Señor Tres

Here are my sit and go place counts since returning to tournaments from cash games on May 2:

place    count
1            6
2           10
3            9
4            5
5            6
6            1

            37

The sum of my counts in the top three places is more than double the sum of my counts in the bottom three. That's another example of the golden ratio. The number that really stands out here is 1, the number of times I came in last. I'm actually a little shocked that I came in last even once :-) There are so many impatient players who enter these sit and gos, you have to be pretty impatient yourself to go out first. I'm very rarely impatient at poker these days.

Why did I choose "Señor Tres" as the title of this post? For the simple reason that I'm feeling so confident lately that I believe I can get to three handed play every time I enter a sit and go.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    35     5        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    52     1   175500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    60     3        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    74     3        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    36     3        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    77     2    94500

delta: $-30,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,397,800
balance: $9,084,379

The last time I felt like this

One again, I'm using the title of a song I really like for the title of a post. "The Last Time I Felt Like This" was the theme song from the 1978 movie "Same Time, Next Year", and was sung by Johnny Mathis and Jane Olivor. Last night, I won my second session in a row, for a two session total of over $100,000. The last time I accomplished that feat was way back on December 6th of last year. How do I feel? As you might suspect, really good :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    17     5        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    86     2    94500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    29     2    94500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    82     2    94500

delta: $83,500
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,427,800
balance: $9,114,379

Continuous improvement

One of the goals of many companies these days is continuous improvement of their processes and products. It's a lofty and worthwhile goal, but quite hard to achieve. It's also a lofty and worthwhile goal in poker, and even harder to achieve there than it is in business. What do I mean by a poker process? Simply, the thinking a player goes through to make a poker decision. What do I mean by a poker product? The result of that thinking. When playing tournaments, the best measure of poker product is the place you came in. Of course, MTT places can't be compared directly to SNG places.

Last night's session was quite rare, in that it showed continuous improvement of my poker product. Whether or not this was indicative of continuous improvement of my poker process is anybody's guess :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

MTT   HORSE    4500   500       6    12    71        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    26     3        0
MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    32    53        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    71     3        0
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    79     2    94500
SNG   NLHE    45000  5000       6    75     1   175500

delta: $60,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,344,300
balance: $9,030,879

Moving time

I've decided it's time for me to move up in stakes. Since going back to tournaments, I've only been playing at baby stakes - the $4,500 buy in level. When I did well at tournaments in 2012 and 2014, my sweet spot was the $45,000 buy in level. Since I think I can do well again, I should pick a level which will give me more profit. At the higher level, I'll be guaranteeing myself 10 times the profit (provided of course that I make a profit :-)).

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    23     3        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    52     4        0
MTT   HORSE    4500   500       6    33    25        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    43     3        0

delta: $-20,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,274,300
balance: $8,970,879

Clawing my way back to profitability

Some time ago, I concluded that it was practically impossible to make a profit playing sit and gos. With my recent good results, however, I need to reassess this. As it turns out, I've almost clawed my way back to sit and go profitability. Here are my current career sit and go results:

place    count(*)
1    120
2    130
3    135
4    117
5    99
6    66
count(*)
667

If I'd played all of these sit and gos using the $50,000 buy in, $800 entry fee structure, I would have made a profit of $3,166,400. If I'd played all of them using the $45,000 buy in, $5,000 entry fee structure, I would have lost a grand total of just $5,000. That's essentially breaking even. I find that really encouraging!

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

MTT   HORSE    4500   500       6     8    59        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    80     1    17550
MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6   134     7    11840

delta: $14,390
MTT 8-game balance: $124,930
balance: $8,990,879

Hot and cold running cowboys

221 is a pretty important number in poker. Why? Because it's the number of hands you have to play (on average) in order to be dealt a specific pair. If you've played less than 221 hands in a particular session, you should expect to see a specific pair show up at most once. If you see a specific pair show up not once, not twice, but three times, you know you've witnessed an outlying event. Last night, I played three no limit hold'em sit and gos, and was dealt cowboys (a pair of kings) three times. Since I only played 161 hands, I knew I'd definitely witnessed an outlying event. Just call it hot and cold running cowboys :-) It was made even more unusual by the fact that cowboys were the last hand I was dealt in the last two sit and gos. I don't even have to look this up to be certain that this was the first time that's ever happened to me.

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    60     2     9450
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    77     1    17550
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    24     4        0

delta: $12,000
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,270,300
balance: $8,976,489

Better than I remembered

I had a nice surprise this morning when I went over the stats from last night's session. I was sure I'd only made the money in two of the six tournaments I played, but in actuality I'd made the money in three of them. Moreover, two of those three were first places! How could it be that I didn't remember coming in first one of the two times I did it? I think I know the answer. I'd been doing so poorly at heads up recently that I probably figured I was bound to lose, and remembered the probability instead of the actuality :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players hands place winnings

MTT   8-Game   4500   500       6    42    35        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    42     2     9450
MTT   HORSE    4500   500       6    29    40        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    59     1    17550
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    14     5        0
SNG   NLHE     4500   500       6    67     1    17550

delta: $14,550
Sit and go no limit hold'em balance: $1,270,300
balance: $8,964,489