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Another cash game last night, or actually early this morning as we only started the game at about 2 am. The usual 20c/40c no limit holdem game we always play, but this time I bought in for 20 instead of the usual 10 euro. I was ready to play some cards !
The first hour I was completely card dead and didn't get a single playable hand. I kept my patience and used this time to observe the players at the table. Starting at my left, I saw a smart, tight player, an inexperienced but smart player, a very inexperienced player whom I labeled as a calling station, then there was a player that had won a few games at my house, I figure him pretty tight and smart but does not have real poker smarts yet. Then a very smart player, tight aggressive, plays online and knows how to 'play'. Behind him was a regular tight player, a drunk player and a drunk stoned calling station. In total maybe 3 people that know what they're doing, including me. (Hey, of course I know what I'm doing !) 
So mucking the first 20 hands or so bought me a lot of information about the play at the table. I knew who I could try to bluff and who I should not try to bluff. Then I finally got a hand ... AQ suited, not a monster, but it looked great after getting 'phone number' hands dealt for the last hour. The usual pre flop raise was about 1 euro 50, I decided to make it 3 euros. I had been complaining about not getting any hands, and this was my chance to show I meant business. I expected everyone to fold unless they had a monster .. it HAD to be clear I was not bluffing here. The strong player across the table from me called and the flop came something like 8Q3. IIRC I was first to act and bet out 5 euros, he folded.
The very next hand I get KK and because there was a bunch of limpers in the pot, I raised it to 4 euros this time. They all folded and I showed my kings. At this point, it was clear to even the most drunk and inexperienced players that I was only playing big hands and they better watch out when I make it 3 or 4 euros pre flop. I was sure my table image was set when the drunk next to me said 'This guy only enters the pot if he's really sure of his hand'. This was the tactic I had decided to employ, because previous, small pot tactics, usually ended up in some calling station getting a runner runner on me.
I now had some more chips to play with, and got into a hand when I was on the big blind with K5 of suit. It was an unraised pot with 2 early position limpers (the 2 smart guys to my left). The flop came AK6 and I was first to act. I gave it some thought and figured since noone raised there was a good chance nobody had an ace and my K was good here. I bet out 3 euros (about twice the pot) and both players call ! Oh shit I'm in trouble now I thought. But luck seemed to be on my side as another K rolled off. I'm saved I thought ... they probably called me with an ace, so now I do have the best hand. Of course I was still out of position, I decided the only way to be sure I have the best hand and not get bluffed out is to make a decent pot sized bet here, so I bet out 10 euros. The under the gun calls and the other guy folds. Now my head is spinning .. what could he be calling with ? He must have me beat, maybe he had pocket 66 ? My thoughts are interrupted as a 5 comes off the deck to fill up my boat. I pause .. look at our stacks and see we each have less then the pot left, at this point he's not going to fold anything anymore so I push the rest of my chips in. He calls and says 'full house, sixes full of kings', to which I show him my kings full of fives and take down a pot worth almost 50 euros.
The guy was devastated by this beat. He had been playing strong all night, sitting on his big stack, barely playing any hands. I guess he slow played the hand too much and just let me get there, so it's his own fault. After this encounter, we didn't play any hands anymore, but I did loose about 25 euros to the calling station on my right. He called a pre flop bet and a flop bet totaling 10 euros with J3 suited. No pair, no draw. Then he made a runner runner flush on me. I played smart the rest of the night and avoided the calling station at all costs. This meant any hand I wanted to play I had to bet 4 euros pre flop to make sure he folded his garbage (he limped EVERY SINGLE HAND). I built my stack back up to 45 euros so closed the night with a 25 euro profit.
Definitely the end of my losing streak !!
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