Poker interruptus

I've used this title several times before. Last night, I experienced poker interruptus once again. It's never fun. This time, instead of being due to a power outage, it was due to my internet connection going down.

This is an excerpt from my January 24, 2019 post. Yesterday, in the only tournament I played, my internet connection went down after I'd already made the money. It happened in the middle of a hand where I'd been dealt pocket cowboys, and called a preflop bet which put me all in. I never got to see if I won that hand or not. I'm guessing not, for one of the following reasons:

1. there were additional bets made after my connection dropped, which would have caused the PokerStars software to change my status to "sitting out", mucking my hand automatically

2. I think the PokerStars software may have changed my status to "sitting out" even if no additional bets were made, due to detecting that my connection had dropped

Fortunately, these "poker interruptus" occurrences are exceedingly rare.

style flavor    buy_in  entry entries paid place winnings hands

MTT   NLHE       44000   6000     310   81    45   122000    48

delta: $72,000
2025 balance: $-961,000
2025 blue distance: $961,000
balance: $15,336,303
MTT NLHE ITM pct: 41.43 (1308 of 3157)

Poker interruptus

I've used this title several times before. Last night, I experienced poker interruptus once again. It's never fun. This time, instead of being due to a power outage, it was due to my internet connection going down. This happened at a most inopportune time - when there were just 13 players, including me, left in a tournament which paid 12 places. I think I was in seventh place when the plug got pulled. Mirabile dictu, even though I was automatically sat out, I finished in seventh, for a healthy chunk of change. What this means is that the remaining players kept fighting each other, instead of silently colluding to share my dead chips amongst themselves. When players fight, knockouts happen much more frequently than they otherwise would. Those knockouts gave me my nice payday :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    64      78   18    47        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    57      61   15    31        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    99      57   12     7   628000

delta: $328,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $34,772,500
2019 balance: $891,000
balance: $47,475,260

Poker interruptus, times two

Last night, I was enjoying a double shot of poker, playing on Pokerstars and watching the final table of the WSOP main event at the same time. So when the plug got pulled on me, I had double the pain. How did the plug get pulled? My laptop overheated from the heavy workload I was putting on it, and as a precaution some system software decided to turn off the screen to remove one of the heat sources. It was a bit eerie - I could still hear the audio of the WSOP stream, but obviously couldn't continue to play. I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and turned off my laptop at that point. I'll never know if I would have been able to make a profit on that last tournament.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT   8-Game  45000  5000       6    41      65   12    48        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    48      77   18    49        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9     ?       ?    ?     ?        0

delta: $-500,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $40,047,500
2018 balance: $7,201,000
balance: $52,714,260

Poker interruptus

There's never a good time to have a power outage when you're playing online poker. As it turns out, however, there is a worst such time. I should know, since I experienced it last night :-) I had made it under the lights in the second tournament I entered, and was the chip leader. There were only seven players, including me, still alive. I had a legitimate shot of winning all the marbles. All of a sudden, lights out! What made this especially cruel was I didn't immediately realize the predicament I was in, since my laptop seamlessly switched to battery backup power. Unfortunately, the router which provides me with my wifi connection was knocked out of commission. All I could do was turn off my laptop, brush my teeth, and go to bed. This morning, I checked out where I finished - 4th place. Not bad, for someone forced to sit out the most crucial hands in the tournament.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands entries paid place winnings

MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9    21      59   12    35        0
MTT-R NLHE    43500  6500       9   124      67   15     4  1158000

delta: $808,000
MTT with rebuys NLHE balance: $41,104,500
2018 balance: $7,396,000
balance: $52,909,260

Poker interruptus

Lately, I've been having issues with my internet connectivity at night. Sometimes it slows way down, and sometimes it even stops working completely. That's a horrible feeling, especially when I'm playing poker. Last night, it happened without warning, giving me a bad case of poker interruptus. Since I was in the black at the time, considering the way I've been playing lately, maybe it was a blessing in disguise :-) Be that as it may, I fervently hope it doesn't happen again.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 53 hands and saw flop:
 - 5 out of 7 times while in big blind (71%)
 - 5 out of 7 times while in small blind (71%)
 - 26 out of 39 times in other positions (66%)
 - a total of 36 out of 53 (67%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 10 (40%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $20,735
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $6,513,205
balance: $9,418,304