Crybaby

In this blog, I largely avoid "poor me" storylines. Sometimes, however, I allow myself to be a bit of a crybaby. This is one of those times. I have a bone to pick with the way PokerStars handles the situation where a 6-max tournament is on the bubble of the final table. By definition, this means that there are seven players left in the tournament. Also by definition, this means that there will be two tables left; three players must be seated at one of them, and the other four players must be seated at the other. It's a distinct advantage to be seated at the table with four players, since an orbit takes four hands, whereas an orbit at the other table will only take three. That in turn means that the players at the table with three players must pay out more in blinds than the players at the table with four players. That's inherently unfair, and the software should shuffle the players around so everyone gets to sit at the table with four players for some portion of time. However, in my experience, that doesn't happen. The software locks the players in at their tables until one of them is eliminated. Last night, I made it to the final table bubble, but was at the table with only three players. I got no relief, but managed to hold on for a decent amount of time before finishing in seventh place. Poor me :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      72   18     7   651000

delta: $451,000
MTT NLHE balance: $41,670,968
2022 balance: $-2,551,300
blue distance: $2,568,500
balance: $92,292,653

Crybaby

I first used this blog post title on February 12, 2016. Here's an excerpt of what I had to say:

There are certain universal truths:

1. no one wants to see your vacation pictures
2. no one wants to read your blog
3. no one wants to listen to your bad beat sob stories

In general, I've been very good about not running counter to these truths. Although I'd like people to read my blog, I don't beg them to, and I write it for myself anyway. I very rarely tell bad beat sob stories. I think people who do are just crybabies. I'm going to step out of character briefly, and inhabit the role of crybaby.

Here are my bad beat sob stories from last night's tournament:

sob story 1: on hand 24, I was dealt pocket kings, and went all in preflop against two opponents. After the turn, I was a 66.67% favorite, but hit the felt when one of my opponents spiked a straight on the river.

sob story 2: on hand 30, I was dealt ATo (ace ten offsuit), and went all in preflop against two opponents. After the flop, I was an 85.94% favorite, but hit the felt when one of my opponents spiked a straight on the turn.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    54      41    9    20        0

delta: $-350,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $30,236,500
2017 balance: $30,599,055
balance: $42,016,885

Crybaby

There are certain universal truths:

1. no one wants to see your vacation pictures
2. no one wants to read your blog
3. no one wants to listen to your bad beat sob stories

In general, I've been very good about not running counter to these truths. Although I'd like people to read my blog, I don't beg them to, and I write it for myself anyway. I very rarely tell bad beat sob stories. I think people who do are just crybabies. I'm going to step out of character briefly, and inhabit the role of crybaby. Here's my tale of woe from the fourth sit and go of last night's session:

- on hand 56, I was dealt 7h 6h, and a player who'd been dealt pocket fours went all in preflop. I called. Before the flop, I  had a 49.51% chance to win the pot, and a 1.84% chance to chop it. The flop came 6c Jh 8d. At this point, I was a 90.81% favorite. The turn card was 3s. Now I was a 95.45% favorite. The river card, 4d, was a dagger through my heart; my pair of sixes lost to three of a kind, fours. I lost 350 in chips, which dropped my stack down to 905 in chips.

- on hand 61, I was dealt Ah Ks, and the flop came Tc Ac Qd. A player who'd been dealt pocket eights want all in after the flop, and I called. At this point, I was a 90.81% favorite, and had a 1.21% chance of chopping the pot. The turn card was Ts.  Now I was a 95.45% favorite. The river card, 8s, was another dagger through my heart; my two pair of aces and tens lost to a full house of eights full of tens. I lost 1,085 in chips, bringing my stack all the way down to 120 in chips.

One bad beat when you're a 95.45% favorite on the turn is bad enough, but two in one tournament? That's unconscionable :-)

buy_in entry players hands place winnings

 45000  5000       6    80     2    94500
 45000  5000       6    32     3        0
 45000  5000       6    13     6        0
 45000  5000       6    77     3        0
 45000  5000       6    22     4        0
 45000  5000       6    66     3        0

delta: $-205,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $4,713,300
balance: $12,760,794