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)

In the sweetness

Last night, I went deep in a tournament once again. This ticked the following boxes:

1. I extended my making the money streak to 4
2. I got under the lights
3. I got back into the blue

I'm officially in the sweetness :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6     111   30     5  1158000

delta: $958,000
MTT NLHE balance: $11,921,668
2020 balance: $4,899,343
balance: $66,707,353

In the sweetness

Right now, I'm in the sweetness playing MTT NLHE. I've made the money in three straight tournaments, including last night's. I'm actually undefeated at that BI+EF ($200,000). Granted, I've only played those three tournaments at that level, but still. I'm going to ride this streak as long as it lasts :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6   112      90   21    10   501000

delta: $301,000
MTT NLHE balance: $4,075,668
2019 balance: $18,942,150
balance: $65,526,410

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. At the moment, I'm in the sweetness playing MTT-R NLHEs. In four of the last seven tournaments I've entered, including last night's, I've made it under the lights. My overall balance topped 59 million for the first time ever. All is right in my poker world :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   160      67   15     3  2273000

delta: $2,173,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $46,432,000
2019 balance: $12,428,250
balance: $59,012,510

In the sweetness

Every poker style / flavor combination has its own spin on what being in the sweetness means. Right now, I'm in the sweetness for MTT-R NLHE. I've finished in the money in four straight tournaments. That's a super hard thing to do. How do I know? Experience :-) I've now played 635 MTT-R NLHEs, and have only accomplished this feat 4 times. I've never had a longer streak. I have a chance to change that tonight; wish me luck!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    83      81   18    15   407000
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    82      61   15     7   476000

delta: $483,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $33,048,500
2018 balance: $-333,000
balance: $45,180,260

In the sweetness

Last night, I was in the sweetness. As a rule, the right thing to do when you're in the sweetness is to keep playing until you fall out of it. The longer the sweetness lasts, the more invincible you feel :-) This will sound silly, but I swear it's true - you actually begin to feel like you'll never fail to make the money again, all previous experience to the contrary. It's a sweet delusion :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    97     2    92400
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    36     2    92400
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    73     1   171600
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    10     6        0

delta: $156,400
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $2,665,640
balance: $10,218,729

In the sweetness

I'm almost certain this is my most common blog post title. Last night I was in the sweetness for the heart of the session, making the money four times in a row. As I've said before, when you're in the sweetness, you feel like you can do no wrong. You actually have a sneaking suspicion you're never going to fall out out it, all prior evidence to the contrary :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    23       6    2     5        0
MTT   8-Game   4350   650       6    21      90   18    56        0
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    32       6    2     2    92400
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    40       6    2     2    92400
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    21       6    2     2    92400
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    86       6    2     1   171600
SNG   NLHE    44000  6000       6    30       6    2     3        0

delta: $143,800
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $3,889,640
balance: $11,929,684

In the sweetness

Last night, I was in the sweetness for the whole session. I finally had to quit due to the lateness of the hour. It was the second time in my career that I made the money in all six sit and gos that I entered. This time was actually sweeter than before, since I came in first four times, which is one more than in the other session. It was the seventh session of my career where I made a profit of over half a million play dollars. Poker life is super good right now :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    36     1   175500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    57     2    94500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    77     1   175500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    96     2    94500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    66     1   175500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    64     1   175500

delta: $591,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $4,265,300
balance: $12,315,794

In the sweetness

Last night, I was in the sweetness again. It was another one two session (or, more precisely, another two one session). In the past, I made it a rule never to quit playing when I was still in the sweetness; the idea was to keep playing until I fell out of it. My thinking was that I should ride the wave as far as I could, to see just how much profit I could amass. These days, I feel fine about quitting while still in the sweetness. You could say I'm more of a profit-taker now :-)

buy_in entry players hands place winnings

 45000  5000       6    41     2    94500
 45000  5000       6    77     1   175500

delta: $170,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,716,800
balance: $9,403,379

In the sweetness

Friends and neighbors (as Stephen King likes to say), I'm in the sweetness (as I like to say :-)). That is to say, there's precious little I can do wrong at a poker table right now. That can evaporate in a New York minute, but it sure is wonderful while it lasts! Last night, I finished in the money for the fourth straight time. It was my fifth MTT final table, and the biggest tournament payout of my MTT career.

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

  4500       500           6       165     3    61870

delta: $56,870
MTT 8-game balance: $127,300
balance: $9,622,330

In the sweetness

There's nothing like being in the sweetness. When you're in it, it's hard to imagine that you could ever be out of it. It's totally an "all sweetness, all the time" kind of a vibe :-) There's only one rule to follow when you're in the sweetness, but it's a cardinal rule: keep playing until you fall out of the sweetness. Last night, it took me five tournaments to fall out. I had no business staying in as long as I did, but that's just the way poker rolls! If you can't deal with that, you're in the wrong game :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 45000      5000           6        41     1   175500
 45000      5000           6        43     2    94500
 45000      5000           6        26     2    94500
 45000      5000           6        25     1   175500
 45000      5000           6         9     5        0

delta: $290,000
tournament balance: $2,557,090
balance: $9,439,789

In the sweetness

You never know when you're going to be in the sweetness. It can come at any time. Last night, in a rare occurrence, it came after I'd hit the felt and reupped. At the start of hand 113, my stack was at $19,483. At the end of hand 126, it was at $97,321. That's a very healthy fourteen hand stretch. I probably should have quit right then, but thought I could squeeze a bit more profit out of the session. It turned out I could, but it took another forty-three hands to do it.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 169 hands and saw flop:
 - 17 out of 22 times while in big blind (77%)
 - 14 out of 24 times while in small blind (58%)
 - 66 out of 123 times in other positions (53%)
 - a total of 97 out of 169 (57%)
 Pots won at showdown - 13 of 24 (54%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $81,304
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $5,065,040
balance: $7,421,993

In the sweetness

Last night, I was in the sweetness. When you're in the sweetness, you don't quit; you keep playing until you lose. I entered four $80,000 buy in no limit hold'em tournaments. Here's how I did:

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

 80000      1000           6        51     2   168000
 80000      1000           6        57     1   312000
 80000      1000           6        33     1   312000
 80000      1000           6        29     4        0

Tonight, I'm going to play at least two $80,000 buy ins. If I get back into the sweetness, I'll play more.

delta: $468,000
balance: $5,656,336

In the sweetness

Since I started keeping track of the number of hands played per session, I've played over 10,000 hands. Extrapolating that over the total number of sessions I've played so far, my career total comes out to around 25,000 hands. When you've played that many hands, you're very aware of the capriciousness of Lady Luck. You also know that in the long run, luck evens out. You'll go through awful patches, and also awesome ones. The awfulness and awesomeness can be on any scale. When I switched to no limit hold'em in early April, I went on a tear that lasted over a month; I knew how great it was, and wrote a post about it ("These are the good old days").

At the end of last night's session, I won three hands in a row. This was a mini awesome patch; a good description of such times is that you're "in the sweetness". When you're in the sweetness, stay right where you are until the ride is over; don't think of calling it a night a second before!

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 36 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out of 6 times while in big blind (83%)
- 6 out of 7 times while in small blind (85%)
- 16 out of 23 times in other positions (69%)
- a total of 27 out of 36 (75%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 9 (55%)
Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $23,564
balance: $1,705,653