Card Dead Yet Profitable
I have been playing at Pacific and VIP Poker the past few days - two sites that are fairly fishy. Mostly single-tabling $2/4 and $3/6, but I did squeeze in a long $5/10 session and two short NL $100 sessions. I played both NL tables as nut-peddaling add-ons to limit tables where I was more focused.
That $5/10 table was frustrating because there was so much money going into the pot every hand, but I wasn't getting any cards to play. I made two good laydowns with TPTK, one on the turn, one on the river, and was down about 10BB. My daughter was sitting there and I was explaining to her that this was a good table to play as there were many players pushing lots of money in with marginal hands, and that I would like to flop a set because if I did, I would win a big pot. I explained this to her by saying I'd like to have pocket 77 and flop a 7. Just a few hands later I had 77 UTG and limped in. Got the routine 4 callers, and flopped 727, two hearts. I checked it and the hyperaggro btn bet. I called as did 2 others. Turn was a third heart, and it checked around to the btn who bet. I called and an MP raised. BTN called and I did, too. River was a blank, and I checked, MP bet and BTN called. I raised, MP 3-bet, BTN folded and I capped. MP showed a Q-high flush. I checked off that table up $4, but with an average distribution of cards I would have made a killing.
Friday night I played a $3/6 table and I saw the luckiest player I have yet seen at a card table. My first hand he was UTG and had only $6 at a $3/6 table. He raised first in and I assumed he'd had a bad day and was just tilting off his last $6. (I was sitting out the hand waiting for the blind to come around.) He had 3 or 4 callers, but his T9o turned a boat and he won the pot. An hour later he had turned that $6 into $228, and he left the table. I thought his play was pretty bad, but he just kept making hands. He only tagged me once when he rivered bottom trips. I did fine at that table, and came away with 7 or 8 BB.
I also played an NL $100 table on Friday. One player must have been tilting from something that happened previously as he made huge pre-flop raises about 3 or 4 times an orbit. I caught QQ against him and doubled up my stack. I think that was the only hand I played at that table.
The only other significant item I can remember is that for that several day period my cards were below average. In a loose fishy environment where you can play lots of hands profitably my vp$ip was about 12%. I was just running cold - but making money anyways. Hoping to get a hot run of cards at those tables during the coming week.