Lots of the stuff I figured out worked. Foxwoods!

Last night at Foxwoods went much better than last week. I had a max up of $75 and I ended the night up $20. Basically, I would've ended up a bit higher, but I decided to kind of fool around a bit with bluffing at the pot and playing a bit more aggressively than I usually do. I found that if there were few players in the pot and that if I didn't do it too often, then I could successfully bluff the pot. I took down a good $80 or so worth of pots that way. It was only once I thought I could just do it repeatedly that people caught a whiff of my BS and started calling me down. Then, I kept pressing it a bit too much and started losing my profits. However, my observation from last week that I don't play well when it gets late and tired was a good one. Once I went down to $20 up, I woke up and saw that my playing had partially been crap because I was just getting too tired. Thus, stopping was awesome and I ended up leaving with money I didn't have when I sat down. :) I hope to go again soon and keep trying at 2 / 4.

I had a great time at Foxwoods and figured some stuff out.

So, I had a great time at Foxwoods last night. Nick, Dru and I went to play some 2/4 while some friends of mine from home played slots and drank for free until their livers became foie gras. Anyways, 2/4 is definitely my speed and the swings are more in price range for right now. I think that based on how things went I will go more often and play 2/4 until I get good enough / have enough money to start playing 4/8. Granted, I did lose the $120 I ended up bringing, but I actually only lost half playing 2/4. I had a bunch of ups and downs with two four (I was up $40 then down $40 etc etc). It's really different than 4/8 in that the game is kind of like a sandbox while 4/8 is like the monkey bars. You can get hurt playing in the sandbox but you have to be like really stupid. I goofed around and straddled and then bet into everyone at the table blind... that was funny since people were getting pissed at me. :) And it only really cost me $20. I did take down a bunch of hands on runner-runner draws, which also made the peeps at the table love me. Actually, though, one of the players at the table was telling Nick and Dru when I sat down to play at their table. He thought I was a really good player since I was "appearing to be wild", yet I had the sense of when to call / fold. I made like $60 at their table and then started getting tired... which is the reason I think I end up losing a lot when I go. I do well at first because my head's on straight and then I get tired and just make stupid ass decisions. The reason I did ok with Tyler and Jason back in June was because I got really lucky / we left before I had a chance to get friggin stupid. I think that next time I go back I want to go earlier and leave earlier because I really need to be sharp to play. All in all, I lost $120, Nick came out up $40 and Dru was the big winner and came out up $120! :)

But, when I got really amused was when I said to myself, "Look, I'm playing badly right now, if I sit here and keep playing 2/4 I'm going to lose the $60 I got left, so I might as well stop playing." That was a really good decision. I then said to myself, "Well, since this money is basically going in the garbage anyways [as it's a Foxwoods tradition], I might as well sit down to some No-Limit and just get a feel for what's up with it." That was actually a good use of the money. I got to see sort-of how people were playing and what kinds of bets people were making. Basically, No-Limit is erratic and crazy. I sat down to a 1/2 No-Limit table and pre-flop people would just casually throw in $10 or $20 as a raise. Sort-of like what we do with dimes and nickels. Typical large bets were like $50 - $75. This means that this game will not be in my price range for quite some time. Although, I will say, that if you know what you're doing, you can make a lot more money a lot faster than in Limit Hold 'Em given the stakes and the buy-in.

Funny story, I said screw it after losing a bit and then just went all-in on an A-4 off-suit just to mess around. I got like 4 calls ($40 bet) and caused some guy with an Ac-6c to fold. Turns out if he had stayed in he would've hit a flush on the turn and knocked everyone out. He was really pissed at me and was glaring at me the entire time, which made that my "Degree all-in moment". I was giggling at the table while his arms were practically around my throat. I had such a good time. Best $60 I ever spent.