Low stakes limit hold’em game on Party Poker. Loose, generally fishy table. In the big blind I am dealt:

:Kh::Qc:

Two players limp, the small blind raises and I call. The first limper calls the second re-raises, small blind re-re-raises and I have a think.

Betting is capped, I’m up against four loose players who even with all this action could have just about anything. I have to put at least one of them on a big pocket pair which could leave me drawing close to dead but given that these players seem pretty comitted to their hands I decide it’s worth at least seeing a flop where I can re-evaluate the hand and throw it away if I don’t hit two-pair or better. So I call, as does everyone else and we see the flop:

:Jc::Kd::Kc:

Just the kind of flop I was hoping for, but I still have to be wary of the preflop action and look out for JJ, AK or even KJ. Still I like my chances and I can’t be too scared of the bigger hands and even if they are out there I do have outs against all of them. So, the UTG player bets and I raise. The player to my right re-raises, the button caps and I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into. I’m gettng 14.5:1 to call and if I don’t already have the best hand I figure I’m drawing to 4 outs to win (3 queens and 1 king) as well as a jack to tie if no one has JJ. So if I’m behind I’m almost getting odds to call and certainly my implied odds are good enough, add to this the chance that I’m already winning and I have to call. So I do. As does everyone else and we go to the turn:

I blink a couple of times and once again am thankful that I’m playing on-line (I can only imagine I was grinning like a mad man). Great card for me, but surely now these guys are going to slow down… right?

Well, UTG bets, I raise, player to my right re-raises and the button caps. Ok… I can play this game. I call. The river is a ten and we dance the same dance again, four players capping the betting. Once all the money is in I turn over my quad kings and take a look at what everyone else had.

UTG:

:Ad::Ah: - no real business being there after the flop.

Player on my right:

:Jd::8d: - optimistic, probably hoping for a tie. Why re-raise?

The button:

:Js::Jh: - unlucky, but should have slowed down on the third king.

This hand now takes the record for largest pot (in terms of big bets) that I’ve won at limit hold’em table - 46 big bets! Sometimes I really love this game :P

I’ve been so sidetracked with limit hold’em ring games lately that I’ve been neglecting my sit and go’s (SNGs) which is a shame because single table no-limit hold’em SNGs are my favourite kind of poker. I enjoy them because they give you a chance to play with and study ten opponents from the start of a tournament until the end, they really give you the opportunity to play the players much more than you get to in a ring game.

The other thing I love about them is that each one is different and you need to be able to adjust your game accordingly, there’s no getting up and finding another table or seat. You’re stuck there until the end and it’s adapt or bust… fantastic!

Since it had been over a month since my last one I decided to jump into one this evening over at Party Poker. I expected that since I hadn’t played one in a while I would be a bit rusty, this combined with the fact that this was my first time playing in a tournament on Party made me want to start out small so I signed up for a $6 game and waited for my opponents to arrive.

Arrive they did and we got started, first hand of the game went to the player to my directly to my left who took around 500 chips off the player directly to my right who was chasing a gut shot draw (against a big raise) vs a set of tens. I knew I was in for some fireworks!

Second hand in and I’m dealt in late position (one off the button):

:As::Qs:

Blinds are at the starting 20/40 and the under the gun player min raises to 80 and two players before me call. I don’t like these callers and raise it up to 200 in an attempt to isolate. The player on the button calls as does the small blind and one other player, we’re four handed to the flop:

:2d::7c::Tc:

Raggedy flop, no help to me at all but the action is checked to me and I decide to try a continuation bet. Half the pot feels right here so I make it 500, the player on the button smooth calls and the other two players fold. We see the turn:

The pot is 2080, I’m out of position against a player I have only seen play one hand in my life where he chased an unlikely gut shot against the odds. I have no idea what he would have smooth called with on the flop, but I like my chances that I’m now winning with my TPTK. I have 1300 in chips and he has 820, given the size of the pot I decide to put him all-in. He calls and shows:

:Kd::Ts:

Nice! Until, the river:

Giving him two pair and leaving me as the new table short stack with 480 in chips. Ouch, not the position I wanted to be in at this early stage. However, instead of tilting and blowing of the last of my chips on some crappy holding I decide to grin, bear it and do everything I can to make a comeback. So I start folding… and folding… players start dropping out but due to the blinds my stack has shrunk down to 390 and the blinds have already jumped up to 50/100. Things were looking grim when under the gun I was dealt:

:Ac::As:

But how to play them? An all-in bet probably would have sufficed here as my stack wasn’t really going to intimidate anyone but that would have been the obvious short stack move. I decide to min raise with the idea that I’ll either call a re-raise or push all-in on the flop. So, I raise. My old friend on the left (let’s call him lefty) calls, the short stack on the button re-raises all-in for another 64 the blinds fold and I call as does lefty. We see a flop:

:9s::3h::5c:

I move all-in for another 127 and lefty calls. We turn them over:

Lefty:

:Kh::Th:

Button:

:Ad::6d:

The turn is the last ace and my opponents are drawing dead. I (almost) triple up to 1200 in chips but am still the short stack but at least now I have something to play with and it seems I’ve gained a little respect as the next hand I steal the blinds with a 3X raise holding JJ. I go back into fold mode and just as the blinds go up to 100/200 in the big blind I’m dealt:

:Ah::Qs:

Four players call around to me (including my good mate lefty) and with a stack of only 900 left in front of me I’m left with a decision. With four players AQo is vulnerable, I have to raise which pretty much commits me for the rest of the pot but I decide not to push all-in just yet. I make it 600 to go which lefty calls (I should mention he’s the chip leader right now - somehow!) as does one other player. My raise sucessfully knocked out one of the limpers and I’ve still got 500 up my sleeve to make a play on the flop:

:Ks::5s::9s:

The pot is 2000, I have 500 and the second nut flush draw. I’m 90% sure lefty will call me with anything and I run the risk of either of my opponents holding at least a king but I’m pot committed, I have to push and hope no one has the ace of spades. Sure enough, lefty calls, the other player folds and lefty shows:

:9h::4h:

For a pair of nines (a typical lefty holding ;)) which is excellent news me as it gives me 5 more outs (any non spade ace or a queen - the ace of spades was already an out) We see a turn:

The river is a jack and I take down a pot worth almost 3000 to move from short stack to second position. I then hit some nice cards and lefty doubled me up again my KK vs his 99 and I was the chip leader into the final four.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the details, this post is already way too long but to cut a long story short I came second (and more importantly I beat lefty - he went out in third). I would have loved first but lefty near doubled up my heads up opponent leaving me out stacked around 10 to 1 (I’d lost a few chips by this point due to the large blinds - 600/1200).

At the end of the day though it was a great feeling to come back from down and out with ten players remaining to take second. Just shows that the old saying “All you need is a chip and chair” is true - if you’re calm and patient enough.

Thanks for reading, if you got this far I’m impressed!

As a side note, if you don’t already have an account over at Party Poker use the code “SIMONPOKER” when you sign-up to let them know I sent you and get an extra $25 on your first deposit. If you use this code I get a bit of cash too which helps me keep this site on-line (might also help buy me a beer which is always appreciated!).

Multi-table tournaments are, without a doubt, the game I suck the most at. I play cash games I win. I play single table sit and go’s and I win. I play a MTT and I end up donking off all my chips in some stupid situation, usually after I’ve gotten myself into what should be a good position.

Granted, the fact I suck at MTT’s is probably due to the fact that I don’t play enough and I don’t study them enough, it might also be due to the fact that I play very high variance, low buy-in games. I have to consider though, that if I can’t beat the fishy games, I’ll never beat the real ones. Anyway, I’m rambling - let’s consider tonight’s effort:

It’s about 10 minutes after the break in a $1+$0.10 tournament on Poker Stars, I have just over 5700 in chips and the blinds are 100/200 I’m in middle position and the action has been folded around to me. I look down at:

:Ks::Qs:

Which is an attractive holding so I raise it up to 600, the player to my immediate left (who I have a read on and would describe as a loose calling station - having called large raises earlier with next to nothing) calls leaving himself with a stack of about 3100. Everyone else folds and we’re heads up to the flop:

:6s::Th::Js:

Which is an excellent flop for me, I have an open-ended straight draw, a spade flush draw and two over-cards which may or may not be live. This a good flop regardless of what my opponent has and I have to bet, the pot is 1500 and I bet 1000 which my opponent considers, then smooth calls.

A call like this is strange, but we have to remember we are dealing with a loose player - a gambler. His call though makes me rule out holdings like JJ or TT and I’m 95% sure he doesn’t have Jx as he would surely re-raise such a large bet. There is no doubt in my mind he’s drawing, but to what? He may have spades, but I can’t be scared of the ace of spades here so what about the straight? What cards would he have called my preflop raise with? AK and AQ come to mind, but surely he’s not drawing to the gut shot? Oh yeah, this guy is loose, very loose. He’s not thinking about odds. So we see the turn:

A very interesting card, if my read is correct he doesn’t have a jack and since I bet on the flop I can bluff that I’ve got one. Even if he calls I still have all those outs to beat him. The pot is 3500 and I have 4100 left and he has 2180, only one thing for it. All in!

Which he calls! I’m devastated, he must have had a jack right? So much for my reads… well, we see the river:

I’m stuck with a pair of jacks, king kicker and he turns over:

:Ac::Qd:

He was on a gut shot straight draw the whole way, he was calling whether I had a jack or not. Heck, he would have called if I had two! He takes down the pot, leaving me with under 2K and out a few orbits later when my pocket threes didn’t hold up heads up against KQ.

So did I play this hand badly? Well if bad is losing most of your chips to a player with ace high then yes. But if you consider that I read his hand nearly perfectly after his flop call and put him all-in on the turn when he only had ace high then I played correctly.

However, if you consider that he was going to call any bet no matter what the cards and that technically he was beating me on the turn (about 70/30 actually) as was any ace, jack, ten or six then you’d have to say I played it badly.

At the end of the day my chips were in when I was behind and whenever this happens I’m disappointed. This was a MTT tournament though and you don’t win these things playing passively, problem I have is working out where to draw the line between aggressive play and stupidity. I guess I’ve just got to keep practicing!

I’m not sure if I’ve written about this before but myself along with a few friends have started up a small poker league where we get together at least once a month to play a low stakes game (usually a sit and go style no-limit hold’em tournament) and keep track of the results.

I’ve generally had reasonable success at home games and although I don’t track my results as closely as I do on-line (I see them as more a way to have some fun rather than a way to win money) I believe I’m “up” overall. However, all of this was irrelevant at yesterdays game where I screwed up royally!

It’s the second round, blinds are 20/40 and I’m in early position. I haven’t really played any hands up until now and I still have most of my starting 1500 in chips. There are seven players in the game and it has been folded around to me, I look down at:

:9s::4s:

An instant fold right? Well, I’m not so sure. See at this point I’d been doing a lot of folding, I’d probably only seen one or two flops the whole game. Also, there hadn’t been a lot of raising at the table so far so I liked my chances of seeing a cheap flop. If I hit no one at the table would expect me to hold cards like this, if I didn’t these are easy cards to get away from. It’s not something I would do often, nor would I necessarily recommend it but the time felt right to play so I limped and with three other players (including the blinds) I saw a cheap flop:

:9c::2s::4c:

Giving me top two pair and a back door flush draw. Just about the nicest flop I could have hoped for apart from the two clubs. Now here’s where I make my first major mistake (ignoring preflop which I’ll analyse a little more later), in a pot of $160 I only bet $50. My defence here is that I was hoping to be raised, but in hindsight the table was quite passive at that point so I really should have expected callers not to mention my bet of $50 gives anyone on a club draw nice odds to call with even if they don’t realise it. Anyway, two players call and we see the turn:

Which (ignoring the fact that any over card is potentially dangerous) looks like a nice card for me as I now have four to a spade flush. After the callers on the flop I decide I need to bet bigger this time around and make it $200 to go. One player folds, the other smooth calls which is extremely suspicious as $200 would be considered a large bet into almost any size pot given how the game has played so far.

The river is a rag and I bet out again, this time $400 which my opponent considers and then calls turning over:

:Tc::9h: (suits may vary)

For a higher two pair. This leaves me as the short stack at the table and although I definitely should have done a better job at surviving I was out soon after in 7th place (out of 7). Not my best day at the poker table and all because of one hand - 94s! What was I thinking? I never play 94 even if it is suited! Let’s consider where I went wrong…

Preflop:

• It’s good to be creative and occasionally play cards that your opponents wouldn’t expect, however, 94s in early position is maybe taking that a little bit to the extreme.
• Why call preflop? I should definitely have raised here, if I’m going to to try and be a little deceptive then I should represent a big hand. A standard 3 X BB raise here would likely have caused T9o to fold.
• There was no real need to try this move here at all, the blinds are low and I have plenty of chips. I should wait for a better opportunity to win some chips.

Flop:

• Preflop mistakes don’t matter now, I hit top two pair but there is a flush draw and I am also vulnerable to pretty much any other 9. In this situation you have to bet big, $50 is not enough. Make it at least the pot, maybe a little more. $200 has a nice ring to it. 

Turn and River:

• I think I played these streets correctly, out of position I was giving chips away here regardless. With no raise on my turn bet I had no reason to consider T9 and when no flush came on the river I was fairly confident I had the best hand, however, due to my mistakes on other streets (preflop especially) my opponent could have had absolutely anything.

So there you go, sometimes when the cards aren’t running well for you and you feel you’ve got a tight table image you’ll be tempted to play “any two cards”. This is good. Just make sure when you do that you learn from my mistakes and pick your moments based on table position, table feel and your opponents and please, when you hit that flop hard always make your opponents pay to outdraw you. You’ll have a much better idea of where you’re at and just maybe you’ll avoid donking off a lot of your chips like I did.

Of course, you’ll do much better if you just have a little more patience than I did and wait for that big hand to come along… no need to force these things, especially early in the tournament.

You’ve all heard it:

“…this site’s rigged…”
“…they always catch the cards they need…”
“…I lose every race I’m in on this site…”

and my favourite:

“…this would never happen in a live game…”

Well, to those whining conspiracy theorists I give you this. Last Sunday, my place, $10 buy in NL hold’em 8 player tournament. Three way all-in on a board of:

:8c::8d::8s::Ah::2d:

For a three way split, full houses all around. Unlikely, but not so bad right?

Later in the day, two players all-in against one another. The larger stack chasing an unlikely gut shot straight pulls runner runner two pair to beat the short stacks top pair. That is they pair each of their hole cards, the first on the turn the second on the river. Can you imagine the complaining some would do if this happened online? (As a side note, this has happened to me online, though my opponent didn’t even have the straight draw… they just thought I was bluffing. I did not complain.)

It doesn’t stop there, three big hands, including the last of the tournament were decided in similar fashion. First I sucked out by pushing all-in heads up with:

:7d::7h:

On a board of:

:2h::6d::Kc: (suits not exact)

Called by:

:Ks::Tc:

Let me defend my play by saying I was the short stack, in position and I had no reason to think my opponent had the king. Anyway, the point is I caught a 7 on the turn and took down the pot to be back in the game.

But then, I was on the other end. Three way all-in preflop my AA, vs QQ and A2o, nothing to help anyone by the turn until on the river:

Another 2 outer caught. Then, the final hand of the tournament:

:2d::2s: vs :Qs::9s:

Flop:

:3h::Qh::6c:

Turn:

River:

To cap off a day of some of the more “interesting” live hands I’ve seen. Funny though, no one claimed it was rigged!

So, and most who read this would already know this, the next time someone says “that would never happen live” tell them to actually get out and play some live cards, they might just finally realise that even live a 2 outer draw has 2 outs!

In poker a “semi-bluff” is where you bet at a pot when you don’t have the best hand but have a hand that has a good chance of improving to the best hand before the end of the game.

Playing limit hold’em sitting in the SB am dealt:

:9c::6c:

Four players call the BB and I limp, the BB checks and we see a flop:

:Tc::Js::Qc:

Giving me an open ended straight draw (the better card being an 8 here as a king would give anyone with an ace a higher straight) and a flush draw. I have to bet on this flop for two reasons:

1. For value, my hand has a high chance of improving to likely the best hand before the river.
2. To narrow the field a little, I’d like to see hands like a pair of jacks or tens fold here as well as anyone holding an ace.

So I bet, three players call and the button raises.

This raise intrigues me, I wasn’t expecting it and now I have to re-evaluate my hand. What could he have? AK is possible, but unlikely this player is aggressive preflop and would have raised. QJ is a definite contender as is QT or JT. It’s also possible that he’s on the same draw as me, problem is if this is the case he may have king of clubs and another club and might have me dominated.

With all these variables I decide I cannot call this bet and if I want to keep playing this hand I must raise to try and get a feeling of where I’m really at, so I raise.

Only one of the original stragglers calls and the button re-raises to cap the betting. There is no doubt in my mind that I am now behind in this hand, my only hope is that the button is on a straight draw without any clubs as if he has any made hand he is calling to the river. My other worry is the third player in the pot who is just smooth calling, he’s new at the table and I have no read on him. It’s possible that he could be trying something tricky with a flopped straight but it’s more likely he’s on a weak draw or has a pair of queens, I’m not too worried about him at this point.

So I call, the straggler calls and three of us see the turn:

It’s unlikely that this card improves anybodies hand and I decide it’s a good card for me to push a little harder on. The players left in this hand probably don’t put me on a draw, I played aggressively on the flop and they must think I have a made hand, possibly the straight. If I bet here I can see just how much they like their hands and possibly get a clue as to what they are holding. There’s also a small chance they might fold. So I bet and to my surprise both players just call.

Both of these players just gave away two important details about their hands:

1. Their hands are weak or they are drawing
2. They think my hand is beating them at this stage

So armed with this information we see the river:

You might be surprised but this is actually a great card for me, it completes no draws (OK, before NickG busts me for not thinking about every possibility technically it could give someone a full house but after the play on the turn I’d bet my right nut that no one had a set ;)).

So my choices are either check and lose this hand or bet and hope that these players were drawing and will fold.

I bet, they fold and give me a pot worth 13 big bets.

Now, this post wasn’t meant as a bragging post about how I played. Far from it, in fact at the time I put that bet in on the river I expected to be handing this pot over to one of the other players.

When my opponents folded on the river I decided this hand needed to be analysed to determine why I won and what better place to analyse it than out here in public?

The key to winning this hand was representing a big hand on the flop when I was semi-bluffing, had I simply called the button’s raise on the flop I’m sure I would have lost this hand. I would have shown weakness and given away the fact that I was drawing (just as my opponents did by calling on the turn). The lesson to be learnt here is to always play your strong draws in limit poker aggressively and always ask yourself why your opponents make the moves that they do. You’ll need to treat each situation differently (what if I had been raised on the turn, what if the turn was an ace?) and only rarely will you get a chance to take control of a hand like this from early position, but when you do decide to play that semi-bluff don’t play weakly. Raise or fold, that’s they key!

In middle position I’m dealt:

:8c::8s:

A player in early position bets, three players including myself call and we see a flop:

:Tc::Kd::8h:

The original bettor bets, I decide to just call putting him on AK and one of the other two players also calls. The turn comes:

Giving me a full house, the early position player bets, I raise and we’re heads up. He re-raises and I cap to see the river:

And we cap the betting again, I get ready to scoop in a huge pot until he turns over:

:Kc::Ks:

For quads! QUADS!

Even though I was behind the whole way and even though pocket 10’s also would have beaten me I don’t think I’d play this hand any differently given my time again, at least not at the limits I’m playing at (this was at .25/.50). Hey, at least on those rare times that I’ll lose I have an interesting story for the blog!

So a funny thing just happened, decided to head over to pokerroom.com for a bit of SNG action. I sign up for one and as I’m sitting there for the first few hands I’m thinking to myself “This table seems pretty weak, why are they only min-raising each other?”.

Then it dawns on me, I’ve signed up for a limit tournament by mistake! Then something else dawns on me, although I’m a profitable limit ring game player I have no idea what strategy to use for a limit SNG. I feel so lost!

It’s currently level 2 and I’m down around $400 in chips already (turned a straight to be rivered by a better straight), the other players strategy so far seems to be “call and pray” so I’ll play tight and see what happens… stay tuned!

—

It’s now level four and I’m starting to suspect this is a bit of a lottery, did I mention it was only a $5+$0.50 buy-in? Many people to each flop calling raises and re-raises, blinds are up to 50/100 so I expect to see the first players dropping out soon.

Oh yeah and I haven’t won a pot yet. Only played two hands though the whole tournament not including the blinds. Maybe I’m being too tight? I have been card dead though.

—

First player is out, straight vs top pair. Calling and praying ;)

—

Second player out, we’re down to 8. Big problem is I’m down to around 700 in chips with the blinds at 50/100.

—

Scratch that, I’m out in 8th place. Got K9o in the BB, checked to see a flop 9 high. Ended up all-in on the river which was a jack, one opponent had J7o the other (who was all-in preflop) had AJo.

Can’t say I enjoyed my first limit SNG experience, personally I see limit as something much better suited to cash ring games where the blinds don’t change. That said, I really had no idea what I was doing :)

Waste of a buy-in, but an interesting experience regardless. If anyone out there can point me in the direction of some good limit tournament resources I’m always willing to learn…

As you can probably tell by the lack of action on the site the past couple of weeks have been pretty slow for me in poker terms. Real life is largely to blame and has been eating in to my poker playing time much more than should be allowed :)

I did, however, get a chance to play some live poker in the Adelaide Casino a couple of Saturday nights back. The Adelaide Casino has a fairly small poker room generally offering quite a limited range of games (That night they were playing 4/8 and 10/20 limit Hold’em and I think 4/8 Omaha), the good news though is that on a Saturday night the 4/8 Hold’em is more loose/passive than your average 10c/20c table on Poker Stars!

Loose/passive is a good thing, especially because earlier in the night I may have had a little something to drink (OK, a lot to drink, this was after a bucks night for a friend of mine!). Playing after drinking is not always a bad thing for me, I tend to force myself to concentrate more and don’t try to be too clever which is a good way to play on these kinds of tables.

Anyway, I bought in for $200, sat down in seat 8 and started to play my normal game which mainly involved me folding a lot of hands while watching 9 way pots get called down to the river, there was no preflop raising (the only person to preflop raise the whole time was myself with AQo, everyone called anyway) and people would call to the river having hit any pair on the flop (regardless of kicker). All I had to do was wait. And wait I did, it was getting late, I was getting tired and all I’d managed to do so far is lose some chips limping in with hands like 88 (hit a set on the flop, got beaten by a flush on the river) and 99 (hit a nine friendly board against KK) and after the first hour or so I was down about $100 when I hit a streak of totally unplayable cards. I was folding so much even the most inattentive players were commenting on it! I decided I needed to play some hands and with no preflop raising happening I limped in with:

:6s::4s:

From middle position. My thinking being at this point that if I hit with these cards I’m making money and these are the last cards players at this table would expect me to be playing. Eight out of the other nine players limp in and we see a flop:

:6h::4h::9d:

I’ve hit an unlikely two pair and decide not to muck around, the player to my right bets, I raise and everyone except the original bettor folds (which surprised me, I would have expected more action). We see the turn:

Lovely, the player to my right bets again and I raise, he calls. This repeats on the river which is a rag and he turns over:

:9c::3s:

For a pair of nines, I show him my full house to take down quite a nice sized pot.

A short time later I make another full house from my pocket 5’s and I decide it’s time to leave (it’s about 4am at this point), although I was only around $10 up at this point it was a nice feeling to have been able to fight back from so far down, really though I was just happy to get a chance to play a few hands!

This past week has been one of my most successful limit poker weeks since I first started playing.

Over on Poker Stars I’ve played just under 3000 hands since last Thursday and I’m up around 280 BB.

Now, I realise some of this is due to variance and I will admit at times I’ve enjoyed some good luck with the cards. Heck, even my pocket jacks have been holding up to the river! For example:

:Jh::Jd:

I’m first to act and raise, the player to my left re-raises and gets four (!) callers. A little nervous about my prospects I call to finish the betting round. So the pot is now 18 SB and we haven’t even seen a flop:

:3s::Td::3h:

Player to my right checks, I bet, the original raiser re-raises and all except one calls. I really don’t think the re-raiser has a three, in fact given previous reads I have to say he could have any over card so I re-raise him back. He calls… and so does EVERYONE else left in the hand!

So going to the turn the pot is 16.5 BB:

I get that nervous feeling and just check this card (weak play? perhaps, but the action has been quite fierce up until now). The original raiser checks another player who’d just called up until now bets and myself and two others call, so we have 22.5 BB in the middle and the river comes:

Now there’s a flush on the board as well. I check. The turn bettor bets and everyone left in the pot just calls.

The late aggressor shows:

:Ah::4c:

Everyone else mucks (checking back later the second best hand was pocket 7’s) and I take down a big multiway pot on a scary(ish) board with pocket jacks that didn’t improve. Good times!

Anyway, I’m getting off topic my point was supposed to be that it’s not all been good luck (though you won’t believe me after that example). I’ve made a few changes to my game which look like they are helping, these include:

1. Not underestimating the bad players, I have made mistakes before where I’ve played against the odds due to thinking that my opponents are poor players. While it’s often true that they are poor, usually at the levels I’m playing at they have exactly the hand they are telling you they have with their bets. Also, just because no one raised preflop, doesn’t mean my ace rag is good. The number of players I see just calling with big hands like AK and AQ is crazy, got to watch what they do after the flop.
2. Raising for value when appropriate, especially preflop. I haven’t been doing enough raising preflop, this past week I’ve been following Miller’s recommendations to the letter and it’s been paying off.
3. In addition to the above, being able to check or fold post flop if I’ve raised preflop and haven’t hit anything. This depends on opponents/position and potential to improve but unlike in NL hold’em a post flop bet on a low board isn’t scaring anyone (no one ever believes you have a high pocket pair at the tables I play on, which is nice when you do).
4. Never drawing unless the odds are exactly right. I’ve been guilty too many times of saying “Well, I’m almost getting odds” … almost isn’t good enough!

All pretty basic stuff really and stuff that I thought I was doing until I sat down and analysed some big losing hands, it’s amazing how plugging a few leaks (and getting some good cards) can make you feel a whole lot better about your game.

Good luck at the tables!