flopping sets

I have read that holdem win rates can be boiled down to how well you get paid on the sets you flop, and how much you avoid paying off those who have flopped sets against you.

Sometimes I believe it. I stubbornly played 1600 Rush hands today, bobbing up and down, up and down. I stayed right around the the break even mark all night. Up 50 blinds, then down against a set. Then I would crawl back with stealing, restealing, and a couple medium pots, back to even. But I wasn't hitting the big hands, or I was hitting them but not getting paid off.

In the last dozen hands of the night, I flopped a set of sixes on an all spade board. We got it in. It wasn't a sure thing, but I was up against top pair, no spade redraw (the bad player finally gets his due). Soon after I flopped another set (8s this time), and the river gave me the underboat and the opponent trips. Another big pot.

After bobbing up and down, up and down, 2 sets win me a buy-in. That's about when I felt like 1600 hands was enough for one day.