Grinding it out

Up $600 dollars this weekend with 8 hours of play. Would have been a little more, but sometimes you cant avoid the bad beats, despite being ahead.

Lately, I've really been treating this as a business. My new motto is not to gamble, but make money. So not needlessly putting my stack at risk with hands that I don't know if I'm ahead or not. Most of it comes down to how well I can read the guy.

Example: A guy raised and I was sure he had jacks, so I laid down AQ suited. While another guy called and won the pot with AQ offsuit when he hit a queen on the turn.

Second example: Folded AQ offsuit again to a player who raised. I also put him on a high pair like kings. I would have turned the straight, but that player won when he rivered a full house. Whew~ I would have lost a lot here.

So this is how I've been playing. I figure its not tournament, so I don't have to worry about surviving. I'll choose my spots and play the cards when its on my terms, where I have a edge.

Friday. Had a pretty solid table of players who knew what they were doing. Passive preflop but aggressive on most flop. Out of the 9 players, about 5 of them love to bet on every street, no matter their cards. So, I played tight for about a half a hour and tried to see flops as cheaply as possible with hands I like.

Lost my first buy-in to someone who raised high on his draw. I pushed and he called. Hit his straight on the turn. Urg! Brought back in and doubled up on my first hand.

Most of my winnings came from a big stack player who was aggressive not only with his cards, but with his mouth. He so love bad-mouthing plays and the dealers. When I first sat down, he was constantly talking, until I started busting him up for about $400. It wasn't too long that he put me on tilt with his mouth.

So I table changed.

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Saturday: Strolled in around 6pm and brought in for only $60. Left at around 8:30pm with $420. Not too bad. Pretty much played solid and felt the table up to identify players. Who was aggressive? Who was passive and who was the fish?

The biggest win came from this hand. A raised from a UTG player to $12 and a call. I'm in the big blind with aces and raised to $40. I get two callers. Flop comes out A 3 5 with two hearts. I pause with for a bit with my set of aces and trusted my gut that if I checked, he will bet thinking I didn't like the ace. My trap worked and he bets out $75. After a fold, I push for $160 total. He insta-called and mucks after I show him my set.

It wasn't long that the table got a whole lot of new faces. I was way too tired to try to identify these new guys, so I left, not wanting to lose what I won.