Posted by Junelli 3:45 PM
I don't want to jinx myself, but April has been one of my most profitable months ever. This was a welcome change after a brutal February/March and an equally bad November. I still have a pretty good way to come back, but am finally making progress.

The other day was particularly interesting. I played $5-$5 NL, and bought in for $300 at 9pm. I played well and generally folded for an hour as I tried to win small pots and concentrated on tangling with the weaker players and/or those with short stacks. I used to mix it up with anyone and everyone, but time has shown me that certain people are best avoided, if at all possible.

Everytime I play there is a good mix of players: rocks/squeezers, maniacs, predictable players, etc. Out of 10 people at the table there is almost always 2-3 fairly decent players, and often 1 or 2 is significantly better than me. I recognize that I don't have an edge over these players, and am slowly learning to avoid getting involved in hands with them (which are almost always very expensive).

Instead I concentrate on the weaker prey: complete morons with no concept of the game, loose players who cannot get away from a hand, player who play AK like it's a Royal Flush.

I also try to play against players who are steaming and have recently lost a lot of money. In my experience, a player like that (myself included) will chip off the rest of his money in no time flat. I like to be the one to send them home.

Finally, I will attack scared players. You know the ones. They're over matched and they know it, and they will fold to any indication of strength. Although those players may have read every book in the world, and only play Group I premium starting hands, they'll never win from me. I don't give them any action with marginal hands, but all the action they can handle when I hit a flop with a weird hand.

Anyway, I digress. Oh yeah, I was playing $5-$5 NL. I was doing well, and after 2.5 hours I was up about $360. I started feeling really ill at about midnight, and decided to cash out and go home. The game was incredibly juicy and there was a lot of money and action on the table, but I felt really bad. I cashed out up $360 and was home by 12:15am.

The next day I woke up and went to work. It was a Friday and I was only planning on being at the office until shortly after lunch. At about 12pm I got a text message that the game (from the night before) was still going on, and everyone left at the table was stuck very very bad. I was told that several people were down over $4,000, but that there was a ton of money on the table. They wanted new players to come in with fresh money so they could try and dig themselves out of the hole.

One catch: the buy-in that afternoon had been increased to $1,000 minimum. It seems the players stuck a large amount didn't want people coming into the game for $200 or $300.

I decided to swing by and play for 2 hours. I don't normally buy into games for $1,000, and was very nervous about this one. I didn't know what kind of play to expect, but I could only assume it was going to be wild and out of control. I told myself to play very tight and stay out of marginal situations. But I also told myself to be ready to push it all-in if I have to.

On the 3rd hand I was dealt KK on the button. A few players limped in for $5, and the cutoff seat (a very strong player) raised it to $80. I reraised it to $250 straight. Everyone folded to the cutoff seat who clearly didn't like my raise. After 20 seconds or so he decided to call me. I put him on a decent (but not great pocket pair).

The flop came 834 rainbow. He paused for a few seconds and then checked to me. I moved all-in for $750. He folded pocket tens.

A few hands later I was dealt KT in late position and was able to see a flop for $5. I flopped top two pair and won a very nice pot against AK.

About 2 hours after I started I got AKo in late position. I raised to $60 and got 4 callers (not exactly what you like to see). The flop was Qxx, and everyone checked to me. I normally would make a continuation bet here, but I decided to check. The turn brought a king and I had TPTK. Everyone checked to me again. I bet $175 and everyone folded.

That was it. 2 hours of play. 3-4 hands. Only 1 showdown, and no bad beats. I walked away with a profit of $740, and was on my way home.

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