Double Trouble with Prim and Harrier - Poker, Sports, Cooking, Gardening, Mixed Drinks and more

Originally posted by Primrose6789

Originally posted by taavi1337
Pokersites being down sometimes is normal. What we can do is add different games to our arsenal and be able to switch sites. Such as: "PLO10 on Unibet" or "$0.22 NLHE tournament on Partypoker". If we rely too much on FL 5CD income from Pokerstars, we can run into dependency trouble, if Stars has errors in its services.

Taavi, for German players things are unfortunately not so easy. We do not have "Unibet", the number of poker rooms for us are restricted.

I see... I hope someone launches a nice poker room also for the German market, such as KKpoker from Asia? launched a nice new poker room for Estonian market, even though it asked for a physical proof of location that I bring from the town government. Yeah for Estonians I think I can play at about 5 online poker rooms currently and I use like 3 of them.

We had an eight mile run yesterday, which will be the shortest Sunday run until the very last weeks before the race. it went very well, I returned home with plenty of energy left. How I will handle the really long runs yet to come remains to be seen, but so far, our progress has been great.

Also, we are almost a quarter through the whole schedule in terms of miles, and we are already past that mark in terms of weeks. We can also already take pride in over 100 miles run in total.

Originally, I intended to put the schedule on hold in the week before Easter, and instead just do a few occasional runs to keep up my current progress. But now that I think about it... I think it's fine as it is. The important thing is that Friday is off, which is the case anyway, and a little Easter jog won't hurt, right? Well, it probably will a little, in this case... it's 12 miles after all.

Still, I will go ahead with the plan - time for Week 6, let's keep it up.

So the running is making some progress, but what about poker? I'd say it's a mixed bag. Five Card Draw is, overall, still going really well. While the SNGs progress has slowed down a little this weekend, I managed to secure another decent MTT cash last night.

Even OFC is going well so far, with surprising consistency too, even though the bricked Drawmaha MTT put quite a dent in my crypto bankroll, but I'm still comfortably in profit for the year.

The big problem, however, is still Badugi. The flagship. The main game. The very reason I'm still around here.

Disregarding the satellites, where I won three seats, one of them resulting in $22 worth of tournament money, and one leading to a $26.30 cash in the target tournament, I am now sitting at a loss of over $70 in the standard $4.40 MTTs. Last night went particularly poorly, where I was forced to take a rebuy after just one hand, running a drawn 6-Badugi into a perfect 4. Now this was just bad luck - I would consider a 6-Badugi to be pretty much the threshold to go all-in in virtually every situation. Overall, however, the results are bad enough that I wouldn't consider variance a valid excuse.

It's true, I have been through bad stretches that lasted a few months before, so I will try not to add any pressure by imposing some kind of ultimatum on me. If things continue to go poorly, on the other hand, it goes without saying that I will eventually have to re-evaluate this game's position in the grind. That's not an ultimatum, it's just an early expression of concern. Things will continue as normal for the time being.

It's weird how I sometimes write about my performance as if I was my own employee... but I guess that's kind of how it goes in poker, you wear many hats as a player.

I hope that I will have the March stats ready in time, I think I will still need to adjust some spreadsheets. I am looking forward to the Sharkscope leaderboards, though (except Badugi...). Also, there should still be some "lost stats" from the past few years to post.

Another 6-Badugi, let's go! No way it happens again...

PokerStars, $3.92 + $0.48 - Badugi Pot Limit - 25/50 - 5 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 3,685 (74 bb)
CO: 2,280 (46 bb)
BU (Hero): 5,623 (112 bb)
SB: 2,785 (56 bb)
BB: 3,858 (77 bb)

Deal: (75) Hero is BTN with 3♦ 8♠ 4♠ A♣
1 fold, CO calls 50, Hero raises to 100, 1 fold, BB calls 50, CO calls 50

Draw One: (325) 3♦ 4♠ A♣ 6♥ (3 players)
BB draws 2, CO draws 2, BU (Hero) draws 8s
BB bets 179, CO folds, Hero raises to 400, BB calls 221

Draw Two: (1,125) 3♦ 4♠ A♣ 6♥ (2 players)
BB draws 1, BU (Hero) stands pat
BB checks, Hero bets 650, BB raises to 1,300, Hero raises to 5,025, BB calls 2,058 (all-in)

Draw Three: (9,508) 3♦ 4♠ A♣ 6♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)
BB stands pat, BU (Hero) stands pat

Total pot: 7,841

Showdown:
BU (Hero) shows 3♦ 4♠ A♣ 6♥ (a Badugi: 6,4,3,A)
BB shows 4♦ 6♠ 2♣ A♥ (a Badugi: 6,4,2,A)
BB wins 7,841

I can't believe it... and we even had a good start this time, I even got a small bounty.

Note that we weren't out yet, and I did my best trying to get back.

PokerStars, $3.92 + $0.48 - Badugi Pot Limit - 75/150 - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 7,569 (50 bb)
MP: 2,820 (19 bb)
CO: 6,380 (43 bb)
BU (Hero): 3,500 (23 bb)
SB: 2,911 (19 bb)
BB: 9,056 (60 bb)

Deal: (225) Hero is BTN with A♥ 7♠ 2♦ K♠
2 players fold, CO calls 150, Hero raises to 300, 1 fold, BB calls 150, CO calls 150

Draw One: (975) A♥ 7♠ 2♦ 6♣ (3 players)
BB draws 3, CO draws 1, BU (Hero) draws Ks
BB checks, CO bets 975, Hero raises to 3,200 (all-in), BB folds, CO calls 2,225

Draw Two: (7,375) A♥ 7♠ 2♦ 6♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)
CO stands pat, BU (Hero) stands pat

Draw Three: (7,375) (2 players, 1 all-in)
CO stands pat, BU (Hero) stands pat

Total pot: 7,375

Showdown:
BU (Hero) shows A♥ 7♠ 2♦ 6♣ (a Badugi: 7,6,2,A)
CO shows A♣ 3♦ 5♥ 6♠ (a Badugi: 6,5,3,A)
CO wins 7,375

I'm so sorry, guys.... it just wasn't meant to be.

The other games went poorly too. Bad luck in the SNGs, with our opponents constantly drawing trips out of the blue whenever we thought we had 'em.

The 5CD MTT looked good at times and got close to ITM, but ultimately bricked. Can't tell if I could have done better... I kept falling asleep in my chair. So probably.

This session didn't help matters at all, maybe tomorrow will go better.

Damn, I bet you wished those pesky messages would have sat you out in those cooler hands, ha? 🤣

Originally posted by nsavov
Damn, I bet you wished those pesky messages would have sat you out in those cooler hands, ha? 🤣

I can understand him:f_ugly:

-$70 at $5 buy-in level is a nasty swing especially if it is the highest stakes.

Originally posted by taavi1337
-$70 at $5 buy-in level is a nasty swing especially if it is the highest stakes.

Well, we can add another $8.80 to that now.

When I made my post last night, I failed to mention that despite those coolers, I was happy with my play. Can't say the same about tonight, and especially not about my decision to take that rebuy in the first place, very poor all around.

Total (non-satty) Badugi MTTs are now at an $82.96 loss for the year, with a final loss of $54.69 in March. I checked my long-term statistics spreadsheet, and confirmed that this was indeed the worst month ever for Badugi, certainly since keeping track of my results in 2020, but also just overall, I believe.

And now we are getting coolers like this in 5CD SNGs too, where I have now entered a 5-game losing streak:

PokerStars, $1.76 + $0.24 - 5 Card Draw Pot Limit - 100/200 (20 ante) - 4 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: 2,116 (11 bb)
BU (Hero): 2,644 (13 bb)
SB: 1,336 (7 bb)
BB: 2,904 (15 bb)

Deal: (380) Hero is BTN with 2♥ 5♣ 2♣ 2♠ 3♠
UTG raises to 672, Hero calls 672, 2 players fold

Draw One: (1,724) 2♥ 2♣ 2♠ 3♠ 3♣ (2 players)
UTG draws 1, BU (Hero) draws 5c
UTG bets 796, Hero raises to 1,952 (all-in), UTG calls 628 (all-in)

Total pot: 4,572

Showdown:
BU (Hero) shows 2♥ 2♣ 2♠ 3♠ 3♣ (a full house, Twos full of Threes)
UTG shows K♠ K♣ J♠ J♥ K♦ (a full house, Kings full of Jacks)
UTG wins 4,572

Can 5CD MTTs save us? Well, tonight cashed, but we are going to need much more than that to get out of that crisis.

The Leaderboards

I probably won't be able to post my stats and graphs until after Easter, but we can already take a look at the new monthly Sharkscope leaderboards from the end of March, condensed to the relevant games (i.e. no HORSE and no satties).

It's hard to overstate just how badly Badugi is going at the moment. Just look at it, it's absolutely inexcusable.

I'm still #1 in Germany for Five Card Draw, in both SNGs and MTTs, but I had to drop down to 6th place worldwide in the SNGs.

There is also a fully accessible yearly leaderboard for the SNGs, including only the players who are in profit. Turns out there aren't too many of them, but let's take a look:

According to my own spreadsheet, my SNG profit is only at $32.76, but I assume that whatever is causing the discrepancy is applied equally to everyone.

I think I only recognize two names on that list as regs in my games, and this does not include the one at the very top, though I feel like I may have seen them before. Maybe they are just playing at different hours. There are also two Pokerstars.it players, of course, no wonder I don't know them.

If things are to turn around, it would seem like 5CD is our best bet at the moment, though the SNGs are now on a bit of a slump too. We can only try to get out of it next month.

very good sharkscope numbers!
WOW!

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
very good sharkscope numbers!
WOW!

Thanks, Five Card Draw is looking good right now, it's true. The SNGs are still on a bit of a downer recently, and I prefer to be cautious about the MTT results, which could very well be on a heater. But it should at least give us some additional options in the future, if these results can be kept up to a degree.

What bothers me most is still Badugi, and it kind of overshadows any other results. By the way - I originally wrote "It's hard to understate just how badly Badugi is going" in yesterday's post, but then, after reading it again, wondered if it shouldn't be "overstate" instead. After looking it up, it seems to be a surprisingly confusing issue. I went with the correction in the end.

Bar Update

The results from the last few days may want to make me drown my sorrows, but there are still a few days of Lent left. We can nevertheless stock up for Easter and beyond already, when the taps will flow freely again.

Those drinks are mostly for the grindette. Two bottles of coffee liqueur, and one bottle of cocoa liqueur - I would have gotten two, but they only had one left. The extra bottle of Kahlúa will surely make up for it, even though I still have a small amount left at home. The store actually just had a new pallet of Kahlúa delivered when I arrived. It wasn't on the shelves yet, but the friendly clerk gladly brought me a bottle of the new arrivals.

I'll be honest, the bottle of Sierra tequila is mostly just for the Mario Party drinking games. It even came with an extra shot glass, which is nice. Jose Cuervo, meanwhile, is a very good one, so that's the kind to be reserved for my guests. My brother approves of it too, and he has been to Mexico and tasted some great tequila there. I still have some blanco tequila of it left, so I got some reposado here.

Some ouzo? Why not... I can't remember the last time I drank any, and I don't think it has ever been part of my "home bar". I figured it can't hurt to have a bottle of it at home.

I was also looking for some white crème de menthe, thinking that the one at home was running short. Turns out this wasn't even really the case... anyway, this "Menthe-Pastille" from Giffard should be a fine addition, I think it's even pretty much the same. Prim and I won't need to hold back on the Dead Nazis in our afterparties now.

I asked the clerk if they had any Russian Standard vodka, with little hope, because I already imagined that the restrictions are still firmly in place. The clerk confirmed this, and also expressed regret, because he misses it a lot too. So I asked him if he could recommend some other good brands, and I eventually went with this Pure V vodka, let's see if it's any good. It's mostly for guests anyway, I have no shame sticking to the cheapo brands.

As for this bottle of Irish Mist, I was familiar with the name, but I have never had it before. You guys ever had Irish Mist? The bottle labels it as honey liqueur, but it seems to mostly whiskey-based. I wonder if it's anything like Drambuie.

Finally, I also got this little chocolate Easter bunny as a gift for my big purchase.

We are pretty well stocked now, more than ready for the post-Lent season. This is all the stuff for which I didn't have room in the cupboard, therefore storing it in my messy kitchen instead:

Like a REAL bankroll queen!!!

Wendy showed today that she indeed is a REAL bankroll queen. We had received a ticket for a really cool freeroll, I think as rakeback. It was a freeroll where you can win real money and not only 6 cents but ITM started with 10 $. Very cool! And even much cooler was that we came ITM! We could ladder up a bit and eventually, Wendy won us 26 $ and got us our BR back as it was before the downswing! This is a real bankroll queen!!

Junior was successful too ....

The prizes in the Free to play around the clock are attractive again, now you can win satty tickets for the Sunday Carnival, which we want! So, we spent some time to play those Free to play freerolls on PartyPoker and Junior managed to get us a Sunday Carnival satty ticket by placing 2nd!

Happy Easter, everyone!

I took a bit of a break from poker since Thursday, and didn't play today either, because I was just too tired after my big run. At least we are still making good progress when it comes to that.

We are now comfortably past the 25% mark too.

I was hoping that I could at least prepare some stats today, if I wasn't playing. Beyond some basic tweaks in my spreadsheets, I couldn't quite find the energy for it either, but tomorrow is a rest day, so things should be much better then.

Lent is most definitely over now, with only one can of tuna left in my supply. I think I have gained a lot from it, the occasional bit of abstinence might be a worthwhile thing for people of all creeds. No need to keep pigging out now, but KFC is appropriate for special occasions, which is why I have it only about 2-3 times per year.

Other than that, I worked on spreadsheets for most of the day, but I'm glad to report that everything has been set up for this year now. All that is left to do is to save the stats and graphs, and I can post about the latest numbers later tonight.

Stats Time!

That's getting a little stretched out with every new year, don't you think?

There, I think that's better, hope you like this layout. Let me know if you see any way to improve it.

Anyway, what can we say about those numbers? We're pretty much breaking even so far this year, but there is, of course, more to the story. And we do have a very sad story to tell:

Just what is going on in Badugi this year? I'm still looking for the answer. We are going to have to make some major corrections in the upcoming months.

But why are we still not in the red overall, with those bad losses in my supposed "main game"?

You know the reason - Five Card Draw is going great so far. We surely won't be able to keep those numbers up in the long run, but it is shaping up to be a pretty promising format.

We also got some unlikely help from HORSE, thanks to my little "HORSE Race" challenge with Prim, but we really shouldn't read too much into that one 2nd place finish right in our inaugural game. Even our available stats already indicate that I am losing overall.

The monthly profit chart tells a very polarized story, one bad month and a good one. Surely the introduction of 5CD MTTs last month has something to do with it, because there was zero improvement when it comes to Badugi, but more on that later.

A lot of ups and downs in the weekly chart too.

Our candlestick charts may demonstrate the swings a little better.

Well, now Badugi... what is this??

Seriously... what is this??

I have no words... onto Five Card Draw, as a palate cleanser. Since there were no games before March, there is not much point in a monthly candlestick chart. The weekly chart looks more like the kind of graph we want to see here:

Breaking it down by game format, we can very clearly see what goes well and what doesn't, if the graphs above didn't hammer the point home already.

The bounty hunting could go a little better. Only a little over 25% of my MTT profits are the result of bounties.

You guys liked the 3D look, didn't you?

In PKO tournaments only, this number only slightly improves, still lagging behind the 30% mark.

SNGs next...

SNGs

It's a little less cluttered here, but I still went for the same format as with the MTT stats, just for the sake of consistency:

Five Card Draw was the only game at the SNG front this year, those are the overall stats:

Pretty solid overall. Average Profit, ITM and ROI are all pretty close to how they were in our "glory days" in 2021 and 2022.

The monthly profit chart is looking good too:

But there were still swings, of course, as seen in the weekly chart:

Similar story in the candlestick charts. As you can see, we have lost some momentum recently.

Maybe it should be pointed out that technical issues have thrown a few wrenches in the works, during the weeks that didn't go so well.

The important thing is that the general direction is still up, but I guess it could use another push soon.

I'm happy with my placements so far, putting us at 45.45% ITM for the year. Decent heads-up conversion rate this time too. (Sorry, no 3D look here - it's better to see that way)

That's the progression over time:

Or maybe you prefer it this way?

Almost done, only one set of stats left...

Satellites

They were mostly an "also ran" in the past years, with little of tangible value to show for our often solid efforts, but this year, we have had some early success already:

As you know, I like to distinguish between "Value Profit" that takes seat values into account, and "Realized Profit" that only focuses on monetary rewards, including T$.

This is finally where Badugi shines a little, with three satellites won, including one that earned us $22 in T$ because we already previously qualified, as well as a cash in a target tournament... oh, and also a forced sit-out in another one, right as it started.

Those are the conversion rates. Where is 8-Game coming from, all of a sudden? Well, I played one satty for $0.55, ending in a consolation prize of $0.90 for a $0.35 profit - hardly enough to be noticeable in the graph above.

The average profit graph is a little skewed at the moment, since there was only one Stud Hi-Lo satty played. Even though it won a seat, I am very skeptical about this format at the moment and not too thrilled about giving it another serious shot.

I think that's all for now. We are ready to grind and crush again.

Right on the Bubble...

There are situations in Five Card Draw where everything else goes out the window and you just have to go on instinct.

PokerStars, $1.76 + $0.24 - 5 Card Draw Pot Limit - 150/300 (30 ante) - 3 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

BU: 2,865 (10 bb)
SB (Hero): 3,325 (11 bb)
BB: 2,810 (9 bb)

Deal: (540) Hero is SB with 9♦ 4♣ Q♣ A♥ Q♠
1 fold, Hero raises to 600, BB 3-bets to 900, Hero calls 300

Draw One: (1,890) Q♣ Q♠ 8♠ 7♦ 2♠ (2 players)
SB (Hero) draws 9d 4c Ah, BB stands pat
Hero checks, BB bets 1,880 (all-in), Hero calls 1,880

Total pot: 5,650

Showdown:
BB shows J♥ 2♦ 5♣ 3♥ 8♣ (high card, Jack)
SB (Hero) shows Q♣ Q♠ 8♠ 7♦ 2♠ (a pair of Queens)
SB (Hero) wins 5,650

The SNG above was shipped, helping to put us back on track in this format. The MTT, meanwhile, mostly suffered from being completely card dead. It's like in solitaire - some deals are just unwinnable, no matter what you do.

I am most eager to see developments in Badugi, of course, and we did collect a bounty against one of my rival players. For the most part, I was fine with my play, except possibly losing value by re-raising too aggressively in one practically locked up spot. I'm not sure if the game-changing hand (for the worse) was to be considered a cooler, I ran a rough pat 9 into a rough pat 8. It was close, and some people do play higher Badugis as a similar way to my opponent, but I guess the stacks were a little too deep... idk, it's always easy to rationalize things later, based on the results.

This is the chip graph, the hand I described above marks the decisive drop in the later part (not the one at the very end). As you can see, we almost even recovered:

The game showed promise and finished close to ITM, but the $1 bounty isn't nearly enough to cover the buy-in and won't help reversing the horrible results.