My usual poker pattern continued yesterday when I followed up the big win of the day before with lots of losses. I'm pretty sure it was me and not just bad luck necause I did win one SNG for a $35 profit. I hadn't played many hands, and then a small stack went all-in for like 300 chips (I had about 1500), and the big stack raised all-in with 4500 chips, and everyone else folded, so I decided to call with AK suited. My feeling was that if the big stack had a good hand, he wouldn't have gone all-in, hoping to get more chips off people, but instead he raised to isolate the small stack, leading me to believe that he wasn't very strong and didn't want anyone else in the pot. I put him on pocket Q's at worst for me, and really just about any pocket pair would fit, which gave me any Ace or any King to win, and I didn't care about the small stack since that pot was miniscule. Anyway, big stack turns over pockets Kings, taking away 3 of my outs, but I got an Ace on the flop, and a lot of derision from the other players. I decided to ignore it, and they kept dissing on me until I took all their chips. I think the insults made me more determined to beat them with good play, though sometimes I just end up on tilt in the same spot.

I sort of set this one guy up. Not really a setup, just using previous knowledge against him. On one hand he bet, and I had pockets 10s and figured he'd fold with a raise, which he did. A few orbits later with the button in the same place, he bet again, but this time I had pocket aces. I raised about the same amount I had the last time, knowing he would think I was bluffing this time, and he pushed. Obviously I called and knocked him out.

The main guy who had been insulting me (and ahd played the pocket Kings in the earlier hand) made it pretty obvious he considered himself a solid player and exhibited much derision against people who play less than great cards (less than great in his opinion, to me ANY cards are great if I think I can win the pot). From this I figured his small raises are probably vulnerable and that he wouldn't adapt too much. Twice I raised over his bets, and twice he folded. One he said "You have a large PP" and the other time he said, "I think I have you beat, bluffer." I love it when people say stuff like that. He was wrong both times, as I had raised with crap (who needs cards when you know the other guy will fold to a raise?), but the second time really takes the cake. If he's so sure he has better cards, then he should call or raise, not fold. Only an idiot folds what they think is the best hand (except in certain circumstances which this did not involve). Think about it this way, if you are going to fold even though you think you have the best hand, when are you going to play? When you think you have the worst of it?

Anyway, the fact that I was being insulted ticked me off and made me pay a lot more attention and use some psychology and planning against these guys, and it worked big time! Granted, the aces came at a lucky time, but I probably would have made less with them if I hadn't remembered the earlier hand. Anyway, despite overall losses yesterday, I'm really excited about the progress of my skills. I'm going to have less time to play starting next week, hopefully my skills won't dissolve.

If anyone out there reading this is interested, I'd be glad to give a short tutorial on getting in to online play.