Making the noney

Making the money in a tournament which allows re-entries doesn't guarantee you a profit. That stands to reason; if you reenter just once, but only min cash, it's virtually a guarantee that you'll take a net loss. Moreover, the more times you reenter, the more likely it is that you'll take a net loss. In my opinion, it never makes sense to reenter a tournament. I didn't come to that conclusion right away, but I got there in the end.

Making the money in a tournament which you didn't reenter should guarantee you a profit. Unfortunately, that isn't the case on PokerStars, at least for their play money tournaments. These tournaments are rare, but they exist. Even rarer are the tournaments where the payout for a min cash is exactly equal to the sum of the buy in and the entry fee, but they also exist. When I min cash in such a tournament, I call it "making the noney" :-)

Yesterday I made the noney in a Limit Razz tournament. To give you an idea how rare that is, I've played 3,488 MTT tournaments in my online poker career, and have only made the noney three times.

style flavor    buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   L27Lo      22000   3000       6     124   24    33        0
MTT   Razz       22000   3000       8      93   24    21    25000
MTT   Stud HiLo  22000   3000       8      66   12     0        0

delta: $-50,000
2025 balance: $-682,000
2025 blue distance: $682,000
balance: $15,615,303
MTT ITM pct: 40.45 (1411 of 3488)

Unavoidable 0th places

0th places in MTT NLHE tournaments are entirely avoidable; simply pick tournaments whose late registration periods include a break at the end, and wait for the break to begin before joining. Of course, that would be a useless strategy if there were only a small chance of making the money by adopting it, but thankfully, that isn't the case for MTT NLHEs. However, it certainly is the case for MTT Limit tournaments. For one thing, Limits generally don't include a break at the end of their late registration periods. For another, their late registration periods are considerably longer. The longer a late registration period is, the less it makes sense to join the tournament late, since that guarantees you'll be a small stack battling against mostly much larger stacks.

Upshot #1: I have to join Limits earlier than I'm used to joining MTT NLHEs

Upshot #2: I need to accept the fact that I'll register way more 0th places

I'm not even sure I can make a long-term profit on Limits, but I mean to find out.

style flavor    buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE       44000   6000       9     335   81    83        0
MTT   L27Lo      22000   3000       6     125   24    34        0
MTT   Stud       22000   3000       8     127   24    48        0
MTT   Razz       22000   3000       8      39    7     0        0
MTT   Stud HiLo  22000   3000       8      89   24     0        0

delta: $-150,000
2025 balance: $-632,000
2025 blue distance: $632,000
balance: $15,665,303
MTT ITM pct: 40.46 (1410 of 3485)

Cruel and unusual treatment

Over the years, I've picked up a lot of great phrases from people I admire. One such is "cruel and unusual treatment", which I picked up from my father. Yesterday, the poker gods subjected me to cruel and unusual treatment on the last hand of my session. I was playing Limit Stud Hi/Lo, and was short-stacked. I was dealt a pair of tens in the hole, and my door car was an eight. I shoved the rest of my chips into the middle (which was legal, since I had so few of them) and got a bunch of callers. I made a set of tens on 5th street, and made a full house, tens full of eights, on 6th street. I thought I had a mortal lock on the high hand, and continued reading an article on the New York Times website, confident that I'd get the good news that I'd won the high pot when the hand was over. Instead, the PokerStars window which popped up told me I was out of the tournament in 47th place. I didn't get to see which hand beat mine, but the odds are it was a better full house. Whatcha gonna do?

style flavor    buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   Razz       22000   3000       8      90   24    33        0
MTT   NLHE       44000   6000       9     290   72    98        0
MTT   Stud HiLo  22000   3000       8     148   32    47        0

delta: $-100,000
2025 balance: $-482,000
2025 blue distance: $482,000
balance: $15,815,303
MTT ITM pct: 40.52 (1410 of 3480)

Never met an MTT Limit tournament I didn't like

Yesterday, I played my first ever Limit 7 Card Stud tournament. I was familiar with 7 Card Stud, as it's one of the games in 8-game tournaments, but I'd never played a tournament devoted exclusively to it. Even though I missed the money, I had a lot of fun, and will continue to play any and all MTT Limit tournaments in my price range :-)

style flavor    buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   Stud       22000   3000       8     130   24    34        0
MTT   Razz       22000   3000       8      49   12     0        0

delta: $-50,000
2025 balance: $-382,000
2025 blue distance: $382,000
balance: $15,915,303
MTT ITM pct: 40.55 (1410 of 3477)

The beauty of limit poker

Yesterday, I played my first ever Limit Stud Hi/Lo tournament. I was familiar with Stud Hi/Lo, as it's one of the games in 8-game tournaments, but I'd never played a tournament devoted exclusively to it. As with Razz, I had a ton of fun, and made the money. I started my poker career playing limit poker, and playing it again is like being reunited with an old friend. There's a beauty to limit poker which no limit poker can't equal. Don't get me wrong, I won't stop playing no limit, but I'm going to play less of it, and more of limit. Limit is rejuvenating my enjoyment of poker :-)

style flavor    buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   L27Lo      22000   3000       6     109   24    26        0
MTT   NLHE       44000   6000       9     314   81    75    69000
MTT   Stud HiLo  22000   3000       8     158   32    14    52000

delta: $21,000
2025 balance: $-332,000
2025 blue distance: $332,000
balance: $15,965,303
MTT ITM pct: 40.58 (1410 of 3475)

Razzamatazz

Playing deuce on Friday for the first time in over 8 years was liberating. It made me realize I've been in a rut playing MTT NLHEs exclusively for so long. The last time before Friday that I'd played a variant other than MTT NLHE was way back on July 25, 2023, when I played a No Limit 5 card draw tournament. Yesterday, I played my first ever Limit Razz tournament. I was familiar with Razz, as it's one of the games in 8-game tournaments, but I'd never played a tournament devoted exclusively to it. I had a ton of fun. Not only did I make the money, I made it to the final table. I see lots of deuce, Razz, 8-game, and other variants in my future :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   Razz    22000   3000       8      86   16     5   122000

delta: $97,000
2025 balance: $-353,000
2025 blue distance: $353,000
balance: $15,944,303
MTT ITM pct: 40.55 (1408 of 3472)

Back to zero

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.

This is an excerpt from my December 10, 2024 post. Famous last words :-) Yesterday, I registered a 0th place in the first MTT NLHE I entered. How could this happen? It was supposed to be impossible! There's a simple explanation - I entered a tournament whose late registration period ended before its first five minute break began. The $50,000 tournaments on PokerStars have the first five minute break start with five minutes left in their late registration period, but the $100,000 tournaments don't. That means a player can guarantee an official place in a $50,000 tournament by entering it within the first five minute break, but there's no such guarantee for $100,000 tournaments. Upshot: I won't enter any more $100,000 tournaments.

In other news, I played in my first limit deuce (2-7 Triple Draw Lowball) tournament in over 8 years. These tournaments have longer late registration periods than MTT NLHE tournaments do, so there's less shame in recording 0th places in them. I pre-registered, and lasted 42 of the 49 minutes in the late registration period before hitting the rail, recording a 0th place. Deuce is a lot of fun, and I'll be playing more of it.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    88000  12000       9     278   72     0        0
MTT   L27Lo   22000   3000       6      72   18     0        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     332   81   149        0

delta: $-175,000
2025 balance: $-450,000
2025 blue distance: $450,000
balance: $15,847,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.55 (1284 of 3090)

The imp of the perverse

Wednesday night, I lost a ton of chips. $80K worth, to be precise. The maximum starting stake at two consecutive tables. Both hands that I rode to the felt, I had no business going all in on. What's more, I knew as I was going all in that I had no business doing it -- both times. Edgar Allan Poe called such behavior "the imp of the perverse".

This is an excerpt from my April 1, 2011 post. In yesterday's session, the imp struck again. In shouting distance of the money bubble, I hit the rail on a hand where I went all in after flopping top pair with a good kicker. The problem with my hand was that my top pair was pitiful - sixes. I should have folded that hand every day of the week and twice on Sundays :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    88000   1200       9      230   63    97       0

delta: $-100,000
2025 balance: $-275,000
2025 blue distance: $275,000
balance: $16,022,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.58 (1284 of 3088)

Luft

One of the common checkmates in chess is the back rank checkmate. That's when one player moves a queen or a rook to the opponent's back rank, giving check to the king, and the opponent has no legal move. The opponent doesn't have a piece which can capture the attacking piece, doesn't have a piece which could move to a square in between the king's square and the square occupied by the attacking piece, and doesn't have an escape square for the king. It's common for players to remove the possibility of getting back rank checkmated by taking the time at some point in the game to move one of the pawns in front of the king up one or two squares, providing the king with an escape square. In chess terminology, this type of move is said to give luft (the German word for air) to the king.

Luft is required in poker also. In order to make the money in a tournament, a player must get a chip infusion at regular intervals. Poker chips can be likened to oxygen. When you don't have enough oxygen, you suffocate. Yesterday, in the one tournament I played, I was lucky enough to get three or four chip infusions, providing me with the luft I needed to make the money.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    88000   1200       9     355   81    75   147000

delta: $47,000
2025 balance: $-175,000
2025 blue distance: $175,000
balance: $16,122,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.59 (1284 of 3087)

No silver lining

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. I can't find a silver lining in yesterday's session. It was fairly short, and I don't remember any salient details. My streak of making it to Station 2 (outlasting at least half of the field) was stopped at ten. Time to start a new streak :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    88000   1200       9     155   45    84        0

delta: $-100,000
2025 balance: $-222,000
2025 blue distance: $222,000
balance: $16,075,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.57 (1283 of 3086)

Pulling up stakes

I've decided it's time to pull up stakes again. I'm going to move from the $45,000 buy in level to the $90,000 buy in level. If I play as well at the higher stakes as I did at the lower stakes, I'll make twice the profit.

This is an excerpt from my June 1, 2015 post. I've decided to pull up stakes again. By mistake, I chose a $100,000 tournament instead of a $50,000 tournament at the end of yesterday's session, and made the money in it. I'm going to see how well I do playing at the higher stakes on purpose :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     327   81    79    69000
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     388   99   142        0
MTT   NLHE    88000   1200       9     323   81    66   170000

delta: $39,000
2025 balance: $-122,000
2025 blue distance: $122,000
balance: $16,175,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.59 (1283 of 3085)

Saved by two lovely ladies

There are three ways of having all your chips go into the middle:

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

The all in is when the action is on you and you decide to put all your chips in the middle. The call in is when the action is on you and someone who bet before you bet big enough to put you all in if you call, and you decide to call. The fall in is when you're in the small blind or the big blind, and are so short-stacked that the forced bet puts you all in. You want to avoid the fall in at all costs, since it removes all decision-making from you.

This is an excerpt from my March 18, 2014 post. It's impossible to avoid falling in occasionally. When you do, you're at the whim of the poker gods. Sometimes they smile down at you; that's what happened to me in the second tournament I played yesterday. The gods gave me pocket queens when I fell in, and the two lovely ladies held up :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     416   99   139        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     231   63    27   116000

delta: $16,000
2025 balance: $-161,000
2025 blue distance: $161,000
balance: $16,136,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.56 (1281 of 3082)

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

Once again, I'm using the title of a novel I've never read as the title of a blog post. As before, it's written by an author I greatly admire (Philip K. Dick in this instance), whose work I've read widely. That title was what sprung to mind when I looked at the bar chart of my stack size over the course of last night's session. All the blue bars hanging below the zero line are like the tracks of so many tears.

This is an excerpt from my November 4, 2014 post. I haven't been able to look at a bar chart of my stack size over the course of a session since November of 2019, when I got a new computer and discovered that the PokerStars play money client no longer provided hand histories. However, I can always look at bar charts of my balance over the course of a poker year, and looking at the three data points I have for the current year, I see three tears. I have no doubt the flow will stop before long :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     326   81    92        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     400   99   117        0

delta: $-100,000
2025 balance: $-177,000
2025 blue distance: $177,000
balance: $16,120,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.56 (1280 of 3080)

A painful hand

As I've said before, it's easier to remember hands you lost than hands you won. Case in point: I don't remember any hands from yesterday's session, but do remember a painful one from the first tournament I played in the session before that, on New Year's day. The result was that I hit the rail very early on, not having even played ten hands. I was dealt the king and seven of hearts. The flop was two aces and a small card, where one of the aces and the small card were both hearts. The turn was a king, and the river was another heart, which gave me the nut flush. There were only two players left in the hand at that point, me being one. I went all in, and my opponent called. He turned over a big slick, which meant he had a full house, aces full of kings. Though I hadn't known it at the time, I'd actually been drawing dead on the river, since he'd hit his full house on the turn. Expletive deleted!

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     375   99    49   123000

delta: $73,000
2025 balance: $-77,000
2025 blue distance: $77,000
balance: $16,220,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.59 (1280 of 3078)

January 1 poker results over the years

In all the years I've played online poker, I've only managed to make a profit on January 1 three times. Here are the numbers, sorted by delta:

$-700,000  2018
$-300,000  2019
$-200,000  2023
$-200,000  2021
$-150,000  2025
 $-64,000  2024
 $-11,000  2022
  $-4,270  2015
  $42,300  2013
 $123,640  2016
 $205,000  2017

I take some solace from the fact that yesterday's loss was only my fifth worst :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     434  117   252        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     242   63   108        0
MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     198   54    78        0

delta: $-150,000
2025 balance: $-150,000
2025 blue distance: $150,000
balance: $16,147,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.57 (1279 of 3077)

My second homogeneous poker year

In 2009, the year I started recording my poker data, I played just one poker variant for the entire year, Cash game Pot Limit Hold'em. For the next 14 years, I played multiple poker variants during the course of each year. In 2024, I finally recorded a second homogeneous poker year. I played one variant only - MTT No Limit Hold'em. It's my bread and butter. I've made more play money with it than with any other variant by far. My career winnings playing it are over 113 million. Enough said :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     324   81     8   277000

delta: $227,000
2024 balance: $3,488,000
2024 blue distance: $431,000
balance: $16,297,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.61 (1279 of 3074)