First night i've come away on top

][cEMAN**

Firstly might I just say YEAAH!!!

OK this will be a regular occurance for most of you, but with my extremely limited experience this is a big thing for me. And just to note, the amounts i'm talking about are relative - this is more for the winning than the cash.

After a couple of days losing with what I thought were good hands (probably would be thought differently here), I went from my usual starting amount $20 (I put this in a fortnight just to mess around with rather than practicing with play money) down to just under $8.

Then yesterday my luck changed. Playing on a 5c/10c table, and basing it on advice i've taken from the regular posters here, I started playing tight aggressive. Tighter than I usually do. Limiting it to either pocket pair 9-10/ax to check, pocket J's or better to raise, and folding if I have to call, I started winning small. Staying at the table though, and getting seen as a very tight aggressive player, I started winning hands from others backing down at my bets. Considering the hands may have just been a pocket pair of Q's, and a K flops, I played aggressively to make sure people either backed down, or folded when I saw that they had a made hand.

Within the space of an hour, and 2 tables, I took this from about $8 to $24. Then I walked away. Too many times i've gone up about $20 and then just lost it by staying at the table to try and win more.

Later that night I decided to take some of the extra i'd won, and wager it against some more STT tables at 50c. I want to train myself on these before I go into MTTs with anything more than a freeroll.

Thankfully the 50c seems to be the best area for me. Players are tight enough to fold to a bet rather than chasing the turn/river for a draw, but loose enough to play offsuit Q5 for example.

The final STT tally came up 3x placed 3rd, 1x placed 2nd, and 1x placed first. Considering I only played 5 STTs last night, it's a record placing for me.

My thoughts were last night, if it's good enough to call it's good enough to raise. I raised and re-raised (with a really good hand) nearly every time I took it to the flop and beyond. I lost a fair amount (on the STTs) taking me down to between 800 and 1000 before it started to pay off, but then coming back i'd last till the end.

I just wanted to finally make a post where I wasn't giving a self made bad beat, and to ask for more details for future reference...

When I have a hand I won't call (based on last night), i'll either check or raise. Most people folded - will this happen on higher stake tables? Or do they chase down the turn/river for a draw?

Are the games much tighter at the higher stake tables, or do people throw money at you to put you off?

Do you find that this method (if you use it - only checking or raising) works, or do you find you lose more than you win with this method?

What is the min you would check/raise with? K9? Ax? Qx suited? Or would you stick to high pocket pairs, or face card suited with another card for a straight (ie. K9 suited)?

It's a nice change to "I lost again last night"

][cEMAN**

Nm, I answered my own question last night.

They get tighter the more is on the table. You tend to find low limits people are more inclined to just go all in within the first 10 hands. The higher up you go, it'll take longer to see this happen. Mostly the players there are better. Sounds obvious, but you could find bad players trying to play there just to make money - like me

Started with the 50c table and came in 3rd. Taking this 90c I moved over to a $1 table. Previous to this i'd been beaten down a couple of times at these tables to 4th/5th position, but as I put more cash in every 2 weeks, and I was up 25% on my original balance (usually at 0 2 days before refilling) I decided to give it a go.

This one I had more luck in. I came first in it. So now taking away $4.50 I moved on up to the $5 table.

I had a bad beat early in, but even with 7 people at the table still, and my stack at around 800, I managed to bide my time, and pull back some nice pots. I thought I was going to go out on this table 5th or so, as I was so low with so many, but working on the fact that the people at the table took me for a chump, I slow played a few hands and pulled the pot.

eg. Dealt QJ. Till this point i'd been working on "If it's good enough to call it's good enough to raise" which suits me well, but i'd been forcing it and raising without a hand too far. Chasing the river. On this hand I thought i'd use my history to pull it. So when the bet went around I waited a minute and checked rather than raised.

Then the flop comes up QxQ. I don't want to make them think I have a hand and am considering drawing them in, so I check straight away to make them think I have nothing (I don't know if this is stated in books, but online, I find that if you pause for a few seconds you're still just on tilt from seeing you have a good hand and deciding to check or raise. Those who don't have a hand seem to be quicker to check.)

The turn comes up a blank for me, so I check in again just as quickly, and the one guy remaining checks as well. Coming up on the river a J drops - and that's my house. I know they think I have nothing (I didn't raise pre flop as I had done so many times before), so I raise a small amount to see if he'll think i'm bluffing. He does, and goes all in. I call, and walk away with the majority of his stack.

Coming back though, I get to the final 3 and still think i'm going out in 3rd till I catch another couple of nice hands. Next thing I know i'm finishing 1st. Payout $22.50.

I take part of this stake and move onto the $10 table. This one isn't as bad as the $5. Even though going from one table to the other I tend to start to play as i'd finished the last one (raising just to pull a pot cause I know the other guy's short stacked) I keep my cool and bide my time. Choosing hands I know are going to do me well. And this time I come out 3rd. $18 payout.

At this stage i'm at about $50 as I started with just over $20. I chance my arm again at the $10 but get out played in a hand that took most of my stack. The blinds just killed me after that.

Things I noticed from the run of cards

-- 72o is actually fantastic . Even 72suited works :P

-- AK (suited or otherwise) is the bane of my existance. I've not won a hand with that in my pocket for about a week now, and i've played a LOT of hands.

This is probably of no interest to any one else and I doubt you'll have read this far - but I think i'm going to keep replying in this thread if I manage any other nice runs

I'm currently at just over $40, which is enough to be able to get myself into some bigger MTTs, and even to sit down at a 25c/50c table to see how well I can do. Sure if I lose it all, tomorrow's my day for refilling my account.

It's all good practice for me so far. I can't wait to get a real life game and see how I fare.