Spotlight

Complete and utter luck =p.

I entered the tourny thinking, hey why not, just chat it up w/ some LP people. Stole the first pot, then proceeded to be utterly valuetowned by TAG player and TwistedEcho cuz I'm a calling station who calls down w/ A high. Basically I had no chance postflop against anyone of these guys, and the only way I won was through 3 coinflips w/ 88 and 77 vs high cards.

Got on to the final table, still uneventful, but stole a couple more pots through squeeze plays / flop cbets. Hit some cards and won more coinflips vs shortstacked all ins, and suddenly I was the chip leader. Things got three handed w/ me having around 65% of chips and Ket and AAAARRRRGH splitting the rest. I decided to be very aggressive, raising about just every button and small blind because

1. I can't play postflop
2. I can't play postflop
3. Playing postflop vs Ket scares me.
4. I can't play postflop.
3. Being aggressive is cool omgz.

I hit more cards, took Ket out KJ vs KT, and entered HU w/ a 10:1 chiplead. Things were a wash mostly, with me stealing most of the initial blinds but then being checked shoved w/ me having 9 high and having to fold. Things were stagnant for a while w/ us exchanging blinds, but then I picked up AA, he shoved, and I held to win!!!

And thats how the worst player won.

Submitted by : Aphelion

PokerStars Game #16618021966: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2008/04/10 - 01:00:01 (ET)
Table 'Vienna' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Aphelion02 ($37.35 in chips)
Seat 2: nucmedstrang ($30.45 in chips)
Seat 6: alreet ($50.45 in chips)
Frienship will be allowed to play after the button
alreet: posts small blind $0.10
Aphelion02 : posts big blind $0.25

Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Aphelion02
nucmedstrang: calls $0.25
alreet: folds
DoFlex leaves the table
Aphelion02 : raises $1 to $1.25
nucmedstrang: calls $1

Flop(Odds) (Pot : $2.60)

   
Aphelion02 : bets $2
nucmedstrang: raises $4 to $6
Aphelion02 : raises $9.25 to $15.25
nucmedstrang: raises $9.25 to $24.50
Aphelion02 : raises $11.60 to $36.10 and is all-in
nucmedstrang: calls $4.70 and is all-in

Turn(Odds) (Pot : $61.00)

   

River (Pot : $61.00)

   

Showdown
Aphelion02 : shows (a full house, Queens full of Sixes)
nucmedstrang: shows (four of a kind, Sixes)
nucmedstrang collected $60 from pot

Summary
Total pot $61 | Rake $1
Board  
Seat 1: Aphelion02 (big blind) showed and lost with a full house, Queens full of Sixes
Seat 2: nucmedstrang (button) showed and won ($60) with four of a kind, Sixes
Seat 6: alreet (small blind) folded before Flop

Copied this from LS forums cause I wasn't getting response.

Just moved up to 25NL, found it pretty easy so far, up 4 buyins.

Here are a couple spots I'm not sure I played it right. How would

Hand 1:
+ Show Spoiler +

Hand 2:
+ Show Spoiler +

One thing that worries me a lot is that I don't feel my play to be improving, I basically just play my own cards and the texture of the board, and I take note of some extraordinary plays of the villain and take notes, but thats about it. I rarely find myself calculating hand ranges, and my hand reading is still limited to vague, unsystematic inductions of strength and weakness, and a
rough idea of "the possible hands that beat me".

I don't feel I'm a weak thinker theoretically, but I find that all the quirks about actual playing creates a fog of war which reduces my play to instinct and the most obvious simple plays. This is serving me okay so far, but I feel like I need a quantum leap if I wish to be a long term winner on higher stakes, and again I'm not sensing much improvement in myself.

Did anyone have similar experiences moving up? If so, how did you winning mid-high stake regulars get past that to where you are now?

Sorry if this rant belongs in a blog, but I thought it was something constructive to share.