Getting it in good

It's a foregone conclusion that to do well in a tournament, periodically you're going to have to go all in. When you do, you always hope that you're "getting it in good" - i.e., that you're a healthy favorite to win the hand. When you're playing well, more often than not you do get it in good. If you hit the rail on a bad beat, that's unfortunate, but it doesn't negate the fact that you were a favorite. As long as you're committed to playing poker over the long haul, and continue to get it in good, you'll be fine.

Last night, I hit the rail in the first MTT-R I joined after getting it in good; my opponent spiked a wheel (a five high straight) on the river. I was a 90.91% favorite after the turn, and my opponent had only four outs. He needed to hit one of the four fives in the deck, and did. I've played long enough that I was able to be completely philosophical about what happened.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    50      80   18    35        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    77      73   15    15   327000

delta: $77,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $7,438,000
2017 balance: $8,277,825
balance: $19,695,655

Getting it in good

I've used this blog post title before, but it's good enough to use again :-) In poker, you always want to get your money in good. Essentially, that means getting it in when you're a big favorite. Now that I have a "did it float?" utility, my modified definition of getting it in good means that the decision to put all your chips in floated, i.e., had a net positive long term return on investment. You don't always have to go all in to be able to answer the "did it float?" question, although that's the most usual case. The other case is when another player, who you have covered, goes all in, and you call. The key component of being able to answer the "did it float?" question is that the decision point where you're asking the question was your last decision of the hand.

Last night, my three biggest hands in terms of the absolute values of the deltas were all losses. In all three, the "did it float?" question applied. Here are the numbers:

558000 (2758000 2200000)
504152 (1903676 1399524)
-951920 (1600000 2551920)

What this boils down to is that I got the money in good in two of the three hands. If I'd won those two hands, I still would have lost money on the night, but it would have been a lot less than I actually lost - only $20,092, instead of $102,164. So that means I was actually playing pretty well for playing so shittily :-) Poker's like that sometimes.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 128 hands and saw flop:
 - 18 out of 21 times while in big blind (85%)
 - 8 out of 20 times while in small blind (40%)
 - 42 out of 87 times in other positions (48%)
 - a total of 68 out of 128 (53%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 16 (43%)
 Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $-102,164
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $6,635,214
balance: $9,540,313

Getting it in good

The title of this post is an old poker expression. In a nutshell, what it means is that there's no shame in going all in and losing if your hand is a premium one. That's what happened to me on hand 51 on Saturday night. I got it in good with pocket kings. Three of us went to showdown. After the flop, I was a 51% favorite to win the hand; one of my opponents was a 29% dog, and the other was a 16% dog. There was a 4% chance that my two opponents would chop the pot. My first opponent hit a straight on the turn, and I hit the felt. I never feel bad about reupping in a situation like that; I'm secure in the knowledge that I made the correct play. Coincidentally, I played another 51 hands, and ended the night with a nice profit. That's three 51s in one session; very curious!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 102 hands and saw flop:
 - 10 out of 15 times while in big blind (66%)
 - 13 out of 16 times while in small blind (81%)
 - 33 out of 71 times in other positions (46%)
 - a total of 56 out of 102 (54%)
 Pots won at showdown - 8 of 16 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 8

delta: $13,749
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,461,453
balance: $7,818,406