Pure ITM streak

An ITM (in the money) streak is a streak of tournaments where you make the money. A pure ITM streak is a streak of the same kind of tournament where you make the money. Right now, I have a pure ITM streak going in MTT NLHE. It's five and counting; I'm going for six tonight.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       6     168   36    19   131000

delta: $31,000
MTT NLHE balance: $9,132,668
2020 balance: $2,110,343
balance: $63,918,353

Hoist with my own petard

I have good news and bad news about last night's session. First, the good news: I made the money for the fourth tournament in a row. The bad news: my chances of going deep in the tournament were 86ed when I ran into an opponent who made me pay on the river. He hit a flush on the turn, and value bet it both of the last two streets. Hoist with my own petard :-) I didn't hit the rail on that hand, but my stack took a big hit. Nonetheless, I'm happy with my play.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000 50000       6     118   30    16   431000

delta: $231,000
MTT NLHE balance: $9,101,668
2020 balance: $2,079,343
balance: $63,887,353

Pay me on the river

I first used this blog post title on January 18, 2013; here's an excerpt of what I had to say:

The more I play poker, the more I realize the importance of getting your opponents to believe they have you beat. That's the best way to get paid off. It's clear that the longer someone stays in a hand, the more reluctant they'll be to throw it away. The less you bet in the early stages of a hand, the more likely that players will stay in it. The stronger your hand is, the more important it is that you don't bet it big early on. This whole philosophy can be summed up in five words: "Pay me on the river".

Last night, I got paid on the river on a hand where I flopped a nut flush. I was dealt an ace of hearts and another heart, and the flop was all hearts. I didn't bet it on the flop, and I didn't bet it on the turn. On the river, an opponent bet, I raised, he called, and I raked in a nice enough pot to set me up well for making the money. I did :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000 50000       6     319   84    53   100000

delta: $50,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,870,668
2020 balance: $1,848,343
balance: $63,656,353

The rockets dilemma

It's always a good feeling to look down and find you've been dealt pocket aces. I'd be lying if I said this occurrence doesn't also introduce a frisson of trepidation. Aces are great, but aces can be cracked. This leads to what I call the rockets dilemma. Simply put, how do you play them? There's no objectively correct answer to this question. I think there is such an answer to the different question of how they should not be played. The answer to that question is that you should not immediately go all in. In last night's session, I was dealt aces once, and they were cracked. Did I go all in immediately? No. Did I go all in at all? No. Did I save myself some chips by playing the way I did? Most probably.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    87000 13000       6     118   30    18   215000

delta: $115,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,820,668
2020 balance: $1,798,343
balance: $63,606,353

Saved by Broadway

This is the fourth time I've used this blog post title. The third was on December 22, 2019. Here's an excerpt of what I had to say:

It's amazing how far you can go in poker when all hope seems to be lost. Perfectly timed luck can turn your fortunes around completely. That's what happened to me on Friday night. I was short-stacked, and had to go all in on a Broadway draw (a Broadway is an ace high straight). If I didn't hit it, I was out. Mirabile dictu, I hit in on the river, and was back in business!

That paragraph applies almost perfectly to last night's session as well; the only incorrect information is the day of the week it was played. The river card was a ten, meaning that I only had the same odds as a gutshot draw to win the hand. It never gets old to be saved by Broadway :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       6     160   42    15   144000

delta: $94,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,705,668
2020 balance: $1,683,343
balance: $63,491,353

Sloppy

It never pays to be sloppy in any endeavor, and that's especially true when the endeavor is poker. Last night, I was sloppy. I hit the rail in the first tournament I entered when I lost to a straight. The problem was that I didn't bother to check what hands the board supported which could beat mine. I was operating by feel alone, which is not a good plan. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I checked to see if a board supported a straight. That's a recurring hole in my game which I need to plug once more.

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE   174000 26000       6     111   30     -        0
MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       9     206   45    77        0

delta: $-250,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,611,668
2020 balance: $1,589,343
balance: $63,397,353

Last blue days

As a companion piece to last night's blog, here are the last blue days of each year of my career:

2009-05-20       $342,247
2010-09-23     $1,047,691
2011-12-29     $3,446,119
2012-11-04     $7,183,821
2013-11-13     $7,830,132
2014-08-27    $10,264,826
2015-12-31    $10,700,364
2016-02-10    $12,966,294
2017-12-31    $45,463,260
2018-05-06    $54,484,260
2019-08-17    $66,129,410

In other news, I was amused to discover that last night's profit was as close as it could be to this year's average profit per session. You don't see that every day :-)

style flavor buy_in entry players entries paid place winnings

MTT   NLHE    45000  5000       9     244   54    22    74000

delta: $24,000
MTT NLHE balance: $8,861,668
2020 balance: $1,839,343
balance: $63,647,353