a jump up

Finally broke out of mediocrity last night - took second in a 9 man and 1st in a 6 man. Cards went my way a couple times- got my money in behind a couple times but had 2 live cards and hit a pair (one example - a desperation shove with Q6 gets called by AK, but I hit my 6). It was a nice night because I never hit the monster set or nut straight but I was still able to outmanuver my opponents.

The 6 man was particularly fun because I was able to stay well ahead of the blinds the whole way. Most of the players at the table were negative ROI players, and the one who was decent got knocked out in 5th.

My heads up opponent was not a great player, but his favorite move was hard to combat - he made a pot size bet on the turn in almost every hand he was in. It took my awhile to sort out what he was doing - was he slowplaying a decent hand and then betting for value? Was this his donkish "feeler" bet? Was it a semibluff to some sort of draw? Was it just an attempt to take down the pot regardless of his cards?

2 hands let me get a handle on it. In the first, he made his pot size bet on the turn, his opponent shoved, and he folded. In the second, the opponent called and I got to see a showdown - he had played K4 and was betting the 4, bottom pair.

I took a big pot from him with a scary hand - I raised heads up with 77, he called, flop came JJ9. He lead off half pot and I called. Turn came a 6, and off came his pot sized bet. Well, I suppose he could have a J, or even a 9, but he had done this so often that I felt the chance was equally good that he had nothing. I shoved and he folded.

The last hand was nice - KJo - I hit the King on the flop, called his bet, then another King on the turn. He bet pot again - this time, though, that was 75% of his stack - I raised him all in. He called and didn't have a king. Fistpump win and then bed.