My blue heaven

The largest my overall balance ever reached was a stratospheric $451,830,953. That was on July 24, 2022. The remainder of 2022 was catastrophic; in that period, I lost $442,046,050. I still had a positive overall balance, but I'd lost nearly 98% of my peak balance. This gargantuan loss meant that I would never again get back into the blue. This sad fact caused me to change my definition of being in the blue, so that I could get back into it again. Sort of cheating, if the truth be told, but needs must :-) Last night, my 2024 balance got back into the blue, and all is right in my poker world again.

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    44000   6000       9     227   63    14   149000

delta: $99,000
2024 balance: $3,295,000
2024 blue distance: $0
balance: $16,104,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.58 (1224 of 2944)

My blue heaven

Last night, I got back into the blue in a big way. I was Lord High Everything Else on an Orient Express! It was the second highest session delta I've ever recorded. I could get used to this :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   870000 130000       6      36    9     2  5160000

delta: $4,160,000
MTT NLHE balance: $37,144,768
2021 balance: $13,723,000
blue distance: $0
balance: $91,388,453

My blue heaven

Last night, I achieved a Double Full Monty, making a profit of over two million play dollars. That returned my overall balance to the blue, breaking the 80 million barrier for the first time. It was the second time I've ever come in first in an MTT NLHE. Needless to say, it was a great feeling :-)

This is an excerpt from my February 11 post; I'll use it as a template. Last night, I achieved a Full Monty and a Half, making a profit of over 1.5 million play dollars. That maintained my overall balance in the blue, breaking the 85 million barrier for the first time. It was the third time I've ever come in first in an MTT NLHE. Needless to say, it was a great feeling again :-) 

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      67   18     1  1791000

delta: $1,591,000
MTT NLHE balance: $30,783,768
2021 balance: $7,412,000
blue distance: $0
balance: $85,077,453

My blue heaven

Last night, after 70 sessions in the wilderness, I got back to civilization. In other words, I'm back in the blue. I got under the lights, finished in fifth, and recorded a Partial Monty. I also outlasted two of the usual suspects. Sweet :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      88   21     5  1041000

delta: $841,000
MTT NLHE balance: $27,577,768
2021 balance: $4,206,000
blue distance: $0
balance: $81,871,453

My blue heaven

Last night, I achieved a Double Full Monty, making a profit of over two million play dollars. That returned my overall balance to the blue, breaking the 80 million barrier for the first time. It was the second time I've ever come in first in an MTT NLHE. Needless to say, it was a great feeling :-)

style flavor buy_in  entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000  26000       6      90   21     1  2215000 

delta: $2,015,000
MTT NLHE balance: $25,723,768
2021 balance: $2,402,000
blue distance: $0
balance: $80,067,453

My blue heaven

Last night, at last, I got my overall balance back into the blue. That ended a sojourn of 236 sessions in the wilderness, the third longest of my career. It's great to be back! Some highlights of my session:

- early on, I was dealt ducks (pocket deuces), flopped a set, and won a hefty pot
- later, I was dealt the eight and six of spades, flopped a flush, and won another hefty pot
- later still, I became the chip leader, and ended up taking three poker selfies

I went out with a bang, going all in with pocket nines. They ran into rockets. I bubbled the final table.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    43500  6500       6     269   72     7   326000 

delta: $276,000
MTT NLHE balance: $11,584,668
2020 balance: $4,562,343
balance: $66,370,353

My blue heaven

Last night, my overall balance returned to the blue, in a resounding way. Even though I started the final table in seventh place, and ended up in seventh, I still feel like I laddered up. Here's why: when hand 110 started, eight players remained. I was the short stack, with just 660 chips. The next smallest stack was 9,999 chips. The ante was 300, and the blinds were 1500 and 3000. So it was abundantly clear I was not long for this world. I had T2o (ten deuce offsuit), and folded. It was my 13th fold in a row. Miraculously, I'd hung on just long enough to be the beneficiary of a money jump. The player with the fourth biggest stack (96,533 chips) took on the player with the third biggest stack (96,698 chips), went all in, and lost. That bumped my profit up by $114,000 :-) I hit the rail the next hand.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   111      63   15     7   648000

delta: $548,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $43,323,000
2019 balance: $9,319,250
balance: $55,903,510

My blue heaven

Last night, I got most of what I was aiming for:

- back in the blue? yes ($32,491,035)
- three straight MTT-R NLHE final tables? no :-(
- most final tables in a 5 MTT-R NLHE stretch? no :-(
- most final tables in a 6 MTT-R NLHE stretch? yes (4)
- largest profit for a calendar year? yes ($21,073,205)

This continues to be a career year. These are the good old days :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    40      82   18    47        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   163      68   15     6   915000

delta: $565,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $20,242,500
2017 balance: $21,073,205
balance: $32,491,035

My blue heaven

Last night, I was able to achieve bluidity in my cash game no limit hold'em balance. That is, it hit a new all-time high. As I've said before, the cash game no limit hold'em poker flavor is my bread and butter. I care more about that balance being in the blue than any other. I've done very well in that department; of the 682 sessions of cash game no limit hold'em poker I've played, fully 197 of them, or 28.89%, have ended in the blue. By comparison, of the 378 sessions of cash game pot limit hold'em poker I've played, only 55 of them, or 14.55%, have ended in the blue. Cash game no limit hold'em is truly my blue heaven :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 97 hands and saw flop:
 - 11 out of 14 times while in big blind (78%)
 - 8 out of 15 times while in small blind (53%)
 - 33 out of 68 times in other positions (48%)
 - a total of 52 out of 97 (53%)
 Pots won at showdown - 8 of 13 (61%)
 Pots won without showdown - 9

delta: $130,702
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $6,101,431
balance: $9,159,134

My blue heaven

If there's anything I like more than making up a new poker statistic, it's making one up which shows I'm at the top of my game. All the statistics I come up with can be used to rank sessions, or groups of contiguous sessions, in order from best to worst (in terms of the particular statistic). What I really love to see is when the top entry on the list has an ending date which is the date of my most recent session.

In neo parlance, a blue session is one where one's balance goes "into the blue" - in other words, hits a new all-time high. If a session is blue, it has a "blue count" of 1; otherwise, its "blue count" is 0. My new poker statistic is a moving sum of blue counts, looked at over a configurable number of contiguous sessions.

Here are my top ten blue counts over a 30 session span:

23 Mon Feb 27 00:00:00 2012 Wed Apr 04 01:00:00 2012 (28)
22 Sat Feb 25 00:00:00 2012 Tue Apr 03 01:00:00 2012 (28)
22 Mon Nov 14 00:00:00 2011 Tue Dec 20 00:00:00 2011 (27)
21 Fri Feb 24 00:00:00 2012 Mon Apr 02 01:00:00 2012 (28)
21 Fri Nov 18 00:00:00 2011 Tue Dec 27 00:00:00 2011 (26)
21 Thu Nov 17 00:00:00 2011 Fri Dec 23 00:00:00 2011 (26)
21 Wed Nov 16 00:00:00 2011 Thu Dec 22 00:00:00 2011 (26)
21 Tue Nov 15 00:00:00 2011 Wed Dec 21 00:00:00 2011 (26)
21 Sat Nov 12 00:00:00 2011 Mon Dec 19 00:00:00 2011 (27)
21 Fri Oct 14 01:00:00 2011 Tue Nov 22 00:00:00 2011 (25)

The number in parentheses is the number of winning sessions in the span. A blue session is by definition a winning session, but a winning session doesn't have to be a blue one.

As you can see, my blue heaven is happening right now :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 57 hands and saw flop:
- 7 out of 11 times while in big blind (63%)
- 9 out of 12 times while in small blind (75%)
- 24 out of 34 times in other positions (70%)
- a total of 40 out of 57 (70%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 10 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $2,800
balance: $4,094,736