Taking a break

Without specifically intending to do so, I've taken a break from The Quest and poker in general. We've switched to a four day week at work, which wouldn't be so bad if it was four 8-hour days. You wouldn't think it would make that much difference, but that extra two hours a day really puts a crimp in things during the work week.

By the time I get home, relax a little bit, and grab some dinner, it's often been well past 9:00. I find myself even more sleep-deprived than usual, so I don't feel like doing much other than vegetating on the sofa. Playing any of the blogger tournaments, which I hadn't been doing much of anyway, is completely out of the question due to the late starting time.

And, on top of all this, I've finally started getting into a computer game I got for Christmas last year.

Something had to give and it looks like it was poker. It wasn't planned that way; it just sort of happened. Not that I'm giving it up or anything. With having Fridays off I've given thought to heading over to the Hard Rock to play live. Now that they're spreading $100 buy-in NL it might be worth my while. Haven't actually done it yet, but I'm thinking about it.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll rejoin The Quest again soon. I just need to get used to this new schedule and figure out how to find the time for it.

1 in 649,740

It was once again not a very good night on The Quest, though the hand above definitely brightened my attitude. And not only did I hit a royal flush, I got paid for it. Not as much as it seems it should be worth, but given that these types of hands usually pay next to nothing, it was a decent payoff. Too bad Stars doesn't have a bonus for a royal.

I have to wonder a bit about whether the odds of hitting a royal flush have been calculated correctly. I got the odds in the title from some web page. According to that page there are 2,598,960 possible ways to make a hand in Hold'em. Four of those are royal flushes. So the odds of a royal flush are 1 in 649,740.

I know I've played at least 300,000 hands of ring Hold'em. It might be closer to 500,000. I've varied during my poker "career" from keeping very good track of every hand and not keeping track at all. Several times. So I don't have hard proof, but I'd guess I'm on the low side of 500,000.

This is the fourth (or is it the fifth?) royal flush I've had in online ring games. I know it's at least the fourth because I got two of them at a site that gives a 100xBB bonus for, as they call it, a "royal straight flush". (That just doesn't roll off the tongue quite right.) And I know I got another one previously because I was disappointed that I didn't get a bonus. There may have been one more in there. And none of this is counting tournament play, where I vaguely recall having hit a royal flush at least a couple times.

According to PokerTracker I would have a few more if I hadn't folded before the river. (These were hands where I held just one card of the royal and folded it before the flop because it came with a crappy partner.)

So here I am with less than 500,000 hands played and I've had at least four royal flushes, plus a couple more I would have had if I'd been stupid enough to play K3o into a pre-flop raise. I've never considered myself especially lucky at poker. Sure, I've had my share of suckouts, but no one has ever accused me of being a card rack over more than the time span of a tournament or two. If anything, I've had the impression that luck, if there is such a thing, is slightly against me. Knowing how far ahead I am on the royal flush curve, perhaps I should reevaluate that impression.

Speaking of the not very lucky department, despite the one really good hand, it was another down night for The Quest. I finished the evening with $4.46 less than when it started. I made one stupid move that cost me a fair bit, but otherwise the big losses were to idiots who called my big bets despite not being remotely close to getting the right odds. Nothing but an inside straight draw and one guy calls a 2/3 pot bet with just the river to come. I'm not sure if it's the bad luck or the rewarding of stupidity that makes me more upset.

I should also put in a good word for the Popopop Universal Replayer, which is what I used for the picture of the royal flush posted above. This is a great tool for reviewing hands during play and going over your play after a session. The chiclet scroller at the bottom of the screen is great for zeroing in on decisive hands. I've not made much use of the export feature, but it looks decent. And, best of all, the replayer is free!

Weekend Update

Since things were not going well with The Quest, I essentially took the last week off. The little bit I played was more of the goofing off variety, nothing serious.

In that vein, I've been playing a bit more PLO, and doing halfway decent at it. I still don't have a great deal of confidence, but I think I'm getting a better feel for it.

PokerStars is having a big "2X" promotion this month. The first week of July it was double VPPs. (Or is it FPPs? I've never been able to figure out their convoluted system.) Other than during the comparatively rare bonus chase at Stars, I've never put much emphasis on accumulating points. I do know it's virtually impossible to earn points in the shallow end of the NL pool.

So, with "2X" as an attractant, I decided I'd have a go this month at attaining one of the metal levels at Stars. Looking over the rules, it appears $1/$2 limit is the best compromise between points and minimum exposure to bankroll damage. I four-tabled $1/$2 limit for five or six hours over the long weekend. I'm happy to report that I need only 999,327 VPPs by the end of the year to reach Supernova Elite status. That's only 144 times the total number of points I've accumulated in the entirety of the four years I've been playing at Stars, but, hey, I still got a shot.

Actually, even hitting SilverStar level, the lowest level that requires something more than breathing to attain, may be in jeopardy if I don't play a whole lot more limit. Unfortunately, I've come to really hate limit. The inability to push somebody off a draw is such a handicap.

Plus, the limit tables at Stars have always been incredibly tight. When you see an entire table with a see-flop of 16%, you know you're in for a rough ride. On the plus side, play generally seems to go much faster. So you can get in lots of non-raked hands per hour.

I had a bit of trouble making the shift back to limit, but eventually started to feel comfortable, if not exactly happy. After a bit of up and down, I finished the weekend up $12. That's less than 1BB/hr. Not great, but not terrible considering how long it's been since I played much limit.

If I were to do this more, I would definitely be looking into doing a three or four screen arrangement and getting a dozen or more tables going all at once. While this may sound like I'm trying to become a MMIA, I'd at least be missing the I(nconsiderate) part because I'm sure I'd have little trouble keeping up with a dozen tables at once. With four tables going my attention was wandering well over half the time.

Last night I decided to rejoin The Quest. I got on one of those wild tables where players are making irrationally large raises for no apparent reason. One guy seemed to be a repeat lotto player. He wouldn't push on every hand, but any time he thought he might be in the lead, he'd push it all in. And then re-buy. And re-buy. And re-buy. I bided my time and when I was dealt KK, I bet in a manner I knew would induce at least one other player to push. Turned out I snared two. And my kings held. One hand, nice $8.50 profit, thank you very much. The table broke up just a few hands later so I called it a night. At least now I'm back over the 20 buy-in mark.