Ah, very interesting poker games today. I was seated at a table with the types of players you rarely find at 10NL.. the kind that plays somewhat how I play now. So unlike the "slowplayers" or the "maniacs", they were all very conservative, dropped any hand where they had nothing, value bet any hand they got something. I got my fair share of strong hands, but I simply couldn't get anyone to pay up. Tried the overbets that often entice lesser players, tried smaller bets to fake weaknes.. they just folded everything.

Then I tried the slowplay-tactic. There's always the risk of them hitting something lucky on turn or river, but I wanted to see of this way I could get some more money out of them. So I waited for a safe-looking board, which was 24T rainbow with me holding overpair. Ofcourse he had A3 and the river gave him a 5. Serves me right I guess, but was worth a shot.

A bit later a small-stack maniac shows up. He throws himself all-in when I'm holding AK. So ok, call. He was holding J7 and gets his J. Damn. The round after he throws himself all-in again and gets destacked by another guy. Double damn.

Then I start thinking.. since they play like me, I started thinking what my weakness was. And well, I can probably be read easily by a perceptive opponent since I play very conservative, plus I can be bluffed out pretty easily. So going on this, I started to throw calculated bluffs, and creeped my way back up to almost my buy-in.

Then we come at this situation where I am holding KK, a board full of lower cards (blanks), and an opponent giving the vibe he has something. But also hesitation, so probably no AA. So at the turn I throw an all-in, and he flips QQ. And ofcourse.. that 6% chance that he actually gets his Q on the river turns reality. Bad beat there, damn.

So I'm down to $1.50 or so.. some people leave, new people show up, so I figure maybe this is an easier crowd and keep playing.

At this time I also reached a critical phase in the MTT I was playing at the same time. Only 400 people left of the 4500 that started, and ITM (first 260 places) was coming into view, but I had fallen to about 3M so it was time for that one "lucky break" you need to get to win money in an MTT. I'm on the BB, all folds except for the SB who throws himself all-in. I was holding J8 so I figured this was as good a time as any to gamble. He flipped AK, the flop gave me a J, but the river a K and I was out.

A few minutes later in the ring game I get my $1.50 into a 3-way all-in with KQ and the 88 guy takes the pot.

All in all pretty educational. I was able to try my hand at some tougher opponents, and I think I held my own, even got to try some different approaches, that was nice. But I think in the future I'll just go look for the fishier tables