Closing the Royal Flush Saga

I took to the path of playing the solitaire game Poker Squares (Shuffle variant) and it was everything I thought it could be.

After getting a Royal Flush in hearts, I got one in spades, one in spades again, and then I finally got a Royal Flush in diamonds, making it so that I have had a Royal Flush in all four suits.

The only thing that was left was getting a Royal Flush with real cards.  So after playing for a few hands of Poker Solitaire every night for a while, I am happy to say that clubs are my lucky suit:

In fact the total hand that I was able to make was a thing of beauty: 

Each row and column makes a hand that scores points.  This is very rare and lucky in Poker Squares.  The score for all of this, by my reckoning, is 277 points,  a higher score than I have ever scored on the ap. 

If I Knew Then. . .

There is an easier way to get a Royal Flush than the path I took.   It's by playing Poker Squares, which is a solitaire game.  Chinese Poker might give you the advantage of 13 cards to make your Royal Flush, but Poker Squares gives you 25 cards.

Still, having played a decent amount recently, I don't think you can guarantee a Royal Flush in one afternoon of play.  But, if you are on a short schedule for achieving a Royal Flush, I recommend Poker Squares. 

Unlike Chinese Poker, I was able to find an online location to play Poker Squares.  There are trade-offs here, though.  The online version is  faster shuffle and scores automatically, which can save time.  Playing on own, with cards, however, allows you to play the "shuffle' or "switch-a-roo" variant, thus allowing you to shift the position of the cards, which is a huge advantage.  If you have a droid phone, there is an app with the shuffle version.

I was able to get my second Royal Flush (this one in hearts) on the online game:

With Royal flushes in clubs and hearts under my belt, I don't see why I shouldn't try to get Royal Flushes in all 4 suits.

The Game after the Misson's Completion

It's a relief to have achieved my goal of getting a Royal Flush.

With the school year staring, my focus needed to move to other places, and now I don't have to worry about a hand quota or anything else that would make playing cards feel like a grind.

Instead, I'll work on other goals, and leave cards for a pass-time for either a.) when I need blow off steam b.) feel bored with everything else (it happens).

One day (read, the winter and summer) I will return to the game of poker with a goal orientation in mind.  I have other goals for the future of cards.  They are: 

• to be "profitable" at the highest level of limit 5-card draw, limit hold em, the mixed table with 8-games, and perhaps 7-card stud (and/or stud hi/low). 
• to become (for the second time) a play chip millionaire

To achieve those goals, I may have to set up schedules, study the math of the games and analyze my play.  But that is for another break.  It's time to bring on the school year, and close out this mini-retirement.

Update

Forget Poker.  And as of now -- December 2015 -- forget all games.  

Do You Believe in Mathematical Certainty?

YESSS!!!!

The poker story: 

I was playing short-handed Texas Hold 'em (50/100 in play chips) I raised with KQ, suited in clubs.  The board game Ac Kh 10C, leaving me top pair, and a flush draw. . . that would have been enough to raise and reraise with it . . . but then I noticed it was also a straight flush draw, no a Royal Flush DRAW.

And then, the Jack of clubs came on the turn.  As you can see from the picture, my opponents still bet into me.

The total pot was 2,825 chips.

Vindication of Heads Up Hold em as Strategy

I woke up and wasn't "feeling" the intensity of heads up hold em.  Instead, I opened limit Omaha, 2 tables of pot limit Omaha, and then one table of 9-handed hold em.

In 30 minutes, I only got to 60 hands of Omaha, and 24 of hold 'em.

The rate for heads up hold em is closer to 75 hands per half hour, and with the right opponent, who sticks around and plays quickly, it can get up closer to 100 hands.  In this case, I see the vast majority of flops, and there is few mathematical ways to push me out of a straight flush draw in limit 2-person game.

One things I have discovered  is I can play heads up while having an Omaha table open below.  That's about the max I can stack up.

Here's a picture of my screen  waiting for a heads up opponent:

I have the heads up waiting for an opponent, limit Omaha on the bottom, and over to the side I am playing a video of a Yale history lecture.

Then with the heads up going, I have the lecture turned off and have the remaining time to my session on the side.  This timer serves another purpose, however.  There are some plays that I want to randomize, like bluffs (against opponents who can make lay-downs) and calls (against opponents who are in the sweet spot of neither bluffing too much nor too little .  . . those are rare).

So, let's say I have decided I am going to bluff about 30% of the time. . . I look at the time and if the second hand is 1,2,or 3, well then I bet . . . even with air.

It all keeps me occupied and moving towards my goal.

A Lament on (closed face) Chinese Poker

Alas, if only there was a place to play Chinese Poker online. I would try to crank out 500-1,000 hands before the school year got into full swing and try to get my Royal Flush put behind me before working on other goals.

The only place to play, apparently, used to be the "Action Poker" network.  I, in theory, could download it using their "legacy software" but 1.) who would I play with?  and 2.) that sounds dangerous.

Therefore, Chinese poker with friends and family.

I am back to the head-up hold em as the optimal strategy.  I think I can fit 500 hands a week in.  So that puts me expecting about one Royal Flush a year.

When I get one, especially if it is the grind-it-out heads up fashion, I should say, "Do you believe in Miracles, YES!"  Do you believe in mathematical certainty?  YES!

Chinese Poker Update

I got to play a few hours of Chinese Poker with a friend who was in from out of town.  He was down for the goal of getting a Royal Flush.

Alas, it was not to be this session.  He estimated we played 30 or so hands.  I'd peg it at closer to 40, but still, this session showed me that I absolutely will count a Royal Flush, if I get one in Chinese Poker.  Let's say that in weekend fun I can get in 50 hours a week.  That will still be 10 weeks before the expectation of getting in a sample of hands hitting 500.  

And, of course, that doesn't even mean I have to get a Royal Flush in that time period.  It's not Chinese poker is some kind of game with 10 wilds that leads to insane hands.  I have played a card game with so many wilds, that I have had a five of a kind.  Even getting my first Royal Flush in Chinese Poker is a game patience.

On Having a Mission

My wife thinks I have become obsessed with poker, but I to some extend disagree. Instead, I have a mission.  A mission to get a Royal Flush.  I am allowing that mission to be a sponge to soak up my extra time, but it is to achieve a specific goal.  So, after hitting a royal flush, I doubt I will ever again play heads up hold em (too much variance, and there are other games to prefer to play during the times I can invest fixed attention.)  I am pursuing a strategy to achieve a goal, but I know there are other things that can crop up that are more important.

So, for example, when my wife needed help moving things into her classroom, I was there two afternoons in a row.  There are certainly things more important than poker, but those have a variability in terms of when they need my attention.  I have my finances on auto-pilot, for example, and I am working my way toward health, but that is a simple matter of correct decisions two times a day (my two meals) and exercising when it is scheduled.

This is a goal.  It's on the bucket list.  When I get this goal one day, I plan to take a break from all poker for a month.

In the future, I'll have some other goal on the list that takes up the lion-share of my ambient time, such as promoting gardening techniques, programming, or working on physical skills. Those will be the center of my otherwise unused days (and perhaps blog posts).

This brings up again the point of "energized time" versus "zombie time." Certain kinds of slow-moving tables at low enough states are perfect pass-time for when I feel too drained for anything else, but its not late enough to wind down for sleep.  After a month-long poker fast post-Royal-Flush, I think poker will be a part of life. But no more so than doodle jump, sudoku, or candy crush for the average person.

I have other impressive things to do when this mission is over.

Royal Flush Chronicles: Update

Sunday is family day for me.  I visiting my grandparents in the afternoon and eat dinner with my parents.

(It is also my "cheat day" on a diet, the day I take a long "luxury shower," (as opposed to a modified navy shower) and the day do weight training --it's a very busy day considering I do nothing productive for my job on it).

Anyway, I found a way to keep my poker-playing going: Chinese poker (original closed style). I played it one-on-one with my grandmother, and then four-handed with my parents and wife after dinner.

The game is great to get reluctant family members to play because there is no betting rounds/bluffing involved.  Also, with 13 cards to draw from the best hand you can make moves up.

My grandmother got a straight flush the very first hand of Chinese poker we played.  (Unfortunately, because of this she got confused about how to make normal straights, thinking they always needed to be suited and in order).

Also, my dad got a straight flush to the king in our evening game.  Ah, I was so jealous.

The Royal Flush Odyssey Moves to Limit 5-Card draw.

Another game I have found that moves really quickly on Poker Stars play money is limit 5 card draw.  With only two rounds of betting, the hands just fly by. I'm tight and then usually bring in for a raise when I end up playing my hand, which unfortunately infuriates the people I play with.  I seem to have a fairly large edge in the game at 10/20 play money, which is not the case in heads up hold em.  It's nice to build up my stack and still get in a large number of hands.

The problem with 5 card draw is that a Royal Flush is much less likely, because I am using 5 cards to make a hand instead of the 7 cards you have to choose from in a Texas Hold em hand taken to the river.

So, I plan for my poker diet to consist mostly of 5-draw to build the bankroll and limit heads up to make a run at a Royal Flush.  However, if I get a Royal Flush in 5-draw, I'll certainly take that as well.

Also, both of these games play so fast that I can't really multi-task and play.  So I'll still probably open up a few micro-limit hold em tables and play them while listening to interesting audio content, like audio books and open university lectures.

It's a matter of finding the right things for right mood.

Frisky and want to play = 5-draw or heads-up.
Zombie = 3 micro-limit Hold 'em tables or 1 Omaha tables and 1-2 micro-limit Hold 'em.  Stack my time with interesting audio content so I don't feel like a total degenerate.  (When I'm frisky and want to play, I don't care if I am a degenerate).  

When the school year starts, almost any time I carve out to play will be in the zombie zone.  I can play heads up in zombie zone, but I found out last night that is not optimal, from a stand-point of fun.

Strategizing for the Royal Flush

Hey, if I'm going to put something on my bucket list I am going to try to make it happen.

My first thought in pursuing this goal was to play a whole bunch of Omaha.  It takes better hands to win, and so I figured that would be my surest route.

But I have looked into the odds, and they are not as bad in hold 'em as I thought.  Apparently, with hands taken down to the river, it is only something like a 1 in 30,000 chance of getting a Royal Flush.

So the name of the game is to get tens of thousands of hands in as quick as possible.  Two options on poker stars: Zoom Poker and heads up.

Zoom poker, though insanely fun, has a few draw-backs for my project: 1.) the swings are huge -- so I don't know if my bankroll can be guaranteed to withstand it (it's all play money, but still).  2.) though I play a lot of hands an hour, nearly all of them are just folding quickly, so the odds of the Royal Flush are much less than 1 in 30,000 3.) Because nearly all the hands end up all-in, the computer just blasts through the hand, giving me a very short window to take a gratifying screen shot proving I got a Royal Flush.

So it looks like I'll just play a bunch of heads-up limit hold 'em.  This is great because it allows me to play at the lowest limits: 2/4 play money.  I am (play chip) profitable with fairly low "money" swings at short-handed 50/100 (play chip) hold 'em, so I can just win a bit there, and be bank rolled for a bunch of heads up.

Heads up limit hold em allows me to see a bunch of hands an hour, seeing the vast majority of flops.  I can expect to have a straight flush every 3,000 to 4,000 hands, and at some point I imagine I will get that Royal Flush.

Now, it occurred to me last night to try to "play for the Royal Flush," by folding any hands that didn't have an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, or 10 in them and playing to the river any hands that did.  That, however, was dreadfully boring and demoralizing because it lead to a dumping of chips.  So, my rule is that I have to get a Royal Flush in a game where I am actually playing to win.