 of 2964)

Brexit

Brexit is my poker shorthand for brutal exit. I had a brexit in the final tournament I entered last night. On the final hand, the flop gave me a gutshot straight draw, and I filled it on the turn. I bet half the pot and got one caller. The river put three cards to a flush on the board, and my opponent bet big enough to put me all in if I called. I was pot-committed and made the call. He'd made a backdoor flush, and I was out in a New York minute.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     255   72    97        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     232   63   164        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     386   99    85    79000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     333   81   148        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     277   72   168        0

delta: $-171,000
2024 balance: $2,799,000
2024 blue distance: $496,000
balance: $15,608,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.46 (1228 of 2962)

Colded

Last night, I got colded. That's my new shorthand for getting cold decked.

This is an excerpt from my April 10, 2013 post. Last night, I got colded twice, once in both tournaments I entered. The first time, I had pocket queens; the second, pocket kings. In both cases, I was up against an opponent with rockets, and my stack was on life support when the hands ended. The saving grace in the second tournament was that I'd already made the money :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     287   72   115        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     207   54    44    95000

delta: $-5,000
2024 balance: $2,970,000
2024 blue distance: $325,000
balance: $15,779,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.49 (1227 of 2957)

Hitting the nut magic flush

If there's one poker outcome I hate more than any other, it's getting magic flushed. That's when you have a better hand than your opponent before the flop, after the flop, and after the turn, but lose to a flush where four of the five cards making up the flush come from the board.

This is an excerpt from my April 12, 2018 post. Of course, I'm not always on the wrong side of a magic flush; turnabout is fair play. Last night, I was on the right side of one; in fact, I had the nut magic flush. I was dealt AKo (ace king offsuit), and the ace was what Norman Chad likes to call "the prettiest card in the deck", the ace of spades. The river put the fourth spade on the board, and I had an unbeatable hand. I doubled up, and was off to the races :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     229   63     9   201000

delta: $151,000
2024 balance: $2,975,000
2024 blue distance: $320,000
balance: $15,784,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.49 (1226 of 2955)

IG;WS

IG;WS is my shorthand for "In Good; Went South", which in turn is short for "I got my money in good, but the hand went south on me" :-)

This is an excerpt from my January 13, 2015 post. Last Wednesday, my session ended with an IG;WS hand. I'd been dealt a big slick, and was up against an opponent who'd been dealt AJo (ace jack offsuit). I was a 70% favorite before the flop, an 80% favorite after the flop, and a 90% favorite after the turn. However, my opponent spiked a jack on the river, and I was gone in a New York minute. Whatcha gonna do?

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     325   81    86        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     209   54    78        0

delta: $-100,000
2024 balance: $2,824,000
2024 blue distance: $471,000
balance: $15,633,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.47 (1225 of 2954)

Loss portfolio

One of the best reasons to keep good poker records is so that you can build up a really impressive loss portfolio. It may seem odd, but there's a really good reason to have such a portfolio - it can cheer you up when you need it most :-)

This is an excerpt from my March 3, 2017 post. I failed to make the money in all three of the tournaments I entered yesterday, extending my money-less streak to 5 straight tournaments. This got me a little down, so I consulted my loss portfolio and discovered that I had a 24 tournament money-less streak in the summer of 2023. I feel better now :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     323   81   183        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     378   99   162        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     297   72   110        0

delta: $-150,000
2024 balance: $2,924,000
2024 blue distance: $371,000
balance: $15,733,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.50 (1225 of 2952)

Jilted by an old girlfriend

The hand I have the most intense love/hate relationship with is the stealth two pair. That's when you're dealt a non-pair and then pair both your hole cards on the flop. It's hard not to fall in love with a hand like that, but your heart can easily get broken.

This is an excerpt from my December 29, 2021 post. In yesterday's second tournament, I hit the felt when I was jilted again by this same old girlfriend. I was dealt KJo (king jack offsuit), and paired both cards on the flop. I got all my chips into the middle, but lost at showdown to a set of sevens. Watcha gonna do?

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     340   81   121        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     220   63    95        0

delta: $-100,000
2024 balance: $3,074,000
2024 blue distance: $221,000
balance: $15,883,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.54 (1225 of 2949)

Pocks to the rescue

In the second tournament I played yesterday, two hands tied for the most memorable. In one I was dealt pocket sevens, and in the other I was dealt pocket rockets. I don't remember which hand came first, but it doesn't really matter; I won substantial pots with both. Without these hands, I wouldn't have made the money. Pocks to the rescue :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    88000  12000       9     227   63   130        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     200   54    50    79000

delta: $-71,000
2024 balance: $3,174,000
2024 blue distance: $121,000
balance: $15,983,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.57 (1225 of 2947)

You were never shovelier

The shorter your stack gets, the wider your shoving range becomes. A hand you would never shove with if you had a healthy stack can be almost obligatory to shove with when your stack is sickly. Why? The reason is simple. When your stack is small enough, your only legitimate actions are to fold or to shove. If your hand is halfway decent, you must shove.

This is an excerpt from my July 18, 2020 post. Last night I was in just such a situation. I was short-stacked, and two hands away from being in the big blind, which would eat up all my remaining chips. I was dealt A2o (ace deuce offsuit), and called a bet which put me all in (note: I consider call ins to be shoves). I paired my deuce on the flop, and got lucky and hit trips on the turn. Winning that pot made my stack much healthier, which enabled me to play an orbit or two longer, but I still missed the money by a country mile.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     212   54   100        0

delta: $-50,000
2024 balance: $3,245,000
2024 blue distance: $50,000
balance: $16,054,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.56 (1224 of 2945)

My blue heaven

The largest my overall balance ever reached was a stratospheric $451,830,953. That was on July 24, 2022. The remainder of 2022 was catastrophic; in that period, I lost $442,046,050. I still had a positive overall balance, but I'd lost nearly 98% of my peak balance. This gargantuan loss meant that I would never again get back into the blue. This sad fact caused me to change my definition of being in the blue, so that I could get back into it again. Sort of cheating, if the truth be told, but needs must :-) Last night, my 2024 balance got back into the blue, and all is right in my poker world again.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     227   63    14   149000

delta: $99,000
2024 balance: $3,295,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,104,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.58 (1224 of 2944)

Dredging the session for a silver lining

I find mediocre sessions the hardest ones to write about, whether they were winning or losing. If they were winning, I often struggle to find anything exciting, new, or relevant to say. If they were losing, I often struggle to come up with a silver lining to highlight. When I'm really stuck for a silver lining, I have to resort to finding some inconsequential statistical factoid to try to prove that my session was worth more than a bucket of warm spit :)

Yesterday's session was both mediocre and losing. Here's the statistical factoid I found: in each of the tournaments I entered, I managed to achieve a percentile of at least 50. That bucket of warm spit is looking better and better :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     234   63    96        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     385   99    77    91000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     258   72   108        0

delta: $-59,000
2024 balance: $3,196,000
2024 blue distance: $66,000
balance: $16,005,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.56 (1223 of 2943)

A 1 in 270,725 occurrence

If you play poker long enough, you'll see freaky things you never believed you'd ever see. That's one of its appeals, at least for me :-) There's essentially no cap on the number of times you'll see something you've never seen before, no matter how long you've played. That makes poker forever young!

I've played online poker for 16 years. In that time, I've played 4,413 sessions. I don't know the precise number of hands I've played, for two reasons:

1. I didn't start keeping track of the number of hands I played right away

2. some years ago, PokerStars removed hand histories from the data they make available for play money tournaments

Nevertheless, I can calculate a ballpark figure for the number of hands I've played. The average number of hands per session for the sessions where I have the hand histories is 114.84. To be conservative, I'll assume the average number of hands per session for my career is 60.  That means I've played roughly 264,780 hands in my career.

Now for the freaky thing that happened yesterday: in the first tournament I entered, I was dealt pocket rockets on one hand, called a shove made by an opponent on the flop (which put me all in), and didn't win the pot. The freaky thing was not that I didn't win the pot. The freaky thing was why I didn't. I didn't because I chopped it, and I chopped it because my opponent also had pocket rockets! Such an occurrence is very rare - the chances of it happening to you are 1 in 270,725. It never happened to me before, but I plan on playing for many more years, so there's a decent chance it'll happen to me again :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     339   81    71    89000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     235   63    12   175000

delta: $164,000
2024 balance: $3,255,000
2024 blue distance: $7,000
balance: $16,064,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.56 (1222 of 2940)

Just say no to guarantees

"Guarantees" is my shorthand for multi-table tournaments which have a guaranteed prize pool. I do my best not to play them, but sometimes my desire to play poker exceeds my will to avoid bad tournaments, and that happened again last night; the guarantee was the second of the three tournaments I played. Guarantees are bad tournaments. Why? For the simple reason that they require you to outlast a larger percentage of the entrants in order to make the money. The tournaments that are good for me on PokerStars typically require outlasting anywhere from 71%  to 76% of the entrants in order to make the money. The guarantees on PokerStars require outlasting anywhere from 81% to 86% of the entrants in order to make the money. That's too rich for my blood. The only guarantee about guarantees is that I'll be guaranteed to lose money hand over fist if I continue to play them :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     233   63   169        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     226   39    41        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     315   81   181        0

delta: $-150,000
2024 balance: $3,091,000
2024 blue distance: $171,000
balance: $15,900,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.52 (1220 of 2938)

Silver lining

Whether I win or lose a session, I'm contracted to write about what happened before being allowed to play another. Who drafted such a nefarious contract? Me :-) It's typically easier to write about winning sessions than losing ones. After losing, I often struggle to find the session's silver lining, but that's what I want to write about.

This is an excerpt from my June 6, 2016 post. Yesterday, I had a losing session, but found a silver lining - I increased my MTT NLHE ITM pct (Multi-Table Tournament No-Limit Hold'Em In The Money percentage) by one hundredth of a percentage point. Not much to crow about, but beggars can't be choosy :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     278   72    64    79000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     245   63   163        0

delta: $-21,000
2024 balance: $3,241,000
2024 blue distance: $21,000
balance: $16,050,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.57 (1220 of 2935)

Uberflushed

One of the worst feelings you can experience at a poker table is having your flush beaten by a better flush, in the case where the board has three cards to a flush and both your hole cards are needed to complete it. The odds that someone else has another such flush, let alone one which beats yours, are small indeed. I call the better flush an uberflush, and say that the loser has been uberflushed :-)

This is an excerpt from my April 3, 2017 post. I was uberflushed on the final hand of the first tournament I entered today. I'd been dealt a jack of hearts and a smaller heart, and the ace of hearts, the queen of hearts, and a smaller heart showed up on the board. I knew I could only be beaten by someone who had been dealt the king of hearts and another heart. I called a river bet which put me all in, and got the bad news at showdown. However, I didn't feel downhearted. There were two excellent reasons for this:

1. it was the correct play to call, and I'd make the same call in that situation 100% of the time

2. I'd already made the money :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     334   81    58   102000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     255   72    39   106000

delta: $108,000
2024 balance: $3,262,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,071,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.56 (1219 of 2933)

Getting to the second break

In the $50,000 buy in tournaments that I play on PokerStars, the software gives players two five minute breaks. The first occurs at the 24 minute mark, which is five minutes before the late registration period ends, and the second is somewhere around the one hour mark. Since I habitually join tournaments late in the late registration period, I almost always make it to the first break. Getting to the second break is exponentially harder. If you make it to the second break, you've definitely made the money, and are likely to have a decent shot at making the final table. Today, I made it to the second break, and narrowly missed making it to the final table. Don't look now, but I'm closing in on crossing the $16,000,000 boundary once again :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     294   72    11   206000

delta: $156,000
2024 balance: $3,154,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $15,963,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.52 (1217 of 2931)

Apples and oranges

Back in the days when I played sit and gos, I realized that it made a lot of sense to standardize on a buy in; if you don't, then a loss in a big buy in sit and go can wipe out all the gains you made in a bunch of small buy in sit and gos. That's like mixing apples and oranges, generally not a smart idea. The same is true, to a lesser extent, for MTT NLHEs. Accordingly, I'm going to try playing $200,000 buy in tournaments exclusively for a while, and see how I do.

This is an excerpt from my January 24, 2020 post. It highlights another good reason for my recent decision to stop playing both $50,000 buy in and $100,000 buy in tournaments. Last night, even though I didn't have a profitable session, the fact that the tournament where I missed the money had a $50,000 buy in instead of a $100,000 one meant that I saved myself from losing an additional $50,000 :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     351   81   111        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     283   72    57    93000

delta: $-7,000
2024 balance: $2,998,000
2024 blue distance: $79,000
balance: $15,807,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.50 (1216 of 2930)

Thinner tournaments considered harmful

A thin tournament is one that doesn't have a large number of entries. Thin tournaments have smaller prize pools, fewer paid places, and smaller payouts. A trifecta of good reasons not to enter them! The only way to ensure that you don't enter a thin tournament is to postpone entering it until it has grown fat :-)

This is an excerpt from my June 10, 2021 post. On PokerStars, the number of entries is usually in inverse proportion to the buy in. The smaller the buy in, the larger the number of entries, as a general rule. So far this year, and for most of last year, I've only played in tournaments with a buy in of $50,000 or $100,000. I got curious to compare how well I do in these. I just ran this year's numbers and was surprised to see that my balance for the $100,000 buy in tournaments is in the red. Here are the numbers:

  balance    buy in  tournaments
==========  ======== ===========
$3,376,000   $50,000         502
 $-371,000  $100,000          47

I've played in far fewer $100,000 buy in tournaments, but the writing is on the wall. I'll restrict myself to the $50,000 buy in tournaments going forward.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    88000  12000       9     239   63    72        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     359   99    68    96000

delta: $-54,000
2024 balance: $3,005,000
2024 blue distance: $72,000
balance: $15,814,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.50 (1215 of 2928)