Harrier's Blog - Mixed Games & Mixed Drinks

SNG Finishing Positions

That was the one big issue with Five Card Draw this year: WAY too many bubbles! It didn't help with my motivation either.

Many games finished in the top 3, but there's no Bronze to be won here... The bubble remained my most common finishing position, in the end, and many of those games looked good until those decisive few hands in the end. What a cruel way to lose...

Again, too many bubbles in Courchevel as well, but it wasn't quite as extreme, and I did a little better heads-up. Still nasty.

We have much more of a variety in Stud Hi-Lo (with 3 instead of 2 ITM positions), but while I avoided finishing dead in any of my games this year, there is a noticeably high amount of finishes in the lower regions. A less frustrating way to go than on the bubble, maybe, but still not what we want to see.

Not much point breaking down the finishing positions of those three 8-Game SNGs I played.

OFC next...

I just don't play MTTs any more.
I can't devote the hours to them.
Hats off to you for making the effort

Well, I'm sure glad I worked through my combined poker spreadsheet first, because I noticed some embarrassing mistakes in the OFC stats I collected before, which were already uploaded and ready to be posted. Newsflash, Harrier: You can't just add two yearly averages together to get the overall average!

I hope all mistakes have been dealt with now. Also, I corrected some of last year's stats so that they also take OFC 2-7 and Progressive OFC games into account. While it would be fair to focus my data on one game type only if I wanted to, this year's stats take all of them into account, so I should do the same with last year's, at least if I want to included long-term stats using the data from both years too.

OFC Stats

Very nice results after finishing slightly in the red last year (if we take my failed lowball games into account, which we now do). Nice to see a positive surprise this year too.

The USD values are calculated using the current price of Bitcoin, which was $42,141.84 the last time I checked. I'm aware that the price has changed throughout the year, but taking price swings into account would go way beyond the scope of my already pretty complicated tracking spreadsheets.

Well, speaking of positive surprises... we did great on CoinPoker compared to last year. I didn't even expect any profit there at all. Sadly, the games are now discontinued there, turning it into yet another forgettable Hold'em and Omaha only site.

Note that ₮/USDT is equivalent in value to the US dollar.

Would you look at that... partially thanks to an increase in the value of Bitcoin, we technically surpassed our MTT winnings with OFC this year, making it my most successful poker format of 2023 - at least when it comes to the main groups. Badugi MTTs, for example, still earned more on their own, but were dragged down by other MTTs. But who would have thought... OFC was supposed to be nothing but an experiment on the side.

How did the different stakes look like?

Very solid result at the lowest stakes, the others look a bit more shaky... but we will get to them when we check out the graphs, which should be the subject of my next post...

OFC Graphs

Those are the combined graphs for SwC and CoinPoker, which will be obsolete as of next year, unless OFC sees a return on CoinPoker after all. The beginning was mostly CoinPoker, the end was exclusively SwC, but you can see the individual graphs soon.

First, the profit breakdown by month and by week once again:

Record was $56.68 in February, and -$24.98 in March.

Week 8 was the best, with $52.17 in profit. Worst one was Week 11, with -$30.65.

Let's get CoinPoker out of the way first. I have only included line graphs, since the games were discontinued soon.

Not doing so great towards the end, but otherwise, very solid stuff. We played some higher stakes towards the end too. Check out the Points graph (think of them as Big Blinds):

To further illustrate the point, here are the individual stakes:

And here are the long-term graphs, demonstrating how much better we did in comparison to last year:

That's a lot of graphs already... SwC coming up next.

OFC Graphs - SwC

Really nice going this fall!

October was a good month, with record earnings of $30.09 - not bad at those stakes. Worst one was -$5.78 in April.

Week 43 in October was the best, with a profit of $18.36. Toughest was Week 49, heading into the Advent season with -$7.73.

Overall line graph:

Not bad. Let's break it down by stake:

Very solid performance at the lowest takes, swingy stuff at the higher ones, but good fighting nonetheless.

I think the long-term graphs still use the data that excludes the 2-7 and Progressive variants in 2022, so take them with a grain of salt. Note that I started playing in 2021 already, but didn't track my progress yet.

That was a mouthful... but wait, we still have some stats and graphs left.

Satellite Stats and Graph

We briefly dabbled in satellites this year, remember? These games, therefore, should be included too.

In order to track both the cold hard cash and the theoretical, but unrealized value of won seats, I had to come up with some terms. "Value" refers to the total sum of both the entries of the target tournaments we successfully sattied into, as well as the actual earnings, consisting of consolation prizes in satellites and real winnings in target tournaments. "Value Profit" is this amount minus the total cost of satellites, but excluding the target tournament entry costs, which we did not have to pay. "Realized Profit" is the actual amount of money that we got out of it through target MTT winnings and consolation prizes in satties, minus the buy-ins that we paid.

Overall, it was a relatively costly affair. As you can see, the $44 worth of tournament tickets - one of which ended up cashing, it was the $22 Snowman (Stud Hi-Lo) on August 12th - are enough to put the "Value Profit" back in the black, but we can't pay the bills with bricking tourney tickets. $41.77 was the total cost of this little adventure. Maybe we will be back next year, maybe not.

Since this experiment was only short-lived, I will only show the graph of the time when I did play these satellites, rather than for the whole year:

That takes care of all the main game formats, let's put it together now...

Overall Poker Stats and Graph

All right, you know where we stand, what's the overall breakdown?

Yes, OFC just passed MTTs in the end. Amazing... Still, a very disappointing year overall on the poker front, at least compared to last year.

Overall graph:

This one nicely illustrates how OFC gave way to MTTs in spring, and then took over again in fall. There was usually one particular format to focus on, which is normal. SNGs briefly had a chance to be a worthwhile format this year, but it wasn't meant to be.

Ah well, those are the stats and graphs for 2023. Time for one more wrap-up tomorrow, then we can welcome the new year with open arms.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I just don't play MTTs any more.
I can't devote the hours to them.
Hats off to you for making the effort

I hope I can be back, I miss those games... but it will be very difficult to do with my work hours, since most of the tournaments I'm interested in tend to be in the late evening, and a good run in there (which is what we should aim for) would have me staying up well past midnight.

It may be barely doable, but I plan to tinker with my work hours a little early next year, in a way that should be more convenient for me overall, but even more lethal for late MTTs, so I am not optimistic when it comes to that kind of grind.

Figuring out how to fit poker into my schedule in 2024 is a bit of a puzzle, but I hope I can make it work somehow.

Okay, we have all the stats out of the way, now let's just reflect a little on that past year in general. I already did a recap from the Trolls' perspective in our Troll Challenges blog, so it is time for my personal perspective.

I did similar recaps at the end of 2021 and 2022, and had to conclude that 2021 was a quite bad year, while 2022 was a very good year. 2023 was... a mixed year. But still bordering a little more on being a good year.

Before we take a look at what went wrong and what went right, both when it comes to poker and in general, let's review the goals I had set for myself in my New Year's Day post:

Originally posted by Harrier88
Poker-wise, it would be nice to build my bankroll up to $5K on Stars and play for monthly withdrawals again. We are at around $3,470 right now, so this is a rather ambitious goal and would require a very good year... but it is not unrealistic.

FAIL ...and I can't even really say where we stand, since my bankroll is in EUR now thanks to that whole legal malarkey this year. Right now, it's €3,224.35, and while there have been some small withdrawals, among other things to fund a PartyPoker bankroll, it is clear to see that I fell well short of that goal. You saw the stats above, there has been a minor profit, but nothing to write home about.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Failing that, I would like to make at least $1K in total, which I managed to do last year with MTTs and SNGs combined, despite some bad grinding conditions. It should be quite achievable. I would also like to see a three figure ROI in Badugi MTTs, and at least $250 in combined SNG winnings.

FAIL Combined earnings don't even come close, even with OFC helping out, and SNGs in particular fell completely flat.

Originally posted by Harrier88
We might be ready for some higher stakes... my goal is to finish the year with winning stats in at least one regularly running MTT with a buy-in of over $7, possibilities include Five Card Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw, Stud Hi-Lo and 8-Game. Stud Hi-Lo seems like the most interesting choice. Depending on how high the buy-in is, I would consider a two figure ROI a success already. The goal is to simply beat one of those games, even if it's by a marginal degree.

FAIL, not that I gave it that much of an effort. Five Card Draw MTTs had a short dedicated grind as an experiment, didn't do too well. There was some success at 8-Game, but I didn't stick around. I mincashed a $22 Stud Hi-Lo tournament that I sattied into, but otherwise, satellites mostly bombed. In short, I just couldn't get a foot in the door, that's another fail.

Originally posted by Harrier88
I haven't given up on OFC yet... winning stats, a successful grind at the next highest stakes and a bankroll of 1K µBTC worth of crypto chips to support them would be enough for me to consider this little side adventure a success this year.

SUCCESS! I can't really check my bankroll right now, because I still have technical issues with that poker room, but I believe we achieved double that bankroll, with very good results, and indeed winning stats at the next highest limit, even though it is shaky. There have even been shots at the limits above that. OFC was the one big poker success of 2023 for me.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Away from the felt, my goal is to stay in a job I like until the end of the year, and ideally make it to either a white collar field or a home office job by that point, possibly on a freelance basis. And no more evening shifts!

SUCCESS! While I didn't like that freelance gig, I am currently pretty satisfied with my job, and after some turbulent job hunting, often on days with full-time late work shifts, this is a very important achievement. Finally, I can just let things "play out", rather than having to desperately shoot for something better.

Those were the concrete goals that I had set for myself, let's take a more general look now...

What went wrong...

1. Poker

I guess that's the elephant in the room. You saw the stats, you saw the goals... it didn't go according to plan at all.

Motivation was a big issue, caused in no small part by those regulations that I have already complained about ad nauseam. In general, though, 2023 really wasn't the "grinder's paradise" that I expected it to be. I imagined that my work hours would allow me to grind in a more or less unimpeded way, much unlike my restrictive shifts in 2022, which were also paired with a less flexible sports schedule. It didn't quite turn out that way, and when I added a few more work hours in summer, it looked even worse.

At least OFC exceeded expectations, and there probably was a fair bit of bad luck when it comes to SNGs. Still, while poker was not terrible, it was a big disappointment this year.

2. Certain Sports

There have been a lot of sporting successes this year, actually, but not everything went great. For example, I started trying out tennis this year, and while I am enjoying it overall, I am a little disappointed in how things went there too. Not regarding my own performance, I'm pretty satisfied with that, but I am not having as much fun with it as I hoped I would have.

For one thing, it seems a bit too "elitist", if you know what I mean. Maybe that's just me, but when I am trying out a new sport, I don't care all that much about breathing exercises, "life coaching" or meditation guidelines. Also, while I was welcoming a little more flexibility when it comes to practice sessions, after struggling to fit my American football team practice sessions into my schedule the year before, I found out that having to constantly arrange meetups with coaches and teammates, with some of them getting cancelled at the last minute, is also not too pleasant. By now, I started to miss having a fixed schedule.

Moreover, signing up for that lifeguard training, which had its progress being documented in the Troll Challenges blog, was probably one of my bigger regrets of the year. The outcome was successful, but it really dragged on, starting at the end of summer and ending in the middle of December after my examiner fell sick shortly before the final exam. Normally, these things get wrapped up on one or two dedicated weekends. Instead, I had to keep taking long trips on my Sunday afternoons for about three months, which took a toll on me, and turned it into a negative experience overall.

3. Other things

Not much else to add, but for some miscellaneous stuff, I think I once again often bit off a little more than I can chew. Maybe I should plan with a little more down time, but knowing me, I don't think I will follow through next year. At least my Christmas vacation was very enjoyable so far, but Advent season was a dud, I hardly got into the mood at all, beyond the first weekend.

Also, while I like my current job, I think I need to watch out not to turn it into a dead end. I welcomed a little more stability this year, but I shouldn't get too complacent, I think. There may still be career opportunities out there - but certainly not forever.

Despite some of those negative points, a lot of things also went right in 2023, and we will get to them next.

What went right..

1. Sports

That's the one big success that comes to mind when I reflect on the year. While I dropped out of organized team sports, there has been some serious butt-kicking in 2023.

You may have read about it on the Troll Challenges blog, I collected all three swimming badges by the DLRG, the German Life Saving Association, and later on went to take one of their lifeguard courses and successfully passed my Bronze badge exam there too. My swimming technique improved a lot, also under the guidance of my friend Primrose, who inspired me to take on this challenge in the first place. I didn't even know how to do a proper crawl before she showed me.

Also, I took on the German Sports Badge track and field challenge, dubbed the Trollympics on our other blog, and while I had modest expectations going in, I went on to secure the Gold in the end, and even went beyond it to do some Gold-level performances in events that weren't required anymore. This and my lifeguard certificate will look very good on future CVs.

Apart from those challenges, I also improved my overall fitness, added short pre-work workouts to my morning routines, and finished the year by practicing for a timed 5K meters run, which was also finished successfully. I hardly could have asked for anything more on that front, it was an outstanding success.

2. Job situation

Finally, I found something I'm satisfied with, and it should be a pretty stable field of work too. All financial worries have been dealt with, with no problems being expected in the near future, and I'm just really glad to not be job hunting anymore. This was an important point to get right.

3. Lifestyle

I already mentioned sports, but it went beyond that too. Aside from considerably improving my personal fitness, I also made progress when it comes to adopting decent sleeping schedules and keeping alcohol consumption down. Keeping this up will go a long towards any other goals I will have in the future.

Lastly, I would like to give one more big thanks to my friend Primrose once again, it has been another fantastic year with you. While we had to cancel some plans, we still had some very enjoyable meetups, I think my favorite was the one in September, with our last outdoor swimming trip. I also really enjoyed our last one right before the holidays, even though this one didn't have a lot of planned activities - but apparently, we don't even need them. And apart from that, we always had each other's back when we needed to. I'm already looking forward to more of this next year.

I think that's all for now - some things went wrong, some things went right, but overall, it was pretty good, wasn't it? A mixed bag, but with plenty of good stuff mixed in too.

I'm wishing every single one of you a great start into 2024, and may all your wishes come true. At least the reasonable ones...

Aaaw, how cute! Even though once, a horrible migraine "spoiled" our meetup a bit. Remember that one? I tried to put on a brave face, but the pain was terrible!

Well, otherwise, I would say:

You´re welcome!
De nada!
Szívesen!
Sehr gerne!
Пожалуйста!
Ole hyvä!

Originally posted by Primrose6789
Well, otherwise, I would say:

You´re welcome!
De nada!
Szívesen!
Sehr gerne!
Пожалуйста!
Ole hyvä!

Ah, yes, those Duolingo lessons were another big thing I remember about 2023. How could I forget, in both of our recaps? We even did a challenge about it on the other blog. And we still have the challenge with that Hungarian song you showed me...

Let's see where we stand in the languages we picked by the end of next year.

Will I EVER speak Russian??

Sorry dear Russians, your language is really cool, but its sooooooooooooooooooooooooo hard!!!

Originally posted by Primrose6789
Will I EVER speak Russian??

Sorry dear Russians, your language is really cool, but its sooooooooooooooooooooooooo hard!!!

We will both get to it - eventually. One step at a time.

Originally posted by Harrier88
That was a mouthful... but wait, we still have some stats and graphs left.
Can't wait!

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by Harrier88
That was a mouthful... but wait, we still have some stats and graphs left.
Can't wait!

They can be seen above, the stats are done now.

Happy New Year 2024!

As I explained here on the Troll Challenges blog, I am going to continue in a new shared blog with my friend Primrose. The content you know from this blog here shall continue over there, together with the content from Prim's own previous blog and the shared challenges blog we had together.

This blog will stay open, for anyone finding it at a later date, but I don't intend to update it any longer, so I encourage you guys, including those who find any of my posts through a random web search, to submit your questions or comments regarding any of my old content on the new blog.

Hope to see you guys over there, and thank you very much for following!

Best of luck with the new blog!