Maybe it’s a little too early to tell (I’ve only played 705 hands), but you really could ABC your way into some money if you follow HD’s advice.

Pay special attention to #2: Play tight with a small stack. If you just read #1: Limping is good and suddenly jump into every hand you can, you might find yourself out your buy-in and reaching for that rebuy button. Not a good idea. That said, there have been a few occasions when I’ve limped my way down to half my buy-in and made it back in one hand.

By the way, that 13.5 BB win rate represents 47 wins out of 705 games (6.6%). I saw the flop 31.63% of the time. So it really doesn’t take much to run up your stack.

Oh, and it’s seriously a lot of fun. The best part is manipulating the size of your bets in relation to the size of the pot and your opponents’ stacks in order to get them to call or fold. This is where getting a good read/history on your enemies comes in real handy.

A lot of times I just get lucky, and that’s how I make most of my money. But a big part of that luck is the fact that I’m sitting at a table with players who do unbelievable things. They can’t fold big pairs with a monster hand on the board, they think top pair is good enough to win when I’m raising like a mofo, they chase draws they don’t have the odds to chase. But it’s one thing to know rationally that this is happening, and another thing altogether to see it happen. Saturday afternoon, I had the pleasure of playing against some of these guys and took down a 27 BB pot in 1/2 and 40 BB pot in 25PL. Sure, there were times when I made my runner-runner flush on the river and couldn’t blame my opponents for trying to win with big pairs or two pair (my 4 outs for a gutshot straight on the flop became a 12-outer with the flush possibility on the turn). But these other guys are just mind-bogglingly bad gamboolers. Fuck them. They deserve to lose.

I can see the attraction of big bet poker with training wheels:

My guess is that SB was hoping to check-raise some sorry bastard on the flop. Unfortunately things went awry. I was hoping to call-raise some sorry bastards on the turn, but I’m still satisfied with the way things turned out.

Again, point #3 applies: Don’t go broke with top pair. Now the question is whether my raise on the river was optimal for winning money. Would he have called me if I’d gone all-in? If I’d raised to $14? Is the potential payoff worth not holding back?

HD told me that he much prefers live play for the max buy-in NL games, since the PartyPookers tend to fold to any pre-flop raise and just wait for the nuts. But in the limited experience I’ve had with PL, it seems that people are willing to risk more of their chips because the pot limit maximum bet/raise makes them feel more secure. They’re wrong, of course.

This unbelievable hand saved my bankroll today:

Good thing I had cavebutter there to sweat me. Those bets were pretty scary, though I’m not sure I could have folded two pair with nothing obvious showing on the board. Still, it’s good to have a friend to reassure you that you’re making the right move.

Now it seems obvious to me that neither of my opponents read the beginner’s guide to beating low-limit no-limit (also applies to the $25 PL game), specifically points 3, 4, and 5:

3. Don’t go broke with top pair — MP2
4. Draws are overrated — button
5. You win the most money by outflopping your opponents — me!

Well, that was a lot of fun and all, and I’ll be the first one to accept money from Lady Luck and fools, but I have no idea whether my play was any good. There were certainly points during the day when I’m pretty sure I made some good plays, but I don’t know if it was at all that consistent. I definitely need more practice reading my opponents.

From what I’d seen at the $25 NL tables and from what’d I’d heard from HD, I would have expected a little more tight playing at the $25 PL tables. I guess not:

I know, I know, MP3 had implied odds, but at some point that starts to sound more like a rationalization than rational play.

—

Didn’t Izmet say not to slowplay a set? My ass was somewhat at risk with this little manouever:

Okay, so I don’t think I actually did anything wrong. I had top set, the flop was rainbow, turn was a rag, and I took all his money in the end. But how much would it have sucked if the river had been a diamond, but not a board pair? Yeesh. Didn’t even see the flush. Not sure if I would have been as blind if I hadn’t made my boat.

Anyway, I think I’ll go review some of the thoughts on “big bet poker with training wheels” over at The Cards Speak.

5:15 PM Update: the same guy whose flush lost to my boat just lost another big pot. The card that made his nut flush on the river made someone else’s boat. In both cases, this guy was beat from the flop, but kept fishing for his hand, got it, and lost. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.