NL200!

I was flirting with the idea of returning to NL200 for the time being, and decided as I was logging on that I would wait to earn just a bit more at NL100 before taking a shot. Still, I scrolled through the NL200 tables to see if I recognized any superfish and indeed there was one, a superdonk who runs 45/5/1 amd sits four tables at once. I first encountered him at NL100 and spotted him sitting NL400 once. Even though my roll was only like $2500 at the time, I strongly considered following him (though I didn't).

In any case, I decided I wasn't going to get a better opportunity to take a shot and so I followed the donk to all four of his tables, and opened up two more as well.

600 hands later, I was up $800 and decided to call it a night. Woot!

I ran quite well (+$160ish in all in equity) but still played quite well. I was surprised at how many complete fish there were. All six of my tables seemed a lot easier than any of my tables in recent memory at NL100 (although the better players are certainly a lot better).

My favorite hand of the night:

FullTiltPoker Game #6255340242: Table Cactus Wren - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:05:48 ET - 2008/05/02
Seat 1: bigrighteous125 ($50)
Seat 2: Bluffnbeaver ($40)
Seat 3: Jalapeno3 ($163.20)
Seat 4: tamu87 ($107.30)
Seat 5: cartparka ($194)
Seat 6: gdshaffer ($211)
Seat 7: Michael Bruce ($241.55)
Seat 8: frazier1979 ($138.65)
Seat 9: gajago ($241.95)
gajago posts the small blind of $1
bigrighteous125 has 5 seconds left to act
bigrighteous125 posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gdshaffer [Jh Jd]
Bluffnbeaver folds
Jalapeno3 folds
tamu87 folds
cartparka raises to $6
gdshaffer raises to $21
Michael Bruce folds
frazier1979 folds
gajago folds
bigrighteous125 folds
cartparka calls $15
*** FLOP *** [Td 8c Js]
cartparka checks
gdshaffer has 15 seconds left to act
gdshaffer bets $36
cartparka calls $36
*** TURN *** [Td 8c Js] [4d]
cartparka bets $76
gdshaffer raises to $154, and is all in
cartparka has 15 seconds left to act
cartparka calls $61, and is all in
gdshaffer shows [Jh Jd]
cartparka shows [7s As]
Uncalled bet of $17 returned to gdshaffer
*** RIVER *** [Td 8c Js 4d] [5h]
gdshaffer shows three of a kind, Jacks
cartparka shows Ace Jack high
gdshaffer wins the pot ($388) with three of a kind, Jacks
cartparka is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $391 | Rake $3
Board: [Td 8c Js 4d 5h]
Seat 1: bigrighteous125 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Bluffnbeaver didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Jalapeno3 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: tamu87 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: cartparka showed [7s As] and lost with Ace Jack high
Seat 6: gdshaffer showed [Jh Jd] and won ($388) with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 7: Michael Bruce didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: frazier1979 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: gajago (small blind) folded before the Flop

This was like the dude's 2nd hand at the table, and the previous hand he had raised and I 3bet him with AK (he folded). So I was prepared to stack off on any undercard flop, and check back just about any overcard flop with the intention of calling at least one bet, but flopping top set was just an added bonus.

Villain obviously had a plan in the hand, which is a good thing I suppose, but probably needs to work a bit more on his timing, LOL. Still, that's an unjustifiable call on the river, drawing to at most seven outs (and often less). I made a mistake in the hand, actually, in that my river raise was *immediate*. I was so surprised at his turn bet that I just reflexively got it all in. Better would have been like a 5-8 second pause, then a push :)

This result gives me some confidence and I'll attack the tables again tomorrow night. I'm still implementing an aggressive stop-loss (probably $1k), but hoping for the best.