Heads up hankering

On Friday night, my seeing the flop percentage was higher than I'd normally like, but for a good reason - during a long stretch in the middle of the session, I was playing heads up. It's unusual to get into heads up situations in a cash game, where anyone can join any empty seat at any time. I really enjoyed it, and realized I missed it from my sit and go days. When you play tournaments, if you play well enough, you're in heads up situations a lot. I'm going to treat myself to playing tournaments again when I hit the 8 million play dollar mark. At that time, I'll allow myself to lose up to one million play dollars playing tournaments, all for the sheer fun of playing them again.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 65 hands and saw flop:
 - 12 out of 22 times while in big blind (54%)
 - 16 out of 22 times while in small blind (72%)
 - 15 out of 21 times in other positions (71%)
 - a total of 43 out of 65 (66%)
 Pots won at showdown - 11 of 25 (44%)
 Pots won without showdown - 15

delta: $14,629
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,593,654
balance: $7,043,062

My best pair of jacks

It's hard to make a lot of money when all you have is a pair, especially if they're not aces. Prudence will push you off that pair many a time, when an opponent bets big. If you do decide to call a big bet, it won't be because you believe your pair is the nuts; it will be because you believe your opponent is bluffing or on a draw. It doesn't take the nuts to beat a bluff, and it certainly doesn't take the nuts to beat a busted draw. Last night, I won my biggest pot of the session, $31,700, with a lowly pair of jacks. I had a hunch that might have been a personal best, so I checked it out. It was, by a whisker; my next largest pot won with a pair of jacks was worth $30,100.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 115 hands and saw flop:
 - 12 out of 17 times while in big blind (70%)
 - 10 out of 18 times while in small blind (55%)
 - 36 out of 80 times in other positions (45%)
 - a total of 58 out of 115 (50%)
 Pots won at showdown - 7 of 14 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $9,993
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,579,025
balance: $7,028,433

A busted flush away

Fans of detective fiction may recognize within the title of this post the name of Travis McGee's boat. Travis being, of course, the hero of many wonderful novels by John D. MacDonald. Just recently, I bought the first book in the series, "The Deep Blue Good-by", on my Kindle; I've really been enjoying reading it on the train. What do I mean by this title? Simply that all I needed to turn a mediocre session into a good one last night was for an opponent not to have made a flush :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 58 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 7 times while in big blind (57%)
 - 4 out of 8 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 24 out of 43 times in other positions (55%)
 - a total of 32 out of 58 (55%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 6 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $753
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,569,032
balance: $7,018,440

The elevator technique

Good cards come in bunches. You have to expect to go through long stretches when you're card dead, surely. Yet you also have to expect stretches, though shorter and more widely spaced ones, where hand after hand you're dealt good cards. How should you deal with those types of stretches? I try to use what I call the elevator technique. Imagine that your goal is to get to the highest floor you can in a skyscraper, using one of the elevators. The problem with the elevators in this building is that there aren't any floor number buttons to press, and on average, the elevators go down much more frequently than they go up. The only button you can press is an emergency button, which takes you down some random number of floors below the floor you were on when the doors last closed. Whenever the elevator doors open, you only have two choices - step off, and lose any chance of going higher, or stay on, and risk ending up on a lower floor. You know that the longer the elevator keeps going up, the more likely it is to go down soon, and precipitously. You're basically playing a game of chicken. How brave are you? You can't help but find out :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 43 hands and saw flop:
 - 2 out of 5 times while in big blind (40%)
 - 1 out of 6 times while in small blind (16%)
 - 14 out of 32 times in other positions (43%)
 - a total of 17 out of 43 (39%)
 Pots won at showdown - 5 of 7 (71%)
 Pots won without showdown - 3

delta: $17,159
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,568,279
balance: $7,017,687

Milestone

Last night, I hit another milestone. My balance went over the 7 million play dollar mark again. It's the second time I've achieved this; the first time, I was playing tournaments, and my balance quickly fell way back down after a run of losses. Every time I cross a million play dollar boundary, I take a moment to think back on where I started, and how I got where I am. I started out scared of high stakes, and petrified of no limit. First I weaned myself of my fear of high stakes; much later, I weaned myself of my fear of no limit. I can't say I was ever actually afraid of playing tournaments in the past, since for some reason it never crossed my mind to play them until I'd been playing online cash game poker for about 3 1/2 years. I can say that, due to my experiences playing them, I have a healthy respect for how hard it is to make money playing them. You might even say I'm a teeny bit afraid of tournaments now :-)

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 66 hands and saw flop:
 - 7 out of 12 times while in big blind (58%)
 - 6 out of 11 times while in small blind (54%)
 - 24 out of 43 times in other positions (55%)
 - a total of 37 out of 66 (56%)
 Pots won at showdown - 2 of 8 (25%)
 Pots won without showdown - 4

balance: $9,807
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,551,120
balance: $7,000,528

A clockwork century

In cricket, a century is the accumulation of 100 runs without being "out" (note: I'm indebted to my father, who grew up in England, for this correction of my original, inaccurate definition). I'll adopt and adapt this term to poker. In poker, a century will stand for 100 consecutive sessions. In this context, a century where you've met your main statistical goals will henceforth be known as a clockwork century :-) As you know, my most longstanding statistical goal in poker is to achieve the golden ratio - winning at least twice as many sessions as the number of sessions I lose. That amounts to winning at least 67 of every 100 sessions. Mathematically, it comes out to 66 2/3, but it's kind of hard to win two thirds of a session :-) I've won 66 of my last 100 sessions, so I'm on the very cusp of the golden ratio. I'm close enough to lay claim to a clockwork century.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 31 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 4 times while in big blind (100%)
 - 2 out of 4 times while in small blind (50%)
 - 13 out of 23 times in other positions (56%)
 - a total of 19 out of 31 (61%)
 Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
 Pots won without showdown - 2

delta: $12,478
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,541,313
balance: $6,990,721

Folding machine

Last night, I was a folding machine. I'm arriving at the point where it feels natural and right to fold most of the time, which is a good thing. The more volatile the table, the more important it is to be able to fold early and often. When you finally get a good hand, take it to showdown. With any luck, you'll wind up winning a ton of chips. That's what happened to me twice last night. On hand 16, I won a pot worth $60,474 with two pair, queens and nines. On hand 46, I won a pot worth $42,389 with two pair, queens and eights. That was enough for me.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 47 hands and saw flop:
 - 4 out of 5 times while in big blind (80%)
 - 1 out of 5 times while in small blind (20%)
 - 12 out of 37 times in other positions (32%)
 - a total of 17 out of 47 (36%)
 Pots won at showdown - 2 of 5 (40%)
 Pots won without showdown - 1

delta: $44,663
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,528,835
balance: $6,978,243