Back in business

I won another $5 game, after two second place finishes! It is really a relief to be winning some small games again, you start to doubt yourself after a while.

There as a tough spot where I raised to 400 UTG with 99, a known idiot called but then a very tight player went all-in for 1500 over the top. With a pot of 2300 now and only 1100 to play, I suppose I should have really called here, but I was just too chicken. I folded, the known idiot called with K8 and the tight player held AK... To top it all off, there was a 9 on the flop.

I also needed some luck, when I went all-in on KTs after one limper, the BB with AJo called me and I needed to spike a T on the river to stay alive. Over the course of the game, that BB would eventually donate all of his chips to me. Especially towards the end, when we were left with only three players, it was clear that he really did not have a clue how to play. He had a preflop raise percentage of 30% near the end, and while this won him a lot of small pots of course, he also developed the habit of actually calling reraises with this trash...

Another point where my decision was dubious to say the least was where I went all-in with 22 on the bubble, after the BB from above made yet another raise to 3xBB. He actually called and showed me A2, so he had rather few outs. I did get a scary moment when the board paired, but fortunately it did not pair a second time (which would have counterfeited my pocket pair) and I won that pot.

My decision was not as bad as it may seem, though. It was extremely likely that I was up against two higher cards, making me a slight favorite, so I definitely got great odds. [And in fact, my odds turned out to be even better, because he had only one higher card.] Also, he might fold to my reraise (I naively thought). However, from a point of view of trying to make it into the money, I played way too loose and "should have" folded that hand. After all, winning that hand did not ensure that I would make the money, but losing it would most definitely be the end of the game for me. But it is not easy to play that tight!

I deposited $60 at Party a week ago, to try and clear a bonus. While this is not going to work out, I am quite happy to be just back on $60 again now. Yes, it had been going quite badly...