it took 185 hands....

..but I finally got the sucker. Calling station, 54/14, sitting directly to my left. Folds to blind steals only 29%. Folds to flop c-bets only 29%. His plays locks my aggro game down - can't raise the blinds with garbage, can't c-bet when I whiff. Well, I can, but he's calling with any pair and any draw.

Nope, I was going to have to hit a hand against this guy to beat him. Great.

I even got called a nit by someone at the table! He raised, and his stats were pretty loose, and his steal stats pretty light, so I reraised from the blind with JQo. He folded right away and typed into the chat "no way, nit". Ha! My stats were indeed pretty tight, but I had my reasons.

I was waiting to crack the calling station.

I would like to tell you I finally got the bullets or flopped the set, but those things never happened. Instead, someone else got most of the calling station's money, leaving him with $4.60. Afterwards, he 3bet raised (all-in) over twice since his stack was low - something he hadn't been doing before. He was defending these last 9 blinds like they were his mortgage - I knew he wasn't reloading.

To change my strategy, I actually open-limped on the button with JTo - no need to raise it and get reraised. No need to raise and get called. I hit an open-ender when KQ came, we checked around. When another queen came on the turn, he shoved the rest of his $4.10 stack into a $1.50 pot, with two people behind him. Looked like a queen, but I had eight outs to crack his trips. Not a great call by me, but I took a shot and lost. He had A6 - not even a queen - he was just praying me or the big blind didn't have one. (this means I had 14 outs instead of 8). I double him up, which leaves him at the table a bit longer.

Next orbit, I raise QJ, he shoves over me again. No need to push it, no need to get lucky - I just fold and move on. My time will come.

4 hands later, it comes. KcTc. No powerhouse, but I raise it from the cutoff. He calls from the button. The big blind calls too, for fun. Board comes Eight, Three, Ten. No flush possibilities.

A quick range analysis. He's been shoving light, so any overpair to tens is already all-in (unless he's playing them super-tricky). Ace-ten might be all-in also. Since he just called, I think I'm ahead of his range with my top pair, second kicker. He has no draw that can get there, unless he has exactly J9. Even if he has that, he has 8 outs, and I've got a 2-1 advantage.

Not sure what the big blind has, but this board is so dry, there isn't much for him to stick around with.

Calling station is not one to c-bet every time, so I need to bet it myself out of position. If he shoves, I'm calling. I bet $3 into a $4.50 pot. He just calls. I'm either way ahead of the crap he's calling with, or he flopped a set and I'm going to pay him off. Big blind folds, so it's just me and him.

The turn pairs the three. A 54/14 guy can call a preflop raise with a 3 in his hand, then call a c-bet with bottom pair. Actually this same guy did exactly that earlier in the session, with ace-three, then hit trips on the turn. The guy with the overpair was not pleased. A brief shudder goes over me as I recall that hand, but the pot is $10.75 and he's only got $6.90 left. I'm not folding now. I stick it in, and he calls, showing 6d8d. Second pair. Five outs to crack me. I'm a 9-1 favorite...

The river, a lovely and harmless ace of spades. No dice for the calling station, and I take down the $24.55 pot.

It took 185 hands, but I crack him. He leaves the table a split second before I do.