Guilt-free pre-flop shoving

It's easier to shove post-flop than it is to shove pre-flop, since you have much more information at your disposal. There are very few holdings I feel comfortable shoving with pre-flop. In fact, there are only two - pocket rockets and a big slick. Last night, I doubled up early on in the second tournament I entered when I shoved pre-flop with a big slick. That sent me on my way to making the money :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     329   81   182        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     332   81    57   102000

delta: $2,000
2024 balance: $2,725,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $15,534,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.43 (1204 of 2906)

The best time to join a tournament

I used to think there was an optimal time to join a tournament. I had it narrowed down to whenever at least half but less than three quarters of the late registration period has elapsed. Now I think that idea was rather silly. The best time to join a tournament turns out to be any time - any time at all :-) For the record, I joined last night's tournament with 7 minutes remaining.

This is an excerpt from my July 30, 2020 post. 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. Yesterday, I joined with less than five minutes remaining in the late registration period.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     387   99    76    91000

delta: $41,000
2024 balance: $2,723,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $15,532,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.43 (1203 of 2904)

Caboose boy

For me, the most satisfying tournaments are not the ones where I crush opponents. Rather, they're the ones where opponents are crushing me, but somehow, improbably, I survive.

This is an excerpt from my January 15, 2020 post. The most improbable position to survive is when you're in last place in a tournament; Caboose Boy is my nickname for myself whenever I'm in this position. Last night, I had a decent stack when the money bubble burst, but fairly soon became Caboose Boy. When I was dealt pocket sixes shortly after that, I knew my best chance was to shove. I got two callers, and my sixes held up, thanks in part due to the fact that both of the callers had been dealt an ace, making it harder for either of them to pair it.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     419   99    39   151000

delta: $101,000
2024 balance: $2,682,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $15,491,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.41 (1202 of 2903)

Shot from guns

An incontrovertible proof of my advancing age, aside from more wrinkles and more gray hair, is the fact that as time goes by, I'm in an ever diminishing pool of people who can remember advertising slogans from sufficiently long ago. One which sticks in my mind is "Shot from guns". This was an ad campaign for a cereal. I confess I had to google the slogan just now to make sure I got the brand right; it was Quaker Puffed Rice.

Can the slogan be applied to poker? Easily. It means that it's a good thing to come out of the starting gate quickly ...

This is an excerpt from my January 9, 2014 post. Last night, in the second tournament I played, I was shot from guns. On my first hand, I was dealt the jack of clubs and another club (I forget the denomination), and flopped a flush. I won a decent pot and was off to the races :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     401   99   189        0
MTT   NLHE    88000  12000       9     311   81    37   246000

delta: $96,000
2024 balance: $2,581,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $15,390,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.39 (1201 of 2902)

yaff

"yaff" is my latest neo neo (neostreet neologism). It stands for "yet another flopped fatty".

One of the fascinating things about poker is that the improbable happens like clockwork. I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. What I mean by this is that no matter how unlikely a particular event is, you can rely on it to occur with its own particular frequency. You might think that flopping a fatty is an unusual event, but I'm here to tell you that it's actually not. Even though you can only expect it to happen to you once out of every 694 hands, you can expect it to happen to you once out of every 694 hands. This sounds like a tautology, but it's not. As long as you keep playing, you can expect to keep flopping fatties every 694 hands. In other words, you will never stop flopping fatties! Is life great, or what? :-)

This is an excerpt from my August 1, 2013 post. Last night, I flopped a fatty in the first tournament I played. I'd been dealt KTo (king ten offsuit), and two kings and a ten showed up in the flop. Everyone still in the hand checked it down until the river, when I put in a minimum bet, got two callers, and thereby extracted the most value from my holding that I could reasonably expect.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    88000  12000       9     232   63    43   193000
MTT   NLHE    88000  12000       9     290   72   121        0

delta: $-7,000
2024 balance: $2,485,000
2024 blue distance: $7,000
balance: $15,294,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.38 (1200 of 2900)

Probability radar

An interesting side effect of having probability radar is that it lets you appreciate the rarity of rare events as they occur.

This is an excerpt from my May 7, 2014 post. Last night, my probability radar triggered when I was dealt J4o (jack four offsuit) two hands in a row. Maybe "improbability radar" would be a more accurate moniker :-) Later in the same tournament, I was dealt J4o again. I folded all three times, but felt the luck of the improbability.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     238   63    60    78000

delta: $28,000
2024 balance: $2,492,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $15,301,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.37 (1199 of 2898)

Lord High Everything Else

"Lord High Everything Else" is the honorific I've come up with for when you place second in an MTT. I've been Lord High Everything Else 10 times in my MTT-R NLHE career, including last night. It's a great feeling :-)

This is an excerpt from my July 19, 2019 post. Last night, I was Lord High Everything Else for the 30th time in my MTT NLHE career. It never gets old :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     272   72   140        0
MTT   NLHE    88000  12000       9     328   81   144        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     193   54     2   662000

delta: $462,000
2024 balance: $2,464,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $15,273,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.35 (1198 of 2897)

The Once and Future Blog

It's been over two years since my last post. Although I stopped posting, I never stopped playing poker. After mulling things over for quite some time, I've decided to resume posting. 2022, the year within which I stopped posting, was my worst poker year; it's the only year where I lost play money, and I lost a shit ton of it. Here are the numbers:

    $175,580 2009
    $590,909 2010
  $2,430,888 2011
  $3,093,183 2012
    $775,963 2013
  $2,467,065 2014
  $1,078,034 2015
    $667,466 2016
 $34,095,430 2017
  $1,071,000 2018
 $15,273,750 2019
 $15,857,443 2020
 $17,178,500 2021
$-85,059,050 2022
  $3,024,400 2023
  $2,464,000 2024

You can only lose that much money that fast by playing at super high stakes. I eventually pulled the ripcord on playing at super high stakes while I still had a career profit, but it's clear I should have pulled it much sooner than I did. For the last two years, I've played for reasonable stakes - a mix of $50,000 and $100,000 buy-in tournaments.