Playing against a ghost

Tournaments are strange beasts. They're about as different from cash games as it's possible to be. One of the differences between these two poker styles, which I hadn't thought about much before, figured prominently in the final tournament I played last night. It was a no limit hold'em sit and go, and one of my opponents sat out after becoming the chip leader. In a cash game, sitting out doesn't penalize you in any way. The size of your chip stack stays constant while you're away from the game. Not so in a tournament! Every time the blinds roll around to your seat, they're deducted from your stack. That's because in a tournament, you're always dealt a hand, even when you're sitting out. The hands of players who are sitting out get auto-folded to any bet. It's an odd feeling to be playing when one of your opponents is sitting out; it's kind of like playing against a ghost. You never know if or when the player might return to become a living opponent once again. I think the one-time chip leader in last night's last sit and go was actually not physically near his or her computer at the end. The reason I think this is that while it's a legitimate strategy to sit out for periods of time in a tournament, it's suicide not to return to the table when your stack gets seriously low; you'll wind up getting blinded off.

I made it to the final three players, one of whom was the ghost and the other of whom was the current chip leader, with a massive stack. All I had to do was outlast the ghost, and I'd be in the money. The problem was, I was seriously short-stacked myself. I didn't actually have enough chips to be assured of folding my way into the money ahead of the ghost, so I had to play my way there. On hand 63, I lucked out when I hit a straight on the river; that boosted my stack enough to enable me to fold my way from there into the money :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

MTT   HORSE    4500   500       6    36    34        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    10     4        0
MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    58    37        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    35     5        0
MTT   HORSE    4500   500       6    12    45        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    67     2     9450

delta: $-20,550
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,270,300
balance: $8,949,939

Just say no to Hyper sit and gos

I've been playing a fair amount of no limit hold'em sit and gos lately. I have three main reasons for doing this:

1. they're fun to play
2. they help me pass the time while waiting for the right moment to enter an MTT
3. they give me something to play at the end of the night, when I can't afford the time commitment of another MTT

All no limit hold'em sit and gos are not created equal, however. Not even ones which have identical buy ins, entry fees, and payouts. PokerStars labels some of the sit and gos Turbo and others Hyper. I've discovered, the hard way, that Hyper sit and gos are just not worth it, at least for me. There are two major disadvantages of Hyper sit and gos:

1. each player only starts out with $500 worth of chips, instead of the $1,000 of Turbos
2. Hypers use both antes and blinds; Turbos only use blinds

I think the only reason to enter a Hyper is if you want things to be over quickly, and don't particularly care whether you win or lose :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    88    18     6410
MTT   HORSE    4500   500       6     7    51        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    10     5        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    41     3        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    42     3        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    50     2     9450

delta: $-14,140
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,270,300
balance: $8,970,489

Tournament spree

Last night, I went on a tournament spree. I played seven tournaments in all; five were sit and go no limit hold'em, one was an MTT HORSE, and one was an MTT 8-game. I made the money in the MTT HORSE and one of the sit and go no limit hold'ems. I've now made the money in 4 of the 6 MTT HORSE tournaments I've played, and am actually in the black in this style/flavor, to the tune of a whopping $660 :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    20     5        0
SNG   NLHE      900   100       6     9     4        0
MTT   HORSE    4500   500       6    62    18     6750
MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    44    35        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    53     2     9450
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    15     4        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6     2     6        0

delta: $-14,800
MTT HORSE balance: $660
balance: $8,984,629

Bootstrapping

Last night, I played an MTT 8-game, had a blast, and made the final table. I now firmly believe it's a mistake not to late register when entering MTTs, so I only late register these days :-) The sweet spot is 25-35 minutes after the tournament starting time.

I had a short stack for much of the night, but was table to keep outlasting other players. Sometimes you just have a feeling you're going to make the final table, and I got that feeling when I was about 10 spots away. From my observations of the vicissitudes of MTTs, I greatly prefer making the final table by bootstrapping my way there instead of being a front runner. It makes for a wilder ride, and that's half the fun :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

  4500       500           6       166     4    39780

delta: $34,780
MTT 8-game balance: $131,680
balance: $8,999,429

The fun factor

Last night, I decided to play an MTT HORSE. I made that decision since I've been doing horribly at cash games, and haven't been having any fun playing them. Poker needs to be fun! Of course, it's always more fun when you win, but poker needs to be fun even when you don't. As I've said before, the most fun I've ever had playing poker is at MTT mixed games, either 8-game or HORSE. I really have nothing left to prove to myself in the cash game arena, but the same is not true for tournaments. I feel like I need to prove to myself that I can make a profit playing MTTs. If that means 2015 ends up being the first year I fail to make a profit on the year, so be it :-)

buy_in entry_fee num_players num_hands place winnings

  4500       500           6        57    12     9510

delta: $4,510
MTT HORSE balance: $-1,090
balance: $8,964,649

Bad river money

Last night, the slump continued apace. I'm forced to admit that I've been making some very bad decisions here and there. You don't have to make bad decisions very often in order for them to be able to destroy you. One of the worst kinds of bad decision you can make is to spend bad money on the river. Here's what I mean by this: if you've made it to the river and have a good hand, but the community cards support a better hand, spending any more money is just plain bad. You must not bet in this situation, and if an opponent does, you must not call. Here are three classic bad river money scenarios:

1. you have two pair, or three of a kind, and the community cards support a straight
2. you have a straight, and the community cards support a flush
3. you have a flush, and the community cards support a full house

Last night, it was scenario 3 which took me to the felt for the second (and final) time.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 76 hands and saw flop:
 - 8 out of 8 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 7 out of 11 times while in small blind (63%)
 - 26 out of 57 times in other positions (45%)
 - a total of 41 out of 76 (53%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 9 (33%)
 Pots won without showdown - 5

delta: $-100,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $6,212,980
balance: $8,960,139

51.4 million cash game no limit hold'em play dollars lost

People who fly a lot rack up tons of frequent flyer miles. People who play poker a lot rack up tons of losses. I'm in the latter group. Poker losses are inevitable. You don't need to worry about them, unless you're failing to rack up profits at an even greater rate :-) I just ran the numbers, and discovered I topped the 50 million mark in cash game no limit hold'em losses recently. To be precise, to date I've lost $51,430,280 at cash game no limit hold'em. You could say I'm at expert at losing :-) Luckily for me, I've also won $57,009,977 in this poker flavor.

Last night, I had my fourth loss in a row, and the fifth in my last six sessions. I'm definitely in a slump. Last night, my aggregate losses for the session made my all time top 5 list for cash game no limit hold'em sessions. I'm not worried, though; I'll break out soon.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 181 hands and saw flop:
 - 16 out of 23 times while in big blind (69%)
 - 10 out of 25 times while in small blind (40%)
 - 59 out of 133 times in other positions (44%)
 - a total of 85 out of 181 (46%)
 Pots won at showdown - 14 of 29 (48%)
 Pots won without showdown - 6

delta: $-100,000
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $6,312,980
balance: $9,060,139