Stalking the wild sure thing

Every now and then, I come across a tournament in a delightful state, when there's oodles and oodles of dead money and not much time remaining in the late registration period. In such circumstances, your odds of making the money shoot through the roof. This is as close as poker provides to a sure thing. That's just the situation I found myself in last night, in the second tournament I entered. Unfortunately, there was a rush of late entrants, and I failed to make the money partially due to that. I certainly didn't regret being a late entrant myself. I'll continue to stalk sure things in the poker wild :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6      95   24    26        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       9     135   27    35        0

delta: $-100,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,577,668
2020 balance: $1,646,343
balance: $63,454,353

Minuteman

Last night, the only tournament in which I made the money was the one I joined with just one minute left in its late registration period. I doubled up on the very first hand and never looked back. Just call me a minuteman :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       9     124   27    16    67000
MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       6      97   18    27        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       9      89   18    27        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6      91   24    42        0

delta: $-183,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,677,668
2020 balance: $1,746,343
balance: $63,554,353

Saved by the river

There's nothing in poker quite like the feeling of being saved by the river, when you're all in for your tournament life. That's what I experienced last night. I was short-stacked, dealt a pair of tens, and hitched my wagon to them. I bricked the flop. Then I bricked the turn. Down to my last chance, I spiked a ten on the river. Bingo :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6     149   36     -        0
MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       6     115   24    61        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       9     169   36    15    99000
MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      92   24    12   480000

delta: $179,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,860,668
2020 balance: $1,929,343
balance: $63,737,353

A counterfeit house

The most memorable hand of Friday night's session was the one where I was dealt cowboys (pocket kings) and flopped a full house of kings full of deuces. I had what I thought was a mortal lock on the hand, but the turn and the river card were the other two deuces left in the deck; that meant the board counterfeited my house. I chopped the pot instead of winning it. If my opponent had had an ace in his hand, I would have lost it, so I guess I should be thankful for small favors :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      78   21    47        0

delta: $-200,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,681,668
2020 balance: $1,750,343
balance: $63,558,353

Everything I hate about cash

Last night, after failing to make the money in the two MTT NLHE tournaments I entered, I decided to try a poker variant recently introduced on PokerStars - no limit 6+ hold'em. 6+ hold'em is short deck poker - the deuce through the five of each suit has been removed from the deck, so that 6 is the lowest denomination in each suit (hence the name). I assumed it was going to be a tournament, but to my horror, it turned out to be a cash game. That forcibly brought back to me everything I hate about cash games:

1. there may be a rake
2. tables can quit on you
3. big stacks can bully you, and you're stuck with them
4. donkeys can bleed all the fun from the game
5. there's no natural ending point
6. bad luck will eventually bite you

I started the cash game with an initial stack of $25,000, at a table with 5 other players.  After about 15 minutes, only 3 of us were left, and one of them was sitting out. So I was left heads up against a big stack who was playing aggressively. We played for about half an hour, nobody else joined, the sitting out player never returned, and the big stack eventually quit on me. I lost $13,657. It was the least fun I've had playing poker in years. 6+ cash? Never again!

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       6     107   24    34        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6      93   27     -        0

delta: $-163,657
MTT NLHE balance: $8,881,668
2020 balance: $1,950,343
balance: $63,758,353

Pulling the ripcord too late

It's all very well to have a ripcord to pull, but it does you no good if you pull it too late. That's what I did on Saturday night. I fell in love with a stealth two pair, and didn't figure out it was no good until the river. Even though I'd overspent to that point, it still made sense to fold there, so I did. I was up against two opponents and it was a virtual certainty that one of them had a straight. Since they both went to showdown, I was able to see that one of them did indeed have a straight - a Broadway straight at that. My stack was crippled, and I hit the rail shortly afterwards, an outcome I fully deserved.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6      93   24    34        0
MTT   NLHE    45000 26000       6     121   30    71        0

delta: $-250,000
MTT NLHE balance: $9,031,668
2020 balance: $2,114,000
balance: $63,922,010

My best poker January

It's always a nice thing to start a poker year off with a bang, and I did that in January. In fact, I had my best January ever. On the strength of a deep run last night, I edged out the previous January record-holder, $2,247,000, from 2018. My next goal is to get back into the blue; I'm "just" $1,957,400 away :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       6      66    12    3   803000

delta: $703,000
MTT NLHE balance: $9,281,668
2020 balance: $2,364,000
balance: $64,172,010